21st Century Self Care: Evaluating Individualized Nutrition vs. Intermittent Fasting
Hello, I am Julie Donaldson and I am a clinical nutritionist with functional medicine training. I specialize in restoring balance in complex, chronic and acute health conditions. I welcome you to peruse other articles that may be of interest to you in your health investigation!
“Had I not found this amazing woman and gotten off the roller coaster of diets and poorly designed healing programs, I’d still be sick. I was a firm believer in intermittent fasting (Keto before that!) and had been led there by my doctor. While I felt better for a little while, the problems began to stack up and wow, the time it took to unwind everything was astonishing. No more “quick fixes” for me! Thank you, Julie.”
Self care and diets are currently the most frequently searched topics on the internet. In particular, intermittent fasting is at the top of the diet fad list and is being practiced by millions of Americans. So, is it all it’s cracked up to be? and is it safe? should it really be considered part of holistic health? Intermittent fasting can contribute to complications with detoxification, energy resources, and alterations in hormones and neurotransmitters. I would estimate that only about 3-5% of people who have done long-term individualized healing programs are appropriate candidates for any form of fasting. What makes them candidates are a clean bill of health and balanced methylation. But, you are a unique biochemical individual, one in a few trillion! As a decades-long functional health practitioner, I am a proponent of personalized nutrition, always, over fad diets. Let’s talk about why…
We might wish to be a lion…
…with all its majesty and powerful ability to hunt as well as sustain itself between catches. A lion can go 14-28 days without eating. They were built for the wild, evolving to survive long periods of time without food. They also have the ability (as do most animals) to adjust metabolic needs & resting periods according to food availability.
Many people wish to be “free” of the demands of eating, gathering, preparing, and consuming food. Thus, to be a lion and fast as needed would be wonderful! But the truth is that our daily lives are rife with stress, busy-ness, work, and more work. Taking breaks to rest when food has become more scarce is not in the plan.
Intermittent fasting is a hormetic stressor - so, what does this mean? Hormesis In toxicology is a “dose response phenomenon” to xenobiotics or other stressors characterized by a low-dose stimulation, with zero dose and high-dose inhibition that results in a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped dose response (e.g. the arms of the "U" are inhibitory or toxic concentrations whereas the curve region stimulates a beneficial response.) Generally speaking, hormesis provides a temporary and unique stress response that initiates change.
In physiology and nutrition, hormesis can be visualized as a hormetic curve with regions of deficiency, homeostasis, and toxicity. Physiological concentrations deviating above or below homeostasis concentrations adversely affects an organism with an ensuing shift in physiology. Akin to any other type of stressor, it is not effective for long-term application.
Intermittent fasting can push some bodies to a level of stress that is potentially dangerous. Those with chronic stress, hypothalamus-pituitary axis (HPA) dysfunction and/or with hormonal imbalances should refrain from utilizing intermittent fasting, and it should never be used on an ongoing basis (for anyone). Any benefits of hormesis come from temporary stimuli.
While benefits can be realized, there are a number of studies indicating that frequent fasting cycles may not only be difficult to carry out for long periods, but also increase side effects and even mortality. For example, the risk of gallstone disease nearly doubles between women who fast for 8 hours per day and those who fast for over 14 hours per day. Furthermore, skipping breakfast, which is perhaps the most common method adopted to reach a daily 14- to 18-hour daily fasting period, is associated with an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular and “all-cause mortality” in the US population. (Note, heart disease was the #1 killer in the US in 2020 with a staggering 690,882 deaths.) Recent research conducted over a 12-month period also indicates that time-restricted eating does not have an impact upon weight loss.
These two risks also highlight other differences between humans and animals in the wild who fast regularly between catches. Those involve toxicity and immunity-related cardiovascular disease. Our food sources and constant environmental burdens are problematic, presenting regular challenges to our immune systems. They often deplete us more than they sustain us, and our bodies have not evolved to handle these burdens effectively.
In the case of gallbladder disease associated with prolonged fasting, we must understand that the gallbladder provides critical detoxification support, as well as digestive support (which is also crucial to detoxification).
In the case of increased mortality across the board, but especially from cardiovascular disease, many people are unaware of the early stages of this disease process. This is why heart disease is referred to as “the silent killer”. An unidentified immune or toxic scenario may provide enough stress to compromise the CV system and leave one vulnerable to an unexpected episode. Both debris in the blood vessels from immune defense and toxins such as heavy metals are known to contribute to cardiovascular stress.
So, imagine if one is unaware of these weak points in their body and initiates a practice of fasting…this could mean all good intentions of weight loss or metabolic reset are trumped by increased risk of death.
