What Is Intermittent Fasting? – How much do you know about intermittent fasting? What advantages does it offer? Is it healthy? If you think that fasting is starving, you have to see this post until the end.
Although the subject has become fashionable, as many celebrities and influencers only talk about the positive aspects of fasting as a dietary regimen, it is essential to know what it is about and what its risks are.
Please keep reading and discover everything about intermittent fasting, its benefits and how to properly. do you follow me
Table of Contents
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Fasting is very different from starvation. The big difference is that when you decide to fast, you control your food intake.
You set limits for your eating times, which can help you control binge eating. Also, to make better decisions and hydrate more before eating a high-calorie snack after hours or every time you feel hungry.
In contrast, starvation is the involuntary lack of food, and when prolonged, it can lead to disease and put health at risk.
How Is Intermittent Fasting Done?
So what is intermittent fasting? When you fast with full knowledge and for whatever reasons (to lose weight, for health, religious convictions, etc.), you are assuming a voluntary act with a goal.
It is simply, fasting consists of not eating for several hours. It can even be for several days, as long as a doctor indicates.
In any case, I am not going to talk about fasting for several days, but about intermittent fasting and its benefits.
Controlled fasting can be started at any time and stopped whenever desired. A classic example of a typical fast is to stop eating after dinner and not snack until the next day when we have breakfast.
Thus, about 12 to 14 hours of fasting will have already passed, enough time for our sugar levels, cholesterol and other metabolic profiles to stabilize.
From this point of view, fasting is something every day—even the very word “breakfast” by him. So eating breakfast is “breaking the fast”.
In this sense, intermittent fasting is an eating regimen that seeks to help the body use its stored energy. As a result, it translates into a greater burning of excess body fat.
That is why, when we practice it, we begin to lose extra kilos quickly. Do you get the idea?
Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Works
Intermittent fasting allows the body to use stored energy, which does not happen if we eat constantly.
The intakes of every three hours, for example, with the three meals and snacks, make the body only use the energy that enters with food.
It can increase weight because we can’t always balance what we eat and expend energy. So if you are looking to reduce and lose abdominal fat, intermittent fasting can help you.
These are the benefits of this way of fasting:
- It helps you lose weight and body fat
- Increase fat burning
- May lower blood sugar and insulin levels
- It enables the body to feel more energetic and less bloated
- Improves concentration skills
- It May help lower cholesterol levels
- Can balance some hormones
- Accelerates the activation and cleaning of cells due to the effect of autophagy
When Is Fasting Dangerous?
Some people should not do intermittent or prolonged fasting. These are some of the cases in which this dietary regimen is inadvisable :
- If you suffer from anorexia, eating disorders or if you are underweight (BMI < 18.5)
- Suppose you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Unfortunately, these are not times when you can start on this regimen, resulting in the baby receiving fewer nutrients.
- Suppose you are under 18 years old. Your body requires nutrients to complete its maturity.
There are other situations in which fasting may only indicate under medical supervision:
- If you suffer from type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
- Doubt you have serious pathologies such as heart disease, kidney disease or liver problems.
- Doubt you have been prescribed medications, significantly if restrictive intakes can affect their effectiveness.
- If you suffer from high uric acid or gout.
Safe Way To Fast
These are some of the best known fast systems. The ones that are more flexible and shorter are the most popular :
Fast 16:8
It is a very easy intermittent fast to follow daily or just a few days a week. It contains fasting for 16 hours and then opening a window to eat for 8 hours. At this time, all meals.
You can, for example, have dinner at 8:00 at night and eat the next day at noon. On the other hand, if breakfast is your most important meal, you can eat dinner earlier and calculate the hours of sleep and fasting to make it easier for you.
Fast 20:4
Here the time to feed is short: only 4 hours. The fast is 20 hours. Then, some eat between 3 in the afternoon and seven at night and then spend 20 hours fasting.
24 Hour Fast
It is a type of prolonged fast where you spend a whole day without eating, that is, you eat only one meal per day. Those who do it practice it two or three times a week.
5:2 Fast
It is a type of prolonged intermittent fasting, which has some scientific studies to support it. It consists of eating normally for five days and fasting for two days.
During these two days, only 500 calories should bother, so it is essential to choose well what to eat so as not to feel faint.
There are many other types of fasts. Some alternate a day of fasting and another day where they usually eat.
If I Exercise, Can I Fast?
Now, keep in mind that if you exercise, especially long-term aerobics, doing physical activity on an empty stomach can make you lose balance and feel bad.
So eating something beforehand is essential and it will also help you improve your performance.
As a final part of advice, keep in attention that:
- During intermittent fasting, you may experience extreme hunger, headaches, constipation. Even dizziness. Cramps and heartburn. It is usual for the first few days.
- A ketogenic or low-carb, higher-fat diet may help reduce the above symptoms.
- Include more filling foods in your meals, such as nuts and yoghurt.
- Drinking mineral water and staying hydrated is essential. Drink infusions, coffee or tea if you feel too hungry.
- If you feel very weak or have discomfort, break the fast.
- Better consult your doctor before undergoing fasts!
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