17 to 18 hours fast

Six years and counting with Intermittent Fasting! I am so used to IF now that I forgot sometimes that I am doing it regularly. Do I see improvement in my body? I sure do! For one thing, I don’t worry about gaining weight again. I’ve maintained a normal weight for 6 years now. It gives me good sleep, as long as I don’t mess up with my body clock by sleeping the same time at night, and waking up at the same time in the morning. The only time I will mess it up if I allowed myself to extend my waking hours to accommodate some personal chats with friends and relatives especially this time of pandemic. People need people, but sometimes, we overdo it and for all you know, it is past our bedtime. It’s hard to go back to scheduled sleeping especially when you are wired up from prolonged conversations and you seemed like you cannot relax. Thank goodness it does not resort to raiding the refrigerator for something to eat just so my mind can relax. It’s totally something that I don’t want to practice– the wee hours of chatting to help the other person with their personal, emotional and mental issues and vice-verse.

The pandemic surely changed many things you have not done before for just having so much time on your hand being on a never ending lockdowns; unable to have regular travel plans, going to restaurants on special occasions or every weekend; or just going to the mall to just enjoy a day away from home. We cannot do that for fear of getting infected with Covid.

Thankfully, the pandemic did not change my intermittent fasting habits. It helps with taking care of the immune system which is very important in so many ways in these unprecedented times of pandemic crisis.

The technique, called “intermittent fasting” (IF) involves eating during a six-hour period of the day and then abstaining for the remaining 18 hours as a way to change the way the body burns food and stores energy.

Researchers are touting a diet that involves fasting for 18 hours each day as a way to stop getting overweight and reducing the chances of contracting everything from cancer to diabetes and heart disease.

A study of past animal and human studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, called Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease, says the diet effectively hacks the human metabolism.

“Evidence is accumulating that eating in a six-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases,” says the study.

In the report, authors Mark Mattson and Rafael de Cabo analyze two types of intermittent fasting to help physicians prescribe dieting as a way patients can tackle obesity and prevent a range of killer diseases.

One format, daily time-restricted feeding, involves eating 6-8 hours daily and fasting for the remaining 16-18 hours. The other, intermittent fasting, involves eating normally for five days of the week and consuming no more than 500 calories on the remaining two days.

It is not the first time that researchers have touted intermittent fasting as a panacea, including by Kate Harrison in her 2013 book called The 5:2 Diet: Feast for 5 Days, Fast for 2 Days to Lose Weight and Revitalize Your Health.

In a Harvard Medical School blog post last year, contributing editor Monique Tello noted intermittent fasting is “safe and incredibly effective” but added that it is “really no more effective than any other diet”.

“But a growing body of research suggests that the timing of the fast is key, and can make IF a more realistic, sustainable, and effective approach for weight loss, as well as for diabetes prevention,” wrote Tello.

What Are The Minimum Number Of Hours You Can Intermittent Fast & Still Get Benefits?

By Stephanie EckelkampMedical review by Bindiya Gandhi, M.D.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the trendiest eating styles of the moment—and for good reason. This eating approach can yield a number of impressive results: weight loss, increased fat burn, improved cognitive functioning, reduced inflammation, and potentially even increased longevity.

But all that said, one big question still remains: How long do you have to fast to reap these potentially life-changing rewards? Is there a minimum number of hours you need to restrict food to get the perks?

We asked some leading intermittent fasting experts to weigh in on the topic so you can better tailor your intermittent fasting plan according to your specific goals.

The benefits of fasting don’t kick in at the same time for every person.

Experts agree that your personal habits will play a role in when exactly certain health benefits will kick in. “There are very few definites here,” says Vincent Pedre, M.D., an integrative physician and gut health expert who frequently recommends intermittent fasting diets to his patients. “Where you start seeing those benefits depends on what you eat, how healthy your gut health is, what kind of physical activity you’re doing, etc.”

For example, letting calories slip into your fasting window, overeating calorie-dense foods like pizza during your eating window, not prioritizing sleep or physical activity, or making one of these intermittent-fasting mistakes could all delay or counteract the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Even if you’re formulating the rest of your diet and lifestyle perfectly, it’s important to understand that the different health benefits associated with intermittent fasting will likely kick in at different durations of fasting. For example, weight loss may be triggered by a relatively short fasting window, while entering ketosis or triggering autophagy—that “self-cleaning” cellular process that boosts brain functioning and maybe even longevity—may take significantly longer.

Unfortunately, not enough research has been conducted on all the different forms of intermittent fasting to provide any hard-and-fast rules. Based on personal and patient experiences, however, the doctors and researchers we spoke with were able to offer a general idea of how long you may need to fast to reap certain benefits, which we’ll dive into below.

So, how long do you need to fast for the different benefits?

The benefits of a 12-hour fast.

Most of the experts we spoke with agreed, less than a 12-hour fast doesn’t really do anything. “Twelve hours [per day] is the minimum in my experience,” says integrative physician Amy Shah, M.D. “There’s research showing a 34% reduction in breast cancer recurrence with approximately 13 hours of fasting per day.” This may be thanks in part to the improved blood sugar regulation that occurs with this level of fasting.

