The Habit Society

⚡️ Intermittent Fasting

To: Society Members

Good Morning!

First off, to everyone who hit their plank goals—congrats!

Now that we’ve passed the 5-minute mark, we’re shaking things up a little bit. Instead of planking, we’ll be hosting core workouts starting at 5 minutes, and increasing by a minute every 2 weeks.

DON’T WORRY! We still have Plank Personal Record Days every Saturday at 10am EST.

Here’s the Zoom link to join us weekdays at 8:30am &/or 6:30pm EST.

– ⚡️Ashley

Intermittent Fasting

I usually don’t put quotes up here but I thought this week, it was necessary (and responsible) to get this point about intermittent fasting out of the way:

“Fasting and starving live on opposite sides of the world. It is the difference between recreational running and running because a lion is chasing you” – Jason Fung.

What Is It?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating whereby you only eat during a predetermined time-frame.

Why Do It?

The listicle of benefits include improving mental clarity and concentration, inducing weight loss and body fat loss, lowering blood sugar levels, improving insulin sensitivity, increasing energy, triggering fat burning, lowering blood cholesterol and preventing Alzheimer’s.

Insulin & Disease

A big reason to get on the IF bandwagon is to lower insulin levels. Insulin plays an important role in our bodies by bringing sugar from the blood into the liver and fat cells when we eat. Basically, it promotes fat creation and storage. This was highly beneficial when we lived in a world where famine could be around the corner. Our fat storage’s evolutionary role is to feed us in an absence of food. Our ancestors, not abundant in resources, also weren’t eating three meals (and three pre-meal snacks) daily. So now that we are (thanks to Uber Eats promo codes), there are some unwanted side effects of having all of this insulin secreted continuously.

All foods raise insulin at least a little bit—pure carbohydrates the most and pure fats the least. By going against our ancestral ways and eating 21+ meals a week, too much insulin is being released into our bodies. The problem arises because our bodies are evolved to create a tolerance to things it gets a lot of (think alcohol; the more you drink, the more you can drink). So as a result of eating too frequently, our bodies develop a tolerance and resistance to insulin (type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance). Once we become resistant to insulin, more and more insulin is required to be released when sugar enters our bodies (aka when we eat, particularly carbs), perpetuating the problem. More insulin secreted means more fat storage. Fasting helps by reducing insulin levels for longer periods of time, increasing its sensitivity to it (ie. needing less insulin to do the same job), and preventing diseases related to high insulin levels like type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s (which has recently been referred to as type 3 diabetes). Also, once insulin is low enough, we can access our fat storage and burn that as fuel. Without insulin levels low, we cannot burn fats from storage. Insulin is like a one-way valve. So when insulin is up, calories can come in but they can’t go out.

Debunking The ‘Eat Less, Move More’ Trend

We should read up on the science before getting our health facts from Forever 21 T-shirts.

A 1959 study estimated that the advice to merely ‘eat less and move more’ had a 98% failure rate for weight loss. A 2015 randomized controlled trial by The Women’s Health Initiative further debunked this axiom after following 50,000 women’s diets over 7.5 years. One group lowered their daily calorie intake by 361 calories and increased their exercise rate by 14%. The other group followed their usual diet and exercise regimen. The results showed that the actual difference in weight loss between the two groups was not even 2 pounds. The average waist size in the low-calorie and increased-exercise group grew from 35 to 35.4 inches.

We can also see these results in NBC’s The Biggest Loser. Season 3 winner Kai Hibbard confessed, “it was the biggest mistake of my life”. Season 2’s Susanna Mendonca recognized that there is never a reunion show because “we’re all fat again.” 13/14 of the contestants regained all the weight lost because their metabolisms slowed down significantly by taking this advice. We’ll explore why this happens in an upcoming newsletter.

All of our health sources are telling us that this ‘truism’ of eat less, move more should work. When it doesn’t, we blame ourselves. Clearly, there was a need for a new system and a new strategy. Intermittent fasting may be it.

How Do I Fast?

