How Does Intermittent Fasting Work
There are several different ways to do intermittent fasting, but they are all based on choosing regular time periods to eat and fast. For instance, you might try eating only during an eight-hour period each day and fast for the remainder. Or you might choose to eat only one meal a day two days a week. There are many different intermittent fasting schedules.
Mattson says that after hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar stores and starts burning fat. He refers to this as metabolic switching.
Intermittent fasting contrasts with the normal eating pattern for most Americans, who eat throughout their waking hours, Mattson says. If someone is eating three meals a day, plus snacks, and theyre not exercising, then every time they eat, theyre running on those calories and not burning their fat stores.
Intermittent fasting works by prolonging the period when your body has burned through the calories consumed during your last meal and begins burning fat.
Keeps Cells Healthy And Vibrant
When we fast we give our body time to rest and repair, tending to natural processes put in place to keep our cells healthy. Autophagy is an example of a process our body naturally undergoes to keep our cells healthy and in turn, keep us healthy!
Autophagy is the process our cells go through to remove waste and dysfunctional cells to help our body clean out damaged cells and regenerate new and healthier cells. Evidence suggests when we intermittent fast, we increase the frequency of this process, so our body works harder to remove any unwanted junk and dysfunctioning cells .
Increased autophagy may play a role in protecting us from several diseases including neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, inflammatory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases .
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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It Forces The Body To Switch Into A Fat
When fasting, your body will more fequently burn fat stores for fuel than it would if you were eating throughout the day. “When you’re fasting, your insulin levels and glycogen go down . As a result, your body switches from burning carbohydrates for fuel and taps into burning fat for fuel. This forces your body into ketosis ,” say The Nutrition Twins, Lyssie Lakatos, RD, CDN, CFT, and Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, CDN, CFT, authors of The Nutrition Twins’ Veggie Cure and members of the Eat This, Not That! Medical Expert Board.
Can Reduce Oxidative Stress And Inflammation In The Body
Oxidative stress is one of the steps toward aging and many chronic diseases .
It involves unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals react with other important molecules, such as protein and DNA, and damage them .
Several studies show that intermittent fasting may enhance the bodys resistance to oxidative stress 30319-3″ rel=”nofollow”> 18).
Additionally, studies show that intermittent fasting can help fight inflammation, another key driver of many common diseases 30850-5″ rel=”nofollow”> 19).
SUMMARY
Studies show that intermittent fasting can reduce oxidative damage and inflammation in the body. This should have benefits against aging and development of numerous diseases.
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Why You Dont Need A Detox Diet
It sounds logical that fasting could cleanse your body of harmful substances that could cause a host of ailments like obesity, fatigue, and headaches. But there is no scientific evidence that you need to fast to “cleanse” your body or remove toxins.
Your body – specifically, the kidneys, liver, lungs, colon, and skin — is perfectly capable of removing toxins itself.
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That being said, exercise before you eat because people get hungry about half an hour after they finish working out and may find it too hard to stick to their plan if they cant eat anything at all afterwards, Varady noted.
If youre on the 16:8 plan, exercise before or during your eating window. If youre doing alternate day fasting and are exercising on your 500-calorie day, save food for after your exercise session.
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Can Intermittent Fasting Help Me Lose Weight
MenoLabs News | Thu, Mar 05, 2020
Have you ever tried intermittent fasting? It has become very popular in recent years, and for a good reason. Many people use it as an effective way to achieve weight loss, while others want to become healthier by following simple intermittent fasting regimens. Women in menopause often suffer from weight gain, alongside low libido and hot flashes, and getting rid of excess weight could help them feel better. Let us tell you how intermittent fasting really works and whether it can help you lose weight effectively in menopause.
Skipping Meals Can Cause Headaches Dizziness And Nausea
Long periods of fasting can lower your blood sugar levels and leave you feeling lightheaded, dizzy, with headaches, and/or nausea.
If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor to make sure it’s safe to try intermittent fasting. People with type 1 diabetes and/or on diabetic medications may be more susceptible to unwanted side effects or struggle with controlling their blood sugar levels .
Your body will also need some time to adjust, so try choosing a day of the week or period of time that you dont need to be very active or deeply concentrate when first starting a fasting practice.
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Intermittent Fasting For Healthy Weight Loss
As weve said, not all weight loss is the same. Its essential to make sure youre losing weight in a healthy way. Can intermittent fasting help with healthy weight loss?
Here, the data are conflicting.