Shorter fasts like this will also reduce your exposure to gut-associated toxins, like endotoxin, says Pedre, which is a harmful byproduct of bacterial death that contributes to metabolic syndrome, obesity, and inflammatory diseases. A daily 12-hour fast can also be beneficial for weight loss, adds Shah, but it would likely take a longer fasting period to enter ketosis or trigger autophagy.

The benefits of a 14- to 18-hour fast.

For many people, somewhere between 14 and 18 hours of fasting per day is the ideal range, providing more significant weight loss benefits than a 12-hour fast, while still being attainable, says functional practitioner B.J. Hardick, D.C. “For most people, this seems to be the sweet spot; others will need slightly longer to get those weight loss and other benefits,” he says.

Shifting into the fat-burning state known as ketosis can also occur during this range. While the specific point at which you enter ketosis will depend on a number of factors, including what you ate during your last meal, this typically happens within 12 to 22 hours of a meal—once you’ve burned through your glycogen stores (i.e., the carbs stored in your muscles and liver).

The benefits of an extended fast.

Pedre agrees that around 16 hours is a good daily fasting window for many (i.e., confining your eating to an eight-hour time frame and known as 16:8 fasting), but, he says, “You might not start seeing bigger benefits like autophagy until you reach 24 hours.” Autophagy is the natural process by which cells disassemble and clean out or recycle unnecessary or dysfunctional components so you can create new healthy cells. Autophagy reduces oxidative stress and inflammation, and taking steps to enhance autophagy may help reduce the risk of getting a number of chronic illnesses. 

Obviously, you can’t fast for 24 hours every day because, you know, food is essential for life. So if you do want to experiment with these longer autophagy-inducing fasts, you’ll have to strategically space them out. “My opinion is that a longer [24-hour] episode without any caloric intake done a few times per month over decades is likely the best approach for preventing chronic diseases because it is feasible to do consistently over a lifetime—the period of time that chronic diseases like coronary artery disease and diabetes develop,” says Benjamin Horne, Ph.D., a genetic epidemiologist who is currently conducting a trial evaluating the effectiveness of a once-per-week 24-hour water-only fast.

Fasts up to 36 hours have also shown promise for people with type 2 diabetes, says Pedre, but these would absolutely need to be done under the supervision of a medical professional.

So, how long should you fast for?

Whew, that’s a lot to take in! Bottom line, though, is that the ideal fasting window will vary depending on the individual. “What matters more, I think, is the duration of fasting that works for you,” says Pedre. “If you can’t stick with it or it isn’t working for whatever reason—say, you can’t concentrate—that’s a sign benefits are starting to drop off and you may need to scale back.”

Switching up your fasting plan may be beneficial as well.

Some experts find that people’s fasting results eventually stall, in which case it helps to switch things up. “Increase your fasting time to a few days a week or do a longer fast one day a week,” suggests Pedre. “In the end, what works best is mixing it up for your body and keeping it guessing when food is coming.”

To learn more about what IF approach may be right for you, check out other expert-powered articles about the different types of intermittent fasting plans, the ultra-popular 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule, and the fasting-mimicking diet. Also, be sure you know exactly what breaks a fast to ensure you’re getting the maximum possible benefit. 

Health and God

What’s the connection? From the very beginning of God’s creation, God has provided foods for us to eat. He has in His mind foods that are good for our health. When He created plants which are vegetables to us now, He knows they will be good for our body.

How many times we have read that vegetables, fruits, whole grains and all the plant based foods that originated from seeds were touted by researchers and functional doctors as life saving foods for our guts or microbiome. They’re the community of good bacteria that live and thrive in our immune system that fight virus, germs and toxins that inflame and could cause us to get sick and unhealthy.

On Exodus 16:31, God provided Manna a supernatural food, a special kind of food that God gave to the Israelites during their 40-year wandering in the desert. “The people of Israel called the bread Manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.”

Psalm 78:24 said that “God rained down Manna for them to eat. God gave them the grain of heaven, a miracle grain; the Bread of Life.”

“The Israelites went around gathering the Manna, they ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled in the camp at night, the Manna also came down.” (Numbers 11:8-9)

God knows that green plants are good for us, or else He will provide meat from the very beginning as the Israelites journeyed to the promised land. God eventually did provide quail meat, when the Israelites started complaining and started craving for other food: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic; which are still good nourishing food.

After the flood on Noah’s biblical time, God added meat for mankind to eat. But He has a caveat, a warning of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations about eating meat. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.” (Genesis 9:4) “God sees blood as a sacred thing. The humane treatment of animals may have been another reason why God told Noah not to eat meat with the blood still in it. God did not want mankind to act like the carnivorous animals, who caught their prey and began eating it immediately. Instead, they were to drain the blood from the carcass and thus ensure the animal was dead before it was consumed.” (from: Why did God prohibit eating meat with blood in it (Genesis 9:4)? | GotQuestions.org )

Daniel 1:15 reads:  “At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” Daniel and the three Israelites with him fasted by eating plant based food and drinking water.

God knows when He instructed and commanded to eat plants on Genesis 1:29 that there are tremendous health benefits in consuming them daily. He created and designed our body so He knows what is good for our body systems for long life.

Plant based foods support your immune system. Plants have essential nutrients that you cannot get from other foods. The vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants in plants help keep your cells healthy and your body in balance so that your immune system can function at its best.