I think (and hope) you know what we are going to say here by now: start slow.

Fasting can range from a 12-hour fast to a week-long fast (and some more extreme month-long fasts)

If you’re new to this, you can start with a 12-hour fast, and increase by 1-hour every week until you find your sweet spot. It may take a week to adjust to not having breakfast right when you wake up or eating a super early dinner, but you will get used to it. I personally love 16-hour fasts but not beyond that. It’s all about trial and error!

Timing also matters. Eating larger meals in the evening causes higher rises of insulin than eating earlier in the day, so it’s better to eat earlier in the day and stop earlier in the evening.

Who Should Not Fast

Anyone who is younger than 18 years old, pregnant, breastfeeding, severely malnourished, or has an eating disorder or history of one. Anyone with diabetes must speak to their doctor to be closely monitored due to the possibility of hypoglycemia.

An Update on Sylvia

Habit: 5 weeks ago, Sylvia set out to go to bed by 10pm.

Progress: Having an alarm as a reminder to start her nightly routine, as well as leaving her phone in another room to prevent a pre-bed scroll have been the two most effective methods for her. She also tries to get lots of sunlight during the day to sleep better at night.

Reach out on her Insta @hellobusyladies to congratulate her on her progress 🙂

We wanna see you step up onto the podium! Reply here to tell us what we can hold you accountable for.

Profile: Ron Vereggen

Habit Coach and CEO of The Habit Lab app

Tell us about yourself, your services and what brought you into the habit world.

My name is Ron Vereggen, and I’m obsessed with habits. I first started my career many moons ago as a computer programmer. After graduating from college back in 1989, I was a few years into my career, and I remember thinking… is this all there is? I had spent years chasing the dream (to graduate and land a job), and now that I had my dream job, I was bored out of my mind. It was at this point I read my first self-help book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. After reading this book, I set 3 five-year goals for myself…

First, I wanted to achieve six figures (I was making around 33k a year at the time). Second, I wanted to pivot into a leadership position. Third, on a personal level, I wanted to be in the perfect relationship.

And after five years, I had achieved a 6-figure income, landed a management position, and got engaged with my high-school sweetheart. At this point, I realized that it was the combination of goals and habits that was the secret to success.

What are your daily non-negotiable habits? How do you hold yourself accountable for them?

Morning Habit Stack (all before 8am)

– Wake up around 5 am (without an alarm)

– Meditation (20 min)

– Stretching

– 3x week – M/W/F – Workout

– 3x week – Qi Gong (alternate days)

– Drink a glass of water before my first cup of coffee

– Flip The Switch practice (this is where I pause, shift my state, and lean into being my best self)

– Choose my #1 priority for the day

– One deep work block (where I’m creative before reactive)

Evening Habit Stack

– Turn off tech (iPhone/laptop/iPad) at 8 pm (about 60 min before bed)

– Meditation (10 min)

– Read (Kindle) or Study (hard copy) from a book

– Lights out by 10 pm (at the latest)

– So that I get at least 7 hours of sleep (roughly between 10 pm and 5 am)

I keep myself accountable using my habit tracking app. I designed The Habit Lab as a community-focused habit tracker where we can keep each other accountable.

Where can our readers find you and your content?

You can find out all the stuff I’m doing right now by heading over to my website at vereggen.com There you will find out about my habit app, my podcast, free resources like the work/life balance handbook and how to register for the next Habit Ninjas Bootcamp.

Wanna learn more about Ron and how he helps his clients overcome barriers? Check out the full interview here.

Share & Earn: Don’t forget to share your unique referral link to earn rewards like a personalized habit plan and a THS sweater.

Zen Out: 5-minute meditation every weekday morning at 8:15am

For Rock Hard Abs: Join us for free core workouts, 5 days a week!

Follow: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Join: The Habit Society on Slack

Sign up: Our upcoming book club starting September 14 (How to Change by Katy Milkman).

Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Read: An interesting article on why we were getting all of those Uber Eats promo codes.

No longer want to receive these emails? {% unsubscribe %}.