What Is Intermittent Fasting? Everything You Need To Know
The intermittent fasting diet has many followers throughout the world, but is it healthy? We analyze the existing studies in this regard. Do not miss it!
Intermittent fasting has become fashionable to lose weight, especially among those who find it difficult to follow a diet to lose weight. Now, do you know what the intermittent fasting diet is and how it is carried out? In this article we will tell you in detail.
Before starting, it is necessary to be clear that intermittent fasting is not a diet in itself, but a feeding protocol. From this base we can understand that any dietary pattern can be adapted to this fasting mechanism, following a series of tips that we will discuss with you.
Intermittent fasting for weight loss
Losing weight can be a difficult task. If you suffer from food cravings or just can’t resist a hearty dish or dessert, read on.
What is intermittent fasting?
As its name implies, this diet protocol to lose weight consists of not eating caloric foods for a certain number of hours.
Let’s take an example to be clear: Maria has decided to try intermittent fasting to lose her extra pounds. For this reason, he has decided to fast twice a week for 16 hours, always with medical supervision.
How does this diet work?
According to people who support this diet, each time we eat, we take in more energy than necessary. Thus, the organism saves it to use it later, when it requires it.
The sugar into which carbohydrates are broken down can only enter cells with the help of insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas that is responsible for helping to store energy for when it is needed.
When we take in more energy than we use, a part of it turns into fat and is distributed throughout the body. By fasting, insulin levels drop (as it is not needed to store sugars) and the body begins to use stored fat for energy.
The operation of this protocol is therefore easy to understand: it is assumed that by interspersing periods of food intake (high insulin) and energy storage with periods of fasting (low insulin), the body will burn more fat than when being in a continuous state of consumption. In fact, there are several studies that link this practice with weight loss.
Thus, the person who begins this practice must perform pre-established fasts that can have a different duration depending on personal needs (and willpower).
Types of intermittent fasting diet
Intermittent fasting can be done in countless different ways. However, we want to present the main models to carry it out below:
- 12/12 fasting: this diet would involve having breakfast and dinner, separated by 12 hours of fasting. For example, have breakfast at 7 a.m. and dinner at 7 p.m.
- 8/16 Fasting – The idea here is to fast for 16 hours (consuming fluids, of course) and then eat for 8 hours. In this way, we could establish a fasting period of 21 to 13 hours and a feeding of 13 to 21.
- 4/20 fasting: the fasting period is extended to 20 hours, followed by 4 hours where food can be eaten.
- Fast 24: the fasting period is, in this case, a full day. The consumption of water is allowed, of course, and fasting is done on alternate days. This model has been beneficial for weight reduction and insulin resistance, according to research published in the journal JAMA.
- Fasting 48: those who follow the diet must fast for two whole days, always maintaining good hydration.
Is fasting healthy?
Every day we fast, even without wanting to. The definition of fasting is not eating food for a period of time, just what we do daily while we sleep.
According to different studies, when fasting is controlled within a balanced diet and there are no health problems such as diabetes, it could be beneficial to lose weight and thus reduce the cardiovascular risks caused by the accumulation of fat.
However, some specialists point out that fasting could cause serious damage to the body in pregnant people, with diabetes problems (because fasting could cause hypoglycemia) or other chronic problems.
Its benefits are similar to those of other diets
In 2018, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) carried out a research called HELENA. There, they sought to establish if the intermittent fasting diet could be really beneficial for losing weight and if it caused damage to health. The conclusions of the study were as follows:
- It is a diet similar to others to lose weight.
- It can mainly help those who have trouble maintaining discipline every day of the week.
- The weight loss of those who fasted were similar to that of the control group that followed a conventional diet.
Fasting would reduce body fat
Other research from 2016 suggested that performing a 12/8 fast for 8 weeks, in conjunction with training sessions, by men would help improve health markers while reducing body fat, without causing loss of weight. muscle mass.
It would help to modify the appetite
The specialists also studied a group of people with obesity and prediabetes to determine if this diet would be suitable for them. The fast was carried out in such a way that people ate food for a period of 8 hours a day.
The results showed that, after five weeks, the patients had decreased their appetite as well as their blood pressure, although they had not lost weight.
Intermittent fasting, an effective protocol
If you plan to start the intermittent fasting diet, consult your doctor about it. The professional will know how to guide you and recommend if really fasting could be the best for you or not.
