Intermittent Fasting: The Biohack Silicon Valley Swears By

Intermittent Fasting: The Biohack Silicon Valley Swears By

Sharper focus, fewer snacks, and actual metabolic upgrades, all without counting macros? Welcome to the original performance enhancer.

Fasting isn’t new. It’s ancient. Like, Jesus–Mohammed–Buddha ancient. But somewhere between 1977 and your fourth protein bar of the day, we forgot that skipping a meal isn’t a crime against wellness, it might just be the reset your body’s been begging for.

Enter intermittent fasting: part ancestral wisdom, part modern science, and 100 percent Silicon Valley–approved. The practice has gone mainstream for good reason, it can support weight loss, regulate blood sugar, boost mental clarity, enhance autophagy (read: cellular clean-up), and even trigger stem cell regeneration.


Dr. Jason Fung Wrote the Manual

If you’re going to fast, do it right. Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist (that’s kidney specialist to the rest of us) and functional medicine voice of reason, wrote The Complete Guide to Fasting now considered the gold standard on how to fast safely, whether you're doing intermittent, alternate-day, or extended fasts.

Spoiler: it’s not about starving yourself. It’s about timing.


What Actually Happens When You Fast

Forget everything you were told in the ‘90s about needing six meals a day to “stoke the metabolism.” When you stop eating, insulin drops, and your body switches from storage mode to fat-burning mode. Energy levels don’t crash, they unlock. Hormones like noradrenaline and human growth hormone rise. You get focused, fast.

That hangry, sluggish feeling you expect? It often doesn’t happen. In fact, most people report the opposite: mental sharpness, better energy, zero bloat.

Even elite athletes are using fasted training to push performance and accelerate recovery. Turns out, hunger really can make you sharper.


What About Muscle Loss?

Another myth. During fasts, your body actually protects muscle by reducing protein breakdown and increasing growth hormone. Unless you’re fasting for days on end with zero nutrient support, your biceps aren’t going anywhere.


The Insulin Equation

Food raises insulin. Fasting lowers it. Simple.
Eat → store energy.
Don’t eat → burn energy.
Keep eating all day (like most of us since 2004), and you’re basically stuck in storage mode 24/7.

Before 1977, most people ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner - done. No snacks, no grazing. A 10-hour eating window, 14-hour natural fast. Today? We eat from sun-up to screen-off, and wonder why we feel inflamed and foggy.


Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Biohacking

Silicon Valley’s top execs now use fasting as a mental performance enhancer. No cooking, no cleaning, no post-lunch crash. Just more output and better clarity.
Think: monk discipline meets startup hustle.

Even Pythagoras made his students fast before class. And yes, Plato and Socrates were on board too. They weren’t doing it to lose five kilos before summer, they did it for mental clarity. And 2,000 years later, the brain benefits still hold.


But... Is Fasting Safe for Everyone?

Here’s your BioHax Wellness disclaimer:
Fasting isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s not recommended if you’re pregnant, underweight, have a history of disordered eating, adrenal fatigue, or certain medical conditions. Always work with a trusted functional medicine practitioner before making big changes to your eating patterns - especially if you’re combining fasting with other protocols (like keto, candida cleansing, or hormone support).

Need support? Explore our Functional Medicine & Wellness Clinics directory for trusted professionals who get it.

→ [Functional Medicine & Wellness Clinics]


Want to Learn More?

Read The Complete Guide to Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung
Listen to Dr. Fung and Dave Asprey on Bulletproof Radio
Find a practitioner via the Institute for Functional Medicine

 

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