At this point in time, every health or fitness chat you have with anyone leads to the mentioning of intermittent fasting. It’s quite a popular health and fitness trends in the world right now. Why? The word on the street is that it’s known to help with your weight loss journey, inflammation and longevity. Having said that, it’s important to educate yourself on any new things that you are willing to try, especially if it’s related to your health. And they say intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone. Therefore we’ve done a quick guide on the benefits of intermittent fasting, how to do, relevant tips and everything related to it.
So, what is Intermittent Fasting?
In very simple terms, intermittent fasting is a time period during which you don’t eat. It’s not a form of diet instead it’s a form of fasting. The reason is it doesn’t dictate what to eat; it directs when to eat. And there are many ways to do this, like:
- Alternate-day fasting: Eat a normal diet one day, fast the next day and repeat. And on the days you fast, consume food and drinks with less or no calories as opposed to completely stop eating.
- 5:2 fasting: Have a normal diet five days a week and fast two days a week.
- The Warrior Diet: This involves eating small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables during the day and having one big meal in the evening.
- Time-restricted eating: This involves fasting every day for 12 hours or longer and eating in the remaining hours. One popular way to do this is by following a 16/8 method during which you fast for 16 hours and have an 8-hour eating window during which you can have 2, 3 or more meals.
This may seem like a new trend. However, for centuries, it’s been followed as religious practices in Islam, Christianity, Judaism. Currently, a lot of fitness enthusiasts are now keen because the benefits on intermittent fasting seem to provide a holistically healthy experience.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Weight loss
The science behind intermittent fasting and weight loss is straightforward. Eating during shorter periods of time helps people to eat fewer calories and this results in weight loss over time.
Most people find the 16/8 fasting plan more effective and flexible for weight loss. Because you can use any 8-hour time frame to consume your food. Most people prefer to skip breakfast and eat from noon to 8 pm. While others don’t eat late and stick to a 9am to 5pm timetable.
Studies have observed this eating patterns especially like 16/8 method can bring down the risk of high blood pressure and therefore, reduce the amount of food consumed and increase the chance for weight loss. A 2016 study has stated that when coupled with resistance training, the 16/8 fasting can reduce fat mass and maintain muscle mass in men.
If your 5:2 fasting plan works better for you. That’s good news too! Because as per a 2018 study, the 5:2 diet works well as a daily calorie deficit diet for both weight loss and metabolic conditions.
For those who are keen on trying the alternate-day fasting, try to combine it with endurance training as it can double the weight loss benefits you get from regular fasting.
Notes on Weight Loss Journey
Having said all of that, intermittent fasting types like warrior fasting and eat, stop eat excludes you from consuming food for a long time. And this can lead to unpredictable disorder and health conditions. Therefore, it’s best to start moderately and with your doctor’s advice. Most importantly, make healthy food choices during your eating window. The reason being drenching your gut with unhealthy ingredients negates the whole purpose of a cleansing activity as this.
Dr. Nisa Maruthur, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, agrees. “If your calories are the same, regardless of when you eat them, there’s not an impact on weight.
Better Insulin Sensitivity
Words like insulin sensitivity may sound like Greek but fret not, we are about to simplify this VERY important health benefit.
The Role of Hormones in Weight Loss
For starters, hormones are a middleman for both weight loss and fasting and they play an important role in fat burning. So, when you don’t eat much, your body makes several changes to use the energy in your body wisely. Some of those bodily changes include changes in the levels of several crucial hormones such as insulin, noradrenaline and Human Grown Hormones. All of these play a major role in burning your fat, and lifestyle habits that affect these hormones play a role in your weight loss journey.
Definition of Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin Sensitivity is about how responsive your cells are to insulin, which is a blood sugar regulating your hormone. The more responsive your body is to insulin, the better it is for weight loss and your overall health. And the opposite of insulin sensitivity is insulin resistance, which is a bad thing and it can cause serious health concerns. And one of the biggest risk factors for insulin resistance is being overweight or obesity.
The Role of Intermittent Fasting on Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin plays a main role in storing your fat. So if you are eating a lot around the clock, your body needs to produce more insulin to accommodate the calories. And when there is a lot of insulin, your cells runs out of capacity accomodate them all. And resists the extra insulin which in turn triggers the body to make more of this hormone. This way, the cells start to resist more and *boom* your body now has insulin resistance.
This means it’s going to be hard to burn fat, your gut is prone to inflammation and you’re at a higher risk for diabetes. The main way to avoid this and turn it all around is by making healthy choices. And intermittent fasting helps a lot as you are giving your body a chance to reset and allowing the insulin levels to adjust to healthy levels. Thereafter, your cells will respond to insulin better and this is how intermittent fasting improves insulin sensitivity. This way, your cells can make good use of insulin and restore your overall health.
Reduction in risk of chronic diseases
Lowers Diabetes
Remember, intermittent fasting doesn’t only help with burning fat and weight loss. It helps increase insulin sensitivity too. With low insulin resistance, there won’t be any sugar or glucose trapped in our bloodstream as the cells will absorb them to produce energy. This way, the risk for diabetes is much lower with intermittent fasting.
