NOPE. 

While my cholesterol DID drop a little – from 250-ish to 220-ish – I still could not get my cholesterol to 200 or below – the “magic” number according to most doctors (although plant-based doctors will usually recommend your total cholesterol levels be at 150 or below!!). My doctors would tell me my high cholesterol was likely caused by my genetics – and that I would eventually have to start taking a statin (a cholesterol-lowering drug). 

So if I wasn’t eating animal products, why wouldn’t my cholesterol levels go down?  It turns out for SOME people, excluding animal products helps, but just isn’t enough.  Processed foods (vegan or not!) that contain tropical fats (such as palm and coconut oil) can also raise cholesterol. And these are often found in vegan cheese, vegan butter, and other vegan foods. So if you’re a vegan who doesn’t eat a 100% whole food plant-based diet (with NO processed foods or added fats and oils), your cholesterol can remain high too.

When I started intermittent fasting in 2019, I was not expecting it to lower my cholesterol.  But it did. My cholesterol dropped to 165!  What?!  My doctor asked if I had eliminated all oils and processed food from my diet.  Nope.  I told her that the only thing I had changed was that I started intermittent fasting.  “Keep fasting”, my doctor told me.

According to some studies including this one, intermittent fasting improves cholesterol levels by helping to raise your HDL (or “good”) cholesterol and lowering your LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol.  (More studies are needed, however, as it hasn’t been determined if the reduced cholesterol is from the weight loss that can come with intermittent fasting, or if the improved cholesterol is caused by other metabolic changes that occur when fasting.)  

3) Intermittent fasting has changed my relationship with food

I used to be obsessed with “my next meal”.  And “my next meal” was always only a couple of hours away. 

I found myself constantly planning food for the day.  What will I have for breakfast?  Where will I pick up lunch?  What’s for dinner??  And snacks!!  Coffee drinks!!

I was eating all. day. long.  It was time-consuming.  It was expensive.  And honestly, half the time I was eating, I wasn’t even HUNGRY.  I was only eating out of habit and routine.

When I worked in the corporate world, I always made a giant smoothie to drink in the car on the way to work.  In morning meetings my stomach would rumble and make embarrassingly loud noises (“that wasn’t MY stomach!?”).

When I started working from home, I had more freedom to eat when I wanted to.  I kept to my “feeding schedule” for a while, but soon  I realized I wasn’t even hungry in the morning.  Why was I forcing myself to have a giant smoothie at 7 am?  And then a granola bar at 10 am to “tide me over” until lunch??   

I then realized that my stomach wasn’t growling in those meetings because I was hungry.  I think my stomach was ANNOYED with me!  It didn’t want or need food.  It was an upset stomach….not a hungry stomach.

With intermittent fasting, I don’t eat anything until around noon or 1 pm.  I still have my giant green smoothie (because it’s delicious and healthy!), I’m just having it when my body is ready for it.  I still might have a mid-afternoon snack, and then a delicious dinner, and maybe even dessert.  But after that, I am DONE eating for the day.  So if I’m home, typically that means by 6 pm I am done eating, and my overnight fast starts – until I break my fast (break-fast!) around noon the next day.  But, this is a LIFESTYLE and it is flexible, so if something comes up I – dinner with friends, or Sunday brunch! – I will break my fast earlier in the day, or eat later into the night.  But most of the time, I do try to aim for a consistent and daily intermittent fasting schedule, as that is what feels best to my body.

4)  Intermittent fasting and autophagy

What is autophagy? And how the heck do you pronounce it? (It is pronounced aw-toff-uh-jee)

When we intermittent fast consistently, our bodies go into a state called autophagy – which is Greek for “self-eating”. And that’s exactly what it is….this may sound gross but when you stop eating for a lengthened period of time, your body goes into self-preservation mode and actually starts eating itself. But what this actually means is that our bodies start to consume damaged and diseased cells and recycle them into new and healthy cells.  We want our bodies to go into autophagy.

What are some of the benefits of autophagy? By clearing away and repairing damaged cells, autophagy can help:

• Prevent diseases such as cancer, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease
• Build and restore muscle
• Slow the aging process
• Reduce inflammation and boost immunity
• Helps with brain function and health

Plant-based (vegan!) foods such as turmeric, ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, ginseng, garlic, coffee, green tea, pomegranate, elderberries, and some mushrooms (such as Chaga and reishi) are thought to increase autophagy.  But the easiest way and most reliable to get your body into the state of autophagy is to consistently intermittent fast.

How to start intermittent fasting

The easiest way to start intermittent fasting is to decide today that right after you finish your last bite of food,  you are now starting your FAST.  This means you will not eat or drink anything – other than plain water – until tomorrow. 

Try to fast for at least 12 hours.  (So if your last bite of food was at 7 pm, you will not eat again until 7 am in the morning.)  Just 12 hours of fasting will help to ensure the food you have eaten is properly digested.  Your body will also have time to start burning any excess fat you might have as fuel, which will trigger weight loss. And you will likely sleep better, as your blood sugar levels will be stable and your body won’t have to work hard while you’re sleeping to digest food.

Eventually – to gain the most benefits from intermittent fasting – you should work up to fasting for at least 16 hours a day (leaving you 8 hours to eat all your meals).  Remember….intermittent fasting is not about deprivation or restriction.  It’s not about WHAT you eat, it’s about WHEN you eat. 

If you like this post, you might also find these interesting:

How To Break Your Fast – Healthy and Delicious Green Smoothie Recipe

Intermittent Fasting – 5 Common Myths Debunked

Vegan Weight-Loss – 7 Tips to Help You Lose Weight