A Complete Guide To Intermittent Fasting
What is intermittent fasting (IF)?
“Fasting for the body is food for the soul”
Time-restricted eating, often known as intermittent fasting, is the practice of limiting one’s eating to a set time period within a 24-hour day.
The most common form of IF is the 16/8 method, which involves eating within an 8-hour window each day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours.
We normally maintain our focus on the food we eat and the calorie deficit we create in order to lose weight and so enhance our health. We control our sugar intake, reduce carbs, and ingest more protein and fiber from our dietary plans.
Yes, this is a significant step, but it must be coordinated with the time period for eating food.
Intermittent fasting can be an important strategy for those who want to lose weight without calorie restriction.
Important points to keep in mind:
- Allow yourself a 7-10 day transition time where you can change your cycle to 1 hour till you obtain the appropriate schedule before beginning Intermittent Fasting or shifting the eating window.
- To maximize health and maintain social connections, schedule meal times during the day.
- The 8-hour feeding window was created due to lab time constraints, not because it is the golden standard of feeding periods, although it has been studied and is a decent rule of thumb. So, don’t try to mimic the same 8-hour window if it’s not suitable for your schedule.
NOTE: Narrowing the feeding time to fewer than 8 hours might cause an increase in stress and pro-inflammatory chemicals, as well as a drop in several sex hormones.
- Do not restrict calories to the extreme. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, you need certain amounts of calories daily. Take necessary calories according to your daily requirements. Calorie calculator
NOTE: Food calorie restriction can have a negative impact on the ovulation cycle in women and sperm count in men because brain signals are looking for good reproductive conditions.
The health benefits of intermittent fasting1,2
- Body weight loss
- Lean mass loss
- Visceral fat loss while maintaining the muscle mass
- Lowers the systolic blood pressure
- Reduces the fasting glucose and triglyceride concentration
High blood glucose is directly impacting mortality. In the human body, the blood glucose level keeps increasing as we age.
For those who can’t maintain a strict eating window, try to follow this2
- Try to maintain a deep fast from sleep by not ingesting food for 1st few hours after waking up (at least 1 hour)
- Do not consume any calories. 2-3 hours before going to bed
Things that will not break your fast
- Water
- Tea/coffee (without milk and sugar)
- Salt
- Zero-calorie drinks
Some of the resources:
To track your fasting/eating window: Zero app
A very useful podcast by Dr. Andrew Huberman:
References:
- Moon S, Kang J, Kim SH, Chung HS, Kim YJ, Yu JM, Cho ST, Oh C-M, Kim T. Beneficial Effects of Time-Restricted Eating on Metabolic Diseases: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2020; 12(5):1267.
- Chow, L.S., Manoogian, E.N.C., Alvear, A., Fleischer, J.G., Thor, H., Dietsche, K., Wang, Q., Hodges, J.S., Esch, N., Malaeb, S., Harindhanavudhi, T., Nair, K.S., Panda, S. and Mashek, D.G. (2020), Time-Restricted Eating Effects on Body Composition and Metabolic Measures in Humans who are Overweight: A Feasibility Study. Obesity, 28: 860-869.
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