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A phenomenon called intermittent fasting is currently one of the most popular health, fitness and diet trends in the world that involves alternating cycles of fasting and eating.
Many studies show that it can cause weight loss, improve metabolic health, protect against disease, and perhaps help you live longer.
This article explains what intermittent fasting is, and why you should care.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting.
He doesn't say anything about which food to eat, but yes when you must eat them.
There are several different intermittent fasting methods, which divide the day or week into periods of eating and periods of fasting.
Most people already “practice” intermittent fasting every day while they sleep. Intermittent fasting can be as simple as extending that fast a little longer.
You can do this by skipping breakfast, eating your first meal at noon, and your last meal at 8:00 p.m.
So you're technically fasting for 16 hours every day, and restricting your eating to an eight-hour window. This is the most popular form of intermittent fasting, known as the 16/8 method.
Despite what you may think, intermittent fasting is actually quite easy to do. Many people report feeling better and having more energy during a fast.
Hunger is usually not the biggest problem, although it can be a problem at first while your body is getting used to not eating for long periods of time.
No food is allowed during the fasting period, but you can drink water, coffee, tea, and other non-calorie beverages.
Some forms of intermittent fasting allow small amounts of low-calorie foods during the fasting period.
Taking supplements is generally allowed while fasting, as long as there are no calories in them.
Conclusion: Intermittent fasting (or “IF”) is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. It’s a very popular trend for improving health and fitness.
Why practice intermittent fasting?
Humans have done fast for thousands of years.
Sometimes it was done out of necessity, when there was simply no food available.
In other cases, it was done for religious reasons. Several religions, including Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, require some form of fasting.
Clearly, there is nothing “unnatural” about fasting, and our bodies are very well equipped to handle long periods of not eating.
All sorts of processes in the body change when we don’t eat for a while in order to allow our bodies to thrive during a period of starvation. It has to do with hormones, genes, and important cellular repair processes.
When fasting, we get significant reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as a dramatic increase in human growth hormone.
Many people do intermittent fasting in order to lose weight, as it is a very simple and effective way to restrict calories and burn fat.
Others do it for the metabolic health benefits, as it can improve several different risk factors and health markers.
There’s also some evidence that intermittent fasting can help you live longer. Studies in rodents show that it can extend life as effectively as calorie restriction.
Some research also suggests that it may help protect against diseases including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and others.
Other people simply like the convenience of intermittent fasting.
It’s an effective “life hack” that makes your life simpler while improving your health. The fewer meals you have to plan, the simpler your life will be.
Not having to eat 3-4+ times a day (with the prep and cleanup involved) also saves time.
Conclusion: Humans are well-adapted to fasting from time to time. Modern research shows that it has benefits for weight loss, metabolic health, disease prevention, and may even help you live longer.
Types of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has become very trendy in recent years, and several different types/methods have emerged.
Here are some of the most popular ones:
- The 16/8 Method: done for 16 hours a day, for example, only eating between noon and 8 pm.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: Once or twice a week, eat nothing from dinner one day until dinner the next day (a 24-hour fast).
- Diet 5:2: for 2 days a week, eat only about 500-600 calories.
Then there are many other variations of intermittent fasting
I'm personally a fan of the 16/8 method (popularized by Martin Berkhan of LeanGains), as I find it to be the simplest and easiest to maintain.
In fact, I eat naturally this way. I'm usually not very hungry in the morning, and I don't feel compelled to eat until about 1:00 p.m.
So I eat my last meal somewhere between 6 and 9 pm, so I end up instinctively fasting for 16-19 hours every day.
Conclusion: There are many different intermittent fasting methods. The most popular are the 16/8 method, Eat-Stop-Eat, and the 5:2 diet.
Final considerations
It's an effective way to lose fat and improve metabolic health, while simplifying your life at the same time.
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