Time to Power Up and Detox
8 Benefits of Fasting
I don’t know about you, but when it gets cold and wet, I tend to want to stay inside and not exercise. I notice how my fitness, energy and motivation levels drop and I don’t feel like doing the things that I know I should be doing. I miss the energy boost that I always get from catching up with friends. My mind isn’t as sharp and I emotionally feel more self-indulgent, not to mention the comfort food that I turn to (and those unwanted winter kilos that creep on).
Let me help you enjoy this winter with helpful winter tips, a winter self-care mini-retreat plus a 3 Day Detox Program🤸 & a delicious warming vegetable congee 🥕
Are you ready to detox? Are you ready to improve your strength, your motivation and fitness? Are you ready to get away from the heater? Are you ready to feel the warmth coming from inside of you?
As winter is a time for deep healing (lowest most inwardly directed energy) it is a great time to focus on yourself and develop great habits. Winter is when you focus on rebuilding your bones, teeth, hair and nails, and who doesn’t want that? It is the season of change, for rebirth, renewal and regrowth.
Let’s have a quick look at the Natural Element Health theory of winter. As the energy around us declines, and we focus more inwardly on ourselves, doing a quick 3 day detox and half fast is an excellent tool to crush the winter blues and boost your energy and motivation for self-care. Despite its recent surge in popularity, fasting is a practice that dates back centuries and plays a central role in many cultures and religions. Fasting allows your body to take a break from the normal grind of digestion and switch into restoration and healing mode. In winter, as we know the energy around us and in us is less, by halving our food intake we can double our energy output. This is because the body requires less energy for digestion and dedicates more energy to healing, restoring and rebuilding our body, especially our bones, teeth, hair and nails.
Fasting can be defined as abstinence from all or some foods or drinks for a set period of time, and there are many different ways of fasting.
In general, most types of fasts are performed over 3 days, 10 days, or 6 weeks for maximum healing.
Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting, on my winter self-care 3-day detox we will be doing a 3-day half-fast with 16:8 hours of fasting:eating, and you will eat half of what you would normally eat.
Fasting has been shown to have many health benefits. I will outline some of them below, for example, increased weight loss to improve brain function.
The seasons all have a direct effect on our health, and the seasons affect the balance in our bodies as well as the external climate surrounding us. We need to focus on seasonal change and adjust the focus of our diet and lifestyle to match.
Chinese Medicine encourages us to make changes in our lives to match environmental changes. This is how we stay healthy and balanced. It also helps us to prevent illness and imbalance.
Do you change the food you eat, cooking methods and lifestyle activities seasonally??
8 really good reasons to do a fast this winter:
1. Promotes Blood Sugar Control by Reducing Insulin Resistance 🍩
Studies have found that fasting can improve blood sugar control, which is especially useful for those at risk of diabetes, which has become such a lifestyle health issue.
Decreasing insulin resistance can increase your body’s sensitivity to insulin, allowing it to transport glucose from your bloodstream to your cells more efficiently, and back to the bloodstream when you require it for energy.
Coupled with the potential blood sugar-lowering effects of fasting, this could help keep your blood sugar steady, preventing spikes and crashes in your blood sugar levels, and therefore spikes and crashes in your daily energy levels. This will also help stop those bad sugar cravings.
2. Promotes Better Health by Fighting Inflammation 🔥
While acute inflammation is a normal immune process used to help fight off infections, chronic inflammation can have serious consequences for your health.
Research shows that inflammation may be involved in the development of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
Research has shown that reducing processed foods, sugar alcohol, flour products and animal products has greatly reduced the inflammation in us, together with the chronic long term health issues.
Don’t forget to book your place NOW for the Winter Mini Retreat or 3-Day Detox 🌱
3. Enhance Heart Health: Improve Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels 💔
Heart disease is considered the leading cause of death around the world, accounting for an estimated 31.5% of deaths globally, that is frightening and many of us are walking-talking time bombs and we don’t actually know it.
Switching up your diet and lifestyle is one of the most effective ways to reduce your risk of heart disease.
