I consider intermittent fasting to be one of the most life changing health tools at our disposal. I’ve seen how dramatically it has changed my own health and continuously witness the incredible effects intermittent fasting has on the health of my patients. Fasting offers amazing healing benefits and turns on the body’s cleansing and rejuvenation mechanisms. Read my last post to find out a little more about what intermittent fasting is and why I think it’s one of the most beneficial things we can do for our health.
If just the thought of fasting makes you hungry, don’t worry…you’re not alone. Most people have come to believe that they need to eat around the clock and pop food in their mouths whenever hunger pangs set it. While it may be tough to transition from eating a few times a day to twice per day, it’s definitely doable. Read on to learn how I intermittent fast and how I teach my patients to fast successfully.
HOW I INTERMITTENT FAST
I fast 5-6 days per week and provide my body with one or two “feast” days in which I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the days I fast, I don’t eat for 16 hours a day, and eat my meals during an eight-hour window. For me, this means skipping breakfast and breaking my fast at around noon. In the morning, I often sip on some bulletproof coffee or matcha green tea (organic coffee or unsweetened tea with some added fat, such as MCT oil or grass fed butter). This wakes up my brain and provides some useful fat my body can use for energy. Around noon, I break my fast with my first meal of the day.
I ALWAYS make sure to break my fast with a rich, well-rounded meal: a clean cut of animal protein, a generous serving of organic vegetables, a very small portion of a starchy carbohydrate like sweet potato or butternut squash, and a whopping serving of healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, or fresh olives. This meal provides me with plenty of energy and nutrients and keeps me alert and satisfied until dinner. In the evening, usually between 6-7PM, I feast again like I did at lunch. I don’t eat after that meal. I enter into a state of “rest and digest” known as the parasympathetic state, and I glide into my fast easily and well-fed. To put it simply, I eat two hearty, fat-rich meals during an eight-hour window, and fast on water and clear liquids for sixteen hours.
3 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL INTERMITTENT FASTING
- Skip Breakfast
One of the first things I tell my patients when they’re starting their fasting journeys is to keep it simple and start by skipping breakfast. Some people do this instinctively. Ideally, we want to skip breakfast and drink plenty of filtered water during the morning hours. Your hunger hormone, ghrelin, will kick in, which will bring on waves of hunger pangs. This isn’t bad and you shouldn’t panic. Hunger comes in waves, and that hormone signaling will begin to adapt to your new fasting routine. Just stay busy doing something that keeps your focus and the hunger will pass. Soon, you won’t feel hungry and you may even need to remind yourself to eat lunch.
If water fasting is too challenging at first, you can add some organic coffee or unsweetened herbal or green tea mixed with grass-fed butter or MCT oil. Blend the oils into the hot beverage using a milk frother like this one. Drink a cup of that fatty beverage and then load up on water until lunch time hits. You would fast until around noon or 1pm, and then break your fast with a very hearty lunch.
If breakfast is your favorite meal of the day, or if you feel you do best with a meal in your belly in the morning, then switch to skipping dinner. If this sounds like you, plan on eating a hearty breakfast complete with good fats, vegetables, small portion of starchy carbs, and some animal protein. You would then eat another hearty meal within your eight-hour window, and then go into fasting probably somewhere around 3-5PM.
- Increase Your Fat Consumption
The body requires energy on a constant basis. Even when we’re resting on the couch watching a movie, reading a book, or sleeping, our body continues to require energy to keep our organs functioning and our minds sharp. The most available form of fuel for the body is glucose. When we eat, our body converts the proteins and carbohydrates from our meal into glucose, or sugar, and we use this energy for everyday life, for digestion and for healing. The extra glucose that we don’t use gets stored as glycogen in the liver.

