Sharp, Smart and Charismatic, Neuroscientist Dr. Kristen Willeumier Spends Time with Us Discussing Fasting, Its Different Forms and Potential Health Benefits
When it comes to your health, particularly brain health, why might fasting be beneficial? It is a good question. Recently, it seems, there has been interest in the concept of fasting as a tonic for good health. As with anything related to diet and exercise, it is important to speak with your physician before undertaking a fast.
If you are looking for an in-depth discussion about how fasting might be useful for you, look no further. In an almost one hour discussion, neuroscientist Dr. Kristen Willeumier and featured columnist Jay Bildstein discuss a variety of topics related to the subject. Kristen, for example, says she is a veteran of the master cleanse and has undertaken it for up to a week at a time. She says it is something she has firsthand experience with for almost 20 years.
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On why she thinks fasting can be beneficial to a person’s health, Dr. Kristen Willeumier offers this:
“The reason why fasting is so important, I don’t think about it just in terms of the brain health, but I think of the overall body health primarily because the products that we’re consuming on a daily basis, the foods that we’re eating can result in very serious health concerns. For example, we’re consuming additives.
Over 3000 additives are added to our food, synthetic hormones and growth hormones are being injected into the animals that we consume, there’s genetically engineered foods that are created to help the resistance to viruses, and not to mention to pesticides, mercury from farm-raised fish, artificial food colorings and dyes. And all of this tends to result in inflammation in the body. So we think of fasting as a really wonderful way to help reduce chronic inflammation. And why is that important? So many diseases of aging result from chronic inflammation.”
When it comes to a simple way to start fasting, Dr. Willeumier suggests a person eat their last meal of the day by 7:00 PM:
“I actually think there’s an easy way to start the fasting process. I like people doing the intermittent fasting where you have your last meal by seven o’clock at night and say you have breakfast at 7:00 AM. That’s a 12 hour fast. Now the research supports that it takes 16 to 18 hours to really start to get some of the strong benefits of fasting. But can you imagine that if for one or two days a week you did that.
And over the course of six months, a year, a decade, those positive behaviors will add up. And I think what people will find is they feel better, they will eat less, their stomachs get smaller and I think some of the bad habits that people have, we get so addicted to sugar, your taste buds will change. You might not need that bagel you have in the morning or the coffee that you get at the Starbucks.”
*Editor’s Note: The interview above is not medical advice. Before undertaking fasting or any diet and or exercise program, please consult your physician.
You can find Dr. Willeumier’s official website here.
You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.
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