11 façons de faciliter le jeûne intermittent

Mon expérience

I’m all for a holistic approach to health, so besides emotional and relationship health, I also like to research and practice taking care of my body. Intermittent fasting has gained significant attention over the last ten years or so. Reading about all the enticing reported benefits, I had to try it out. About eight years ago, I started my intermittent fasting with the 8/16 schedule and slowly increased it to 5/19 over the course of a few years.

It’s easy and fast to write or read about it! Not quite so easy to practice it over the course of years. Most promoters of intermittent fasting make confident claims about how easy it becomes after the first two or three weeks. Unfortunately, I can’t say I found it at all easy. I found both morning and evening hunger quite difficult to bear, even years into the practice. Sharp hunger often wakes me up in the middle of the night. About a decade earlier, I tried longer fasts a few times (10 and 12 days) and felt utterly miserable throughout the whole ordeal. If you find intermittent fasting difficult, in spite of all the promises you read online, you are in good company.  🙂  It did become somewhat easier after the first few weeks, though, even for me.

My difficulties weren’t due to the kind of food I was eating, because I was already practicing a healthy diet and avoiding processed food for many years. Perhaps the 5/19 schedule was too extreme for me. According to some authors, les femmes sont biologiquement moins adaptées au jeûne par rapport aux hommes, en raison du fait qu'elles passaient historiquement plus de temps avec la famille et moins de temps dans les expéditions de chasse (ou les guerres). Le jeûne peut, paraît-il, perturber équilibre hormonal féminin.

I decided to stick to my 5/19 schedule anyway because I wanted all those sweet benefits. I did lose a few stubborn kilos, but I often felt low energy (in spite of the regular physical activity in my garden), and many evenings I couldn’t think of much except food. My blood tests also showed increased cholesterol levels, which confused me a lot. Then I read that an une thyroïde sous-active peut entraîner une augmentation du taux de cholestérol dans le sang. J'ai commencé à craindre d'avoir ralenti mon métabolisme en jeûnant, et donc d'avoir rendu ma thyroïde moins active.

Not wanting to make things worse, I decided to stop intermittent fasting for a while (by then I had been practicing it for roughly six years). My body reacted with glee, like it got to feast after famine, and I quickly regained the lost weight. For almost two years after, even the thought of starting intermittent fasting again would get a “no way in hell!” reaction from my body. Recently, however, I found out that l'augmentation du cholestérol pourrait faire partie des symptômes de la périménopauseégalement. Cela a réduit certaines de mes inquiétudes concernant le jeûne intermittent.

A few months ago, I went back to intermittent fasting, this time with a mild 10/14 schedule. I find it makes me tolerably mildly hungry before bedtime but doesn’t send my body into panic mode. I might gradually go back to 8/16 with time if I can feel good enough with it. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to 5/19, though. It might work for somebody else, but for me it just doesn’t.

Stratégies pour faciliter le jeûne intermittent

Comment ai-je réussi à suivre un programme de jeûne aussi strict pendant six ans, même si cela ne convenait pas tout à fait à mon corps ? Voici quelques stratégies pour faciliter le jeûne intermittent. N'hésitez pas à choisir celles qui vous conviennent. Chaque corps ne fonctionne pas de la même manière, donc tout ce qui fonctionne pour moi ne fonctionnera pas forcément pour vous. Je ne peux parler que de ma propre expérience.

I also advise using these strategies for reasonable goals only. Don’t risk your health with extreme practices if they don’t work for you.

1. Adaptez votre horaire de jeûne à votre biorythme

Some authors say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Many proponents of intermittent fasting suggest skipping breakfast and focusing on lunch and dinner instead. Who is correct? It depends on your body. I was always an early riser and desperately hungry by 6 am or so, but I never ate much for dinner. I also know a number of people who say they can’t eat breakfast because their bodies don’t tolerate it. Many people are somewhere in between. Don’t try to force your body into a rhythm it never felt comfortable with just because someone else suggests it. It adds extra stress to an already stressful practice.

2. Réfléchissez à la manière d'intégrer le jeûne dans votre emploi du temps

Do you forget to eat when you are focused on something else? Or do you find it easier to be hungry when you are resting, and can’t focus when you are hungry? Keep that in mind when deciding when you want to fast.
In addition, consider when you have time to prepare meals. Are you so hungry after work that you can’t postpone eating until you prepare a healthy meal? Then you are likely to throw yourself off balance with some fast food. You might want to prepare food in the morning and keep it in the fridge for later, or perhaps break your fast with a small healthy snack while preparing a more substantial meal.

