Fasting is not something new for human beings. We have been doing it for millennia. Every time we sleep, our body enters into a fasting state. In the morning, we break the fast simply by having our breakfast.
Intermittent fasting is a new trend in the fitness and health industry. Many people across the globe are practicing it to improve their health or lose weight.
What is intermittent fasting, and how to do it?
Intermittent fasting is a type of fasting that regularly alternates the eating and fasting phases. You can not eat any food during the fasting phase but can drink water or green tea.
There are the 4 most popular methods of intermittent fasting.
X:Y Intermettent fasting method
This intermittent fasting method allows you to consume regular food during the X-hour window and fast for Y hours every day. X and Y are hour numbers that bring you the best long-term results. The most popular is the 8:16 intermittent fasting method (8 hours of eating combined with 16 hours of fasting). Still, you can apply different proportion that brings you the best results (like the 10:14 method or the 6:18 method).
Eat-Stop-Eat
This method entails fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week. For instance, not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
5:2 diet
This intermittent fasting method involves eating a small portion of food (only 500–600 calories) on two non-consecutive days of the week but eating normally the other five days.
Alternate day fasting
Eat every other day or alternate two days of eating with one day of fasting.
Remember that if you want to lose weight with any intermittent fasting method, what you consume during your eating phase does matter. If you eat a lot of junk food, sugar, or high-calorie food, you will probably not lose weight.
Benefits of Intermittent fasting you should know about
Weight Loss
Many people opt for intermittent fasting because it can help in losing weight. After all, fewer meals mean less calorie intake. Intermittent fasting brings another dimension to the weight loss equation. Intermittent fasting boosts hormone function to enable weight loss. Low insulin levels, high growth hormone levels, and improved amounts of norepinephrine facilitate the fat breakdown and use this fat to fuel our body.
Lowers the risk of type II diabetes
The main reason behind type II diabetes is high blood sugar levels against insulin resistance. Intermittent fasting reduces insulin resistance, thus lowering the high blood sugar and diminishing the risk of developing diabetes. Studies have shown that fasting decreases blood sugar levels by 3-6% and insulin levels by 20-31%.
Delay aging
Aging is something that you can not stop but can slow down. Many factors contribute to the aging process, and oxidative stress is one of them. It contributes to aging and the development of many chronic diseases. Intermittent fasting helps our resistance against oxidative stress and, in this way, slows down the aging process.
Improves Heart health
It has been proved that intermittent fasting normalizes blood pressure and decreases the chances of heart disease. Intermittent fasting corrects various risk factors, including blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers, and blood sugar levels.
Prevents Cancer
Cancer occurs due to the uncontrollable growth of body cells. Intermittent fasting has beneficial effects on metabolism, leading to a lower risk of cancer. Some studies have proved that fasting can also reduce the side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients.
Improves brain health
Various metabolic features such as reduced oxidative stress, reduced inflammation, reduced blood sugar levels, and insulin resistance is essential for brain health and can be enhanced by intermittent fasting. Studies have revealed that intermittent fasting may increase the growth of new nerve cells, which benefits brain function.