Counted among the world’s most popular health and fitness trends, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where people limit their food consumption for certain hours of the day. Over the years, studies have put forth its many benefits before the world like successful weight loss, improved mental health, and a healthy heart.
What is intermittent fasting?
In simplest words, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern alternating between periods of feasting and fasting. Instead of focussing on the kind of foods one must eat, it rather emphasizes on the timing at which one must eat them. It involves various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period.
The concept of fasting has been around for thousands of years but the world has only realised its importance in the past decade owing to its amazing health benefits. Intermittent fasting, however, only gained popularity in late 2018, although it has been in practice since the 1940s. But unlike many others, it is a really tricky and controversial diet to get used to, about which people have been divided on whether it is actually conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
The main objective of intermittent fasting is to divert the body's attention from things other than the digestion of food like recovery and maintenance. But proponents of an intermittent fasting regimen claim that it helps shed pounds faster than traditional diets, as well as reduce inflammation and other heart disease risks.
Types of intermittent fasting
12 hours of fasting: The simplest one is wherein a person needs to adhere to a 12-hour fasting window every day. The easiest way to follow this fast is to include the period of sleep in the fasting window. You can choose to fast between 7 pm and 7 am.
The 16/8 method: Also known as the Leangains protocol, this method involves skipping food for 16 hours and restricting the eating period to only eight hours. This can be done if you’re okay with skipping breakfast. During the eating window, one can fit in two, three, or more meals but be careful about your calorie intake.
Eat-stop-eat: This type of fasting involves completely stopping calorie intake for 24 hours, once or twice a week. Only water, coffee, and other zero-calorie beverages are allowed during the fasting period.
The 5/2 diet: In this method, you can only consume 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week. In the remaining five days, you are allowed to eat normally.
Alternate day fasting: This method involves fasting every other day. It is quite an extreme form of intermittent fasting and may not be suitable for beginners or for those suffering from chronic diseases.
The pros
The most obvious benefit is that it helps in weight loss and decreasing belly fat. And as there is no need to track your calorie intake during your eating period, it is easy to follow once you get a hang of it. Intermittent fasting may even reduce bad LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers, blood sugar, and insulin — all risk factors for heart diseases. It even increases the brain hormone BDNF and may aid the growth of new nerve cells. It may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
The cons
Hunger is the biggest drawback as you may feel weak or dizzy during the fasting period. Since fasting periods are long, one may find it difficult to stick to the regimen and meet the nutritional needs as the feasting windows are small. It is not always advisable for people with certain conditions, and those who are on certain medications. In these cases, it is better to take a doctor's opinion and also keep a qualified nutritionist in the loop.
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