On one hand, intermittent fasting can help improve metabolic health by reducing blood sugar and blood pressure while also improving blood lipid levels.4
On the other hand, two trials suggested that intermittent fasting may not lead to greater weight loss than usual care, or even worse may lead to greater loss of lean muscle mass than usual care or continuous calorie restriction.5
A healthy weight loss intervention also should be relatively easy to comply with and maintain long-term. Fortunately, intermittent fasting may fit that criteria.
One study reported that working adults found time-restricted eating with an eight-hour eating window easy to comply with and maintain for three months.6
That fits with frequent clinical experience suggesting many people easily adapt to time-restricted eating, especially when they follow a low-carb or high-protein diet that helps improve satiety and reduce appetite.7
So, in terms of convenience and ease in your approach to healthy weight loss, intermittent fasting seems to be a winner.
Do Not Fear The Shaker
In addition to fluid loss, a second significant aspect is responsible for physical complaints such as dizziness.
An undersupply of salt is the primary trigger for this. Therefore, even in strict therapeutic fasting, natural salt is allowed in addition to water.
Besides other electrolytes, sodium, in particular, is flushed out of the body while breaking down carbohydrate stores. Since salt has an unjustly unhealthy image, unfortunately, nutrition-conscious people often save with it.
However, we now know that it is precisely those countries with the highest salt consumption that have the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease .
Moreover, salt takes the bitter taste out of food and acts against cravings. Since it also has a negative feedback loop, unlike sugar, your body will tell you when youve had enough salt.
While sugar consumption promotes insulin resistance and body fat storage, salt increases insulin sensitivity and aids weight loss .
Finally, salt is the natural antagonist of sugar. If you want to do intermittent fasting without problems, salt your food as you like.
Furthermore, if you have a headache during fasting, you can dissolve natural Himalayan salt in water or drink homemade sole water.
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Other Potential Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting
Although intermittent fasting research is in its early stages, current studies suggest that intermittent fasting can have many lasting health benefits:
- Controls insulin spikes
- May reduces the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease
- May lead to longer life
- Reduces inflammation
- May increase energy
In addition to those health benefits, intermittent fasting can be simple to implement. You simply set aside specific time periods to eat and fast.
Intermittent Fasting: What Is It And Is It Safe
Intermittent fasting may seem like a recent trend, but actually, humans have periodically refrained from eating for millennia for a host of reasons: Believe it or not, physicians of yesteryear used to prescribe fasting to treat a host of ailments, while ancient philosophers pushed their plates away in attempts to boost their mental clarity. Fasting has also been a form of political protestthink: the hunger strikes of Mahatma Gandhi, Irish Republican prisoners in the 1980s, or British and American suffragettes in the early 1900s.
To this day, avoiding food is a regular part of many religions. Traditionally, Muslims forgo food and beverage during daylight throughout Ramadan Jews skip eating and drinking on Yom Kippur and Hindus and Buddhists fast weekly.
Now fasting is trickling into the secular spotlight due to media coverage that claims intermittent fasting not only leads to weight loss and boosts metabolism but that it may also curtail cancer risk and even extend lifespan.
But is intermittent fasting, a practice thats both ancient and newly trendy, as effective as some attest? Below, we take a closer look.
What is intermittent fasting? The ultimate guide
The theory is that this process may strengthen some cells ability to withstand additional stressors, which explains the potential link between IF and delayed aging as well as a reduced risk of cancer risk. But the benefits have yet to be proven.
Different types of intermittent fasting
16/8 fasting:
5:2 diet:
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Losing Weight Vs Losing Fat: Whats The Difference
When you watch the numbers on your scale drop, it can be exciting. But the scale doesnt reflect if youve lost fat or weight in general. You may think the goal of your health journey is to lose weight, when what you really want is to shed body fat. The reason is simple: When you lose weight, you can lose a combination of muscle, fluids, fat, and even organ size.
If you want to increase your health and add muscle so your body feels and looks toned, losing muscle and fluids likely isnt your goal. Instead, youll want to focus on fat loss, so any more than two pounds a week could undermine your goals.
According to research and Doctor Joel Seedman , when you shed upwards of five pounds per week, youll lose water weight and muscle along with your fat. Muscle and water loss can be dangerous, since it puts you at risk for dehydration, nutrient deficiencies, poorer fitness and mental performance, and puts you at risk for regaining the weight. To combat this, incorporate strength training into your workout routine. Cardio can promote fat burning, but you need resistance training to maintain your muscle mass. Also, the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate. Basic strength training exercises, such as squats, lunges, and push-ups, can add muscle and improve your body fat composition.
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.
