People around the globe have voluntarily practiced abstinence from food and drinks, or what many people today call “intermittent fasting.” The focus is not on “what” you eat but on “when” you eat. Some of its proposed benefits include weight loss, better metabolic health, prevention of diabetes, and increased longevity.
Compared to other diet plans, one of the biggest advantages of intermittent fasting is the ease of practicing it. Can everyone practice it, though? Let’s find out.
Defining Intermittent Fasting & Its Types
Intermittent fasting, in its simplest sense, means avoiding all food and drinks for a specific amount of time in the day. There are multiple ways to do this.
1. 16/8 approach
It is one of the most common approaches of all. Here, you eat for 8 hours of the day, let’s say from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, followed by a 16-hour fast. And then repeat the pattern. One reason why many people prefer to follow this pattern is that they are often sleeping for about half of the fasting period. You just don’t eat anything post-dinner and skip/postpone your breakfast.
A variation for 16/8 is the 14/10 approach. Here, you only eat between 9:00 am and 7:00 pm. Of course, if you feel famished in the morning, you can make some shifts. The idea, however, is to consume most of your calories before sunset or when it’s dark outside.
2. 5:2
The 5:2 approach caps your calorie intake at 500 for 2 days a week. For the rest of the week, you can eat your normal, healthy diet. The key here? There needs to be a non-fasting day in the middle.
3. Alternate fasting
As the name suggests, alternate-day fasting involves capping your calories at 500 on a fasting day. Some people choose to eat nothing, capping their calories at 0. However, this kind of fasting is not very sustainable in the long run.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Courtney Peterson, an intermittent fasting researcher, published a defining paper in 2018. The paper, which studied the impact of early time-restricted feeding on prediabetic men, reveals that intermittent fasting improved three key aspects:
- Insulin sensitivity: How well your cells respond to insulin, a hormone that moves sugar from your bloodstream to muscles, liver, and other organs for energy or storage.
- Blood pressure: The amount of force your blood uses to get through the arteries. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attacks or strokes.
- Oxidative stress: Imbalance within your cells, whereby damaging cells called free radicals attack your DNA way faster than your body can repair it.
Below are some key science-backed benefits of intermittent fasting.
1. Reductions in Body Weight
Consistently consuming too many calories disrupts your body’s weight homeostasis. As such, your body starts storing it, resulting in the accumulation of fat tissue. This fat tissue is linked with concerns that arise out of changes in metabolism. For instance, hypertension and diabetes.
Research suggests that intermittent fasting is an effective way to control body weight via dietary management. Data from clinical trials show that 4-24 weeks of intermittent fasting reduces the weight of overweight individuals by 4 to 10%.
The main reason intermittent fasting (IF) helps with weight loss is that people usually eat fewer calories overall. Fasting may also trigger additional changes in the body.
One such change is a shift in how the body produces energy. During fasting, the body uses less glucose (sugar) and starts burning more stored fat for fuel. IF also lowers insulin levels. Since insulin promotes fat storage, lower insulin levels can help reduce body fat.
2. Changes in Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Levels
Excess body fat can increase insulin resistance, making it harder for your body to control blood sugar levels. Losing weight helps improve insulin sensitivity and reverse many of these metabolic problems.
Research indicates that intermittent fasting lowers insulin levels and improves insulin resistance. After 12 months of fasting in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, intermittent fasting has reduced body weight, blood sugar, and insulin levels.
Moreover, repeated fasting and feeding are also believed to strengthen your body’s metabolic activity and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.
3. Better Heart Health
Another major benefit of intermittent fasting is reducing the risk of heart problems. Studies show that alternate-day fasting brings down overall cholesterol. It also changes the balance of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol). Intermittent fasting increases HDL and decreases LDL.
4. Reduces Inflammation
As your body fat increases, immune cells called macrophages infiltrate fat tissue and release inflammation-causing proteins that are linked to insulin resistance, buildup of plaque in arteries, and systemic low-grade inflammation.
Intermittent fasting reduces your body weight, which in turn reduces the number of macrophages in fat tissue, lowers inflammation, and improves insulin sensitivity.
5. Improves Gut Microbiota
Many of your body’s functions follow the daily wake-sleep cycle, including your digestive system. For example, the stomach empties food faster during the day than at night, and the body processes glucose more efficiently in the morning than in the evening.
Intermittent fasting (IF) may also influence the gut microbiota, the many microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. Research suggests that people with obesity often have a different balance of gut bacteria than lean individuals. This “obese microbiota” may extract more energy from food, increasing calorie absorption and promoting fat storage.
Risks of Intermittent Fasting
There are potential downsides to practicing intermittent fasting. Here’s a brief overview:
- Can make you feel sick: If you’re not used to going for long without food and drinks, intermittent fasting, especially the alternative approach, can cause headaches. It can also make you cranky, lethargic, and constipated.
- May push you to overeat: Control comes with practice. Once the fasting period is over, you may feel a strong urge to overeat because your appetite hormones are more active when you’re deprived of food. Moreover, you may feel like binging on non-fasting days.
- Can be risky for people on medications: It is best to check in with your doctor once before starting any kind of fasting. For instance, people with diabetes cannot go without eating or drinking for long. The same goes for those who are on meds for blood pressure and heart concerns, given the imbalance in sodium, potassium, and other minerals.
Who Should Avoid It in the UAE?
Intermittent fasting is not suggested for the following groups:
People with Type 1 Diabetes
They are at risk of hypoglycemia. Your body depletes glucose faster when you’re fasting. Individuals with type 1 diabetes are already managing their blood sugar with insulin. So, the glucose drop due to fasting can be serious, leading to dizziness and confusion.
Pregnant Women or Those Trying to Conceive
Fasting can restrict your fetus’s growth and reduce the nutrients that reach it. As such, their organ development may suffer. This trade-off can cause other illnesses while growing up.
Women at risk of hormonal disruption should also avoid fasting. Their bodies may suppress the release of hormones that signal the ovaries to function properly due to a lack of energy.
People with Eating Disorders or a History of It
Individuals with eating disorders struggle with restriction and binge cycles. Intermittent fasting can worsen this challenge, intensifying their symptoms. There’s also a ‘substantial’ risk of developing eating problems due to intermittent fasting among adolescents and young women.
Children and Adolescents
The logic here is rather simple. They are growing human beings with changing dietary and nutritional needs. Lack of nutrition can interfere with their development and growth, such as muscle and bone development.
Others
Older adults, individuals on medications, or those who are already underweight should avoid fasting too. It is best to speak to a dietician or nutritionist before making any decisions.
FAQs
Can I lose 10 kg in 2 months with intermittent fasting?
While it is possible to lose 10 kg in 2 months, it requires a highly calorie-deficient diet. Plan it well with your doctor and supporting team to lose weight healthily.
Can Muslims do intermittent fasting?
Yes, anyone can do intermittent fasting, including Muslims. In fact, Ramadan fasting is a kind of religious intermittent fasting.
Is it better to fast for 12, 14, or 16 hours?
There’s no universal answer. The “better” depends on your body’s capacity. It is best to start with a 12/12 approach and gradually move towards 14- and 16-hour fasts.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting (IF) undoubtedly is a promising dietary approach for managing weight and improving metabolism. The research on this is also quite supportive. Beyond weight loss, IF also impacts your gut bacteria, heart health, and inflammation.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for diagnosis and treatment. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 998 (UAE) or visit the nearest emergency room immediately.