3. Faites attention à votre apport calorique

L'un des dangers du jeûne est de se donner la liberté de trop manger pendant la période de repas. Un autre risque est de réduire trop fortement votre apport calorique et de faire paniquer votre corps. Cherchez à savoir quelle quantité de nourriture vous semble équilibrée et tenez-vous-en à cette quantité.

4. Veillez à la qualité de votre alimentation

When we do something good for ourselves, it’s very easy to tell ourselves we deserve an “outlet” or a reward and end up eating less healthily. That way, you receive fewer nutrients, which can again make your body panic. Besides being nutritionally poor, junk food throws our bodies off balance, especially our hunger hormones. That can greatly increase the sense of hunger and cravings.

5. Se distraire

Si le travail vous détourne de la faim, prévoyez d'avoir faim pendant les heures de travail. Si le fait de s'amuser vous détourne de la faim, prévoyez des activités intéressantes pour votre temps libre. La plupart des gens sont plus conscients de leur faim lorsqu'ils sont seuls et qu'ils s'ennuient. Si ce n'est pas le travail, réfléchissez à d'autres activités qui pourraient vous distraire. Peut-être faire une promenade, jouer avec vos enfants, sortir avec des amis, regarder un film intéressant ou lire un bon livre ? Veillez à ne pas négliger l'exercice physique.

6. Essayez de boire du thé chaud

I find this works for me—warm tea makes my stomach calm down and feel fuller, and I can drink as much of it as I want. If you find it stimulates your stomach too much and makes you hungrier, then don’t do it.

7. Observez votre faim et vos envies avec intérêt

Lorsque je travaille avec les émotions, je constate que plus les gens essaient de les combattre, plus c'est difficile. En revanche, si vous observez les émotions avec acceptation et intérêt (sans pour autant y croire ou y céder), elles deviennent beaucoup plus faciles à supporter. Je trouve qu'il en va de même pour la faim et les fringales.

8. Attendre 15 minutes

Hunger comes in waves. Well, for me around breakfast time it’s constantly intense until I eat, but at least at other times it subsides after a while. If sharp hunger wakes me up in the night, I’ve learned I need to wait 15 minutes or so. Then the hunger goes away and I can go back to sleep.

9. Reconnaître ses moments de faiblesse et s'y préparer

Everybody has some weaknesses and triggers that undermine their willpower. Many people, for example, feel increased cravings in times of stress. A common self-sabotaging excuse is, “I’ll just cheat a little today, and from tomorrow on I’ll be disciplined!” Somehow that disciplined tomorrow comes rarely or never.
Notez les situations et les excuses qui risquent de vous faire céder à vos vieilles habitudes. Réfléchissez à la manière dont vous souhaitez y faire face à l'avenir. Comment pouvez-vous vous réconforter, vous distraire ou remplacer les habitudes indésirables ? Préparez du thé à l'avance, par exemple. Faites une liste de pensées motivantes. Planifiez des activités amusantes. Ou appelez un ami, comme dans le paragraphe ci-dessous.

10. Find a “Fasting/Diet Buddy” for Venting and Emotional Support

I have a friend who has to follow a strict diet due to health problems. She has another friend who is dieting to lose weight. She says the two of them call each other whenever they find cravings difficult to bear. Then they give each other space to complain and vent to their heart’s content. For example, “I hate this so much!” or “Why me, it’s so unfair!” It helps them release stress and feel better. Of course, you can also share your successes with your buddy. Joy shared is multiplied; pain shared is divided.

11. S'offrir un soutien émotionnel

You can also be your own friend. Food is not just nutrition, it’s strongly associated with security and love. Hunger can therefore trigger feelings of insecurity and abandonment, probably lingering from our childhood. Consider how you can talk to yourself and what you can do to help yourself feel safe and loved. That should give you more emotional strength to deal with fasting.

I hope this advice can make intermittent fasting easier for you! Remember, no extreme is ever healthy. Don’t torture your body. Listen to it and cooperate with it to find a balance you can maintain long term.

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