Benefits Of A Whole Food Diet
In a 2014 analysis by Yale University, they concluded that a diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.
A diet rich in fruit and vegetables or other high-fiber foods like whole grains and nuts is really important in maintaining good long-term health and preventing health problems like diabetes and cancers. These kinds of foods also help our bodies to cope and control the effects of inflammation.
In fact, one review from 2019 stated that diets high in plant foods could potentially prevent several million premature deaths each year if adopted globally. This is a big endorsement for a whole food diet.
How Often Should You Do 1: 8 Intermittent Fasting
Unlike other intermittent fasting diets, each day of the 16:8 works independently to the other days. This means that you can do anywhere from one day of intermittent 16:8 fasting to seven days a week, depending on your goals and the advice from your GP.
Evidence differs, however, on whether its healthy to do intermittent fasting all the time for a number of reasons. While one study suggests that fasting helps your vital organs by giving metabolic functions a break, other research suggests the fasting can lead to an increased level of cholesterol and can lead to feelings of nausea, along with causing spells of low-blood sugar and dehydration.
How Much Weight Can You Lose On 1: 8 Diet
To lose weight on the 16:8 diet, its important to match the fasting with healthy eating and exercise. If done so correctly, theres a typical weight loss of around seven to 11 pounds over a ten week period. This is according to a review of 40 different studies published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrincology who found that on average, someone weighing just over 90kg would lose 5% of their total body weight in the ten week period.
A 2018 study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Healthy Eating revealed that the 16:8 diet plan can help people lose weight, without having to count calories as the 8-hour fast produces the same kind of calorific restriction and weight loss.
However, whether theres a distinct weight loss advantage achieved on the 16:8 diet compared to other diets remains to be seen. Some studies have demonstrated that theres almost no difference between people who do intermittent fasting compared those who count calories and cut back on unhealthy food.
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Why Might Changing Timing Help
But why does simply changing the timing of our meals to allow for fasting make a difference in our body? An in-depth review of the science of IF recently published in New England Journal of Medicine sheds some light. Fasting is evolutionarily embedded within our physiology, triggering several essential cellular functions. Flipping the switch from a fed to fasting state does more than help us burn calories and lose weight. The researchers combed through dozens of animal and human studies to explain how simple fasting improves metabolism, lowering blood sugar lessens inflammation, which improves a range of health issues from arthritic pain to asthma and even helps clear out toxins and damaged cells, which lowers risk for cancer and enhances brain function. The article is deep, but worth a read!
Are There Health Benefits From Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting can teach us some important lessons when it comes to crafting intentional eating patterns and building healthy eating habits like:
- Reducing your consumption of sugars and refined grains
- Eliminating mindless snacking during the day and before bed
- Avoiding making unwanted food choices and planning a healthy diet
Along with building healthy habits, some studies suggest that adopting this practice may help with weight loss, improve memory and mental performance, cardiovascular health, type 2 diabetes, and the effectiveness of cancer treatments .
Is it Safe?
Fasting may not be appropriate for individuals with type 1 diabetes, pregnant and breastfeeding women, elderly individuals with eating disorders, and those who need regular food intake to take medications .
If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor to make sure it’s safe to try intermittent fasting as long periods of fasting can lower your blood sugar levels and leave you feeling lightheaded, dizzy, with headaches and/or nausea.
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Keep Your Meal Nourishing
Include a lot of healthy fats, protein and fresh vegetables in your meals while following intermittent fasting. You can also include healthy carbs from foods like brown rice, sweet potatoes etc. Carbs are good for your body and will provide you with the energy to tide over the calorie-deficit you are going to create for the rest of the day.
How He Did Ithow One Man Lost 50 Pounds With : 2 Intermittent Fasting
She also fasted for 48 to 72 hours every week for about two months. Im not a medical doctor. I do have a Ph.D. in epidemiology, but I wouldnt recommend anybody do that without speaking to your doctor and doing your own research, she says.
She planned her daily meal for dinnertime so she and her family could all eat together, and she didnt restrict what she ate. Im Haitian and my husband is Nigerian, and we eat everything. I wasnt going to restrict my traditional foods, she says.
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Break Your Fast Properly
When you break your fast, its very important that you resist the urge to overeat. Over-indulging really defeats the purpose of that calorie deficit you created during the fast. Plus, it can be really uncomfortable for your digestive system and cause a stomach ache or other digestive distress. Try breaking your fast with a small salad or some nuts and then just eat normally.
Is It Easy To Follow A Whole Food Diet
Once youve got your head around having ingredients rather than ready-to-eat things in your kitchen cupboards, its actually very easy. The only issue is the lifestyle and habit changes that come along with it.
