What Is Intermittent Fasting?
It is an eating pattern that cycles between times of fasting and eating.
Intermittent Fasting Methods
- The 16/8 method: it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week,
- The 5:2 diet: With this method, you consume only 500–600 calories on two nonconsecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
A good method to lose weight.
Weight loss is the most known reason for people to try intermittent fasting
By making you eat fewer meals, intermittent fasting can lead to an automatic reduction in your intakes in calories.
What can you benefit in IF?
- Weight loss: intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and belly fat, without having to consciously restrict calories
- Insulin resistance: Intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3–6% and fasting insulin levels by 20–31%, which should protect against type 2 diabetes
- Inflammation: Some studies show reductions in markers of inflammation, a key driver of many chronic diseases
- Heart health: Intermittent fasting may reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers, blood sugar and insulin resistance — all risk factors for heart disease
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- Brain health: Intermittent fasting increases the brain hormone BDNF and may aid the growth of new nerve cells. It may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease
- Anti-aging: Intermittent fasting can extend lifespan in rats. Studies showed that fasted rats lived 36–83% longer