Understanding intermittent Fasting
What is Intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a dietary method that involves specific cycles of eating and fasting. Just like the common day, but with a larger focus on the time period you set for the day/week, leaving the choice of food to your own judgement. Fasting is just the process of voluntarily going without consuming any food, which we do whilst sleeping but extending that period has been known, through scientific research to have some major health benefits if done correctly.
Intermittent fasting may help you reach ketosis quicker than the keto diet alone. That is because your body, when fasting, maintains its energy balance by shifting its fuel source from carbs to fats, which is the exact premise of the Keto Diet.
There are multiple variations of the technique but the most popular methods are as follows:
The 16/8 method (Leangains protocol), involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week
The 5:2 diet where you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
By reducing your calorie intake throughout the day, this will help promote weight loss as long as you don't try to make up for the lost calories in your eating window. This is important to note as the fasting method isn't a diet in the sense of giving you specific food groups to eat, this is all down to your positive mental attitude and whether you can commit to the fast with a specific style
What are the benefits?
Weight loss - it opens the opportunity to drop stubborn pounds without making drastic changes to your core diet or taking on an excessive exercise regime. During the fasting period, your blood level of insulin drops significantly, and the body enters a high-fat burn mode. Don’t fear for your body eating away at muscle mass, the Human Growth Hormone is kick-started during a fasting period which facilitates muscle gain.
Insulin resistance - intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3–6% and fasting insulin levels by 20–31%, which should protect against type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation - Recent research has shown the effect Intermittent fasting has on our general health in regard to its healing properties. allowing us to recover quicker and help aid various ailments from diabetes to multiple sclerosis.
Heart health - Research has shown that in a short period of implementing the fast, we will decrease blood pressure, cholesterol drops and triglycerides, a harmful type of fat in the blood will also decrease.
Brain health - the reduced inflammation in the body helps reduce the damaged cells in the brain, stimulating brain function and facilitating communication to the brain.
Immune System - When fasting our body lowers white blood cell counts, which in turn triggers the immune system to replenish its white blood cell stores. White blood cells are a key component of your body's immune system. As soon as you start eating, your stem cells kick back in to high gear to replenish the cells that were recycled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I drink anything whilst fasting? Yes. You can have water, tea, coffee or any non-caloric beverages. Do not add sugar to your hot drinks and if you must add milk, then do, but keep it minimal. Drinking something like coffee is important as you can use it to suppress hunger.
Is it unhealthy to skip breakfast? No. The reason why people tell you breakfast is the most important meal of the day is to encourage those of us with unhealthy eating habits to eat something nutritious. It doesn't matter when you break your fast, as long as you consume food that will improve your overall health and wellness.
Can I work out whilst fasting? Yes. There is no reason to why you shouldn't be exercising. The only differences that may occur will be a slight decrease in energy but it's important to take the type of training into consideration. You wouldn't be able to do a marathon, but a HIIT or weight training session will be fine.
Will fasting cause muscle loss? All weight loss methods can result in losing muscle mass. That is why your approach to your diet and training is so important, like lifting weights and consuming a high protein diet. These things will keep on top of the muscle mass built.
