Intermittent fasting and its benefits.

What is intermittent fasting?

  Intermittent fasting is also called as intermittent energy restriction, which is a hyperonym for various mealtime schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period. Three methods of intermittent fasting are alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, and daily time-restricted feeding.   It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them. In this respect, it’s not a diet in the conventional sense but more specifically described as an eating pattern.   There are several different intermittent fasting methods, all of which split the day or week into eating periods and fasting periods.   Most people often “fast” every day, while they sleep. Intermittent fasting can be as simple as extending that fast a little longer.   You can do this by skipping breakfast, eating your first meal at noon and your last meal at 8 pm.   Then you’re technically fasting for 16 hours every day, and restricting your eating to an 8-hour eating window. This is the most popular form of intermittent fasting, known as the 16:8 method.   16:8 intermittent fasting is a form of time-restricted fasting. It involves consuming foods during an 8-hour window and avoiding food, or fasting, for the remaining 16 hours each day.   Few people believe that this method works by supporting the body’s circadian rhythm. (A circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats on each rotation of the Earth roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours) Most people who follow the 16:8 plan restrain themselves from eating food at night and for part of the morning and evening. They tend to consume their daily calories during the middle of the day.   Despite what you may think, intermittent fasting is manageable to do. Many people report feeling better and having more energy during a fast.   Hunger is usually not that big of an issue, although it can be a problem in the beginning, while your body is getting used to not eating for longer periods.   No food intake is allowed during the fasting period, but you can drink water, coffee, tea and other non-caloric beverages.   Some forms of intermittent fasting allow small amounts of low-calorie foods during the fasting period.  

Intermittent fasting is a popular method that people use to:  

1. simplify their life
2. lose weight
3. improve their overall health and well-being, such as minimizing the effects of ageing

  Diabetes.

Extra calories and less activity can mean a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses. Scientific studies are showing that intermittent fasting may help reverse these trends. There are anecdotal reports of patients who have lost weight, their blood sugar levels have improved significantly, and they no longer need to take their diabetes medications after trying intermittent fasting. Their disease appears to be in remission – if not exactly cured.  

Obesity

Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. But intermittent fasting shows promising results for the treatment of obesity. In 2014-2016, for the study, researchers of the University of Alabama enrolled 11 adult men and women who had excess weight. They compared a form of intermittent fasting called “early time-restricted feeding,” where all meals were fit into an early eight-hour period of the day (7 am to 3  pm), or spread out over 12-hour s (between 7 am and 7 pm). Both groups maintained their weight (did not gain or lose) but after five weeks, the eight-hours group had dramatically lower insulin levels and significantly improved insulin sensitivity, as well as significantly lower blood pressure. The best part? The eight-hours group also had significantly decreased appetite. They weren’t hungry. Just altering the timing of meals, by eating earlier in the day and extending the overnight fast, considerably benefited metabolism even in people who didn’t lose a single pound.    

Other benefits of intermittent fasting includes:  

• Lowering levels of insulin, which makes it easier for the body to use stored fat.
• Lowering blood sugars, blood pressure, and inflammation levels.
• Shifting the expression of certain genes, which helps the body protect itself from disease as well as stimulating longevity.
• Dramatically increases human growth hormone, or HGH, which helps the body utilize body fat and grow muscle.
• The body activates the healing process that doctors call autophagy, which essentially means that the body digests or recycles old or damaged cell components.

CLICK HERE to see similar posts.

Do not forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel to stay updated with latest fitness tips. CLICK HERE