Fasting is completely normal and natural process. It provides much needed rest to our digestive system which otherwise is working hard 24/7 for us. Our body actually detoxifies itself in the process of fasting. People nowadays are becoming aware about the benefit of fasting, so the concept of intermittent fasting is being popular and very much being practiced too.
Lifestyle wants to aware you about the potential benefit of fasting guiding you in your healthy lifestyle journey.
#. What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is not a diet but an eating pattern which cycles between eating and fasting period. There are several methods of intermittent fasting but the most popular one is 16:8 method.
In this method you fast for 16 hours a day and eat in the next 8 hours. Your breakfast, lunch and dinner is to be adjusted in those 8 hours. The good thing is that there is no restriction about eating. During fasting you can have water and some zero calorie drinks like green tea and black coffee without sugar. And if you feel damn bit hungry, you can have just one spoon full of ghee.
Intermittent fasting acts as a gentle shock for our body leading to some hormonal changes which helps to improve our health.
#. Health benefit of Intermittent Fasting
1) Helps in weight loss
This may be the reason why most of us attempt to practice intermittent fasting. No doubt, it is one of the best method to reduce body fat.
During fasting our body goes through calorie deficit. So, it switches its energy source from glucose to glycogen and fats reducing the fat percent in our body. During intermittent fasting there is decrease in insulin level and increase in HGH which further adds in fat loss. It also increases the Basal metabolic rate of our body.
Fasting doesn't make you lose your muscle mass until you are skinny thin.Our body holds onto the muscle until our body fat is too low that it has no choice but to burn muscle for energy.
2) Decrease the potential risk of diabetes
When we are fasting there is no any form of sugar going inside our system which result in low insulin level in our body. Insulin is the hormone that regulate sugar level in our blood. Prolonged exposure to to low level of insulin results in increase in insulin sensitivity of our cells.
Now, when you eat any food, small amount of insulin is good enough to regulate blood sugar level. This means our body do not have to work hard enough to get same result as before.
In this way, intermittent fasting for long period can reduce the risk of diabetes.
3) Improve gut health
When we keep on eating every now and then, our stomach need to work hard enough without a break. This is just like going to office 7 days a week for 365 days without a break.
Fasting provide rest to our digestive system which is working 24 by 7 for us. This helps to cure any digestive issue you may be suffering from and also helps to improve our gut health significantly.
Moreover, research has found that intermittent fasting supports the health of microbiome in our intestine. Bad bacteria cannot survive this extreme condition which results in decrease in their number in our intestine.
4) Detoxify our body
During intermittent fasting our body trigger the process called autophagy. Autophagy is the process in which our body gets rid of its sickest cells.
While fasting only the healthiest cell survive the extreme condition while cyst, tumor, cancerous and other harmful cell starve and die.
Also, during fasting our body excrete all the toxic waste from cellular level. Fasting is proven to heal and detoxify our body.
5) Increase the level of HGH
Human growth hormone which is also known as HGH is an important chemical that helps to maintain, build and repair our body tissues. It also helps to boost metabolism, build lean muscle mass and lose body fat.
During fasting this HGH level get increased by as much as 3 times. HGH level is in peak during puberty but as we age level of HGH decrease so do on muscle mass but fasting can help to maintain the optimal level of HGH in our body.
6) Improve Brain Function
Intermittent fasting does wanders in improving our brain health. Fasting challenges our brain just like any physical or mental exercise. This results in increase in Neurotrophic factor (it is a growth factor of nervous tissue) which support the growth and survival of neurones.
This is proven to optimise our brain function and improve our cognitive ability.
#. How to get started doing Fasting
- Start with skipping one meal a day preferably dinner.
- Take baby steps toward fasting.
- First couple of days you may feel some friction but it's ok.
- Break your fast with something like lemon water or fruits.
- Then you can have your normal meal.
- Optimise your nutrition as your eating window is just of 8 hours.
- You need to fit to 2 to 3 meal in those 8 hour time
- Avoid junk and packaged food.
- Avoid overeating.
- It's completely normal if you feel tired or fatigued in your first week of fasting.
- You can have water or black tea or black coffee without sugar during fasting period.
- Know your limits.
- Fasting can be unsafe if over done or done improperly, so be careful.
#. Who should avoid Fasting
- Pregnant or breastfeeding women
- Children under the age of 14
- People with type 1 diabetes or low BP
- People with eating disorder
- Old aged or elderly person
- People who are underweight or malnourished.
- People with any other medical conditions should consult their doctor before attempting intermittent fasting