Intermittent fasting is a healthy practice that has been used mainly to help people manage their weight by following a programmed diet. This has helped to boost hormones and balance through burning body fat. It has also contributed to the prevention and treatment of some diseases, such as diabetes.
What is intermittent fasting?
Refers to a practice where one can time meals without food for a whole day or most of the day. It does not categorize the type of diet to eat but only the time you should consume them. Intermittent fasting aims to reduce weight and burn fats to increase the efficiency of makers of health, which helps prevent diseases such as cholesterol levels. Fasting involves avoiding eating altogether or reducing the amount of food intake. The method used includes a 5:2 diet 6/18 and alternate day fasting.
1. 6/18 method
This is where one eats for 6 hours of the day and abstains from eating for the remaining 18 hours.
2. 5:2 diet
It’s a routine where food is usually taken for only five days without restrictions, 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men in a day for the remaining two days of the week.
3. Alternate- day fasting
With this method, you fast for some days of the week and eat for the remaining days. For example, you can have Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as your fasting days and eat on Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday.
Pros
>Weight loss
Restricting calorie intake during non-fasting days, where the caloric intake is up to 125% of regular caloric needs and between 0 and 25% during the fasting days, helps to prevent overweight or obesity, especially for adults, which could result in type 2 diabetes disease.
> Improve insulin sensitivity
Restricting diet reduces insulin’s effectiveness in providing glucose uptake by the cells in the body. Muscles and the liver become less responsive in absorbing glucose from the bloodstream for storage. HGM gut can also be managed by intermittent fasting. It naturally boost HGM, reducing the need for supplementation. It also help prevent the growth of hgh gut.
> Simplicity and flexibility
Here, one must note that you must necessarily follow a rigid diet schedule, but you can decide what to eat and when. The critical aspect is to listen to their bodies and examine when food needs arise and when to abstain.
> Enhance autophagy
Calorie restriction helps produce autophagy flux, which prevents host cells or housekeeping cells from being injured by removing the damaged cells. It helps make new and healthier cells and increases the lifetime of eukaryotic cells, which are very helpful in metabolism.
>Potential longevity benefits
This practice triggers the growth of a beneficial bacteria called Christensenella in the gut microbiome, associated with longevity. It has also been proven to prevent and treat diseases such as obesity.
Cons
> Potential hunger and discomfort
Fasting can make one either overeat or undereat. When undereating happens to a woman, it may affect her menstrual cycle, which can interfere with her fertility. Hunger hormones are typically generated when one has not eaten for a long time, resulting in increased appetite. These factors affect the mentality of human beings, especially the younger generation. Discomfort is generally brought about by lack of sleep, especially during fasting, and low blood sugar makes one feel weak and tired.
> Risk of nutrient deficiencies
Restricting calorie intake and the inability to consume diets with enough nutrients after a prolonged fast can result in malnutrition. When one decides to control the number of calories entering the body, understanding the week and not adhering to the diet requirement can lead to abnormal weight loss or increased hunger.
> Potential for disordered eating
Spending a lot of your time thinking about the time and amount of food to eat can cause a type of eating disorder called orthorexia, which is an obsession with eating nutritious food in an unhealthy manner that can damage the overall well-being of an individual. Prolonged fasting can cause you to eat a lot of food because the restricted calories result in intense hunger, and therefore, one can become overweight.
> Impact on energy levels
For beginners in fasting, much energy is lost before the body adapts to the new eating program. During fasting, a lot of energy stored in the leptin hormone is used to burn fat because the insulin level is low due to the abstinence of food and beverages that provide insulin to the body.
>Intermittent fasting is not for everyone
Intermittent fasting is said to have side effects on women who are either breastfeeding or pregnant, anyone with diabetes, taking medication, or recovering from eating disorders, and everyone below the age of 18 years.
In conclusion, intermittent fasting helps to increase metabolism and burn fat, which assists in weight loss from the store. It is, however, only practical for some, and one should be careful before starting the routine to avoid health consequences. Ultimately, those who go without food should choose the most appropriate method. Eating nutritious food is as good as observing and intermittent fasting.