Imagine fasting as less like being deprived and more like a mini-retreat for your body. It's a chance to hit reset, spark internal cellular cleanup, and enhance your energy and vitality.
We always take an evidence-based approach, orientated towards holistic and Personalised Health, and our insightful information is aimed to provide you with actionable knowledge and tips you can trust, to help you on your journey to optimal health.
In this article we'll examine how fasting can reawaken your body's internal rhythms, support hormone balance, boost clarity, and foster long-term health and wellbeing.
Why reset feels just right
A holistic health approach aims for balance. A reset isn't about restriction – it's about offering your body a pause to recalibrate. This gentle reboot reflects the natural cycles our bodies have adapted to over millennia, such as eating in harmony with our circadian rhythm, while being backed by modern science.
What science says about fasting's reset power
1. Sharpened metabolic efficiency
Intermittent fasting (IF) delivers benefits such as improved blood sugar control, lipid profiles, and body weight. A systematic review of clinical trials confirms that fasting can support weight loss and metabolic health, especially for people who are overweight.
2. Insulin resistance and heart health
One study showed that a 26-week fasting plan helped the body use insulin more effectively and improved several health risks linked to diabetes and heart disease – even without major weight loss.
3. Supporting hormone balance
Time-restricted eating (TRE) can help bring your hormones back into a healthier rhythm. By aligning food intake with your body's natural daily cycles, TRE may support steadier blood sugar, encourage balanced cortisol patterns, and promote healthier levels of reproductive and metabolic hormones. This kind of gentle realignment can have a positive ripple effect on your energy, mood, and overall wellbeing.
- Research shows TRE may lower androgen levels and raise sex hormone-binding globulin, supporting hormone balance in conditions associated with excess androgens, such as PCOS, while also being relevant in benefitting wider hormonal health.
- TRE has been shown to help regulate cortisol rhythms, which can influence your resilience to stress, and regulate appetite and sleep patterns.
4. Restoring your clock: circadian alignment
Eating within a consistent window helps realign your circadian rhythm – your body's internal clock – which supports digestion, metabolism, sleep and natural hormone balance.
5. Boosted brain-body connection
Fasting shifts your body's metabolism from relying primarily on sugar to using fat and ketones for energy. This change provides an efficient fuel source for the brain, supporting neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to adapt, form new connections, and maintain cognitive function. Over time, this metabolic flexibility may help protect against age-related cognitive decline and support mental clarity, focus, and overall brain health.
Amchara's gentle and sustainable approach to fasting
Start slow: Begin with a 14 hour fast (during much of which you are typically sleeping). Try stopping eating at 6pm and having breakfast at 8am.
Eat whole foods: In your eating window, choose natural, unprocessed food that contain plenty of fibre, protein, healthy fats and vitamins.
Keep hydrated: Make sure you sip plenty of water, herbal teas during fasts to maintain your hydration levels.
Move mindfully: Avoid tiredness by doing gentle exercise, such as walking, yoga and focused breathwork.
Takeaway
Think of fasting not as cutting back, but as gifting your body a pause – a chance to restore rhythm, nurture your hormonal harmony, and reset.
At Amchara, our expert practitioners can help you tailor a fasting programme according to your individual health circumstances and goals.
If you would like support on your journey to optimise your health, our retreats are designed to help you detoxify both physically and mentally.
On an Amchara health retreat you will be immersed in a supportive and nurturing environment that enables you to switch off, relax and kickstart your health journey.
