“What is intermittent fasting?” (IF) is currently one of the world’s most popular health and fitness trends. Intermittent fasting is the ancient secret of health.
It is ancient because it has been practiced throughout all the human in history. It’s a secret because this powerful habit has been virtually forgotten.
But now many scientists had shown throughout their research that fasting can carry huge benefits if it is done in the right way. It helps to lose weight, increase energy level, the reversal of type 2 diabetes and many other things.
Plus, you’ll save your precious time and money. But it is mostly famous because of its fat loss property. Nowadays many people are using it to lose their weight, improve their health.
Also, many studies had shown that it can have powerful effects on your body and brain and may even help live longer. (1,2).
This is the complete information about intermittent fasting.
What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you are going to eat your daily requirement of food in a specific time window and the rest of the day you will be fasting.
You are going to consume all the foods that you need to eat in a day in a restricted time window. It is just a matter of the timing of your food consumption. Because of the time restriction, it is also called a Time-Restricted Diet.
There are several different intermittent fasting methods, but the most popular one is 16/8 intermittent fasting.
Most people already “fast” every day during their sleeping. Intermittent fasting can be so simple if you extend that fasting a little longer. You can do that by skipping your breakfast. Eat your first meal at noon and have your last meal at 8 pm. Most of the people are comfortable with this window of eating. They used to have their first meal at 12 pm at noon and the last meal at 8 pm.
Then you are technically fasting for 16 hours of the day and restricting your eating to 8-hour eating window.
Hunger will not be a that big issue over time, although it can be difficult to control hunger for the beginners. When your body will adapt to the new eating pattern you will be comfortable with fasting, in fact, many people report feeling better and having more energy during a fast.
No foods are allowed during fasting, but you can drink coffee, tea without sugar and water during the fasting period.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Humans actually have been fasting for thousands of years, when there wasn’t food available.
On the other hand, it was done for religious reasons, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism mandate some form of fasting.
Clearly, there is nothing “unnatural” about fasting, and our bodies are very well equipped to handle extended periods of not eating. in fact, there are many studies that show that there are a lot of benefits of intermittent fasting.
Insulin resistance and growth hormone
When we are in a fasted state, we get significant reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as a drastic change in human growth hormone (3,4,5).
Intermittent fasting for weight loss
Many studies had shown that intermittent fasting plays a big role in losing fat (6,7,8). It is a very effective and simple way to restrict calories and burn fat.
So many people actually find this method very helpful to control their hunger. Because of the restricted time window of eating people are consuming fewer calories. so, it can be a great way to lose weight.
Extend lifespan
Some studies also claimed that intermittent fasting can help you live longer (9,10). In some of the studies, rats that fasted every other day lived 75%- 83% longer than the rats who didn’t fast.
Brain health
Fasting can improve your brainpower. Motor functions of your brain will be increased and may aid the growth of new nerve cells. That means your brain health will improve by doing fasting (11).
Protect from disease
Some research also suggests that it can help protect against diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and others (12,13).
Protect from cancer
Animal studies have shown that fasting may improve or may prevent cancer (14,15).
Types of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has become very popular in the past few years, there are several methods to do fasting.
Some popular methods are:
- The 16/8 Method: This is the most popular one and easy to do. In this method, you have to fast for 16 hours and eat foods in 8 hours window.
- The 20/4 Method: This is similar to the 16/8 method. You have to eat foods in 4 hours and 20 hours you will be doing fasting.
- Alternate Day Fasting: In this method, you have to eat one day and fast every alternate day.
Who Should Not Follow:
Fasting is not beneficial for everyone.
People should avoid
- Pregnant and lactating women should avoid this method.
- You have a sleeping disorder.
- You are chronically stressed.
- If you have a history of disordered eating than you should avoid intermittent fasting.
- If you are in any medical condition then you should consult with your physician before doing intermittent fasting.
- Children should avoid fasting.
Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting
Hunger
Hunger is the main problem of doing fasting. At the very beginning of starting fasting, you may feel very hungry.
Weakness
Weakness is also a common problem for beginners. You may feel sluggish and your brain may not perform as well as you are used to it.
Sleep problem
As you are fasting you may experience a sleeping problem at the beginning. Because your stomach will be empty when you go to sleep.
These all are the common problem for a beginner, but these are temporary. It takes some time for your body to adapt to any new lifestyle. It may take three to four weeks to adapt to the lifestyle of fasting.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting for fat loss is most famous in the fitness world. So, most of the people are using it for losing fat. But it has also other benefits as well.
According to me, it can be very useful for people who are obese. I also tried intermittent fasting for weight loss. It benefits me much in my transformation.
The best part of including intermittent fasting as your weight loss diet plan is you will restrict yourself in a time window of eating. And so that you are going to eat fewer calories per day.