Intermittent Fasting: What is it and how does it work
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that consists of periods of fasting and eating. It is not a diet in the sense but is more accurately described as an eating pattern. Fasting had been practiced throughout the human revolution as ancient hunter-gatherers didnot have food-saving methods. As a result, humans evolved to be able to function without food for extended periods. Fasting is also done for religious or spiritual reasons in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism. Shortly it is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It is popular in the health and fitness community.
Different Methods:-
There are so many ways of doing intermittent fasting - the most popular methods are:-
1. The 16/8 Method: It involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours as 1 - 9 pm means 16 hours fast in between.
2. Eat-stop-Eat Method: It involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week e.g by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
3. The 5:2 diet: In this method, one can consume only 500-600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
Shortly there are several different ways to do intermittent fasting. All of them split the day or week into eating and fasting periods.
When you fast, several things happen in the body on the cellular and molecular levels. For example, your body adjusts hormone levels to make stored body fats more accessible. The under noted changes that occur in the body when you fast:
1. Human Growth Hormone (HGH): The levels of growth hormone skyrocket, increasing as much as 5-fold. Its benefits for fat loss and gaining of muscle gain.
2. Insulin: Due to fasting insulin sensitivity improves and the level of insulin drops dramatically.
3. Gene expression: There are many changes in the function of genes related to longevity and protection against diseases.
These above-noted changes in hormone levels, cell function, and gene expression are responsible for the health benefits of intermittent fasting.
It can summarize as such when you fast, human growth hormone levels go up and insulin levels go down. Your cells in the body also change the expression of genes and initiate important cellular repair processes.
1. POWERFUL WEIGHT LOSS TOOL
Loss of weight is the most common reason for people who try intermittent fasting, this way when you eat fewer meals, this type of fasting can lead to an automatic reduction in calorie intake. Additionally, lowering insulin and increasing growth hormone levels, increase the release of the fat-burning hormone nor-epinephrine (nor-adrenaline).
Due to these changes in hormones, short-term fasting may increase your metabolic rate by 3.6 - 14%. The latest studies also show that intermittent fasting can be a very powerful weight loss tool.
A study Review in 2014 found that this eating pattern can cause 3 - 8% weight loss over 3-24 weeks, which is a significant amount compared to most weight loss studies. According to the same study, people also lost 4 -7% of their waist circumference, which is a significant loss of harmful belly fat.
It can be summarized as intermittent fasting slightly boosting metabolism while helping you eat fewer calories. It is a very effective way to lose weight and belly fat which are harmful to you.
2 HEALTH BENEFITS
Its studies have shown here the main health benefits of intermittent fasting.
It can be summarized as fasting can have many benefits for your body and brain. It may help in weight loss and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and also cancer.
Hunger is the main side effect of intermittent fasting as you may also feel weak and your brain may not perform as well as you are used to.
If you have a medical condition, you should consult the doctor before trying intermittent fasting.
This is particularly important if you have:
It can be summarized that the most common side effect of intermittent fasting is hunger. People do not try this without consulting their doctor if having a certain medical condition.
It can be summarized as fasting can have many benefits for your body and brain. It may lose weight and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and also cancer.
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