242% increase in searches for “intermittent fasting” over 5 years
Intermittent fasting and toxin release
It is well documented that intermittent fasting releases toxins from the body, sometimes via fat burning and sometimes simply through temporary alterations in metabolic function. When toxins are water soluble, this is less of an issue than it is when toxins require methylation (the process of contributing methyl donors to a toxic compound making it water soluble/able to pass out of the body via urine or the bowels). Methylation pathways in the body are becoming increasingly compromised, again, due to excess toxic overload, epigenetic stress and simply aging. Methylation impairments also have direct impacts upon gallbladder health. Here we find ourselves looped back to one of the biggest risks of creating gallbladder disease with fasting.
What other risks occur with intermittent fasting?
When you fast, you run the risk of depriving your body of resources it needs to complete thousands of functions. All cells require ATP, and ATP comes from the processing of nutrients through the Krebs cycle. Depriving your body of resources that it needs can cause stress. Stress chemistry can, in turn, cause cell oxidation which is one of the most toxic things that can happen to a body (especially a body lacking the antioxidants found in healthy foods). Disturbances in the normal redox state of cells can incite toxicity through the production of peroxides and free radicals which damage all components of the cell, including its proteins, lipids and DNA.
As the body suffers loss of resources, it will also be forced to delay certain functions, such as cellular repair, detoxification, immune defense and the building of new cells. This is an innate wisdom of the body to shut down certain functions so that it can use its resources to keep the brain and other vital organs alive. This is where current studies on the benefits of intermittent fasting are failing to provide more connections, intersections and long-term impacts.
Another area of concern is the relationship between estrogen and leptin. Leptin is the appetite control and fat burning hormone, and it has a very distinct partnership with estrogen. While the mechanisms of the cross-talk between these two hormones needs much more in-depth study, we do understand that they share neurological impacts on the hypothalamus via estrogen receptors. Conditions that impair normal estrogen metabolism are likely to also involve over or under-expression of leptin. Also, with estrogen aiding in the development of fat cells and being stored in them, the triggering of leptin via fasting can become a dangerous process of estrogen release without the protection of proper estrogen methylation. As you may explore here, estrogen and its “kissin’ cousins” - plastics, perfumes and petrochemicals - are generating a surging problem in human health. This applies not just to women but to men as well.
Over-eating and binge eating may be incited by fasting. Additionally, depression and anxiety may be activated due to alterations in neurotransmission through the gut.
Finally, long-term fasting can create a long-term slowing of metabolic function. This is another expression of innate wisdom with a signal to the body that food is more scarce and thus should be used more slowly. Many who experiment with fasting find a quick jump-start with it, only to later experience a need to return to a normal diet that produces weight gain.
Intermittent fasting and hormones
An important study revealed that hormone levels in women can be negatively impacted with intermittent fasting. Most significantly, in both pre and post-menopausal women, DHEA levels dropped by up to 14%. DHEA is one of the 2 fundamental hormones produced by the adrenal glands (in partnership with cortisol). In its sulfated form (DHEA-s) it is necessary for the production of androgens and estrogens as well as for gut health.
So, what is the answer?
Individualized nutrition is the best for nearly anyone. Research suggests that a personalized approach to nutrition may contribute to overall lower disease risks, including those of the major diseases of our time (cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s) as well as stabilize the individual microbiome.
We are also not ruby-throated hummingbirds! (who have the fastest metabolism of any animal and eat nearly constantly) This is yet another encouraged version of Diet Dogma that will be the focus of discussion at a later date!
Personalized nutrition uses information on individual characteristics to develop targeted nutritional advice, products, or services to assist people to achieve a lasting dietary change in behavior that is beneficial for health. This includes the following:
Personalized nutrition is based on the concept that individualized nutritional advice, products, or services will be more effective than more traditional generic approaches. (People have greater investment in knowledge that is personalized vs. generalized.)
This personalization may be based on biological evidence of differential responses to foods/nutrients dependent on genotypic or phenotypic characteristics, and/or based on current behavior, preferences, barriers and objectives.
In the largest randomized controlled trial on personalized nutrition, after 6 months, the results were clear: personalization of dietary advice assisted and/or motivated consumers to eat a healthier diet and follow a healthier lifestyle (in comparison with “impersonal” (conventional) dietary advice).
These are truths behind the science of Metabolic Typing ®. It is not only the physical systems of our bodies that vary, but our psychology and behavior as well. These play a role in the truth of “biography creates biology” and vice versa. Our own unique way of processing nutrients cannot be predicted by a current fad, nor can our response to that fad be predicted. Also, through Metabolic Typing ® we have discovered that individuals do not have the same responses to the same foods. For one person, a food can be energy-producing and pH balancing and for another person, it can cause a loss of energy and disruption in homeostatic mechanisms.
Thus, the way forward is to look at the individual nutrient requirements as well as the individual expressions of our detox pathways and overall immune health. While intermittent fasting may be well tolerated for some people (or for very short periods), it is not a given and is not a practice one should initiate without proper biochemical investigation. As part of a thoughtful and applicable personalized holistic health program that is assured of health and balance, its benefits can be enjoyed without the possible risks.
For professional holistic health coaching, email me at Julie@truenaturehealthconsulting.com. We provide holistic telehealth services.