“Plants give your body what it needs to help fight off infection,” says Andrea Murray, MD Anderson health education specialist. “A plant-based diet strengthens your immune system to protect you against germs and microorganisms.”

Plants’ essential nutrients work to resolve inflammation in your body. The same tiny phytochemicals and antioxidants that boost your immune system also go around your body neutralizing toxins from pollution, processed food, bacteria, viruses and more.

“Antioxidants in plants grab all these so-called free radicals that can throw your body off balance,” says Murray. “To reduce inflammation, it’s important to eat plant-based and to listen to your body’s signals for how foods work for you.”

Plants are high in fiber. Fiber is present in all unprocessed plant foods. It is what makes up the structure of the plant, and if you eat more of it you access a whole host of benefits.

Eating a plant-based diet improves the health of your gut so you are better able to absorb the nutrients from food that support your immune system and reduce inflammation. Fiber can lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar and it’s great for good bowel management.

Eating plant-based does not mean you can’t eat meat. It means your meals are mostly plants: vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Beans, seeds and nuts are also included.

Fill two-thirds of your plate with these plant-based foods. The remaining one-third should be a lean protein like chicken or fish, or a plant protein like tofu or beans.

Excerpts from: 5 benefits of a plant-based diet | MD Anderson Cancer Center

Another benefit in eating plant based is it lowers your blood pressure. Studies show that consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, low-sodium foods, and lean cuts of meat can not only lower high counts of blood pressure, but can also prevent complications such as stroke and heart disease.

When I added Red Beets and Arugula on my daily veggie salad intake, my BP readings make me happy!

Deuteronomy 30:15-16: “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase…”

“Medications” Without Side Effects

I tweaked my winter eating plan by continuing with my plant based diet. Years past I would reduce my veggies consumption during the coldest times of the year and substituted soups, hot oatmeals and some cold prevention diet formula. I’d barely get by with the dreary season, accompanied by seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which was so hard with my emotional moods. The cloudy days had not been helpful in tackling an under the weather feeling especially in January. 😕 I would take Gaba Plus, a dietary supplements, at the start of Autumn season to support my SAD mood. It’s an effective supplements. However, I cannot take it long term as it has a side effect of chest pains when I take it everyday for a month.

Veggie Power

Surprisingly, this time of the year when I would suffer from SAD, it was not an issue and I don’t feel emotionally down at all. I was astonished as I have so much energy throughout the day. I started realizing that veggies and fruits are giving these wonderful, welcome changes in what would be a dreadful season.

“Eating vegetables and fruits not only improves your physical health but also improves your emotional health. This has been proven through research conducted by the University of Queensland. Aside from that, fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C which is an important factor in the production of dopamine which is a neurotransmitter that regulates movement, learning, memory, emotion, happiness, sleep, and cognition. The antioxidants found in vegetables and fruits are also shown to protect a person from depression.”

VOILA! That is the answer!

“Fruits and vegetables contain high levels of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins that work together with enzymes bring important benefits to body functions, including in producing energy. Minerals support the forming of bone composition, blood, and maintain the function of body cells. So, by consuming vegetables and fruits, we will feel our body more fresh and energetic.“

That is so true about feeling fresh and energetic! That’s why I feel a new person in Spring and Summer. I thought it was because there’s more sun during these two seasons. The sun energizes me but with vegetables and fruits that I’ve been eating, the fresh feeling and my energetic mood are really the results of the plant based food I’ve been consuming!

These days, my veggie mix is consist of Romaine Lettuce, Cucumber, Kale, Arugula, Carrots, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Radicchio, & Broccoli.

“Fruits and vegetables have a content that can lower your blood pressure. For example, fruits and vegetables such as bananas, potatoes, beets, carrots and other fruits or vegetables that have a high enough potassium content can normalize your blood pressure.”

Veggies and fruits normalize my blood pressure. I do intermittent fasting so I only have one meal a day which consists of a grapefruit, or apple with peanut butter to start my morning, and lunch is always with big portion of veggie salad, my small main course of either fish, or lean pork, or chicken with small cup of white rice or brown rice. I would have a fruit dessert or two and some nuts and seeds or a small piece of an organic cocoa dark chocolate.

Lemon water after my lunch, helps lower my blood pressure naturally. I also drink 8 glasses of water each day.

In Winter, I always have grapefruits.

The fruits I eat in spring and summer have more varieties as those are the times they are in season. In winter, I can have apples, pomegranates, pears, persimmons, bananas, mangoes, avocadoes, all organic; and so with veggies we eat.

“Vegetables and fruits contain fiber that works to facilitate the digestive system in our body. We can also avoid hemorrhoid disease. However, for those of you who already suffer from hemorrhoid disease, consuming fruits and vegetables can cure the disease.”

“Vegetables and fruits contain antioxidants that are molecules capable of slowing or preventing other molecular oxidation processes. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals that can cause damage to the cells of the body.

However, with the help of thiols and vitamin C that act as antioxidants, our bodies can be free from those damages. Fruit especially has a very important benefit that is to support the ability to remember and process information in the brain and prevent Alzheimer’s.”

With eating vegetables and fruits, I don’t experience brain fog: “People who experience brain fog often describe it as a sense of confusion or disorganization, disorientation or feeling scattered. A diminished ability to react and difficulty thinking, expressing your thoughts or thinking through complex situations or calculations can all be considered brain fog.” My mind is sharp and clear ever since I eat veggies and fruits everyday. I eat more than four cups of veggies and at least two or three fruits a day.

