Intermittent Fasting Regulates Hormones: Here's How

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Intermittent Fasting Regulates Hormones: Here's How

Fasting allows your organs to rest, especially your liver, which is crucial for naturally balancing hormones

Insulin

Insulin resistance is defined as the accumulation in tissues that are not designed to store fat (mainly the muscle and liver)

People with insulin resistance have cells throughout their bodies that don’t use insulin effectively. This means the cells have trouble absorbing glucose, which causes a buildup of sugar in their blood.

Low insulin sensitivity or higher insulin resistance means that you have less ability to absorb glucose and subsequently protein that is also insulinogenic. Basically saying that it’s harder to get the net positive effect of recovery from working out/eating healthy.

Fasting and Insulin

When you fast for an extended period of time, the fat deposits that have accumulated over time become the fuel that cells need to operate. As a result, the size of the excess fat droplet gets smaller over time.

As the size of the lipid droplet in muscle and liver cells decrease, those cells become more responsive to insulin. In other words, by reducing the size of the fat droplet, insulin becomes more powerful

HGH

HGH causes the chondrocyte cells of our cartilage to divide and multiply, which stimulates collagen synthesis in the skeletal muscle and tendons; improves physical capacity

Additionally, HGH helps boost the immune system, breaks down lipids to reduce fat, and stimulates the liver to produce more glucose, which can keep blood sugar levels from dropping too much

Growth hormone secretion decreases steadily with age, but one of the most potent stimuli to growth hormone secretion is fasting

One study, published in the Western Journal of Medicine, looked at a single patient who decided to undergo a 40-day fast for religious purposes

Saw a 1,250% increase in growth hormone and a shorter 5 day fast gave a 300% increase (2)

Another study, from The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, showed a 5-fold increase in HGH in response to a 2 day fast (3)

Cortisol

Cortisol is the so-called stress hormone. It mediates the ‘flight or fight response’ with help from the sympathetic nervous system - produced in response to stress and increases alertness and decreases the need for sleep

Cortisol is both a fat storing and fat burning hormone - it increases the activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), the body's major fat storing enzyme and also increases the activity of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), the body's chief fat releasing enzyme (when elevated)

Cortisol is released during exercise and fasting periods in order to free fat stores so the body can burn them for energy
• So essentially, cortisol can be good when you’re in a fasted state, but can be bad when in a fed state as it simultaneously turns on fat burning and fat storage.

One study looked at college women from the University of Virginia who fasted for 2 days - they experienced a 75% drop in leptin and a 50% increase in cortisol

Prolonged elevated levels of cortisol can have a few negative side effects: food cravings, increased anxiety, insomnia - hence why fasting for too long can have negative consequences

Estrogen

High levels of estrogen can result in gynecomastia, weight gain, and headaches

An enzyme called aromatase that is found in tissues throughout the body turns testosterone into estrogen

Aromatase is found in body fat, so those with higher body fat produce more aromatase and, therefore, have higher levels of estrogen and lower levels of testosterone (i.e. since fasting promotes fat loss there are lower levels of aromatase to be found)

A study published in the American Journal of Physiology found that fasting-induced autophagy increased the efficiency of the removal of toxins and estrogenic compounds - due to weight loss (4)

Blocking estrogen is definitely optimal as an abundance of estrogenic compounds only works against your testosterone levels

References

[mhmahgoub]

Been on a 19 hours daily intermittent fasting coupled with a ketogenic diet for a week now. This combo is just amazing, literally my fat is melting away, I've never been on such a diet where you can see a noticeable difference in body composition on a daily basis.

[jenniferwillett]

I have been doing IF almost 6 months. It has balanced my hormones. I had my first regular cycle in 15 years. I feel more amazing every day. I eat mostly whole foods with a lot of healthy carbs. Love all the helpful info in your videos.

[health-gadgets]

Currently 70 hours into a fast! Wish me luck guys :)

[ellenka]

I love how you wrap up several hours of study (the science) into such a concise and well spoken video. Thank you and as always it was very interesting!

[akuma]

Your videos on fasting are excellent Thomas. So many benefits... people need to realize that fasting is less about weight loss and more about rejuvenation.

[ThePeacemaker]

Didn't know about the testosterone increase when fasting but I sure have experienced it. I do 8/16 and start eating at 10am or after and I feel really pumped after about 14 hours of fasting. Feel like man!

[SiimLand]

Fasting can really help you build muscle by facilitating the right hormones

[Reizermo]

86 hours into my 120 hour (5 day) water fast. It's good to come on YT and find a video to get a bit of a pep talk like this, to remind yourself of the benefits. Mind you day 4 is so much easier than day 1 or 2 of the fast. Thanks for all the great content Thomas!

[prestonchristian]

One of the best videos I've seen on fasting and how things work. I have been fasting up to 3 days water fast and have yet to find something as excellent as this

[RealDr.Al-S]

I'm a doctor, and I think this video is so great. I'm learning a lot from you! Liked, and subscribed to your channel. Thank you.

[Vanessa-tphe]

Thank you Thomas! You are awesome! God bless you

[BakerClan]

You helped change my perspective on cortisol notes taken

[tmg]

Do we need to fast if we re trying to build muscle? Pls I need an answer cause I don't wanna lose weight, I'm lean bulking to keep gaining that muscle mass!

[hollyberry]

I have low progesterone and I am struggling with infertility am over weight. I have lost 13 pounds doing low carb, high fat, but I tried IF, I was fine for a few days and one day I had what felt like a major blood sugar crash around 10:50 AM at work. I almost passed out. What do you recommend for weight loss and hormone balance trying to conceive?

[CyrusTabery]

Thomas : What do you think of cold exposure for insulin sensitivity improvement? Meal Frequency is of course more important but the cold exposure I think works well for me in addition to my two 24-36 hr fasts per week. You rock. Thanks for the yet another awesome video.

[scottwenger]

I just have to say it. All of your videos are excellent and I get a lot out of them. Thank you Thomas

[walkerskii]

When u say "fasting" it's not clear if you're talking about intermittent fasting or 24 hour fasting, can can you please be a little more careful to differentiate when you're saying fasting? Maybe not just use the word fasting without being clear which type of fasting? I don't mean to sound bossy I'm just asking for clarification so I can better understand what you're trying to teach me. Thank you so much Thomas for all your work!

[halcyonp]

When will you do a video about how intermittent fasting affects women?

[sheikhishtiakali]

As a Muslim we fast twice a week and keep 30days fast in Ramadan time .we know how great it is for our body brain and stomach .Quran told us to fast and eat less .Also prophet Muhammad told people too fast for good health.he used to fast two days in every week and long fast in Ramadan time for 30 days .now science is proving his words after 1500 years .

[ievakano]

You're amazing, I am binge watching those videos! I wanted to ask if you could maybe do a video on keto rash, there's not much info out there sadly! All the love from Lithuania! ❤