Lowers Cholesterol and other Heart Diseases
Technically, cholesterol isn’t a bad thing. It’s a lipid produced by the liver it helps in a few ways, including with hormone and vitamin production. The source of more good and any bad mainly comes from the lipoproteins that carry the cholesterol. There are two types of them:
- HDL is the ‘good’ one. It removes cholesterol from the blood and transports it to the liver, where it will be processed and disposed from the body.
- LDL is the ‘bad’ one. It transfers the cholesterol through the blood to the cells so some of it can get stuck in the blood vessels. And when there is a lot of that, it can create ‘roadblocks’ for blood flow, which could result in blood clots, heart attack, or stroke.
With intermittent fasting, your glucose level drops so your liver converts your fatty acids to keton bodies, which gives your body steady fat-based energy. This reduces your overall cholesterol including LDL. The research on cholesterol and intermittent fasting are still at their initial stages. However, there’s some research that supports that fasting can reduce cholesterol.
Reduces Inflammation
Latest scientific sources have confirmed that intermittent fasting minimizes the risk for inflammation. This isa condition that can lead to chronic fatigue, muscle aches, diabetes, infections, etc. Think of inflammation as a malfunction in the walls that protect your body from threats.
According to research, monocytes that were found in the blood of those who followed intermittent fasting were less inflammatory. These white blood cells play a huge role in reducing any inflammation. And that gives you another big reason to consider intermittent fasting.
Other benefits of intermittent fasting
Improves brain health and cognitive function
Intermittent fasting is great for nurturing brain health. The metabolic changes it brings enhances neuroplasticity. This is your brain’s ability to learn and improve new experiences and the ability to bounce back from any injury or diseases. And the benefits of intermittent fasting extends to fighting Alzheimer’s diseases and Parkinson’s through a process called autophagy.
Also, fasting can help ditch brain fog and sharpen your mind. This means clear thinking and good moods, better appetite (no junk eating) and overall increase in happiness.
Increased lifespan
A 2019 study, published in the American Heart Association’s’ journal Circulation revealed that those who fasted had a greater survival rate than those who didn’t fast. And those who fasted for less than five years didn’t reap any survival benefits. It’s being confirmed in reports led by longevity scientists such as Valter Longo that many age-related diseases can be controlled with intermittent fasting.
Tips for starting intermittent fasting
- Are you doing it for the right reasons? If you are solely doing this only because your favourite celebrity is doing. Then, you need to step back. Because they are usually backed by a team full of nutritionists and dieticians to help them function at their best. Therefore, if you are juggling quite a few things on your own, reevaluate your decision. If you are already doing what it takes to achieve your wellness goal, then intermittent fasting may not be even needed for you.
- Choose the right method of intermittent fasting for you. While it might be tempting to go all out, start small with time-restricted eating first with doable fasting periods. If you can do it consistently, then increase it further as per your wellness goal.
- Stay Hydrated, very important. Fasting doesn’t exclude you from non-caloric fluids such as water and herbal teas.
- Make sure to get your calories and nutrition. Again, fasting doesn’t exempt you from consuming your necessary calorie intake. Plan your meals to be healthy and protein-heavy without resorting to junk food. Experts advise to eat slowly and frequently. For instance, eat every 3 hours during an 8-hour eating window.
- Include 2tbsp. to 3tbsp. of healthy fat to your evening meal. Alicia Galvin, RD, a resident dietitian for Sovereign Laboratories, suggests healthy fats like olive oil, coconut butter to keep the blood sugar steady overnight.
- Intermittent fasting is not for everyone even if you could benefit greatly from it. Therefore, this must be approached with the guidance of a healthcare professional. They would assess your current health condition and fitness goals and will guide you.
- It’s usually best not to fast, if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, underweight, having eat disorders or taking medications for low blood sugar. And of course, kids shouldn’t fast!
The Final Takeaway
Weight loss, hormonal balance, low risk of chronic diseases such as cholesterol, diabetes and inflammation are some of the potential benefits of intermittent fasting. In addition to that, your cognitive skills can improve and some experts even say that it has a positive part to play with your longevity.
You need to ensure the benefits of intermittent fasting doesn’t make you overlook its practicality and any potential side effects. Therefore, ask yourself if this aligns with your wellness goal and optimal lifestyle routine because consistency is key. Besides that, it’s also important to check with your doctor if intermittent fasting is suitable for your body and current health condition. Failing to do that can result in not only poor results, but also side effects like low energy, irritability, fatigue and binging tendencies. After consulting your doctor, if you feel that intermittent fasting is going to make things better for you, go for it! If not, say ‘thank you, next’ and move on to a different solution! Good luck!
For more wellness related information:
- Detox Diet for Weight Loss: 10 Easy Food and Drinks
- 30 Day Arms and Squats Challenge – Dumbbell Push-up, Squat and Overhead Press