“Eating fruits and vegetables helps your body avoid one of the leading causes of death, coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is caused by the inhibition of blood flow to the heart by fat. One way to overcome this is to get the content of folic acid.

Research has proven that this folic acid can serve to reduce levels of homocysteine, a substance that increases the risk of coronary heart disease. You can find this folic acid in fruits. In addition to folic acid, fruits also contain vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, and also phosphorus that are very beneficial to the body.”

This is so true! After a nuclear test I did in October, last year, my cardiologist told me that my heart is in very good condition. I told him that the veggies and fruits I’ve been eating are helping my heart! And he said: “That goes without saying! Definitely they are helping your heart! They are good natural blood thinners.

“A study has proven that people who only eat fruits and vegetables have the strength and endurance of the body 3 times greater than those who only consume meat.“

In my experience in the past, when I was eating more meat and bad carbs everyday and seldom eat veggies and fruits, my body dragged. I experienced heartburn, bloating, weight gain, high blood pressure, and poor night sleep. Consuming veggies and fruits daily, I do not experience headaches or migraine. When I’ve been eating veggies and fruits daily, I’m regular with bowel movement which is very important which helps in maintaining my weight and overall health.

The results of a study showed that people who consume five apples and skin at once for a week have better lung function and more protected from allergies. This is because the apple skin contains antioxidants that have antihistamine.

I haven’t been eating apples everyday, but it’s one of the fruits I eat that is included in my two to three fruits per day. One thing I’ve noticed is that since I’ve religiously been eating fruits and vegetables, (mostly raw), this winter, I have not gotten a cold nor seasonal allergy sneezing! I always get an allergy in Spring because of tree pollen; so I will find out for sure this Spring if I contract an allergy. Maybe then, I can consume an apple everyday to prevent pollen allergy: Pollen allergies can trigger allergic reactions, which affect the sinus and respiratory tract of those with this allergy. Symptoms can include watery eyes, runny nose, rhinitis, sore throat, coughing, increased mucous, headaches and asthma. I don’t get all of these symptoms, except sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes.

Fruits and vegetables have a fairly low calorie content, fat-free foods, and contain good fats for our health. Thus, a decrease in caloric intake is one of the health benefits of eating only fruits and vegetables.

I definitely able to maintain my weight. If I gain a pound or two, with regular daily consumption of veggies and fruits, I am able to lose the extra pounds and still able to not starve myself. With intermittent fasting, it gives a boost with losing weight without diet hardships.

Not all the nuts are in the can. ~Saying

I would end my meal with some nuts and sunflower seeds before I stopped eating for the day.

To top off all these amazing plant based eating benefits, the fiber from these veggies and fruits allow my immune system to thrive. And when I feed my microbiome: these little microbes, or I call them good tiny soldiers, they take good care of my cells and organs in my body and guard them like hawks and they make me feel good. I treat them good, these tiny soldiers repay me back with great health and well being. They are great fantastic guards!

The gut microbiome plays a very important role in our health by helping control digestion and benefiting our immune system and many other aspects of health,

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All the quoted paragraphs on the benefits of fruits and vegetables are excerpts from:

15 Health Benefits of Eating Only Fruits and Vegetables A Day

√ Scientific Checked

Trust and do Not Be Afraid

The dreadful 2020 has found its end! A start of a new year brings hope and assurance that it will not be the same as the previous year. At least, that’s how I feel.

God has always been my salvation and He made me overcome fear in 2020. I’ve always trusted in God’s deliverance, so my focus by the middle of Summer 2020 was no longer the pandemic. The Lord has always been giving me the strength and His power always delivers to overcome fear. I surely was fearful when Corona virus hit and spread in the U.S., and many concerns and worries got me somehow petrified. However, I started to deal with fear in a healthy way. I trusted God and I refused to allow fear to dominate my life.

If God takes care of the birds in the sky, what more with us who He created in His own image. According to the Holy Bible, He has loved us through the ages. We are His perfect creation. To God, we are more valuable than the sparrows. Just like Jesus disciples who cried for help when their ship was filling up with water and it was about to capsize; I came to God for help in fervent prayers. It’s the whole world being overcome by a deadly virus. It was making me somehow anxious. But then I remember what Jesus said to His disciples: “why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” He was with them on the boat. Faith was with them. He promised His followers that He will be with them even at the end of the ages. Jesus, as well as God, is a Promise Keeper. He got me through a lot of struggles and trials in life. Wouldn’t He not come through for me now? Of course, every time; He never fails! I held on to God’s promises and there are as many as enumerated in the scriptures of the Holy Bible. 1 John 5:4 said I am an overcomer. “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”

For God will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly diseases. He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

This is a promise to those that love Him and obey His commands and instructions; to those that are focused on Him, to those that trust Him and His Word. To those that faithfully spread His Good News of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:9 said “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” In 2020, with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, I maintained holding unswervingly on to the hope I profess, for I believe that God who promised is faithful. And He is! For God has not given me a spirit of fear. Fear does not come from Him. (2 Timothy 1:7) God has told those who love Him over 100 times in His Word not to be afraid. He tells us not to fear because He is in control. He is our refuge and strength.