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How Fast Can You Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting
As soon as your body burns its fat for energy, you lose weight. When this happens is individual and depends mainly on your diet.
Therefore, intermittent fasting is not a free pass to sweets and other refined carbohydrates.
When you start fasting, and your carbohydrate stores are full, you wont lose a gram of fat in the next 24 hours.
Depending on your body, these stores can hold 1700-2200 calories. That means your glycogen stores will cover your whole daily energy expenditure.
For this reason, intermittent fasting works best in combination with a low-carb diet.
If the carbohydrate stores remain empty after the meal, the body can immediately burn fat instead of sugar.
Likewise, intense exercise can help you get into a state of efficient fat burning faster by also helping to empty glycogen stores.
First and foremost, what and how much you eat and exercise or not determines how fast you lose weight with intermittent fasting.
Provided you eat a low-carb diet, you will feel the first weight loss as early as week #1. In the form of glycogen, about 3 grams of water are stored with every gram of carbohydrate.
As soon as you deplete the glycogen stores, this water is flushed out of the body. Therefore, with intermittent fasting, you initially lose about 3-6 pounds of water weight.
However, after a conventional high-carbohydrate diet, the body needs an average of 3-6 weeks until it learns to burn fat efficiently again.
Once it is fat-adapted, extraordinary results become possible.
Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss: How To Get Best Results
Intermittent Fasting | Weight Loss | Fast | Health Benefits | Women | Tips | Plateau | Keto | Exercise | Meal Plan | | FAQ | Studies
Youve seen countless before and after photos and read success stories and wonder if intermittent fasting is that good for weight loss? Then youve come to the right place!
Properly applied, intermittent fasting can bring about extraordinary weight loss success. Here you can find out exactly how it works and which health benefits you may unleash, based on current studies.
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How To Get Started With Intermittent Fasting
There are two schools of thought with regard to how to structure your fasts. The first is fairly different from what’s described above it’s commonly known as 5:2, meaning you eat normally for five days of the week and fast for two. That may work for some, but two days of virtual starvation doesn’t sound very appealing.
I prefer the daily method: Fast for at least 16 hours per day. The aforementioned New England Journal of Medicine study was based on an 18:6 structure: 18-hour fast, six-hour window.
“16:8 is a great place to start,” Stephens says, “but it may not be a weight-loss window for many people. That’s because fat-burning ramps up between hours 18 and 24 of the fast. 19:5 was a great weight-loss sweet spot for me, and I lost at about a pound per week when doing it. With 19:5, you fast for 19 hours a day and have an eating window of five hours. Your sweet spot may be different from mine, of course. Maybe it will be 18:6 or 20:4.” Experimentation is key, she adds.
Before you embark on this journey, I recommend reading CNET writer Caroline Roberts’ guide to doing intermittent fasting safely.
If your eating window doesn’t include breakfast, you can still drink coffee as long as it’s black and unsweetened.
Could Help Promote Balance In Other Areas Beyond Food
When we think of intermittent fasting we immediately think of food, since that is what we are limiting. But could we benefit from taking a break from other things in our life?
The basic concept of fasting is to abstain from something for a specific period of time, so what other things could we fast besides food?
Television, social media, and video games to name a few may all be things we could use a break from that may positively impact our health and well-being.
At the end of the day, consciously choosing to reduce or shift our habits can help us create health and wellness goals based on our values and beliefs.
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Intermittent Fasting And Weight Loss For Women
Some people argue that intermittent fasting is only beneficial for men.
But that we exist today is based on the fact that not only men are built for fasting. Hence, women had to survive food shortages.
Since reproduction is the primary goal of the female body, it focuses on survival during food shortages. Otherwise, no offspring can be conceived.
Therefore, the following situations can affect the female hormone balance:
- Infections and inflammation
- Too much exercise
- High stress in everyday life
- Too little sleep
Accordingly, one study shows that excessive caloric restriction can have adverse effects on the release of two female hormones :
- Luteinizing Hormone
- Follicle Stimulating Hormone
If these reproductive hormones cannot communicate appropriately with the ovaries, periods may stop, or, in some cases, the entire cycle may stop.
Likewise, the same study states that excessive exercise and psychological stress equally throw hormones out of balance .
However, as long as intermittent fasting is done correctly, it does not upset hormone balance in a negative sense.
Intermittent fasting is, above all, flexible. Thats why its advisable to start with an intermittent fasting plan that fits into your daily routine and doesnt create additional stress.
If you cant go without breakfast, skip dinner instead. If 16 hours of fasting per day is too much for you, start with 12 or 14.
