Introduction

Intermittent fasting is a way of eating that contains cycles of eating and cycles of fasting (without food). There are no certain foods that you should or should not eat, but when to eat them. People mainly use it for the regulation of body mass, and it can also be useful for health and for the body’s treatment of diseases.

The essence of Intermittent fasting

The literal translation of intermittent fasting is a break from eating from one term to another. Usually, it is from evening to morning, but this is not the rule. You can adapt it to your individual lifestyle. That distance of stopping eating can be 10, 12, or 16 hours, and even up to 24 hours. For beginners, the feeding window is initially smaller and then gradually shortened. For example, you can start with a 12-hour eating window and a 12-hour break from eating. Then the time to stop eating increases, and the eating window decreases. The most popular method is 16/8 – this method includes an 8-hour eating cycle and a 16-hour fasting cycle.

Experts advise that these 8 hours are best between 9 am and 5 pm because that way the results will be most visible to you. The modern pace of life does not always allow us to follow this framework. However, make sure you don’t start before 8 in the morning and don’t finish after 7 p.m. Then follows a fast of 16 hours. It is not wrong if you start with breakfast, for example, at 8 am, but the fasting cycle starts at 4 pm.

You don’t always have to follow the same 8 hours as the previous day. For example, during weekdays you can apply this diet from 9 am to 5 pm, while on weekends you can do it between 11 am and 7 pm. The space between main meals should be 4 hours. For the remaining 16 hours, you are allowed to drink only water or herbal teas. It’s also okay to drink unsweetened lemonade once in a while.

Meal-stop-meal: This method involves fasting once or twice a week for 24 hours.  But it should not be two consecutive days. For example, if you finish dinner, the next meal is dinner the next day at the same time.

5:2 diet: with this method, you eat normally for 5 days. You consume 500-600 calories per day for 2 days.

Reducing caloric intake, all of these methods should lead to weight loss, unless you compensate by overeating during the periods you eat.

What impact does INTERMITTENT FASTING have?

– Intermittent fasting has the best effects precisely on the hormones that have a direct impact on the feeling of hunger, blood sugar, and metabolism. This diet has proven to be very effective in reducing the risk of diabetes and speeding up metabolism.

– It also has a great positive impact on the hunger hormone – ghrelin, which in turn improves the level of dopamine in the brain, which in turn improves cognitive functions.

– The secretion of the growth hormone, which influences the melting of deposited fats. The building of muscle mass during intermittent fasting, increases by 5 times. It contributes to the loss of fat tissue and to the increase of muscle mass-cell regeneration. It is a process when we do not bring food into the body. That process is called autophagy and is initiated at the cell level. it is a process when old cells and those that may have mutations in their genes are destroyed. Those cells are in many situations the initiators of many malignant diseases. It also removes the non-functional proteins that are inside the cells

Which people must not apply this way of eating?

Those with thyroid dysfunction, whether it is thyroid hormone deficiency or Hashimoto’s, should not engage in this diet without consulting a doctor as it has been shown that each organism responds differently to this type of fasting.
We don’t recommend it for thin persons who have less than optimal weight.
It is contraindicated in children under 18 years of age who are undergoing intensive growth and development, in pregnant or expectant women, in people who have problems or difficulties with blood sugar regulation, and especially in people who are on insulin therapy.

HEALTH BENEFITS

diabetes – it helps to prevent diabetes, but it also helps to reduce sugar in people who already have diabetes;

inflammation – this way of eating reduces markers of inflammation and helps with many chronic diseases;

cardiovascular diseases – the level of “bad” LDL cholesterol decreases, triglycerides and inflammatory markers decrease, blood sugar decreases and the sensitivity of cells to insulin improves.

cancer – can prevent the occurrence of cancer, however. The studies are still based on animal models and have not been confirmed in humans;

slows down aging (anti-aging effect) – in an animal study, mice that were on intermittent fasting lived 36-83% longer compared to the control group; positive effect on the nervous system – can stimulate the formation of new nerve cells, which can greatly help with Alzheimer’s disease.

If you are in doubt about whether you can exercise while on this regimen, don’t hesitate. Fasted workouts are great if you don’t have problems with low blood sugar. You’ll even have more energy, especially if it’s a morning workout.