Intermittent fasting is defined as the eating cycle, where you fast for around 12-36 hours. This type of fasting does not indicate what to eat; instead, it means when to eat to lose weight. The common types of intermittent fasting involve fasting for around 16-24 hours for about 2 days in a week. There are various methods to enjoy intermittent fasting like the 16/8 method where you skip breakfast and eat between 1-9 pm and then fasting for 16 hours. Another technique is eat-stop-eat, where you fast for around 24 hours twice a week and then eat the next day. The third method of intermittent fasting is a 5:2 diet where you consume fewer calories i.e., around 500-600 calories twice a week and that too on alternate days.
There are various benefits of intermittent fasting, such as weight loss, improved mental as well as physical health, reduces the risk to suffer from chronic medical conditions. The effects of intermittent fasting include:
Weight loss where your insulin levels get lowered. The body starts breaking down carbohydrates to glucose, where the cells begin utilizing energy and convert fats for later use. For the intake of glucose, insulin hormone is used. When you stop the consumption of foods, your insulin level drops down similar to intermittent fasting, where the body then starts utilizing glucose stores for energy. Regular intermittent fasting makes your body used to it, which ultimately leads to weight loss and helps you to consume fewer calories throughout the day. A study concluded that intermittent fasting helps in the reduction of body weight.
Intermittent fasting helps in lowering the risk to suffer from type 2 diabetes. It helps in weight loss, which ultimately prevents you from diabetes. According to a review published in 2014, intermittent fasting helps in lowering the blood glucose levels along with insulin levels, especially in people who are at risk to suffer from diabetes. It was also seen that people who are at risk to suffer from diabetes; when they started performing intermittent fasting, their insulin sensitivity was markedly reduced.
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Intermittent fasting helps in improving cardiovascular health. According to the review published in 2016, it was seen that intermittent fasting helps in improving the blood pressure levels, it regulates the heart rate, improves the pumping ability of the heart and reduces the triglycerides and cholesterol levels.
Intermittent fasting is also believed to improve mental health. According to a study conducted over mice, it was seen that intermittent fasting helps in improving the memory, learning capability, and focus of an individual. Intermittent fasting helps in reducing any inflammatory markers within the brain and aids in improving the neurological state of mind. Other studies indicate that intermittent fasting helps in improving neurological disorders like stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.
Intermittent fasting further aids in reducing your chance to suffer from cancers. A restrictive diet in intermittent fasting delays the growth of tumors. However, further research and studies need to be conducted in this aspect. Obesity is one of the risk factors leading to cancers, so if you are following intermittent fasting, you’ll most likely reduce weight and ultimately prevent yourself against cancer or other medical conditions. Intermittent fasting also aids in lowering biological factors like inflammatory markers and insulin levels, which tend to increase your risk to suffer from chronic medical conditions.
Intermittent fasting offers various beneficial effects over the body, but before you plan on giving it a try to consult your healthcare professional and then start with intermittent fasting to enjoy ultimate benefits. Intermittent fasting can also lead to harmful effects on our body like sleep deprivation, orthorexia which is a type of eating disorder, reduced alertness, enhanced cortisol and LDL levels within the body along with the damaging effect to the pancreas and other parts of the body.
Until Next Time,
Team Doctor ASKY!