By Dr. Tracy Vest, DPT

The No-Prep Meal Prep

I don't know about you but sometimes figuring out what I'm going to eat for lunch is a challenge. My job has me in the car much of the day driving to and from patient homes. So, it can be tempting to just rely upon drive-through restaurants or finding a dine-in spot where I could eat and work. For one, this is not so good on the wallet and two it's not so good on the waistline! Not to mention the long list of preservatives and artificial additives that can be found in these foods.

If I can encourage you to do one thing, it would be to stop eating fast foods! You will trade convenience for your health and honestly, that's not a good trade. These companies use food additives to enhance the flavor, making these foods much more addictive to keep you coming back for more. I would say it's like a chain around your neck, but it's much more like a hook within your mouth.

Fast Food's Fangs

Like that wolf in sheep's clothing. It may look harmless enough, with its pleasing aroma and satisfying taste. But once this food hits the stomach and intestinal track that is when the wolf begins to do his work. At this point, what was once covered by its harmless appearance now allow its fangs to fully emerged and bite into you as inflammatory oil molecules, hormone disrupting chemicals, artificial food dyes that are known to cause cancer, and so much more.

Sounds good right? No... it's time that we break these unholy covenants that we've made with food. Rip the contract, break the chain, cut the line, and reclaim your health! It may seem hard to break away from these habits at first, but I can guarantee you that if you can just resist the cravings and start to feed your body nutrient dense foods that it actually needs; over time the cravings will subside. You may even begin to find yourself a little repulsed at the idea of putting these things in your body. Just saying...

"No-Prep" Meals

So, what did I do about my dilemma for a quick on the go meal? I've learned to keep healthy foods on hand that I can just grab and throw into my lunch box with little to no prepping.

I would love to be more consistent with prepping enough full meals in my fridge for easy grabbing through the week, but that's not always the case. Keeping things like pistachios, Brazil nuts, key limes, dates, boiled eggs, avocados, kiwi, apples, peanut butter, cucumbers, and sourdough bread on hand in my kitchen are enough to not only satisfy me but also provide my body with nutrients to function. That's a much better trade off!

An Alternative Option to No-Prep Meals

However, if you are looking for a quick pre-made meal that also takes no prep time and offers you plenty of health benefits. Then might I suggest trying Metabolic Meals. They have a large selection of meals that are pre-made and great for people who deal with digestive issues, as well as those who struggle with Metabolic Syndrome. These meals are particularly good for those trying to manage Diabetes. Click to link below to find out more.

Resources used for this article:

Healthline, DoveMed, Well.Org

The Secret Chemicals in Fast Food and What They're Doing To You - Well.Org

Pistachio Nutrition and Health Benefits

Why Are Brazil Nuts Good for You?

8 Proven Health Benefits of Dates

6 Reasons Why Eggs Are the Healthiest Food on the Planet

7 Health Benefits of Avocados

7 Health Benefits Of Key Lime - DoveMed

Kiwi Benefits: Heart Health, Digestion, and More

Apple and Peanut Butter: Nutrition, Calories, and Benefits

6 Health Benefits of Eating Cucumber

Sourdough Bread: Nutrients, Benefits, and Recipe

The Perfect Breakfast

Intermittent Fasting

by Dr. Tracy Vest

What if the best meal for "breakfast" is no meal at all?

Did you know that breakfast literally translate into break-fast? Meaning it is when you break from a period of fasting and allow yourself to consume food.

Of course, food is vital for energy, growth, and life! But did you know there are many health benefits to allowing your body to remain in a state of fasting?

Benefits

One of the benefits that immediately comes to mind, is it helps to control the over consumption of calories. Over consuming calories can lead to obesity or carrying excess weight. Obesity is known to be precursor for many chronic diseases including heart disease and diabetes. It can also increase the degeneration of joints leading to worsening arthritic symptoms. Obesity is defined as a BMI>or=30kg/m². Check your BMI here.

Other benefits are listed below as I review the phases of fasting.

Phases of Fasting

Here is a great breakdown to the phases your body will go through with each hour of fasting.

In general:

Phase 1: 0 – 4 Hours

The first four hours after eating is considered the “anabolic phase.” Anabolic refers to the process where your body builds tissue. In the phase you will convert the nutrients you eat into mainly muscle.

Phase 2: 4 – 16 Hours

Fasting hours 4 to 16 hours moves you into the “catabolic phase.” In this phase you will begin Ketosis and Autophagy. Basically, your body has depleted the energy reserves from the food you've eaten. It begins to breakdown larger fat molecules stored for energy into smaller molecules in order to fuel your cells.

This is the process of ketosis. Autophagy is a little different. It refers to the process of actual cellular repair and renewal. This is the state we want to reach for deep healing of the cell.

Phase 3: 16 – 24 Hours

This phase will take you deeper into ketosis because now you are primarily burning fat, and your body will continue in the process of autophagic or inner healing.

Phase 4: 24 – 72 Hours

Phase 4 is the peak phase for ketosis and autophagy where your body is being fueled by fat stores in the body. If you are looking to burn the excess fat, this is the phase to reach. It is also the phase that is noted to have reduced brain fog or improve mental clarity. Along with this comes something called BDNF. This is short for brain-derived neurotrophic factor. BDNF is a pretty amazing protein that helps grow and maintain these new brain neurons.

Phase 5: 72+ Hours

At 72+ hours or 3+ days of fasting, this has significantly passed the point of intermittent fast and has entered prolonged fasting. Of course, in this prolonged state of fasting there are the benefits of ketosis, autophagy, and BDNF. In addition, in this phase, you may start to see stem cell production. This can further protect your cells against toxins and improve your immune response.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Fasting can be beneficial at any phase; however, you must proceed with caution when entering into a fast for an extended amount of time. If you have comorbidities that would affect your body's ability to control blood sugar, fasting may send you into a state of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar which can be very dangerous to your health. It is recommended to seek medical advice prior to beginning any extended fast if you are known to have other comorbidities.

Experts have not pinpointed exactly how long a person can live without food, but some have been reported to go many weeks without eating. However, you must remember, fasting is only beneficial to the point of using your fat reserves. Fasting longer than this becomes starvation. And starvation is when your body is desperate for energy, and it begins to break down muscle leading to atrophy.

Conclusion

So, the key take-away here is that intermittent fasting is a safe way to incorporate the benefits of fasting in short intervals of time. Fasting "breakfast" is a good way to start putting this principle into practice in your daily or weekly routine. And now it's time to challenge yourself, how long can you go before breaking your fast?

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Prolon (Meal fasting system?)

Thank you for reading this article. I understand fasting can be hard, and many never reach the phases that reap the benefits of autophagy. So, I wanted to take a moment to share this extraordinary meal fasting system called Prolon. And yes, I said meal fasting. Prolon provides you with scientifically developed meals that allows your body to enter the phases of fasting including autophagy! I am excited to be a Practitioner Provider of this meal system, and I wanted to share my discount with you. Click the link below.