Top 5 Things You Need To Know About Intermittent Fasting
If you pay attention to the latest health and fitness trends, chances are you’ve heard of intermittent fasting, also known as IF, more than a few times. There’s a reason why this trend has been popping up all around the fitness and health world lately. A straightforward search, and you’ll see tons of fitness YouTubers, bloggers, and influencers telling their intermittent fasting tale for the world to see. But what is this eating trend, and does it work? We’re here to clear up all of the buzz surrounding this mystery.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
For many people, the first question that comes to mind when learning about IF is, “Do I have to stop eating”? The answer is yes, but there’s more to it than that. Intermittent fasting is segmenting your eating periods by eating during a specific time, known as your eating window, and “fasting” during the rest. Simply put, it is an eating lifestyle where you fast for a set amount of time between meals.
Intermittent fasting has become a vast eating trend in recent years due to the raving reviews on the health benefits this lifestyle has caused many people. One of the biggest reasons why people love it is because of all of its weight loss benefits. But don’t call intermittent fasting a diet; IF advocates prefer to think of this as a way of life rather than some diet fad that gets debunked within months.
Intermittent fasting incorporates regular fasting into your diet, and your body adapts to the eating cycles. Studies show that by doing this, you can reach your weight loss goals and improve your overall medical conditions. Think about brain power, longevity, and other powerful health benefits that you will love.
This may all sound great, but like any new health trend, it’s essential to research and know what you’re signing up for. Before diving into intermittent fasting, you should know a few important things. For example, what are the benefits of periodic fasting, and does it work? What happens to your body when you fast? Or does intermittent fasting for weight loss work?
Here’s Our Beginner’s Guide That’ll Get You Up to Speed on All Things Intermittent Fasting.
5. Fasting Is No New Concept
First, you should know that fasting is no new concept. Depriving yourself of something to get a reward is nothing new. Fasting for religious reasons is a practice that has been implemented by various human groups across cultures since the beginning of time. This practice has always been a method that people have used to renew their spiritual and physical beings. These practices have evolved into various religious, cultural, and health courses worldwide.
In the ancient world, fasting was used in many different ways, whether to seek answers, find clarity, or prepare for war. On the other hand, during the time of hunter-gatherers, it was practiced because of a lack of food for a group of people. Instead of starving, they trained their body to go a certain period without food.
In various religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, fasting has been used to deepen your spirituality and connection to God. Many of the holiest days in some religions involve a fasting period. These fasting times are a time of repentance, seeking answers, or renewing your mind and body.
Some of the most well-known religious fasting days are Yom Kippur in Judaism, Ramadan in Islam, and Lent in Catholicism. These holidays share that fasting is a holy practice that tightens your experience with God.
4. You Can Choose What Works for You
Bulletproof Coffee
There are a few ways to start this trendy eating style and see and feel the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. Remember that intermittent fasting isn’t a diet; it’s a way of life, so finding one that works well for you is essential. Here are the most common methods of IF:
16/8 Method
The 16/8 method is the most popular method for those who swear by IF. This method involves restricting your eating to only 8 hours of the day and fasting for the rest. This usually means skipping breakfast and waiting until lunchtime, let’s say around 1 pm, to eat. From there, you can eat lunch and an early dinner before 9 pm, then fast until the next day at 1 pm. Depending on the person, you can do this every day or implement it on different days of the week.
Eat-Stop-Eat
With this method, you take 24-hour periods of fasting a few times a week. You can choose the day that works best for you. Typically, people choose one or two days a week to fast.
5:2 Diet
The 5:2 diet is another popular type of intermittent fasting. It involves consuming the majority of your calories on a particular day. So, for five days of the week, you eat as you usually would, and then, for two days, you restrict your calorie intake to 500-600 calories. This style is more attractive to many because it’s less strict on what you eat and easier to manage for many.
Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting
Another plan that people do is bulletproof intermittent fasting, which is close to the 16/8 method. Instead of skipping breakfast, you drink a bulletproof coffee until your eating period. Bulletproof coffee is packed with Brane Octane Oil and grass-fed butter blended into a frothy latte. This coffee is said to help increase the brain’s cognitive functions while giving you the energy you need. The coffee also helps curb hunger during the morning’s “fasting period.” Remember, you can not add cream or sugar. It must be black coffee.
3. Here’s What Happens to Your Body When You Fast
Before we get into all the benefits of intermittent fasting for your body, let’s break down how this works at the molecular level. There is more to this lifestyle than just dropping a couple of pounds. When you stop eating, something changes in your body at the cellular and hormonal levels.