Benefits of intermittent fasting. Mark P. Mattison PHD
During fasting periods, the body isn’t being given any glucose to use as fuel, which means that energy must be sourced from that stored glycogen in the liver. Fasting forces the body to tap into the glycogen stored in the liver and use it as fuel. When—and only when— the stored glycogen is depleted, our bodies will then switch to using stored fat for energy. This is a good thing. It’s what we want to happen. To get to that place, however, it’s often a rocky road of being hungry, potentially moody, and tired. While everyone needs to go through this unpleasant couple of days, the goal is to deplete the glycogen stored in the liver and to start using stored fat as your fuel. This is what we call being “fat adapted.” The more consistently you fast, the more efficient you body becomes at using fat, and the less hungry and irritable you will be while fasting.
Once you are fat adapted, your body will be able to switch metabolic pathways and start burning fat and ketones for fuel. Ketones are a natural byproduct of the body breaking down fats for energy. Many people will benefit immensely from being in ketosis. This means the body is producing and using ketones in measurable amounts. I check my ketones regularly using the Keto-Mojo ketone testing meter. The goal is to register between 0.5 and 6.0, or higher. Many chronic diseases have been shown to improve while in ketosis including, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autoimmune conditions and even cancer. While being in a state of ketosis is an amazing tool for many people and health conditions, it’s important to note is that it’s not necessary to be in a true, constant state of ketosis to reap the benefits of being fat adapted. When you increase your dietary fat consumption and reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, the body is far more able to use both glucose and fat for fuel. Being able to easily switch from using glucose to fat (ketones) is a healthy adaptation that creates metabolic flexibility and hormone stability.
When beginning an intermittent fasting routine, make sure you’re eating plenty of healthy fat: fresh olives, avocados, full fat coconut milk, olive/avocado/coconut oils, grass-fed butter, bone broth, fatty cuts of fish and grass-fed/organic animal protein, etc. For example, a great fast-breaking meal at noon might include a piece of butter-topped baked salmon atop a large bed of dark leafy greens, an avocado, and a small portion of baked sweet potato drenched in more butter. Nutrient-dense, rich in healthy fats, and well balanced, this meal is ideal for optimal health and smooth intermittent fasting. The biggest mistake people make is skimping out on food and fat-rich calories when they break their fast. Eating a piece of chicken and a salad, or making a fruit and almond milk smoothie does NOT count as a good fast-breaker. When we break our fasts with unsubstantial meals, the body begins to feel that it’s in a state of starvation, or calorie restriction. When this happens continuously, it actually significantly tanks our health negatively and causes things like weight gain and weight loss resistance, hormone imbalance, blood sugar dysregulation, hair loss, brittle/breaking nails, and sleep problems. The take-away point is simple: EAT MORE HEALTHY FAT.
- Ease Into It and Stay Consistent
Depending on where you are in your health journey and what your overall toxin load is, you may find that easing into intermittent fasting is the best option. Consider intermittent fasting two or three days per week and slowly ease your way into a full routine. During this time, make sure all of your meals are rich with healthy fats and that your carb consumption is moderate to low. Your carbohydrates should come from plant-based sources, such as sweet potatoes and squash varieties and not from grains and flour products. While some people are easily able to jump into intermittent fasting six days per week without any issues, some people find that easing into this routine helps their bodies adapt more smoothly and cuts any discomfort as it relates to hunger.
Also, remember to stay consistent. The true benefits of intermittent fasting come over time. The longer you stay with it the easier it gets. Fasting is like running a marathon: it takes time, consistency, and some degree of discomfort to properly prepare your body to run the race. Likewise, it will require the same effort and “training” to become fat adapted. Thankfully, the rewards are worth the sweat. I would suggest giving your body 60-90 days of consistent intermittent fasting and then judge for yourself how you feel. Most people will experience less bloating, less brain fog, better energy, better sleep, and be less inflamed.
In my next post, I’ll cover troubleshooting intermittent fasting if you’re not experiencing the benefits you’d like. Oftentimes, a couple of tweaks is all it takes to get into your fasting groove. Intermittent fasting can be life changing when done correctly. Have you ever attempted intermittent fasting, or have you considered starting? Let me know in the comments below.