Rule#6 (Optional):

(This is optional and not originally suggested by Ferriss). Keep one day a week as a ‘Fast’ day, say Saturday. A short fast helps the body burn-up and eliminate any accumulation of toxic waste products from the system. It also mildly stresses the body, resulting in a revival of your bodies cellular defences against molecular damage or cell death. Something similar to doing an exercise with – heavy weight repetitions to break muscle fibres and cause them to heal bulkier and stronger as the response of an organic repair system which responds to reasonable unexpected stress by making itself stronger. It also allows your metabolic system to strengthen itself without resetting your resting metabolic rate, and also increases the bodies responsiveness to insulin, thus helping in treating insulin resistance and diabetes.

Intermittent fasting also helps your body to shift from burning carbohydrates to burning fat for energy. It also boosts your body’s production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) by as much as 1300 percent in women and 2000 percent in men. HGH plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness, including promotion of muscle growth and revving up your metabolism. Intermittent fasting also helps normalize insulin and leptin sensitivity and ghrelin levels. It also lowers triglyceride levels and reduces inflammation and free-radical damage.

The length of the fast must be at least 16 to 18 hours long. So even those of you who skip breakfast and make lunch the first meal of the day also have something going for you. However in this programme where weight loss is a primary concern, eating breakfast within 1 hr of waking and eating something every 3 hrs thereafter and fasting for 18 to 22 hrs only once a week is what is recommended. Fasting for more than 22 hours may lead to gluconeogenesis and is not recommended.

Such intermittent fasting can also have life – extension effects.

Start the diet at least five days before your ‘Fast’ day. Say on Monday if the ‘Fast day’ is Saturday. Then Sunday, would be the ‘Feast’ day. The ‘Fast’ need not be for more than: 16 to 22 hours, say from after dinner on the previous day to tiffin or dinner on the ‘Fast’ day. To take advantage of the low metabolic activity during sleep, have the dinner at least 2 to 3 hours before bed time.

You may however, select the ‘Fast’ day and adjust the schedule to suit your life style.

Rule#7:

Meal Timings:

It is important that you be regular with your meal schedule as the hormone Ghrelin makes you used to eating at the same time each day. It takes almost a week to adjust to a new schedule. Also enjoy your meals at a leisurely pace without pressure or stress. (See – ‘Glossary and Explanation of Terms – Digestion’)

Food and liquids take much longer to get into the blood stream than one is inclined to think. Orange juice peaks in about 40 mins after drinking, while food does so only 90 mins to 150 mins after consumption even with yoghurt. It takes even longer in the case of women. This knowledge allows you to better coordinate your eating and drinking with your planned physical exertion.

More than Quality, it is the size and speed of meals that determine glycemic response. Eat slowly, say in thirds, with a gap of about 5 mins between the thirds with iced tea or water with lemon juice in between. Drink more water to somewhat dilute digestion, eat smaller portions and chew more (say 20 times or even 32 times a mouthful), take longer time over your meals say 30 minutes. All these strategies serve to decrease the amount of food that gets digested per-minute and hence decrease your glucose levels.

Do remember that it takes 20 minutes for your ‘stomach full’ satiety signals to reach your brain, it is better to eat slowly, with pauses. You should never really stuff yourself. If you eat slowly and consciously, you will sense fullness coming on as you feel satisfied and comfortable but not stuffed. You should stop eating at this stage, even as you know that you can eat more. Be aware of your body’s hunger and respond appropriately to it. Eat only when you are hungry and stop when you reach a point of comfort. You want to feel satisfied but not stuffed. Your stomach needs space to continue its digestive process even as you move and twist and thus

Rest for 2 to 5 minutes after a meal and before you start your activities or your easy walk. Brisk walking is exercising and should be done 60 mins after a meal. (See – ‘Exercise’).

Eating low carbohydrate diet with insufficient calories can lead to a feeling of low energy. Eating more times a day might be helpful on higher-carb diets to prevent gorging, but it is not necessary for the Low – Carb diet. Eating more frequent meals also appears to have no enhancing effect on resting metabolic rate despite claims to the contrary. In fact too frequent snacks or meals do not allow for your small intestine to properly cleanse itself and rest, and hence may have adverse effects on your digestion.

Our bodies have evolved to be synchronized with the circadian rhythm of the solar day and of the seasonal rhythm as well as the lunar and tidal rhythm. Our bodies react to the ingestion of calories differently at different times of the day.

The results of an international study published in ‘The international Journal of Obesity in Jan 2013’, confirmed that those who ate their lunch in the early afternoon lost more weight than those who did so later in the afternoon.

Let the bulk of your eating be early in the day, start with a good breakfast. However as digestion is strongest at mid day, a good lunch at noon is ideal, but practically between 1230 to 1330 hrs is a good time. Make lunch the heaviest meal of the day, it will make it easier for you to then stick to the light dinner schedule.

Eating a heavy dinner, when your body’s natural circadian rhythm is tapering off into a resting phase is absolutely to be avoided. The interval necessary between meals depends on the nature of food. Heavy non-vegetarian meals need greater intervals. For those who chew their food thoroughly, the interval can be lesser.

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