Intermittent Fasting and Hormone Health
Intermittent fasting has been a hot topic in the health and wellness space for the past few years. This ancient practice has been long used by the eastern world and has recently grown extremely in popular in the western world for its undeniable health benefits. It is a growing trend and a hot topic among nutritionists, clients and health practitioners.
One of the first westerners to notice the benefits of intermittent fasting was researcher, James Clear, who noted that intermittent fasting extended the life of his research mice. This primary research took place in the 1940’s and there have been countless animal and, more importantly, human studies to show us the true benefit of intermittent fasting. And while there are numerous health benefits, intermittent fasting isn’t totally for everyone and can be difficult on women’s health specifically.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent Fasting is a timed approach to eating. Unlike many other diets, intermittent fasting, strictly focuses on the time when you eat. The primary focus is to provide the body with a necessary rest time between meals and increases the release of stored fat as a primary fuel source for the body. Intermittent fasting can be tailored to your unique needs and commonly practice weekly and sometimes even daily.
When you are in a fasted state, you are no longer providing your body with glucose or sugar, which your body typically uses as a fuel source. Instead, once the body has exhausted all available glucose (which typically occurs anywhere between 12-16 hours of fasting), your body will induce the release of stored glucose. This form of stored glucose is known as glycogen. Your body will begin to breakdown this glycogen into ketones that your body can use as a primary fuel source.
The researched health benefits of intermittent fasting include; lowered insulin, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, promotes weight loss, etc. While these are all promising health benefits, intermittent fasting can be tough on hormones and the female body. Intermittent fasting can affect women in unexpected ways, so it is important to learn how to use intermittent fasting as a tool to improve your health and not work against you.
How Intermittent Fasting Pertains to Hormone Health
Men and women are wired differently and truly respond to intermittent fasting in different ways. Animal-based research shows that prolonged use of intermittent fasting can cause disruption to hormone balance.
Our body naturally undergoes hormonal fluctuations each month, from stimulating ovulation, preparing for a pregnancy to shedding the endometrial lining during our menses and starting again from scratch. Our body is constantly influenced by hormones and this is why our menstrual cycle has a rhythm of its own. This unique rhythm is an important part of our overall health and a true window into our fertility. When fasting is introduced, it causes stress on the body, which in turn affects our cortisol levels. This can wreak havoc on our hormones and cortisol levels – making it difficult to have our hormones function correctly.
Since intermittent fasting can have a negative effect on our hormones, it can, in some cases, be associated with missed periods, hormone imbalance, ovarian dysfunction (anovulation), or infertility. This does not mean that as a woman you can never intermittent fast, however, it does mean you need to be mindful of these possible effects and is a reason why I do not recommend intermittent fasting if you are trying to conceive. It’s not ideal to leave your body in a stressed state and wondering when the next meal is coming when trying to prepare to conceive. Intermittent fasting is also not recommended in pregnancy or postpartum (due to its effect on milk production)
Intermittent fasting, as previously mentioned, has, however, been extremely beneficial in lowering insulin resistance in patients suffering from PCOS and can be used short-term to reduce the severity of insulin resistance and in-turn improve the chance of a successful pregnancy. The key term here is “short-term” and that is typically what I like to recommend to my female clients who are looking to utilize intermittent fasting. There are certain circumstances that I will recommend intermittent fasting on a case-by-case basis, however, I tend to recommend that my female clients avoid it to protect their overall hormone health.