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Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith said he used intermittent fasting for most of his career.
But he said he had to give up intermittent fasting to heal from a leg injury.
One nutritionist said fasting can lead to malnutrition, which can cause the body to take nutrients from the muscles to nourish itself.
Alex Smith said intermittent fasting helped his performance throughout his NFL career, but said he had to stop doing it after fractured the tibia and fibula in his right leg in 2018.
The 37-year-old former San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs and Washington quarterback told Insiders he started intermittent fasting when he joined the Chiefs in 2013 to improve his reaction time and help his brain recover from damage from hits on the field to resist.
A small 2016 study testing amateur weightlifters after a 48-hour fast found that those who fasted had improved “mental flexibility,” which the researchers defined as the participants’ ability to quickly and efficiently switch between tasks, Insider previously reported.
Evidence that intermittent fasting improves cognitive health and function in humans is limited, and most studies supporting its benefits are based on animal studies, according to WebMD.
Smith said he felt a noticeable difference in his mental quickness after stopping intermittent fasting. He added that his doctors said it was necessary for him to stop meal planning so he could recover from his injuries and avoid amputation.
Smith said he stopped fasting because he was told to hinder its healing process
John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Smith’s doctors told him they were considering amputating his right leg because the injury caused him to develop a fatal necrotizing fasciitis infection in his leg, ESPN reported.
But doctors were able to save Smith and avoid amputation by performing multiple surgeries in the days following the injury. Smith then began his long road to recovery, which required several lifestyle changes, including eating more meals throughout the day.
The story goes on
Smith said he was instructed to be as anabolic as possible, which meant following an eating plan that would help him nourish enough to rebuild the damaged muscles in his leg. Smith said the canned protein shake UCan was what he consumed most during recovery, which helped him recover and build strength back in his leg.
“I was suddenly trying to eat my weight in grams of protein every day, but I was trying to do it with five or six bowls spread out throughout the day,” Smith said. “I completely freaked out. Fasting wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
He added: “It was tough when I was injured. Eating became awkward and I didn’t always have an appetite.”
Alix Turoff, a registered dietitian, told Insider that intermittent fasting could prevent someone from consuming enough calories, and undereating could make someone more prone to injury. This is because if the body isn’t being provided with what it needs, it will feed on other muscles, according to WebMD.
Smith returned to football in 2020, winning the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award after leading Washington back to the playoffs. He said he did not return to intermittent fasting after recovering or retiring after the 2020 season because he was still in the process of rebuilding strength in his leg, which he said would be a lifelong process.
Read the original article on Insider