Intermittent fasting is one of the most common forms of nutrition plans that people often opt for for a variety of reasons. Whether it be for better health or staying fit, eating inside a set time window has helped many with their fitness goals.
Dr. Andrew Huberman has been one of the personalities who has championed intermittent fasting with his own schedule. In a recent conversation with physician Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, he dived deeper into this subject.
As the name suggests, intermittent fasting involves consuming calories only in a certain time window, dedicating the rest of the hours to training and other practices.
While one can have multiple options of fasting to eating hour ratios, 16:8 is the most common one. Dr. Huberman was curious if this practice was beneficial for one’s digestive processes and if older individuals could indulge in the practice too.
Dr. Lyon began by talking about the positives of the practice since intermittent fasting brought some interesting benefits to the table. She mentioned how she primarily saw two advantages of the practice that could help several individuals:
-Calorie restriction
-Bowel rest
“Many individuals have gastrointestinal challenges. When they are in a time-restricted window, they are not feeding all day long.”
However, Dr. Lyon added that she did not recommend intermittent fasting for certain specific cases, including older individuals. She explained that in an age where regulating body processes is already tricky, it’s detrimental to add fasting to the mix.
“If you add in additional fasting, go through long periods of time where, let’s say, you’re not training, you’re not protecting skeletal tissue…that would be a place where I don’t necessarily recommend fasting.”
For seniors, the duo devised a better plan that encouraged resistance training and protein consumption. These practices could help offset the lack of efficiency in processing nutrients and help build some strength.
Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Gabrielle Lyon explain the significance of training and diet in seniors
Often, older individuals process proteins through two mediums – leucine and resistance training. Anabolic hormones that are generally prevalent when younger are far more efficient in this process and can make do with less amount of protein. However, since seniors lack these hormones, they must make some modifications to their diet.
Dr. Huberman and Dr. Lyon recommend consuming more than the required amount of protein along with strength training. These steps ensure that senior individuals maintain a decent amount of muscle mass and strength, which further reinforces body functions.
