Why Do I Feel Better When I Don't Eat?

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When I don’t eat I feel better. To some, that would be a dangerous thing, but to me, it makes all the difference in the world.

I’ve been following the intermittent fasting lifestyle for quite a few years now and it’s been nothing but positive.

I started doing intermittent fasting when I entered menopause because I had gained extra weight. I had tried everything to get rid of the weight but nothing moved the scale.

Out of sheer desperation, I tried something I found on the Internet. It was called Michael Mosley’s 5:2 fast.

Basically, that is when you choose two days a week where you don’t have anything to eat at all. I chose Mondays and Thursdays.

If you want, you can have up to 500 cal a day. I started out that way and it was a nice transition into a water fast.

Water fasting is what I do now, and I not only do a 5:2 fast, I also do OMAD, which is eating one meal a day. I do a long fast once a month.

My experience with intermittent fasting has been nothing but positive, and I wanted to share it with others who may be struggling with their weight and other health-related issues.

It really can help.

FOOD CAUSES INFLAMMATION

Crunchy Menopause - Why do I feel better when I don't eat?

Yes, food causes inflammation. It took me a long time to figure this one out. And for me, it doesn’t really even matter what type of food I eat.

I’ve experimented with several different foods just to see what would cause inflammation and it didn’t matter what I ate.

I cut out dairy, and it didn’t seem to matter. I cut out sugar altogether, and it didn’t seem to matter. What did matter, was overeating.

What did matter, was how much I ate, and what time of day I was eating.

After a few years of doing intermittent fasting, I adopted the OMAD lifestyle. I began eating only one meal a day at suppertime.

I couldn’t believe how amazing I felt. What used to be painful, wasn’t anymore. Things like knee swelling from an old injury was nonexistent.

Pain was gone, as well as neck and shoulder issues. That’s important especially as you age. I’ve noticed since entering menopause that pain is something that creeps up on you.

If you don’t nip it in the bud, it can become chronic.

Intermittent fasting did that for me. My inflammation problems have been solved.

I proved that point when I recently went off of my intermittent fasting schedule because my grandchildren were over.

I ate meals with them because we often made them together. It was a vacation and I wanted to enjoy myself. That’s allowed when you do intermittent fasting because you make the rules.

However, I paid for it dearly.

My knee started to ache again, and my shoulders and arms as well. In fact, I felt puffy and swollen all over my body just because of an increase in food.

I was also eating at times when I didn’t normally eat.

As soon as I got back on my intermittent fasting regime after the vacation was over, I almost immediately felt better.

I no longer felt puffy and swollen, and my arms and shoulders started to feel better. There were no bloating issues, and my knee was starting to feel better.

Inflammation is definitely caused by food, and that’s why we need to curb how much we eat in a day.

WE EAT TOO MUCH

Yes, we eat way too much. Society is built on gluttony. We eat three meals a day and we never ask ourselves why.

Are we hungry?

Or, do we just eat because we are bored? Do we eat because its socially acceptable? Do we eat because we are actually hungry?

For me, once I started doing intermittent fasting, I realized that I was only eating breakfast because it was what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t really hungry at that time.

Then I started evaluating lunch. I wasn’t really hungry at lunchtime either. It was just the allotted time that I was given at work to have lunch.

I found that I was eating because it was the thing to do. When I realized that, I decided to make a change.

When other people are scarfing down food all day long, I fast and sit there quietly wondering why people think they need so much food.

There is a premise behind eating every couple of hours. People think that they will faint if they don’t have food. They think their blood sugar will fall and they will suddenly collapse.

Granted, some people have health issues where that is, in fact, the case, but the majority do not. If you are worried, you should check with your doctor before starting an intermittent fasting program.

I have found that it is absolute nonsense that you will faint if you don’t have food every couple of hours. I have found that you don’t actually need as much food as you think you do during the day.

And I am not the only one.

There are thousands upon thousands of people who practice intermittent fasting and have been doing it for years without a problem.

It isn’t just a fad. It’s a way of life and it works.

CLEANS THE SYSTEM

When I do a three or four day fast, I clean my system out. If I have eaten too much like when I was on vacation with my grandchildren, I generally do what I call a detox fast afterward.

I take a few days where I flush the bad toxins out of my system and give my digestive system a break.

We are constantly overworking our bowels because of the food gluttony society puts itself in, and because of that, inflammation creeps up and causes disease.

We need to stop that.

We need to clean out our system so that we can purge the junk we put into it every day. Sometimes that requires long fasts. Sometimes that requires daily fasts.

You need to find what works for you and stick with it. Your body will thank you for it after you realize how incredibly healthy you feel when you’re done.

CELLULAR REPAIR

Science proves that when you fast, your body kicks into what they call ketosis. That’s the process where your body switches from burning sugar for fuel, to burning fat for fuel.

Do you want your body to burn its own fat storage? That’s how you get healthy and maintain a normal weight.

Something called autophagy kicks in when you reach ketosis. That’s when your healthy cells target unhealthy cells and then correct them.

The human growth hormone is said to increase up to 2000 times the norm when your body is in a fasted state. That’s incredible considering bodybuilders and Olympic athletes pay big bucks for the human growth hormone.

PURGES TOXINS

Intermittent fasting helps you get rid of all the junk you put into your body when you eat. Not only when you eat, but also when you breathe.

There are toxins in the air. There are toxins in every type of food we eat no matter if it is organic, fast food, or not.

Toxins are in the air. Toxins are in the rain. Toxins are in the soil. Toxins are in groundwater.

They are everywhere and they get into your body no matter how hard you try to prevent it. So, going forward, you must get rid of these toxins somehow or they will cause things like cancer, and other sicknesses you don’t want.

I like to do a long fast once a month to purge toxins from my body. I do a water fast and flush out toxins through my urine.

Toxins are also stored in fat, so when you burn fat by switching your body into ketosis, you also purge toxins.

Everyone needs to detox, and intermittent fasting is a great way to do it.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I just wanted to say that the reason you feel better when you don’t eat is that intermittent fasting teaches you about food gluttony and how it is making society sick.

Intermittent fasting teaches you that you don’t need as much food as you think you do to survive. In fact, you can get along quite easily with less than half the amount of food you probably eat right now.

Not only will you feel better, but you will look better. You will look younger than you have in a long time. You will feel younger then you have in years, and people will notice. Believe me, they will notice!

The inflammation in your body will start to subside. You won’t feel puffy and bloated as much as you do right now. Pain will go away in areas you never thought possible.

Suddenly, skin issues like eczema will clear up and disappear completely.

Your heart will be healthier.

Your brain will be sharp.

The list goes on.

And if you don’t believe me, perhaps you will believe actual scientific research. I’ll link it at the end of this article so you can take a look at the endless information I found.

I have also written a book about intermittent fasting for menopausal women which you can check out through the following Amazon Affiliate link Hungry Old Lady – Intermittent Fasting for Menopause if you’re interested.

I also have a website dedicated to intermittent fasting information and research that you can check out through the following link. It is called Hungry Old Lady.

The following links, list menopause and fasting research used on Crunchy Menopause and Hungry Old Lady.

MENOPAUSE RESOURCES

INTERMITTENT FASTING RESOURCES

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Author Kathleen Morris

Kathleen Morris is a successful published author, blogger, and Youtuber. She enjoys writing about things she’s passionate about and making a difference in the world.

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