Intermittent fasting is all the rage. Your friends are starting a new method; your neighbor is dropping weight on their IT plan, your coworkers won’t stop talking about it, and you’re starting to wonder if it’s a trend worth jumping on. The short answer? Yes. But don’t be mistaken – intermittent fasting isn’t a fad diet. Instead, it’s a lifestyle and one that has been proven to offer a plethora of health and wellness benefits on a physical, mental and emotional level. In this article, you’ll learn everything there is to know about these unique eating patterns that are transforming people’s lives – and that could be transforming yours as well.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Put simply, intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that involves alternating cycles of fasting and eating. In other words, you eat, you fast, you eat, you fast, and so forth. However, there are various types of fasting patterns and cycles to choose from. Some involve fasting for a full day each week, whereas regimes focus on fasting for a specific time frame each day. But fasting is scary, right? The idea of “not eating” can seem like an impossible task, but everyone already fasts. Think of breakfast. Break-fast. You fast every night when you go to sleep and for a significant amount of time without even thinking about it. Fasting during the day can be just as effortless once you train your body to accept your new eating pattern. Let’s also not forget that not all intermittent fasting plans are the same, nor are you required to go without any food or drink during the fasting period. For example, many IT methods allow for non-caloric beverages to be enjoyed while fasting. This includes things such as water, tea, and black coffee.
The Different Types of Fasting
As fasting has evolved over the centuries, many different eating patterns and cycles have been created. This means that there are plenty of options for you to choose from to ensure you find an appropriate intermittent fasting plan that suits your needs. To give you an idea of where to start, below are some of the most common types.
Alternate Day Fasting
Just as the name suggests, this type of intermittent fasting involves fasting every other day1Bjarnadottir, MS, RDN (Ice), A., & Kubala, MS, RD, J. (2020). Alternate-Day Fasting. Healthline. Retrieved 17 February 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/alternate-day-fasting-guide.. However, the real cherry on top is that you can eat anything you want on your eating day. Yes, anything! No diet restrictions at all. Then, on the fasting day, you want to restrict your calories to as low as 500 for women and 600 for men.
Eat Stop Eat
One of the easiest IF methods out there is where you fast for an entire day, once or twice a week. The only goal you have to focus on achieving is fasting for a complete 24-hour period at least once a week.
The 16/8 Method
Another easy intermittent fasting plan is to aim to get all of your meals for the day in within an 8-hour period. This means you would be fasting for 16 hours each day. Or you could do the 14/10 method, which is the same but all of your meals would be consumed in a 10-hour period.
5:2 Diet
The 5:2 diet involves eating like you do normally for 5 days of the week and eating a highly-restricted calorie intake on the remaining 2 days.
The Proven Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting isn’t shy of benefits. It caters to your physical, emotional and mental health, and can help with everything from weight loss to reducing your risk of developing serious diseases, such as cancer. Let’s take a look:
Weight Loss
One of the top benefits of intermittent fasting is the healthy, natural and sustainable weight loss you receive from it. Humans have been fasting for centuries and scientific evidence shows that it’s a powerful weight loss strategy2Varady, K. (2009). Short-term modified alternate-day fasting: a novel dietary strategy for weight loss and cardioprotection in obese adults. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Retrieved 17 February 2022, from https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/90/5/1138/4598070. – and one that doesn’t require you to spend all of your free time counting calories and running on a treadmill.
Increase in Muscle Growth
Science has proven that intermittent fasting increases the human growth hormone. This helps with various things, such as muscle and bone growth, sugar and fat metabolism, the regulation of body fluids, and heart function3Hartman, M. L., Veldhuis, J. D., Johnson, M. L., Lee, M. M., Alberti, K. G., Samojlik, E., & Thorner, M. O. (1992). Augmented growth hormone (GH) secretory burst frequency and amplitude mediate enhanced GH secretion during a two-day fast in normal men. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 74(4), 757–765. https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem.74.4.1548337.
Reduced Risk of Serious Diseases
Intermittent fasting has proven to significantly reduce the risk of developing serious diseases and illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also been proven to help protect the body against these serious diseases4Varady, K. (2007). Alternate-day fasting and chronic disease prevention: a review of human and animal trials. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Retrieved 17 February 2022, from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/86/1/7.full..
Decreased Blood Sugar Levels
Improved heart health is a top benefit with intermittent fasting. It can help reduce blood sugar levels, insulin resistance. inflammation, heart rate, cholesterol and blood sugar5CAMPBELL, MS, RD, LDN, CDCES, A. (2017). Intermittent Fasting: Not So Fast – Diabetes Self-Management. Diabetes Self-Management. Retrieved 17 February 2022, from https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-not-so-fast/..
Anti-Aging
Intermittent fasting has been proven to prolong the health span of the nervous system, which can also slow down the aging process. It also has a positive effect on energy and oxygen metabolism and the stress response system, which helps deter them from aging6Martin, B., Mattson, M. P., & Maudsley, S. (2006). Caloric restriction and intermittent fasting: two potential diets for successful brain aging. Ageing research reviews, 5(3), 332–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2006.04.002.
Things to Consider
Any big lifestyle change can feel like a shock to your system. As such, there are some things to be aware of before getting started to prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically properly.
Possible Side Effects
Any diet change is bound to come with some kind of side effect. For example, when you reduce sugar or your caffeine intake, you are likely to experience headaches. These are completely normal and expected side effects and nothing to be worried about. However, while most side effects are nothing more than a slight hindrance or discomfort, some can be more serious than others and it’s important to be mindful of them as you start your intermittent fasting. Some possible, temporary side effects you may experience are:
- Headaches
- Diarrhea
- Feeling uncomfortably full after eating during your non-fasting times
- Being overly focused on your feed windows
- Being overly reliant on coffee in an effort to control your hunger and to stay energized
- Food cravings
- Hunger pangs
- Heartburn
- Brain fog
- Decreased energy
It’s Safe For Diabetics
As a person with diabetes, you always have to be careful with any diet changes you may. Fortunately, there is plenty of scientific evidence that supports the benefits intermittent fasting can have on both types of diabetes. For example, it’s said to help improve insulin sensitivity, aid with weight loss, and help the need for blood sugar-lowering medications.
Intermittent fasting may sound like a big fancy ordeal, but it is quite simple. It’s the process of following an eating pattern or cycle that alternates days or times of fasting and eating. However, it isn’t a fad diet or even a diet at all. Instead, intermittent fasting is a lifestyle and there are many different types to choose from to ensure you follow a method that is appropriate for you. And once you get started, expect the physical, mental and emotional health and cognitive benefits to start flooding in because there certainly isn’t a shortage of them. So, if you’re ready to thrive day-in and day-out, lose weight and optimize your health and wellness, it can all be done simply by changing up your eating pattern and incorporating intermittent fasting.
