There might just be something beneficial in our old traditions, writes Róise McGagh
This Ash Wednesday falls on February 26, meaning Lent is just around the corner. So, if you’re thinking of sticking to tradition this year, this might be a good time to decide what it is you can live without. Many people opt for giving up sweets, crisps or chocolate for this period of time. Some decide to use Lent to get started on a health kick or take up a class.
Traditionally Lent is a time of fasting, so if you’re going by the book, you’ll need to give something up. The day before Ash Wednesday, we have pancake Tuesday, the “feast before the fast” or Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday), our last indulgence before the fast. Then for around 40 days Catholics try to imitate Jesus in the desert by fasting and abstaining from certain foods on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and every Friday of Lent. Many choose to follow this by not eating meat that comes from animals that live on land like chickens, cows, sheep or pigs.
A lot of Irish people would have grown up having fish every Friday for this very reason – either as a form of penance or for tradition. Since the Friday Fast was changed in 1983 following a statement from Irish bishops saying Catholics could fulfil Friday Penance in other ways than not eating meat, it has fallen in popularity in general.
While fasting for spiritual reasons might not be in at the minute, fasting in general seems to have come back in with a new kind of trend. It might sound dangerous for fasting to be considered a diet but giving your gut a reasonable, short break is looking like it has some health benefits.
Heather Leeson, Nutritional Therapist and founder of Glenville Nutrition tells The Irish Catholic about how fasting has begun to re-emerge recently as a fad and in nutritional research. There are many different ways to go about it.
“We don’t agree with the more extreme methods of fasting at all, it doesn’t suit most people at all and for some it can be downright dangerous,” says Heather.
“The research on intermittent fasting is really interesting, apparently it’s the next big thing in terms of health.”
There are two methods that are considered more manageable and safe. One is the 5:2 diet, where you eat a healthy diet 5 days a week, then 2 days a week you eat typically under 500 calories a day.
“Personally, I think that can be quite difficult for people to stick to,” says Heather “500 calories does not give you a great deal to play with, and the temptation would be to not eat very much, then to blow out on one meal. If you wanted to do it, we would still recommend still having three meals over the day.”
Heathers says the other well-known method, the 16:8, is one they use more often in the clinic. “You fast overnight and there are various names for that and there are extremes to which you can take that.”
While the 16:8 is probably the best-known method of intermittent fasting, there are other ways to effectively do an overnight fast. “I think for many people that [the 16:8] does not suit, for example if you’re diabetic, if you have an eating disorder, if you’ve got hormone issues; with many medical issues, fasting for 16 hours may cause problems – even if you’re taking medication for an underlying condition that requires you to take it with food.
“What can work however is if you fast for 12 hours overnight and you eat then in a 12-hour window during the day,” says Heather. That sounds pretty manageable right? You get the benefits of fasting if you finish your dinner before 8 and don’t eat again until 8am the next day, without ever really having to feel too hungry.
“One reason this can help people to lose weight is because you’re cutting out the opportunity of snacking in the evening – which tends to be where the things that we shouldn’t be eating sneak in,” says Heather.
So instead of going cold turkey on all of your favourite foods, you just cut out the time when you’re likely to overindulge in them.
Lots of the research around intermittent fasting and its health benefits or negatives are forthcoming. Many of the studies have been done on a small scale or on animals, so there is still not a massive amount of human research. And because there are so many ways to do intermittent fasting the research might not be applicable to what many people are doing.
“The research is promising but still in early days,” says Heather.
“Certainly from a weight management perspective there is some very positive research and from a brain health perspective some of the research looks very interesting, although it was definitely done with longer fasting windows in mind.”
Intermittent fasting has not only been shown to help with weight management but it’s very helpful for people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which 1 in 5 people in Ireland suffer from. “That is because it takes quite a lot of work for out body to process food so it’s nice to have a break, kind of like the analogy ‘the motorway can’t be fixed if there’s traffic on it’.
“So if you’ve got problematic gut health, having that 12 hour break can be very restorative for the gut,” says Heather
There was a study on diabetes published in the British Medical Journal in 2018 that showed that intermittent fasting reduced blood sugar, waist circumference and body weight. One in 15 people in Ireland suffer from diabetes so this can be a really helpful tool. What the break from eating can do is allow the body a chance for its insulin levels to lower. Insulin is the hormone that causes the body to store energy as fat.
Heather says “I actually think Lent is great to get people started and to get them to cut down their sugar and treats as well.
It works and it’s easy to do, you know some of the plans people try to do are very complicated but this is very simple.”
Not only does fasting in this way seem to have health benefits for some people but it could be a step toward becoming more sustainable if you’ve been meaning to cut down on beef. You could go for fish on a Friday and try to make two other dinners during the week totally plant based.
So maybe it’s time to go back to the old tradition and fast intermittently for Lent this year. If you can’t manage that, even just cutting the sweets or crisps can be a benefit for your body.