If you want to lose weight and detoxify your body, but aren’t thrilled about the prospect of adhering to a diet that requires you to drop your favorite foods, you might consider the intermittent fasting approach. IF is an eating regimen that doesn’t require you to stop consuming the foods you like or to adhere to a strict, specific eating plan.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
There’s an array of weight-loss diets to choose from if you want to drop some pounds. These diets are diverse: To name a handful, there’s Weight Watchers, in which you tally points that are assigned to foods and beverages; the vegan diet, whose followers refrain from eating not just meat, fish and poultry, but all animal products, even dairy and eggs; and the keto diet, which emphasizes weight loss through fat-burning and discourages eating carbs and added sugars. Or, you could hire a coach or registered dietitian to individualize your weight and health goals, says Lise Gloede, a registered dietitian based in Arlington, Virginia. If you’re looking for a way to lose weight without adhering to a specific diet or hiring a nutrition expert, you might try IF.
Intermittent fasting is just what it sounds like: periodic bouts of very low to no calorie intake, says Jenna Bell, a registered dietitian based in St. Petersburg, Florida. “It differs from fasting for a day or more because you take a planned intermission or break from the fast to eat,” Bell says. There are many eating regimens that are considered Intermittent fasting, Bell says. IF can include full days of fasting or eating within a certain period of time; for example, you can have a 12-hour window, like 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., during which you can eat your meals. With this approach, you wouldn’t eat during the other 12 hours. Or, you can lengthen the time between meals. That could mean a modest four hours or a more challenging 16 hours between meals.
[See: 7 Ways to Hack Your Grocery Trip for Weight Loss.]
Does It Work?
Research suggests that IF can be an effective approach for weight loss, Bell says. She notes that a meta-analysis of four studies published in July 2018 in the journal Cureus suggests that IF can be useful for a wide array of people who are trying to lose weight. The study concluded that “intermittent fasting was effective for short-term weight loss” among normal weight, overweight and obese people. A separate study published in June 2018 in the journal Cell Metabolism suggests that men with prediabetes saw health benefits from an IF regimen. Study participants improved insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, oxidative stress and appetite. “Based on the science — in a word, yes, (IF works),” Bell says. Dr. Colin Zhu, an osteopathic physician based in Los Angeles who’s board-certified in family practice and is also a trained chef, adds, “Intermittent fasting, when done properly — in terms of striking a balance between feeding and fasting — has numerous benefits in normal, overweight and obese healthy individuals.” In terms of weight loss, advantages of IF include reducing total body fat and improving levels of lipids.
Intermittent Fasting Schedule
There’s more than one way to do intermittent fasting. Most people choose to stick to an “eating window” of about six to eight hours per day, meaning they consume all of their meals within this time frame and fast over the remaining hours (which usually includes an overnight fast). Others might eat normally five or six days of the week and fast completely or partially the other one or two days. Another approach is the Fast Diet, also known as the 5:2 diet. Under this plan, you would eat normally for five days of the week and cut your calories to about 25 percent of normal intake on two nonconsecutive days of the week. On their two weekly fast days, men consume just 600 calories, while women are limited to 500 calories.
[See: The Best Foods to Prevent and Manage Diabetes.]
What Are the Benefits of IF?
The potential benefits of intermittent fasting include:
— Fat loss
— Heightened alertness
— An improved relationship with food
Fat loss. Any natural sugars in your food that aren’t used immediately for energy are stored in the liver as glycogen. And when there’s been enough glycogen stored, this energy will be stored as fat. The good news is that, even though this stored glycogen is the first fuel source the body will use, once those stores are gone (typically after six to eight hours), the body turns to fat cells for energy. When you eat throughout the day, it becomes much harder for your body to burn fat, as it never runs out of stored glycogen. But IF makes it possible tap into those fat stores, even if you never change your diet. It’s important to keep in mind, Gloede says, that the key to losing weight is eating fewer calories. If you fast for part of the day but eat the same number of calories or more, you won’t lose weight.
Heightened alertness. Some people say they’re more alert with IF, Bell says. “It’s possible that during fasting, especially alternate days, the body goes into ketosis,” she says. “Like the keto diet, the body produces ketone bodies in the absence of glucose to feed the brain. Ketosis provides an efficient fuel source for the body and brain. The ketones may be why people say they’re more alert and focused, but (more research is needed).”
An improved relationship with food. Every person will have a different experience with any change in behavior, particularly if it involves his or her diet, Bell says. “I’ve witnessed positive changes not only in body weight, but health with IF,” Bell says. “And most of the time, that does change a person’s perception of food and nutrition to be more positive. They gain the control that they thought they’d lost.”
What’s a Typical Meal During Intermittent Fasting?
If you’re following the 5:2 diet approach, you’d want to eat meals that are nutrient-dense and between 500 and 600 calories on your fasting days, says Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietitian for the Cleveland Clinic. Here’s an example of one such meal:
— An individual serving (1.5 to 2 cups) of spaghetti squash with tomato sauce
— One lean chicken breast
— A sprinkle of seeds
— Mixed greens with high-quality balsamic vinegar and minimal olive oil
[See: 7 Diet Mistakes Sabotaging Your Weight Loss.]
Risks of IF
Intermittent fasting could be beneficial if it helps you realize when you’re actually hungry and when you’re satiated. However, the IF approach may lead some people to make poor, impulsive food choices because they’re so hungry after fasting, Gloede says. Instead of eating healthy, well-balanced meals, some people may reach for chips or cookies that are high in calories and low in nutritional value once it’s their time to eat, thinking that types of food are not that important if it’s all about timing, Gloede says. “While proponents of intermittent fasting claim several health benefits, another way of eating may be more helpful for the long term, especially if evening snacking or overeating is a problem area. It’s called fasting between dinner and breakfast, (which is why) we call it breakfast: Breaking the fast.”
One potential risk of intermittent fasting is that it may negatively affect your ability to reap the benefits of exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, president and chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise. Under normal circumstances, your body typically stores carbohydrates, which fuel exercise. When those stores are depleted, your body looks for other sources, including fat and protein stores. With IF, there’s a risk that the body may not only be burning fat, but also burning and losing muscle, Bryant says. Burning protein can not only harm your muscle strength , but also slow your metabolism, which makes it harder to lose weight in the long run.
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Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting: Everything You Need to Know originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 01/17/19:
