Intermittent fasting is all about choosing healthier options and giving them a specific time to digest.
What is intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a method of eating where you put a gap between eating and fasting. It puts a key focus on your meal timings.
Let’s understand it in an easy way. A fasting period will be created where there’s nothing going inside your body except for water and maybe few liquids.
Intermittent Fasting is not limited for specific months or days. If you want the best results then you’ve to add it in your lifestyle.
How do you do Intermittent fasting?
Let’s dive into the concept of how you can try “Intermittent Fasting”. There are various methods of doing intermittent fasting. All of them involves splitting either your day or week into eating and fasting periods. The most popular ones are explained below:
1. Fasting for 16 hours:
It is also called as 16:8 method. In this method you fast for 16 hours a day, leaving an eating window of 8 hours a day.
2. Fasting for 14 hours:
It is also called as 14:10 method. In this method, you eat all your meals within a 10-hour window and fast for the remaining 14 hours.
3. Twice a week method:
This approach focuses on fasting for 2 days, leaving a healthy eating window of 5 days a week. Here people limit their calorie intake to 500 on the other 2 days.
4. Alternate day fast:
The key in this method is that you fast for one day and eat what you want the next day. The most common version of this method is “modified” fasting. People restrict themselves to around 500 calories on fasting days. This specific version is called as “modified” fasting.
5. 24 hours fast:
This method involves fasting completely for a full 24 hours. It is done once or twice a week. People often fast from breakfast to breakfast or from lunch to lunch.
How does Intermittent fasting works?
Your food contains a specific amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose by your body during a meal. The intestinal walls absorb the glucose into the blood stream. It is then transported to various organs. It used as a major energy source by your body.
Your body stored the excess glucose in the liver and adipose tissue. It is stored as glycogen and fat. It is stored by your body for later use. When you’re following intermittent fasting. The liver converts glycogen back to glucose. It is utilized by your body as an alternate source of energy.
When the energy need is fulfilled by your body from the liver. It diverts its shift to the adipose tissue where the excess amount is stored as a fat. Fats are broken down into free fatty acids. It is used by your body as a metabolic fuel by the liver. As a result, the body burns fat for energy. The fasting process when followed for long enough helps you lose those extra kilos.
What are its health benefits?
Now you come to know how the process of Intermittent fasting works. Let’s understand it’s potential health benefits. The research studies have shown the following health benefits to the people:
- Helps in weight loss
- Reduces obesity
- Improves insulin resistance
- Manage high cholesterol levels
- Controls hypertension
- Helps in inflammation
- Repairs the damaged cells
Who should not try it?
If you’re dealing with any of the below conditions then you should not practice intermittent fasting:
- People who practice vigorous workouts
- Having issue in sleeping
- Pregnant or lactating women
- Sensitive bowel
- Diabetic Patients
- People with weak immunity
- People having eating disorder
- Young children and teens
Disclaimer: If you’re dealing with any medical conditions or are already under medications. It’s important to discuss the benefits and risks of intermittent fasting with a trusted healthcare professional.
Is Intermittent fasting right for you?
Now we all know the various health benefits of Intermittent fasting. There are certain people that may be more at risk of adverse side effects related to fasting.
Side effects could include:
- Extreme hunger
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Faintness
Don’t continue intermittent fasting if the program makes you feel miserable. There are many other things you can do to achieve your health goals.
Follow a balanced and nutritious diet, get a good sleep, engage in regular physical activity and manage your stress. It plays a more important role in promoting your overall health.
Best way to loose weight!. I also adopted this method to reduce weight and
I loses 45 kg weight.
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