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Ever Heard Of Hangry?
Added to the Oxford English Dictionary as recently as 2018, the word hangry, aptly used to describe my response to being deprived of food for over a few hours.
I used to eat small meals or snack every few hours. Blessed with good metabolism, I would keep nibbling at regular intervals. In fact, my body got so used to this, I would get irritable and irrationally angry, if I hadn’t eaten for a few hours. This was particularly noticeable on long trips when access to food was limited. The dramatic change in my mood after I had eaten on such occasions, took even me by surprise. On the other hand, after I was already hangry, if the wait for food continued, I’d get acidity.
My husband, often being the target of my bad moods, had learned quickly to ensure that we packed lots of snacks for trips.
Karwa Chauth, the Indian festival where a wife fasts for the longevity of her husband, baffled me. The health and happiness of my husband seemed best assured, if I was well fed at regular intervals.
But a few years ago, as I approached forty, I noticed my appetite was decreasing. I could not eat as much as I used to, during main meals without feeling overfull for an hour or so. It was quite an unpleasant sensation. Then I began to put on weight. It was just a couple of kilograms, but I took it as a warning sign.
A Workout That Works For You
For most of my twenties, I did intense cardio regularly for around 40 minutes a day on the elliptical trainer. Once I got pregnant, at 28, I suffered from intense morning sickness. Exercise took a backseat until a couple of years after my second pregnancy which followed close behind the first.
When I resumed, I returned the old familiar elliptical trainer. After returning from a fortnight long holiday at a hill station, where I discovered that I enjoyed long hikes, my husband suggested I try climbing stairs to keep in shape for our next Himalayan holiday. He joked that I might as well make the most of living in a high-rise in Mumbai.
I thought about it and realized it made sense. The air-conditioning in the gym had been bothering my sinus for some time, and I wondered if stair climbing could be a good alternative. I had considered walking outside but dismissed it, as walking is not sufficiently intensive cardio for me, and I don’t like the effect running has on my knees. Besides, with the prolonged monsoon in Mumbai, outdoor exercise can get quite unpleasant on many days. Stair climbing, indoors but without air conditioning seemed like the perfect compromise, until, I actually tried it.
Initially when I tried this out, I was shocked to discover how cluttered, filthy and disgusting the stairwell in our building was. Neglected and shunned as they are, stairs are the only lifeline in case of a fire in a high-rise. With time, and reporting the problems over and over again, the building managing committee got them cleared and cleaned and so they have remained since.
Four and a half years ago, I started out with climbing just 20 floors, but in about a week, I was already climbing a hundred floors. Then, that became my routine. Initially, I did it five or six days a week, but a couple of years ago, I started doing it it everyday that I was not sick or out of town.
In the last six months, I have pushed my target up to 135 floors and been consistent with it. It’s become such an ingrained part of my routine, that I find it difficult to contemplate skipping it.
Contrary to popular belief, stair climbing is not hard on the knees. The motion is slow, controlled and low impact. In fact, I have found that stair climbing strengthens the muscles around the knee joint, improving the condition of the knees. Going down stairs however, can actually be stressful on the knees, so I climb up, but take the lift on my way down.
Yo-yoing Diet Trends
Diet plans and healthy food recommendations see-saw almost as much as clothing fashions. What was deathly yesterday, is healthy today and vice-versa. As for tomorrow, who knows!
A couple of decades ago, ghee was a big no-no, fats and oils were best avoided, so non-stick Teflon pans were supposed to be a savior. Then carbs became the ultimate culinary villain with keto diets shunning carbs but recommending fat and protein consumption. Now Teflon possibly increases the risk of cancer in addition to being linked to other health problems, and ghee boasts of several heath benefits including anti-inflammatory effects and combating obesity. So go figure.
Given the complexities of human physiology, the adaptability of the body with self correcting mechanisms and the interconnectedness of various organ systems usually examined in isolation, simplistic correlation studies are often ill equipped to gauge or even anticipate all the effects of dietary changes or new exercise routines.
At some point, I realized, an hour of exercise may not be enough, but I really did not want to restrict my diet, especially since I like desserts too much. They keep me happy and that has to count for something, right?
Keep It Simple
A personal experience
That’s when my husband suggested another idea: Fasting daily for 12 hours. I was appalled. The thought of breakfast was what made me jump out of my cozy bed to face the new day.
But when I had to switch my exercise hour to the morning for a few days to accommodate some temporary events, I found morning exercise on an empty stomach rather enjoyable and satisfying. So I squeezed in my exercise hour into my morning routine. We usually have an early dinner. So breakfast after exercise meant I was already fasting for twelve hours. With eight of those hours asleep, it wasn’t so hard.
