Intermittent Fasting
Fasting is an old method that has been used since ancient Greece to help regulate metabolism. Although you may not realise it, your body is used to periods of fasting as well because you fast for a certain period every single day – while you sleep. During the fasting periods, your body uses energy reserves so it can function well even when no additional food and therefore energy is added to the system. When you learn to control these fasting periods to use up more energy reserves, it becomes a diet you can call the intermittent fasting diet.
Intermittent fasting is a form of fasting where you only fast for a certain number of hours during the day or on certain days of the week. This is not a diet in the traditional sense and doesn’t prescribe what you can or can’t eat, but rather an eating pattern prescribing when you can eat. Restrictive diets that limit the amount of calories you consume can change the metabolism after a while and these changes in metabolism mean the body gets used to the low-calorie intake and you don’t lose any more weight. Intermittent fasting involves periods of low or no calorie intake, broken up by periods of normal amounts of calories. This means the metabolic changes stopping weight loss don’t occur.
Every person is different so everyone will have a different fasting schedule. Below you can find all the different options of intermittent fasting so click on the links to read more about each method.
Why Intermittent Fasting Works?
All the different intermittent fasting practices, which include the 16/8 diet, the 14/10 diet, the 20/4 diet, the 5/2 diet and the 24-hour intermittent fasting method, work as weight loss methods for the same reasons:
- One or more meals are left out so the total amount of calories you eat is reduced.
- Insulin levels rise when you eat, and drop when you don’t eat anything for a while. The low levels of insulin boost the burning of fat reserves.
- Fasting increases the noradrenalin production. Noradrenalin, also called norepinephrine, is an organic chemical that functions as a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Noradrenalin helps break up fat cells into fatty acids which the body can use as an energy source.
Pros of intermittent fasting:
- healthy weight loss and improved metabolism
- easy to stick to the eating plan because you can still eat anything you want and what you are used to
- unlike other diets, intermittent fasting allows you to eat all the foods you like which makes your weight loss menu a lot more diverse
Cons of intermittent fasting:
- people who work different shifts or whose schedule varies a lot from day to day may find it difficult to find a good rhythm with intermittent fasting
- you may experience periods of hunger while you fast (e.g. you go to bed hungry or you’re hungry in the morning before you can eat your first meal); this is especially true for the 20/4 method
- feeling hungry during the periods of fasting can affect your mood so it’s important to choose the right intermittent fasting method that will suit your lifestyle
- certain intermittent fasting methods, especially the ones where you fast for an entire day or two days in a row, can lead to periods of low energy and fatigue
Who shouldn’t attempt intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a safe weight loss method that is suitable for the vast majority of people. However, there are still groups of people who should avoid it:
- children and teenagers who are still growing
- pregnant or breastfeeding women
- people with diabetes
- people who take certain medications that require eating at fixed times during the day
- people who have had eating disorders in the past
If you have problems with your kidneys, bile or gastric acid, you should talk to a doctor or other medical professional before starting any intermittent fasting regime.