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The concept of intermittent fasting has been around for a long time, but people rarely know what exactly it is or why it is effective. In short, intermittent fasting is a generic term for a variety of weight loss approaches that all involve limiting your daily caloric intake to a relatively narrow time range each day. While this may sound like a fad, it's actually a very effective and ideal strategy for people who want to lose weight gradually.
The most common method of intermittent fasting is the 16: 8 method, which consists of adopting an 8-hour feeding window (eg, 10 to 18 hours) and fasting the remaining 16 hours of the day. People usually do this by simply lengthening the usual fast (time spent sleeping and not eating) and delaying their breakfast.
But there are also other approaches to intermittent fasting, such as the 5: 2 diet, which consists of eating normally 5 days a week while limiting the number of calories to 500-600 on both days of the week, or still the "eat, stop / eat" method. this involves a 24-hour fast once a week (for example, fasting dinner Tuesday to Wednesday night).
Although many of us are familiar with intermittent fasting, most people do not know what happens to the body when they do it.
Weightloss
Of course, weight loss is the most common reason why people try intermittent fasting. From a biological point of view, it works as follows: during fasting, your body goes from burning glucose (carbohydrates) as the main source of energy to burning fat to get it from the body. energy.
Most experts agree that the change in metabolism usually occurs when the body has fasted between 10 and 16 hours, hence the popularity of the fasting method 16: 8. Interestingly, the The body only begins to break down protein into fuel after the third day of fasting, which means you can lose weight while maintaining muscle mass.
Intermittent fasting also leads to weight loss by lowering insulin levels. Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to absorb glucose and a person's insulin levels drop when a person does not consume food. During fasting, lowering insulin levels causes cells to release their glucose reserves as energy and the regular repetition of this process can result in weight loss.
Finally, time constraints can result in reduced snacks and decreased overall calorie consumption, which can also contribute to weight loss.
Improves brain health
When your body uses fat stores as a source of energy, it releases chemicals called ketones into the blood. In addition to playing a role in the weight loss cycle, ketones also trigger the release of a molecule called BDNF, which helps build and strengthen neuronal connections in areas of the brain responsible for it. learning and memory. A study in older adults showed that an increase in ketones improved the memory and growth of new nerve cells in the brain in just six weeks.
Other studies have shown that the brain's response to intermittent fasting is the same as that of regular exercise – both of which have the net effect of improving brain health: improved long-term memory, increased concentration, and better Mental Health.
Combining intermittent fasting with low carbohydrate intake is another way of overloading your ketone production.
Reduces the risk of long-term illness
A 16-week clinical study conducted by CSIRO showed that intermittent fasting resulted in improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, and triglycerides (triglycerides are a type of fat found in blood and to heart disease). All of these factors help improve heart health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
A separate study from Translational Research found that since intermittent fasting lowers blood glucose and insulin levels, it has proven to be both a preventative measure and an effective treatment for diabetes. of type 2. Indeed, when you fast, your insulin levels drop, while your levels of human growth hormone and norepinephrine increase – which speeds up your metabolism, helps your body lose weight and helps degrade sugar more effectively in the body.
Improves the quality of sleep
Intermittent fasting helps the body stay well aligned to sleep. Indeed, the timing of meals can affect our circadian rhythm of 24 hours, which significantly affects our quality of sleep.
It has been proven that eating a lot around bedtime worsens the quality of sleep, making sleep more restless and less refreshing. But when you fast, your digestive system gets calm and your body goes into energy saving mode earlier in the night. This gives you a more powerful and synchronized biological clock, which means you'll be able to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed and energized.
The best thing about intermittent fasting is that it provides a wide range of positive health benefits without the need for a radical change in lifestyle – it's very convenient. In saying this, it is always important to provide your body with all the essential nutrients and vitamins it needs to function at its best.
Kate Save is the CEO and co-founder of Be Fit Food. She is also a dietician, diabetes educator and exercise physiologist.
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