- Autophagy: This is your body’s process of regenerating old cells and creating new ones. This essential process is needed to protect your body against diseases naturally. Studies have shown that when you start to fast regularly, this promotes autophagy in your body. Your body works for you by removing old and damaged proteins in your cells.
- Insulin: Your insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance will improve, and your levels will decrease. This makes it much easier for your body to access its stored body fat, an essential process in weight loss.
- Human Growth Hormone (HGH): The human-grown hormone plays a huge role in your body’s metabolism, cell repair, and overall growth. Studies have proven that this eating style drastically increases your levels of HGH. This decreases your chances of getting chronic diseases and helps you burn fat and gain muscle.
2. How Fasting Can Be an Effective Weight Loss Tool
Most people who advocate for intermittent fasting are interested in its benefits of weight loss, but does it work? The answer is yes but with proper implementation. To start, intermittent fasting helps with weight loss by changing your body to facilitate better weight loss. Essentially, your body is working for you.
Fasting = Fewer Calories
If you’re fasting regularly throughout the day or week, your food intake will be less. Less food means you’ll be eating fewer calories, which is one of the main factors contributing to weight gain. When you restrict yourself to only eating during certain hours of the day, you’re dedicating your time to other things, like burning many calories. While this may seem like a diet, it isn’t necessarily one. Once you start your IF journey, you will soon see that the weight loss comes from much more than just not eating.
Cellular and Hormonal Benefits
Less food isn’t the only reason intermittent fasting for weight loss is widespread. As we mentioned before, fasting changes your body on the molecular level. Improving all of your body’s HGH, insulin, and cell regeneration creates the perfect hub for your body to start fat loss. While you’re not eating, your body can easily access your fat stores and runoff, which helps with body weight in the long run. This type of fasting has also been proven to increase norepinephrine or noradrenaline, a fat-burning hormone.
Keep in mind that the only reason why this style of eating is so effective is because of what you put into your body when you are allowed to eat. Intermittent fasting won’t work for you if you’re using the “eating period” as a way to binge or overeat unhealthy junk foods. Instead, during your eating period, ensure you’re eating a proper high-protein, vegetable, and low-carb diet so that you don’t offset your fasting. This helps save you from the frustration of your diet not working.
1. The Long Term Health Benefits Are Impressive
The list of the health benefits of IF is endless, and new studies are being done to discover more positive side effects of this way of life. We’ve named a few overall health benefits, like losing weight, but there are tons of other ways that intermittent fasting can help you be a brighter, healthier person and improve overall health conditions.
Live Longer
Studies have been done on animals and humans to suggest that IF can help with longevity. When your body begins to regenerate cells and tissue, this fights against the deterioration of neurons, which happens when your body ages. IF has shown positive results because of your body’s cellular and hormonal changes.
Heart Health
In addition to lowering your blood pressure, intermittent fasting reduces all risk factors for heart disease, like cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, and inflammatory markers. Heart disease is one of the top causes of death for American adults, and with intermittent fasting, your body fights against this on its own.
Insulin
As mentioned, the body will reduce insulin sensitivity, lowering blood sugar. This reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, a disease affecting a substantial amount of Americans today.
Cancer
Some studies have been done on animals to show that intermittent fasting can slow down the progression of certain cancers when paired with chemotherapy. This is a big benefit of intermediate fasting.
Brain Function and Memory
A study showed that restricting caloric intake to time-restricted eating helps people boost their memory, especially older people. This has also shown that it improves the ability to learn and stay sharp, which is the most significant combat against neurodegenerative diseases.
A few things to remember:
Much of the research on fasting is new and is conducted on animals and humans. Scientists are discovering how this special diet affects our bodies as intermittent fasting becomes more popular.
Similarly, if you’re considering transitioning to the intermittent fasting lifestyle, it is essential to consult with your doctor beforehand. The effects of this do not work for everyone, especially if you have particular health issues that would make intermittent fasting dangerous for you. If you have health issues like an eating disorder, diabetes, or extreme weight problems, get a doctor’s opinion first.
At first glance, intermittent fasting may seem like a bizarre diet of starving yourself. But hopefully, after this guide, you can see that it is so far from that. If you want to track your weight loss, invest in a smart scale. It can sync up to your smartwatch, and the pounds will disappear. Intermittent fasting is the best way to reprogram your body to work better for you, lose weight, and promote longevity and mental agility. It’s less about not eating and more about a lifestyle of what is nourishing your body and the effects of that. We only have one body, and IF can enrich it naturally.