God is saying “Do not be distressed or discouraged for He is with those who follow and obey and love Him. He will give you His strength through the storms of life. He will comfort you and sustain you and hold you on the palm of His hand.”

Do you know that God ranks us second under His angel armies?

Hebrews 2:7-9 explains that when Jesus became a man, He was made lower than the angels in the sense that He took on human flesh. He was still God. He was God in human flesh. He was temporarily lower than the angels because He took on human form. Therefore, Hebrews 2:7-9 implies that humans are made lower than the angels. Some day those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will judge the angels. The saints of the ages will judge the angels. This will occur not while we are made of flesh and bone. It will occur only after we receive our new heavenly bodies. This is a future event that will occur during the millennial kingdom which is the time that Christ will rule and reign as king (Zechariah 14:9-21). In the sense that Christians will judge angels, they will be greater than angels.
Are we equal, lower, or higher than the angels? | NeverThirsty

Jesus did not only leave and give His disciples peace, but He has given them and His followers who have put their trust in Him, His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s thoughts, teaches, and guides believers into all truth, including knowledge of what is to come. The Holy Spirit also helps Christians in their weakness and intercedes for them.

“Though our problems may be rooted in the physical, these do not have the power to overcome the Spirit of God within us. When we walk in the Spirit, the flesh has no power over us. That includes our physical minds. If you are in Christ, you have the power to rise above the demands of the flesh, and one of them is fear. The problem with the flesh is it is easily manipulated. This is why we are promised if we walk in the Spirit, the flesh has no power over us. God is Spirit. Through His Spirit we have life. Jesus said in order to be a worshiper of God we must be in Spirit and truth. When we walk in the Spirit, fear cannot remain. It will call and attempt to manipulate us, but the body of sin has been done away with. Since the spirit of fear is depended upon attacking us through the flesh, it has no power over us, unless we submit ourselves to it. The more we live in fear, the more fear takes root in our minds. Living in fear eventually changes our patterns of thinking and we will begin to allow negative emotions to rule our minds. The more our minds are made subject to negative patterns of thinking, the more we allow them to rule.” from: The Promise of a Sound Mind

God gives His followers the Holy Spirit so that we may know Him better. Since the Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit, it knows the thoughts of God and reveals those thoughts to believers. The Holy Spirit opens believers’ eyes to the hope of salvation and the inheritance they have in Christ. “We all have times that we feel weak and don’t know what to do. The Holy Spirit helps us line up with God’s will during those times by interceding for us.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). What Does the Holy Spirit Do? 10 Roles in Christian’s Life (christianity.com)

 I’ve banked God’s promises in the vault of my heart the whole time of 2020. He has kept my mind sound and my body healthy. He has given me wisdom on how to take care of myself. The Holy Spirit within me spoke to my senses to not let the news overwhelm me, but follow the sensible instructions on preventing infection. To open my eyes and be aware of deceptions and lies. In doing so, stress would not run my life; nor depression taking ahold in my heart. I believe God and His Word so much that has remained firm; and I’ve retained perseverance in my heart and mind; placing my faith and trust in God and His Son. The Holy Spirit has constantly reminded me of God’s scriptures in the Holy Bible. This new year, I will keep holding on to God’s strength that He gives me each day, for Jesus has promised that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me everyday.

Fruits for Breakfast!

I took a break from doing veggie and fruit smoothies and celery juicing for breakfast first week of July this year. I could feel my system needed a change. I’m completely off from any prescribed BP medication since last year and I feel good without those horrible side effects that came with BP med! My cardiologist couldn’t agree more. He was happy with my BP readings without the medication in my system, but instead it’s with the help of plant based eating daily.

Spring 2019 was dealing mostly with sinus allergy that seemed like forever. I thought the sneezing and runny nose would be my company for a while there. Even with smoothies and juicing, the sinus battle continued. I’ve ordered from Amazon anything Elderberry, Echinacea, Vicks Vaporub and inhaler and humidifier.

Spring was a struggle; but the Spring sun was a relief. I always enjoy the Spring sun, way too beautiful.

Since I stopped juicing and drinking homemade smoothies, which I have done mostly since 2016, I’ve decided to try eating fruits for breakfast this summer. There’s abundance of fruits in summertime so I am taking advantage of the many fruit choices. Although, Winter last year and Spring 2019, I was consuming citrus like oranges, pumelos, grapefruits aside from eating apples.

Oatmeal was my favorite morning warm ups. I kept up with veggie salads as sides for lunch. My BP readings stayed down and good. I’ve maintained my weight and kept myself busy with organizing and getting rid of dust collectors and clutters.

When I started fruits only for breakfast, my energy heightened much better than doing smoothies and celery juice. I’ve realized, too, that when I juiced fruits, it did not agree with my system as I’ve lost the fiber my body needs. However, when I eat whole fruits; three or four small servings of different kinds of fruits, I feel great! With veggie salads, all organic, like arugula, different varieties of cucumbers, romaine, tomatoes, avocados for lunch and a main daily homemade dish of small serving of either fish, or lean chicken or lean meat, I am set for the next hours of intermittent fasting daily. I’ve incorporated IF since 2016 and my sleeping patterns and circadian rhythms are at its best! Sleep has always been sweet. Unless, something is worrying me or there are exciting events the next day that would keep me tossing and turning, most of my sleeping hours are so satisfying. I found out that by the time I am ready for bed, all the food I’ve eaten have almost been fully digested by the time I hit the bed, so all my system has to do is repairing and healing what needs to be healed in my body while I’m asleep. Eating fruits in the morning has lowered my blood pressure naturally, much better readings than with smoothies and juicing.

