Have you ever eaten a full dinner, then slept late, and ate your breakfast the next day at 1 pm? Well! That is intermittent fasting. It decides when to eat without changing what to eat. Easy implementation and the extensive list of benefits made it the No. 1 diet trend of 2019.
Types of Intermittent Fasting
The term ‘intermittent’ means an occurrence at periodic intervals, and intermittent fasting thus revolves around cycles of fasting and eating.
There are four types of Intermittent fasting methods.
- 16/8 Method: In this method, you need to schedule your daily meals within the 8-hour and fast for the remaining 16 hours. You can include all three meals in this method or skip one meal. The choice is yours.
- 5:2 Diet: This diet is also called the Fast Diet. This diet involves eating normally for 5 days of the week and restricting your calorie intake to 500–600 for the remaining 2 days of the week.
- The Warrior Diet: This was one of the first popular diets in intermittent fasting. The Warrior Diet includes consuming only small amounts of vegetables and fruits during the day and then eating one huge meal at night.
- Eat Stop Eat: Eat Stop Eat is an intermittent fasting program with one or two 24-hour fasts per week. Fasting from dinner one day to dinner the next day amounts to a full 24-hour fast. Water, coffee, and other zero-calorie beverages are allowed during the fast, but no solid foods are permitted.
BENEFITS OF INTERMITTENT FASTING
Intermittent fasting is one of the powerful methods to remove toxins, cleanse our bodies, lose weight, and cure diseases.
1. Extreme n quick weight loss
2. Decreases sugar cravings
3. Boosts up the immune system
4. Detoxifies your liver
5. Reduce triglycerides (fats found in the blood)
6. Increases brain-derived neurotropic factor and boosts up memory.
7. Decreases insulin resistance
8. Metabolic switch happens
9. Induces various cellular repair processes
10 Reduces Heart Problems
11 Fights against several diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s
Intermittent Fasting VS Other Weight Loss Diets
1. You can eat what you like in the eating period.
2. The fasting window is mostly the time that you sleep.
3. You need not avoid rice, carbs, and fat
4. You need not skip meals.
5. You need not starve your stomach.
6. You do not land up with gastritis despite fasting for 16 hours. Provided if you do not break your fast with spicy food.
7. No constipation issues if you take enough water.
8. Need not take added vitamin, mineral capsules.
Things you need to keep in mind
1. The only thing is that you need to fast for 16 hours very strictly, which seems tough initially, but later you will enjoy doing it.
2. Should avoid alcohol.
3. Beware of hypoglycemic attacks. Green tea, apple cider vinegar, black coffee in between helps a lot to withstand.
Please keep in mind that your weight reduction depends on certain things.
1. Since how long you have been overweight?
2. Where do you stand on the BMI scale?
3. Suffering from weight-related conditions like Thyroid, PCOD, type 2 diabetes, etc.
4. Taking any medication which hinders your weight loss.
So, it is always advised to consult Nutritionist or Doctor if you have any comorbidities like High blood pressure, cardiac issues, bowel related problems, etc., before starting the diet.
WHO SHOULD AVOID IT?
· Pregnant & Breastfeeding women
· Underweight people
· Children
· People with a medical condition.
Conclusion
There are many claimed benefits of Intermittent Fasting. There is no fixed rule that it works similarly for all. However, it is better to stay educated.
The time you take to lose weight and the number of kgs you start losing differ from person to person. And most often, it depends on how consistent you are.