But then when my kids started a new school, I had to change my schedule again. Dinner got pushed back an hour and post exercise breakfast an hour forward. So now I was fasting for 14 hours. And that’s when I noticed it.
It had suddenly become easy to maintain my weight with no particular effort towards dieting. I mean there was only so much I could eat in 10 hours. As for acidity, it would be a problem for a few days every time I switched schedules, but I was surprised to see how quickly my body adapted.
At this point, I found squeezing in 3 meals was inconvenient. Breakfast was to close to lunch and seemed pointless. So, about 3 months ago, I decided to push breakfast forward another couple of hours and began fasting for 16 hours. But besides the hours, I did not impose any other restrictions on myself. So I can still enjoy anything i feel like eating without feeling guilty.
At this point I noticed some benefits beyond maintaining weight.
Improved Digestion
Since I began the 16 hour fast, my digestion has improved. I used to get acidity, especially during my period. But now the acidity episodes have considerably reduced in frequency and intensity. My digestive system gets a good long rest everyday and that seems to have made it more robust. I used to be sensitive to milk products, but my tolerance for them has significantly increased.
Check out this article to learn about effects of intermittent fasting on gut health and digestive processes.
Changed Cravings
I tend follow my cravings when it comes to eating. Usually, listening to my body works for me.
Sometimes, I will crave meat and then once I have had my fill for a few days, the craving stops. With these new timings I found myself craving different kinds of food. I found myself wanting less of fried food or salty snacks and more fruit.
Initially, I craved breaking my long fast with oats soaked overnight in cold milk with fruits. Then I began eating a boiled egg, two buttered rotis, a bowl of curd with dry fruits and a green salad. I have started eating a lot more melons, berries, dry-fruits, milk products and bel peppers since I began this diet. I eat one meat centric meal a week and indulge on some creamy sugary dessert along with it and that seems enough.
Theories And Studies
I had no idea 16 hour fasting was a recent fad, so when I googled it to do some research before writing about my own experience, I was astonished to learn how extensively it is being explored.
An Age Old Idea
In spite of the modern interest in this idea, it is by no means new. Several religions and cultures encourage fasting. Muslims do it during Ramzan and Christians during Lent. Hindus, in addition to fasting during certain festivals like Navratri, observe fasts regularly on Ekadashi, the 11th day of the lunar cycle.
So one need not be concerned about it being an untested newfangled theory with unknown long term side effects.
In fact, some have even suggested evolutionary arguments in its favor.
This article goes so far as to suggest that intermittent fasting may improve cognition.
Inducing Autophagy
Just like the digestive system and gut health, benefits from time for rest and recuperation, so does the rest of the body. Autophagy, as defined here, allows your body to break down and reuse old cell parts so your cells can operate more efficiently. It’s a natural cleaning out process that begins when your cells are stressed or deprived of nutrients.
Autophagy can be triggered by intermittent fasting, but there is some uncertainty as to the minimum number of hours of fasting required to set it in motion, as it is a complex reaction dependent on a number of variable factors.
This article claims that 16 hours of fasting can trigger autophagy, while another article on the same platform claims a longer timeline of 24 to 48 hours.
Perhaps, that is because, like in anything else concerning our body, the process gradually intensifies and has different stages ranging from short term activation to significant activation.
How quickly autophagy sets in, depends on a number of factors including age, diet, metabolism, habits etc, but this article indicates that certain diets, foods and practices can speed up the onset of autophagy.
Personally, I do my hour of stair climbing between my fourteenth and fifteenth hour of fasting, so hopefully I derive some of the benefits. But what exactly are these coveted benefits of autophagy?
Autophagy Magic
Autophagy, as I understand it, is analogous to housekeeping within one’s body. This cellular process degrades and eliminates misfolded proteins, damaged organelles and toxins, basically preventing a colossal and filthy mess like my daughter’s room. Just like she doesn’t clean her room unless she can’t find something she needs, autophagy too is not triggered unless our body is subjected to certain kinds of stress.
Intermittent fasting, certain diets and exercise routines can help trigger autophagy, which might protect us against or even mitigate the progression of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and a few others.
Caution
Given these advantages of intermittent asting, it is worth considering, but lot more research needs to done on the subject, and intermittent fasting is not suitable for everyone. It is best to check with your doctor before starting it, in case you have one of the underlying health conditions that make it risky or inadvisable.