We all know that fasting is a powerful tool for weight loss and longevity, but did you know that fasting is powerful for gut health as well?
By practicing some form of Intermittent or Extended Fasting, we can reduce our body fat and prevent or even reverse metabolic disease.
Gut health plays a huge role in all of this.
Let’s look at how important gut health is, and how fasting can help to improve it.
What is gut health and why is it important?
Your gut is your gastrointestinal system, including your stomach, your intestines, and your colon.
This system is host to trillions of bacteria and microbes that make up your gut microbiome.
The microbiome affects everything from digestion, to the immune system and hormones, and even brain health.
Good gut health is key to our overall health and wellbeing.
But unfortunately years of consuming inflammatory foods and eating around the clock has wreaked havoc on our guts.
Symptoms of poor gut health can include:
- Digestive issues, such as IBS, heartburn, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea
- Autoimmune issues
- Poor sleep
- Allergies or skin issues
- Mood disorders
- Fatigue
- Sugar cravings
- Weight gain
So fasting is powerful for gut health but how does it help?
First of all your diet is super important for proper gut health.
The microbiome responds to the kinds of foods in your gut, as well as the absence of food.
Eating for nutrition is a good first step.
Cut out processed foods and sugars, and include fermented foods in your diet.
But don’t forget about fasting!
When we fast, our gut gets a break.
It’s the same as when we go to sleep at night.
While we sleep, the digestive system gets to rest from all that food coming in and going out.
With fasting, we can give our guts this break more often and give our digestive systems a reboot.
And that can improve our microbiome in a number of ways:
Gut Diversity
One of the most amazing things about fasting is that it can actually change the microbiome in our gut.
Studies suggest that fasting can increase the number of beneficial bacteria in our digestive tract and reduce the ones that are not so good. (Please note sources below*)
In other words, you’ll have more of the good bacteria than the bad ones. And that is what you want!
Reduced Inflammation
Constantly eating and spiking insulin creates inflammation in the body, and that includes the gut.
Inflammation in the gut can cause issues like IBS, leaky gut, and metabolic diseases, not to mention bloating and discomfort.
Healthier Gut Barrier
Fasting can strengthen the lining in your gut, too.
This is important.
That lining is what allows nutrients to get where they need to go, but keeps out all the harmful stuff.
If you have a leaky gut, fasting is the best thing you can do for it!
Weight loss
If your gut microbiome is out of balance, you can end up with an overgrowth of candida.
This is going to make you crave sugars, and make it harder for you to lose weight.
If you find yourself always craving sweets, you need to work on your gut health.
Fasting lowers insulin so you can tap into fat stores.
But it also helps by promoting gut health, decreasing your cravings for all those sweet things.
Brain health
There is a proven connection between the gut and the brain. (Please note sources below**)
Neurotransmitters produced in the gut affect our brains and our mental health.
Fasting for gut health can keep our brains healthy, improve cognition, and reduce anxiety and depression.
Your gut health matters!
What’s going on inside your gut is vitally connected to your health and wellbeing.
Work on your diet. Cut out processed foods, add in fermented foods.
And include some form of fasting to your lifestyle, whether that is Intermittent Fasting, or periods of Extended Fasting.
Fasting is powerful for gut health.
Your gut will thank you for it.
Sources*:
Paukkonen, I., Törrönen, E.-N., Lok, J., Schwab, U., & El-Nezami, H. (2024). The impact of intermittent fasting on gut microbiota: a systematic review of human studies. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 1342787. Link to study
Zeb, F., Wu, X., Chen, L., Fatima, S., Ijaz-ul-Haq, Chen, A., Xu, C., Jianglei, R., Feng, Q., & Li, M. (2020). Time-restricted feeding is associated with changes in human gut microbiota related to nutrient intake. British Journal of Nutrition, 78, 110797. Link to study
Angoorani, P., Ejtahed, H.-S., Hasani-Ranjbar, S., Siadat, S. D., Soroush, A. R., & Larijani, B. (2021). Gut microbiota modulation as a possible mediating mechanism for fasting-induced alleviation of metabolic complications: a systematic review. Nutrition & Metabolism, 18, 105. Link to study
Sources**:
Cryan, J. F., & Dinan, T. G. (2012). Mind-altering microorganisms: the impact of the gut microbiota on brain and behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13(10), 701–712. Link to study
Mayer, E. A., Knight, R., Mazmanian, S. K., Cryan, J. F., & Tillisch, K. (2014). Gut microbes and the brain: paradigm shift in neuroscience. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(46), 15490–15496. Link to study
Carabotti, M., Scirocco, A., Maselli, M. A., & Severi, C. (2015). The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric nervous systems. Annals of Gastroenterology, 28(2), 203–209. Link to study
Author: Roo Black
Roo is a fasting coach with over 5 years of experience. She leads the admin team of the Official Fasting for Weight Loss Facebook group – one of the largest fasting communities on social media with over 125,000 members. We highly recommend this group for anyone who is looking for fasting advice or coaching.
