From the Desk of a Dietician

Hi, I’m Brooke- A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, which is a fancy way of saying nutrition expert. I get asked a lot of interesting questions, and this is an article series where I share a few good questions and reoccurring common inquires. 

Question: What are your thoughts on intermittent fasting? Not for weight loss, but as a means to increase mental fortitude. For example- realizing my hunger pains are really just part of the cephalic phase, and I’m not really hungry. Grazing is my biggest problem, so I was thinking of doing some fasts to help curb bored eating.

Answer: In all honesty- No, I do not think intermittent fasting would be a good fit for you. So hear me out... 

By fasting and waiting for a feeding widow, it will most likely create a cycle of restriction and binging. Truly the best time to eat is when you are hungry, and it works for your schedule. If you are having trouble with eating the amount of food you have set as a target, this indicates a variety of things. 

Here are the top possibilities: 

1. You are eating far too little for your daily activity needs and/or you have been in a calorie deficit for too long, and you need to reverse diet back up to get to an appropriate maintenance level to give your body a break. 
2. You are under a lot of stress and/or not getting quality sleep and your body is trying to get more energy from food. 
3. You truly are bored, and most likely stressed, and just eating food as a comfort or emotional eating. 

In each of these situations, I still wouldn't recommend intermittent fasting as a solution. 

Additional Thoughts

If you are hungry and craving food, there are many different reasons this happens and different solutions depending on the person. And nine times out of ten, it’s not because you are lacking mental fortitude. Your body is trying to give you valuable feedback about what it’s experiencing and what it needs. If you can related to this question, here are some other things to consider while problem solving what is going on with your nutritional status. 

• What are your current energy levels like?
• How is your mood?
• How is your sleep quality and duration?
• What are your stress levels like?
• How do your workouts feel?
• How are you recovering from those workouts?
• What are your hunger levels and patterns you recognize? 
• What is your sex drive like?

All of these things are what we call biofeedback markers. These are ways to track progress and listen to your body’s feedback on what is really going on. Nutrition is so much more than the number on the scale. 

Do you have a nutrition question you’ve thinking about and your tired of googling endlessly for the answers? Send an email to brooke@soflete.com to have a dietitians opinion.