There are some days I’d get off IF when travelling or eating out. If I get lucky, and I did not eat restaurants’ foods which cause heartburn, my sleep will still be okay. Sometimes, I need that break, but the next day, I’d go back to my eating schedules to maintain my weight. It’s not easy especially when I splurge on some sweet desserts and bread. But I need to focus for the sake of my blood pressure.

As we get older, blood pressure spikes especially if we are not eating right. I’ve learned that high blood pressure leads to so many illnesses. It’s an indicator when something is wrong in our body. It’s a signal of some future events that are detrimental to our health. I’ve learned of this after thorough research and personal experiences when I started getting aware of this silent killer. High blood pressure almost always show up as one of the contributing factors to illnesses when diagnosed with heart disease, heart failure, stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, kidney disease, Adrenal and thyroid disorders, sleep apnea as one of the few known causes associated with high blood pressure.

So, organic fruits for breakfast to the rescue! So many fruit choices, including bananas, apples, cherries… I love summer!

Intermittent Fasting is my way of life

 

I’ve been on intermittent fasting for almost two years now and I’d say I’ve never felt better in my whole entire life. I’m so used to doing it that my body has well adapted to this daily fasting regimen that I don’t feel deprived. Drinking 8 glasses of water after eating only within a certain ‘window’ of time each day, has helped curve any hunger. On my daily eating window, I make sure to eat wholesome plant based foods which keep me full and would carry me during my fasting hours.

New study from the University of Florida proposes that intermittent fasting works because it causes repeated “flipping of the metabolic switch.” After you have fasted for about 12 hours, you start to lose body fat because your body is forced to change temporarily from its main energy source, glucose (sugar) to fat from the fat stored in your body, and using these fatty acids that are converted to energy to produce ketones that are also used for energy. The “metabolic switch” is defined as the shift from using glucose to using fatty acids and fatty-acid-derived ketones for energy, and then shifting back to glucose when eating is resumed. This leads to weight loss and a variety of other metabolic benefits including lowered blood pressure, resting heart rate, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar levels. Most of the studies reviewed in this new article show that intermittent fasting caused weight loss primarily through loss of body fat, not loss of muscle.  **DrMirkin.com

My recent blood test has confirmed to me that my daily intermittent fasting has greatly improved my numbers. My fasting blood glucose level has gone from 92 in 2015 to 85 in 2018.

Blood sugar testing measures how much glucose is in the bloodstream. No matter what is eaten, from a small snack to a large meal, blood glucose values rise in response to any carbohydrates that are digested.

In a healthy person, the pancreas reacts to the higher blood glucose by releasing insulin, a hormone that converts blood sugar into usable energy.
In addition to carbohydrates, other body processes also raise blood sugar levels.  When a person fasts, which is defined medically as not eating or drinking anything aside from water for at least eight hours, the release of glucagon is triggered in the body. Glucagon instructs the liver to metabolize reserve supplies of glycogen, which are then circulated into the bloodstream as sugars. Accordingly, the amount of plasma glucose goes up. This is how the body creates energy even while fasting.

In sum, when diabetes is not present the body responds to all blood sugars by manufacturing insulin in proportion with the glucose level. When it comes to fasting blood sugars, insulin lowers and stabilizes the levels so that they remain in a normal, healthy range. Yet when any form of diabetes is present, either pre-diabetes, Type 1 diabetes or Type 2 diabetes, the whole physiological process doesn’t work correctly, and blood sugars are often considerably higher than normal. The fasting blood sugar test (FBS) is commonly used to detect the existence of diabetes. **BloodSugarEasy.com

I have cut down considerably, from my daily lifestyle diet, the ingestion of simple sugar and processed foods. Most processed foods have added sugar that our body does not need. I reduced intake of sweet carb desserts like cake, pastries, cookies, crackers, chocolates, ice cream; you name it, I cut it down and lost my sugar addiction in the process. 

I have added more organic fruits like apples, pears, most berries, bananas, kiwi, mangoes and other seasonal fruits. I alternate eating them and when they are available, but there’s always fruits in my daily eats.

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables help to reduce the chance of obesity, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and other health issues. While fruit juices and applesauce aren’t necessarily something you have to avoid when planning your meals around diabetes, these snacks have had their fiber removed and as such lack much of the nutrition found in whole fruits while hosting a higher sugar content. Fruit has been identified in American diets as one of the most under-consumed foods, with the standing recommendation being to consume at least 2 cups of fruit in a daily diet of 2000 calories. Consuming a well-rounded nutrient profile while minimizing foods that can lead to spikes in blood sugar is essential for diabetics to function at their best.

Vegetables became my main food ingredients in my daily meal. Most days, my breakfast consists of green smoothies. They consist of different types of organic kale, spinach, carrots and broccoli. My lunch I always make veggie salads which can be with cucumber, tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, romaine, radicchio, all organic. My plate is an abundance of veggies with small share of lean meat, chicken or seafood, with small portion of brown rice and quinoa.  I cook daily and I seldom eat out.