It is very likely that for many people, following a totally, religiously whole food diet may be unattainable at least some of the time. For example, there are days where you dont get time to make your lunch or if you want to enjoy social eating. Similarly, people who have young children or who are working more than one job are unlikely to be able to follow a whole food diet all of the time.
Sometimes, we put ourselves under pressure to be as perfect as we can with diets like this, which can lead to an eating disorder called Orthorexia, which is a preoccupation with healthy eating.
This means that following a whole food diet, in principle, can be healthy and accessible for some people but not for everyone. It also means that those with previous disordered eating, as always, need to avoid any form of dietary restriction or rules around their diet.
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More About Intermittent Fasting
Ive been a dietitian now for a long time , and if theres one thing I know for sure, its that fad diets are best avoided. This is why Im so pleased that whole food diets are being talked about more and more.
Rather than a diet, I prefer to think of a whole food diet as a way of life. Eating this way is balanced, and it is a great way to support your all-around body health and longevity. Plus, its delicious andin my opinionnot limiting either, which is a massive bonus.
A well-balanced diet follows some fairly basic principles and, in essence, consists of plenty of the following:
- Fruit
How Intermittent Fasting Can Help You Lose Weight
There are many different ways to lose weight.
One strategy that has become popular in recent years is called intermittent fasting .
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that involves regular, short-term fasts or periods of minimal or no food consumption.
Most people understand intermittent fasting as a weight loss intervention. Fasting for short periods of time helps people eat fewer calories, which may result in weight loss over time .
However, intermittent fasting may also help modify risk factors for health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels 30002-0/fulltext” rel=”nofollow”> 2,
There are several different intermittent fasting methods. The most popular ones include:
- the 16:8 method
- Eat Stop Eat
- alternate-day fasting
All methods can be effective, but figuring out which one works best depends on the individual.
To help you choose the method that fits your lifestyle, heres a breakdown of the pros and cons of each.
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Stay Healthy With Intermittent Fasting
What about the misconception that intermittent fasting isnt great for your health? I had my annual checkup a couple of months ago and did blood work, explains Krystal. Im in perfect health!
Krystal shares her progress with her Instagram followers, who leave encouraging comments such as Amazing!!! Youre so inspiring! and #GOALS! And shes sure to take them on every aspect of her journey, including sharing breaking her fasts, easy ketogenic recipes, and workout fasts which are workouts she completes while fasting.
Why I Am Staying With The Faster Way Program
I thought I was just going to learn more about eating healthier to turn my body into a fat-burning machine and then stop the program after 6 weeks while continuing to utilize what I learned.
However, this program is constantly changing to make sure your body doesnt acclimate to eating only at certain times and eating certain foods. Making you plateau. Instead, Bev makes sure that we are always tweaking our intake of carbs, proteins, and fats by different percentages.
Have I Mentioned The Workouts?
Working out has always been my little blue pill. The endorphins released during a strenuous and invigorating workout make me feel so strong and energetic.
With this program, workouts are tailored to what youre eating and are delivered digitally daily. Mondays and Tuesdays are basically Low Carb days. So the workouts on those days consist of some sort of HIIT . This could be Tabata, Kick Boxing, Sprints, etc
Wednesdays through Sundays are Macro days and therefore able to eat up to 45% of my diet in carbs. This coincides with strength workouts. Different days consist of working on specific muscle groups. They always offer a low-impact option as well as using strength bands instead of weights. Most of the workouts are about 30 minutes in length, making them easy to fit into a busy schedule.
A few of the days the workouts are yoga, barre, Pilates, or stretch for recovery. Because stretching and recovery are just as important as intense workouts for a healthy body.
Carb Cycling
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Healthhow One Man Lost 50 Pounds Using The : 2 Intermittent Fasting Diet
Other intermittent fasting diets take a different approach. The 5:2 method, for example, requires you to eat as you normally would for five days a week, but on two nonconsecutive days, you eat just one meal a day. Wright says she spent five months conditioning her body to the 16:8 method. At that point, she says, she switched to the 20:4 method. According to this method, you fast for 20 hours and have a 4-hour eating window.
I wanted a change, says Wright. I wanted to try to boost my weight loss even more.
Wright says you should be cautious about using a more restrictive method like the 20:4. Condition your body on a less restrictive method for an extended period first, she says. Since the window of time for eating on the 20:4 method is small, Wright says you should be careful to space your meals apart and not eat all your calories in one sitting.
Ill maybe take like 30 minutes to digest some of that food, she says, and then Ill go and eat the rest.
