What is intermittent fasting, how to properly do it and benefits

By now most people have heard of the term “intermittent fasting.”  This blog post is going to give you some ideas and suggestions for anyone who looking at getting RESULTS by using intermittent fasting.   What is intermittent fasting?  Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule. Research shows that […]

What is intermittent fasting, how to properly do it and benefits

By now most people have heard of the term “intermittent fasting.” 

This blog post is going to give you some ideas and suggestions for anyone who looking at getting RESULTS by using intermittent fasting.  

What is intermittent fasting? 

Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule. Research shows that intermittent fasting is a way to manage your weight and prevent — or even reverse — some forms of disease. 

Some popular approaches to intermittent fasting include:

  • Alternate-day fasting. Eat a normal diet one day and either completely fast or have one small meal (less than 500 calories) the next day.
  • 5:2 fasting. Eat a normal diet five days a week and fast two days a week.
  • 16:8 or 14:10 Daily time-restricted fasting. Eat normally but only within an eight-hour to 10-hour window each day. For example, skip breakfast but eat lunch around noon and dinner by 8 p.m. This is the most popular type of intermittent fasting. 
 

Some studies suggest that alternate-day fasting is about as effective as a typical low-calorie diet for weight loss. That seems reasonable because reducing the number of calories you eat should help you lose weight.

We do recommend you read the Blog Post here about sleep and when to eat before going to sleep as it will help with timing if you do decide to try to intermittent fast. Or if you are already intermittent fasting, this blog post about intermittent fasting may be a helpful change to what you are doing or HOW you are doing it. 

What I hear most of the time is people don’t start eating until 12pm or 1pm in the afternoon and then eat all the way up until close to bed time. Using the “Don’t Eat 3 Hours Before Bed Rule” let’s just back track on when you should do your fasting to get the most benefits (your body burns more calories and you lose more fat). 

Let’s say you normally go to sleep at 10pm. 
The last meal you should eat is at 7pm. 
Eating every 3 hours the daily intermittent should look like this. 

10am Breakfast 
1pm Lunch 
4pm Afternoon Snack/meal 
7pm Dinner

That’s 15 hours of fasting and 9 hours of eating 

With this scenario it factors eating every 3 hours. If you changed it to 3 meals and 2 snacks it may look like this.

9:00am Breakfast
11:30am Small Snack 
1:30pm Lunch 
4pm  Small Snack
7pm Dinner

That’s 14 hours of fasting and 10 hours of eating. 

If you want to follow the 16:8 rule just adjust it. The key is the 3 hours before going to bed. 

Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed data about a range of health benefits associated with the practice. These include a longer life, a leaner body and a sharper mind.

“Many things happen during intermittent fasting that can protect organs against chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, even inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers,” he says.

Here are some intermittent fasting benefits research has revealed so far:

  • Thinking and memory. Studies discovered that intermittent fasting boosts working memory in animals and verbal memory in adult humans.
  • Heart health. Intermittent fasting improved blood pressure and resting heart rates as well as other heart-related measurements.
  • Physical performance. Young men who fasted for 16 hours showed fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. Mice who were fed on alternate days showed better endurance in running.
  • Diabetes and obesity. In animal studies, intermittent fasting prevented obesity. And in six brief studies, obese adult humans lost weight through intermittent fasting.
  • Tissue health. In animals, intermittent fasting reduced tissue damage in surgery and improved results.

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