I was able to maintain my weight and I can say intermittent fasting has helped me with that and more. There are more great results I’ve got from my recent blood test that I will cover next time I blog.

 

 

Walking for health and energy

Today, I walked along the sidewalks of Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris!

Although I’ve been to the country sides of France, during our travel, we intentionally decided not to be in Paris at all.

Today via Live Stream, I felt like I was there and walked the streets of this popular tourists destination. I’ve discovered these Live Stream videos on You Tube last year and I incorporated these video walks with my treadmill exercises. I really enjoyed it. I’ve gone to different parts of the world via these Live Streams. I’ve gone to Hawaii, Australia, Wales (in real life, we were in Wales in 2014), the country sides of Great Britain and some places here in the U.S.

I really enjoy these virtual walks on my treadmill. It’s mostly a 30 to 35 minutes of walking. The videos are well done and I actually feel like I was there at these places walking and enjoying the sights.

These Paris street sidewalks are just like walking on the streets of the Los Angeles Rodeo Drive but on a bigger scale. They also have stores popular in the U.S. like Sephora, Disney, Gap, QuickSilver, Abercrombie & Fitch, among others.

Some of the health benefits of walking include good physical and mental health, protection from heart ailments, diabetes, cancer, and other types of chronic conditions. Further studies show that walking increases bone mineral density and prevents the condition of osteoporosis.

 

 

Too much cholesterol

According to WEBMD, our body through our liver produces 75 percent of cholesterol that circulate in our blood. A normal level of cholesterol plays an important part in helping our cells do their proper jobs in our body system. 25 percent of cholesterol comes from our food. Therefore, when we eat foods high in cholesterol more than our body needs; and we eat them everyday, it can cause damage deep within our body. We don’t feel any symptoms when our body carries too much cholesterol, but over our life span, it can lead to a build up of plaque inside the arteries and narrows the space available for blood flow and can trigger heart disease. It’s pretty scary!

But there are ways to lower our body’s  cholesterol, thank goodness! First stop is to have our cholesterol level tested via blood testing at the doctor’s office. The results would show the levels of bad (LDL), good (HDL) and triglycerides.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I started this blog and has kept my weight down with the help of plant based eating, I have lowered my blood pressure and my last cholesterol test showed a low level because of the plant based foods I’ve become accustomed to. My intake of meat, poultry and seafood becomes my side dishes. I’m still into smoothies, apples, oranges, grapefruit which I eat in the morning after drinking a glass of water. I still drink eight glasses of water. Most especially, I still keep track and weigh myself daily before I start my day. If I gain a pound or maybe two, I eat more plant based and lesser simple carbs and less protein and I still do intermittent fasting.  If I am mindful of what I eat daily, keeping the weight down is easier nowadays.

Keeping it real

Based on what I experienced in the past in regards to weight loss and maintenance is to always be updated with articles about getting fit. They may sound to me as the same advice, but another article might sound more specific and gives me inspiration to keep up with being fit. I’ve learned from past experience that when I let go and  stop paying attention about what I’ve read, I lost the desire to keep my weight down, and for all I know the weight crept up on me.

Before the internet swept us all up with all the high tech, the smart phones, and tremendous flow of articles about everything under the sun, including health advice and healthy nutrition, I was buying all kinds of fitness, nutrition and health magazines. I subscribed to some of them. It got pretty expensive and took up a lot of space that I am glad that I can just put the articles now on my favorites to read later.

I do not have so much weight to lose, so I can be a little flexible, controlled eating 2 or 3 days and eat a little more on one particular day. I follow pretty much the article below that I’ve read recently. It’s good to have those days when some cravings get fulfilled .

Today, I ate what I’ve wanted and not worry of the extra intake, watched a favorite period drama series that my husband and I enjoy, but we still maintain having fruits and whole grains. I ate more than my share of peanuts, ate more of my lunch meal and I was pretty much happy. I still religiously follow intermittent fasting everyday. After each meal, I continuously drink water until I have about 8 to 9 glasses of water, and that would keep me full.

 

It’s true that a good night sleep would prevent me from overeating. So I make it a habit to sleep at the same time each night to help me dose off quickly and restfully.

Whether you’ve recently lost a bunch of weight, you’re heading out on a vacation, or a big holiday of eating is coming up, preventing weight gain is easier than you think. Aside from no-brainers like drinking a lot of water and not eating an entire cake every day, keep these tips in mind, and you won’t have to worry about the scale numbers creeping up.

Save yoga pants for yoga

Wearing leggings when you’re not down dogging is comfy, yes, but a bad habit to get into. The stretchy fabric and elastic waistband are so forgiving that you’ll have no idea if your waist is expanding. Save the spandex for your workouts and opt for something more structured like a pair of jeans or a fitted dress so you can keep tabs on your waistline.

Fiber, and more of it    

Fiber has the ability to fill you up for hours. Include at least eight grams at every meal and three to four at every snack to help you reach a goal of 25 to 30 grams a day. Nosh on fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and seeds and you’ll have no problem getting your fill.