How To Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting
As a 54-year-old woman whose weight has crept up over the years despite working out and eating mostly, wellsomewhat, healthy, I decided to give Intermittent Fasting a try to see if it was all Ive heard it to be for weight loss. Intermittent Fasting has gained popularity over the past few years, as a way to lose weight and keep it off. Ive tried it before, but havent seen a lot of success until I tweaked my approach to Intermittent Fasting. Once I did, I was able to eat more , work out less and still lose inches to my physique. I cant wait to tell you how I lost weight with Intermittent Fasting and the nutrition program that taught my body how to become a fat-burning machine.
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How Fasting Accelerates Fat Loss
Intermittent fasting almost invariably produces a calorie deficit, but it also creates ideal circumstances for fat burningbecause it increases your insulin sensitivity. When you fast, your insulin levels drop, which makes it easier for your body to access your stored fat. Thats how your body opts to use fat for energy, instead of muscle.
You might be familiar with this concept, because its the same reason why people adopt low-carb diets to shed fat. Eating low-carb will indeed lower your insulin levels, but the fact is that fasting will drop them even lower. This makes fasting more powerful for fat loss.
Another way fasting boosts fat loss is by increasing the amount of growth hormone your body produces. Studies have shown that production of GH can decrease your amount of body fat.
Finally, fasting has also been shown to increase production of norepinephrinethe fat burning hormone. The only catch? The study that showed this result was done on mice. Science hasnt determined yet if its also the case with humans.
How Much Weight Can You Lose With Intermittent Fasting
The amount of weight you can lose through intermittent fasting depends on your starting weight, medical conditions, type of food you eat on your non-fasting days, and other factors like your lifestyle, age, and activity level.
For example, if you choose to eat sugary desserts, drinks, and refined, ultra-processed carbs during your non-fasting days, a fast may not help you lose body fat.
However, if you pair intermittent fasting with healthy eating, you can experience healthy weight loss. A systematic review of 40 studies published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology found intermittent fasting was effective for weight loss, with a typical loss of seven to eleven pounds over ten weeks. If you weigh roughly 200 pounds, that equals a five percent loss of your total body weight in just ten weeks.
You might want a quick weight loss fix, but experts recommend you dont try to speed up the process. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UKs National Health Service recommend you shoot for a safe rate of one to two pounds per week.
According to the CDC, if you lose weight gradually and safely, youll be more successful at keeping it off. So, the average weight loss per week with intermittent fasting is safe, effective, and long-term.
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Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss
Possibly the most notable benefit of intermittent fasting for weight loss is this methods ability to boost your bodys fat burning processes.
When your body runs out of the sugars found within foods to use as fuel, it first breaks down the stored glycogen in your body for energy, and then goes on to breaking down your fat cells to use after that.
This is generally thought to ramp up between 16-24 hours of fasting, making methods that incorporate a 24 hour fasting period highly popular for weight loss.
Leptin levels are also known to decrease during fasting.
Leptin is the hormone responsible for feelings of satiety or fullness. And, since this hormone is stored in fat cells, in obese individuals too much leptin is found within the body. This results in what is known as leptin resistance, making it harder to recognize feelings of fullness.
So, lowered levels of this hormone can lead to less leptin resistance, which translates to fewer feelings of hunger and possibly more weight loss.
Another, more obvious, way that intermittent fasting aids in weight loss is through a reduction in caloric intake.
Done correctly, when incorporating either days within a week , or hours in a day where one refrains from eating, you naturally consume fewer calories, which results in weight loss.
During the hours allotted for eating when incorporating IF methods, you should plan to eat normally or sensibly.
The 16:8 Method
The 5:2 Diet
Eat, Stop, Eat
Alternate Day Fasting
12 Hour Fasting
Before You Start Intermittent Fasting
I know many of you are itching to get started right away, but IF is not for everyone. It is not recommended for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, people with diabetes, or other people who need to closely regulate their blood sugar. In addition, there has not been research on participants who are underweight, very old, or very young and these populations could be at higher risk for experiencing negative consequences of fasting . So please:
- Visit your doctor and share your interest in IF. Make sure its right for you.
- Research more about IF and learn outside of what I share to see if there is a different style of IF that is a better fit for you and your needs. While there is widely available research on the benefits of IF, you should also learn more about the potential of negative effects of fasting on sleep, alertness, cognitive-motor performance, mood and for those with a previous history or susceptibility with eating disorders.
- If you want to understand how full day fasts work , check out the BBC documentary Eat, Fast & Live Longer. It focuses on a style called Alternate Day Fasting. This documentary helped me in deciding to try IF as a lifestyle.
- Check out my friend Daniels journey in IF. Ive been grateful for his early support and guidance in adopting this life changing lifestyle. His journey in losing 60+ pounds was what initially got me interested in researching IF, and I found comfort in knowing someone who had success with it.
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