Intermittent Fasting – Is it for You?

Intermittent Fasting or IF, is currently one of the most viral and popular trends in fitness and health. You must have heard or read about it on Instagram or Twitter. People have managed to use IF to lose weight, build muscle, manage their weight, and simplify their lifestyle. Fasting has been traditionally used in Indian culture for religions reasons. But many people have long recommended that fasting has scientific and health related benefits. Intermittent Fasting is gaining popularity because its known to boost your memory, improve mental clarity, and assist you in living healthy. All these benefits aside, is intermittent fasting really for you? What are the side effects of fasting on our body? Let’s find out.

What exactly is Intermittent Fasting or IF? IF is an eating pattern that cycles between fasting and eating. It isn’t really a diet but a pattern of eating or lifestyle. It tries to break one of the common beliefs that you should eat every 2-3 hours and have breakfast 12 hours after dinner. As we mentioned, fasting has been traditionally followed in human culture and history. Fasting is believed to be our natural state and encourages us to go without food for longer periods of time. The most common IF method is 16:8, which means you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8-hour window. IF is basically telling you when to eat, rather than what to eat.

There are several ways and patterns of IF. You can choose one or follow a combination of different patterns that work for you. During the fasting window, you can’t consume any solid foods. The beverages which you can have include black coffee, green tea, black tea, lemon juice, or coffee with milk but without sugar. Having coffee with milk is considered a controversial choice in IF. Basically anything above 50 calories can break the fast and should be avoided. The most popular methods of IF are-

• 16/8 Method- It involves skipping breakfast and starting your eating window at 12 pm or 1 pm and ending it at 8 pm or 9 pm.
• Eat-Stop-Eat- In this method, you fast for 24 hours straight, twice a week. You eat your dinner at 8-9 pm and don’t eat anything till the next day at 9 pm. The 24 hours fasting days are not consecutive but alternate or with a 2-3 gap in between.
• 5:2-Usually called as a cyclical pattern, the 5:2 method suggests you eat only 500 calories on two non-consecutive days and eat normally for the other 5 days.

By reducing the number of meals, IF leads to a reduction in calorie intake and causes weight loss. IF also balances your hormones which can lead to facilitating weight loss. Intermittent Fasting can lower insulin levels and increase growth hormone levels. It increases the release of the fat-burning hormone norepinephrine. Due to these changes, short-term fasting may increase your metabolic rate. IF leads to weight loss, fat loss, and significant loss of fat near the belly area which is often harmful and an indicator of lifestyle diseases. It also maintains muscle loss which means even if you lose weight, you won’t find as much loose skin or uneven loss compared to other eating patterns.

One thing to keep in mind is that IF is not a magical cure. It relies on you eating fewer and healthier calories during your eating window. For example, a person who eats pizzas, desserts, and junk food during his 8-hour eating window will not see any weight loss or effects despite fasting regularly. Your caloric intake during your eating window should come from healthy foods, treats once in a while or monthly, and your required nutrients.

However, intermittent fasting isn’t for everybody. Women may not find it as beneficial as it is for men. IF can lead to delayed periods, hormonal changes, and worsened blood control. Women need to follow different guidelines for IF and ease into fasting patterns. Pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding should not try IF or fasting. Women who are facing fertility issues should also stay away from IF. People struggling with eating disorders or weight issues need to consult a health expert or doctor before trying IF. IF will initially have side effects such as extreme hunger, irritation, fatigue, dullness, and foggy brain. If these effects persist for a longer time, stop fasting immediately. Diabetics and patients suffering from low blood pressure need to monitor their food intake regularly so IF may be risky for them. For the rest of us, IF is really effective and when combined with diets like Keto or Low Carb can show really impressive results. Once you start following IF, it becomes a lifestyle that definitely has healthy results and benefits. Do consult a doctor before undertaking any new diet or eating pattern.