30 minutes, at least

Get in the habit of moving daily. Aim for at least a half hour, with four to five days devoted to more rigorous or longer workouts, and two to three days a more moderate workout like walking, hiking, or stretching. Be sure to include strength training with weights since building muscle helps you burn calories faster. If you don’t have time, studies show that even 15 minutes proves beneficial.

Make one meal of the day a big, huge salad to fill up on fiber without a ton of calories. Include a variety of greens and fresh veggies in your salad along with a low-fat protein source like beans or marinated tofu, add cooked whole grains to make it even more filling, plus avocado or sunflower seeds to add healthy fats. Ensure you eat one salad every day by making a week’s worth all at once.

Chocolate, alcohol, or french fries

Cravings only grow stronger with time, so keep them at bay by giving in to them! Indulging a little every day will settle those cravings, so you can move on and stay committed to your healthy diet. The key, though, is to enjoy a small taste and to be done. Don’t let a little indulging turn into a week of eating whatever you want.

Research shows those who are sleep-deprived tend to eat hundreds of calories more, not just because they’re awake longer, but because sleep affects levels of hunger-regulating hormones.

Feeling tired makes you more likely to reach for sugary pick-me-ups. Get to bed at the same time every night (even on weekends), and set your alarm for the next day, making sure to get between seven and nine hours of sleep.

As a bonus, the extra energy will allow you to hit your a.m. workout with intensity, instead of hitting the snooze button and skipping out.

derived from:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/weightloss/6-things-you-can-do-every-day-to-prevent-weight-gain/ar-AAh3hv8?ocid=spartandhp#page=1

 

 

 

Calorie Awareness

People nowadays can easily consume more than 2,000 calories in one seating. With the abundance of restaurants and fast food chains, a person can easily devour more than 4,000 calories from eating breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner in a day. If a person eat this much everyday, the weight gain is obvious. And if this person is not eating healthy, the person’s immune system would suffer and so does the rest of the person’s body organs and cells. Chronic diseases will follow suit.

This worth of breakfast food is 2,100 calories, according to The Upshot article on What 2,000 calories look like.

This lunch combination, or it can be for dinner,  is worth a whooping 2,670 calories.

This delicious meal just by itself without a soda or side dish and bread is 2,370 calories.

And when we dine out, we totally disregard the need to eat veggies and fruits that have so much nutrients and what our immune system is craving for. So, when we eat restaurant entrée and fast food, our digestive system is working so hard. If we are lucky, our body may get some protein in the process, but mostly bad fat and bad carbs that would add up to our waistline because that is where the bad food we had eaten would end up, while our immune system starve to death.

Ever since I’ve started using food scale and have been journaling my food intake for a year now,  I’ve noticed that my stomach has adjusted to the reduced calories I’ve been consuming each day.  I’ve mostly consumed foods eaten at home which I prepare and cook. Occasionally my hubby and I would venture and eat out at Whole Food’s food court or buy the ready made lunch/dinners they sell, which is heat and eat. Mostly, they are nutritious and not so high in calories. We’ve dined out occasionally on special occasion and I would go back to eating less the following day.

I’ve read that the way to accomplish this effect is to train your body to get used to accommodating smaller meals. Your stomach will adjust to proportions suitable for the needs of the average quantity of food you’re used to taking in, in a single serving. Over time, eating smaller-portioned meals reduces the size your stomach is accustomed to inflating during mealtime.

This is one of my measured food portion for lunch which consisted of Asparagus Risotto at 71 calories, a combo of wild Akeya rice and brown rice at 203 calories, baked chicken wings at 107 calories and 136 calories of Romaine and Avocado salad with cucumber and Siracha ranch dressing. The total calories for lunch that I have eaten was 517 calories. That day I had also consumed 301 calories of healthy breakfast cereal with strawberries mixed with plain Kefir. For snack I had an apple with peanut butter and some blackberries at 235 calories. For a year now, I’ve used smaller plates and bowls. For my drink, I always have 8 glasses of water consumed in a day, not counting my glass of Mineral Water I would drink for lunch almost everyday. Thankfully, Mineral Water is zero calories.

My total calories that day was 1,053.

To maintain my weight, according to this plan, I have to eat 1,599 calories (for me this is a lot of calories)  and to lose weight, I have to eat less than 1,368 calories a day.

I can see now why I gained a lot of weight from dining out. I had eaten more than 1,599 calories. Knowledge is power definitely! Using a food scale now, it revealed to me that  it’s very easy to eat more than 2,000 calories or more in a day!

I’ve learned that veggies and fruits have lower calories. We can eat lots of veggies and fruits combined and it will not even make it to 2,000 calories. Amazing!

According to this article I’ve read, women who consume more fruit and vegetables have a healthier and more attractive glow than those who don’t, scientists have discovered.

Carotenoids – a type of pigment found in carrots, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens and tomatoes, is credited with helping to protect against cancer.

People consuming diets rich in carotenoids are healthier and have lower death rate from a number of chronic illnesses.

The chemical can also work as antioxidants, aiding in the prevention of cancer.

A recent study showed that eating at least seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day was linked to a 42 per cent lower risk of death from all causes.

I’ve just read that: “A new study published in JAMA Oncology revealed four lifestyle choices that can reduce the risk of breast cancer. Staying away from smoking, keeping a healthy weight, limiting alcohol intake and avoiding hormone therapies after menopause can lower your risk of getting breast cancer by 30 percent.”