There has been much research that has found that incorporating fasting into your lifestyle routine is especially beneficial when it comes to heart health, reducing triglycerides and cholesterol which accumulate in our bloodstream.
Make sure you are following Natural Element Health on Instagram or Facebook 👇🏼
4. May Boost Brain Function and Prevent Neurodegenerative Disorders 🧹
Studies have found that fasting could have a powerful effect on brain health, including your brain function as well as your brain structure.
Fasting can protect your brain health and increase the generation of nerve cells to help enhance cognitive function. Fasting also helps relieve inflammation, so it could also aid in preventing neurodegenerative disorders.
Research has shown that fasting may protect against and improve outcomes for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.
5. Aids Weight Loss by Limiting Calorie Intake and Boosting Metabolism⚡️
Many fad dieters pick up fasting as just a weight-loss method and do not look at all the other positive health benefits. Theoretically, abstaining from all or certain foods and beverages does decrease your overall calorie intake, which leads to increased weight loss over time.
Some research has also found that short-term fasting may boost metabolism by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which could enhance weight loss.
In fact, one review showed that whole-day fasting could reduce body weight by up to 9% and significantly decrease body fat over 12–24 weeks.
In addition, fasting was found to be more effective than calorie restriction at increasing fat loss while simultaneously preserving muscle tissue, which is important to maintain bone health.
6. Increases Growth Hormone Secretion 💪🏼
Human growth hormone (HGH) is a type of protein hormone that is central to many aspects of your health. Even as you get older it is important to maintain high levels of HGH to repair and rebuild muscles and organs and stop age-related degeneration.
Research shows that this key hormone is involved in growth, metabolism, weight loss and muscle strength.
Several studies have found that fasting could naturally increase HGH levels which also helps to reduce high insulin levels.
This recipe is part of my Winter Self-Care Routine.
Enjoy Vegetable Congee for a warm and comforting breakfast. This Vegan Congee Recipe is nourishing, delicious and easy to make. It's a perfect recipe to make on a slow morning or make it the night before and simply reheat it in the morning.
Find more in my Yoga Winter Self-Care Guide.
How does it work?
You select ADD TO CART
Immediately after you will proceed to the payment and details screen
A link will display and you have 24hrs to download the recipe
Make it, share it and enjoy!
Be sure to post your pics and tag us @naturalelementhealth and tell us how you felt before and after.
7. Could Delay Ageing and Extend Longevity 🥳
Animal studies have found promising results on the potential lifespan-extending effects of fasting.
It has also been shown that the abstinence of food for controlled periods of time, has a restorative effect on the body allowing the repair of the internal organs and a reduction in the loss of telomeres on our DNA.
8. Aid in Cancer Prevention 😱
Research is still in the early stages of human trials but has been showing promising results, such as the reduction of tumours and the support of healing after chemotherapy.
Feeling Thirsty?
Feeling Hungry?
Feeling Hungry/Thirsty? (Moody)
Lisa’s Organic Milk Thistle and Dandelion Root Tea is the answer!
As well as helping the liver process toxins, Milk Thistle helps you lower blood sugars, reduce bad cholesterol, expel pathogens, and relax the muscles. The silymarin extracted from milk thistle is known to have antioxidant, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, all good for the upcoming Detox Program. When combined with Dandelion root the tea is especially good for removing alcohol and chemical poisons from the blood and liver.
It is a delicious substitute for that morning coffee!!!
Just email lisa at naturalelementclinic@gmail.com if you wish to order some tea for the upcoming detox or simply want to clear that liver out.
For any other foods please download the product order form and return it to Lisa at naturalelementclinic@gmail.com
Thanks for reading this blog and let me know your thoughts on my 8 Benefits of Fasting and most importantly how you went with your yoga journey this month. Post your pics and comments and tag me @naturalelementhealth, I’m on Instagram and Facebook.
Lisa 🌷
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Lisa is now running Women’s Self-Care Courses.
The Natal and Post Natal Pilates/Japanese Yoga Courses are 5-Weeks and run:
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or as an online course
For all the details and start dates click the button below
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