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What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a kind of eating pattern in which an individual switches between fasting and eating periods intermittently. For example, you can decide to not take breakfast and lunch for a day or two in a week, while you eat well on the other days. This is referred to as intermittent fasting. There have been numerous studies and researches that have shown that there are some health benefits associated with intermittent fasting. This kind of pattern has been gaining a lot of popularity, especially among people who are trying to shed some weight or people trying to maintain their weight. Fasting can be defined as the practice of not eating, or reducing the consumption of food, drinks for a period. This might last for some hours. The average time person fast is 8 hours. The human body goes into the fasting state when the individual doesn’t consume any food material for between 8 to 12 hours. Physiologically, fasting describes the state of one’s metabolic status after not eating or drinking over the night, or after complete digestion of a meal. Fasting has a lot of effect on the body. The body essentially switches from one source of energy to another during this period. This article focuses on the advantages of this kind of feeding pattern. Below are some of the health benefits of this pattern.
Health Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting
- Loss of weight: Fasting implies that an individual does not eat. However, in this state, the body taps into the energy reserves in the body. In this case, fats or adipose tissues. These fat tissues are burnt when food is scarce, or when the body enters into the fasting state. This when continued for a long time, results in a slow and progressive loss of weight. This pattern of eating can be used as a method of weight loss. Although, it’d be useful when it becomes a lifestyle, rather than a “crash diet” kind of thing. This is an effective way of maintaining and losing weight. According to studies, there is a loss of about 0.5 pounds of true body fat, for every day of fast. In addition to this, people who practice intermittent fasting also experience a reduction in their waist circumference. Abdominal or belly fat is responsible for a lot of diseases, including metabolic diseases.
- Intermittent fasting improves the function of cells, genes, and hormones: Fasting causes a lot of changes in the body. These changes affect the way the cells, genes, and hormones function. As an illustration, the body undergoes cellular repair processes and alters the hormone levels to make the stored energy more accessible. Below are some of the changes that happen during fasting;
- Insulin levels: The level of blood insulin tend to reduce significantly during fasting. This increases the rate at which fat is burned.
- Cellular repair: The body induces different cellular repair processes. This includes the elimination of waste materials from cells.
- Human growth hormone: The level of growth hormone does increase in many folds during fasting. The surge in the amount of this hormone leads to an increase in the burning of fat and muscle gain, alongside other benefits.
- Expression of the gene: The genes responsible for longevity and immunity against diseases tend to be more expressed during fasting.
- Intermittent Fasting Can Reduce Inflammation and Oxidative Stress In The Body: Oxidative stress is one of the steps towards aging and many chronic diseases. It involves unstable molecules called free radicals, which react with other vital molecules (like protein and DNA) and damage them. The build-up of free radicals in the body has been attributed to be one of the causes of cancer and tumor growth in the body. Several studies have shown that intermittent fasting may enhance the ability of the body to resist oxidative stress. Additionally, studies show that intermittent fasting can help fight inflammation, another key driver of all sorts of common diseases.
- Intermittent fasting reduces insulin resistance: Insulin resistance is a medical condition associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This medical condition has become increasingly popular lately, due to the kind of food people consume, and the reduced time to exercise. However, it has been observed that intermittent fasting helps to reduce insulin resistance. This helps to lower the blood sugar level. According to studies, there is a reduction of about3-6% in fasting blood sugar, while fasting insulin is reduced by about 20-30%. This is useful for diabetic patients, as it also helps protect and maintain their kidney functions.
- Intermittent fasting is good for the heart: Heart disease is currently the most common cause of death in the world. It has been observed that various health markers are associated with either an increased or decreased risk of heart disease. Also, intermittent fasting has been shown to improve numerous different risk factors, including blood pressure, total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as the bad cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers and blood sugar levels. However, these studies were based on animal studies. The effects of intermittent fasting on the heart have to be studied more before recommendations can be made.
- It Helps To Reduce The Risk Of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease: Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. Alzheimer’s disease currently has no cure. However, one of the ways of preventing the development of this disease is through intermittent fasting. Although this is not a cure, it’s one way of reducing the risks. A study performed on rats showed that intermittent fasting might delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or reduce its severity. In a series of case reports, a lifestyle intervention that included daily short-term fasts was able to significantly improve Alzheimer’s symptoms in 9 out of 10 patients. Animal studies also suggest that fasting may protect against other neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. More studies and research has to be done to make recommendations.
Overall, it’s important to engage in intermittent fasting, as it’s good for the health, and also for weight loss.
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References
Collier, R. (2013). Intermittent fasting: the next big weight loss fad. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 185(8), pp.E321-E322.
Collier, R. (2013). Intermittent fasting: the next big weight loss fad. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 185(8), pp.E321-E322.
Stockman, M., Thomas, D., Burke, J. and Apovian, C. (2018). Intermittent Fasting: Is the Wait Worth the Weight?. Current Obesity Reports, 7(2), pp.172-185.
