One of the popular fitness trends around the world today is intermittent fasting. Even though it has been practiced since ancient times, we could say that this practice became forgotten during the time. Given that today people more and more search for new fitness and diet methods, it's no wonder that some of them returned to some of the ancient ways of dieting, such as intermittent fasting or paleo diet. The term intermittent fasting includes different diet plans that are being consumed based on a planned period of fasting and non-fasting. It can be based on two methods: whole-day fasting and time-restricted feeding.
Whole-day fasting refers to few options: 24 hours of fasting and 24 hours of non-fasting; 5 days of non-fasting and 2 days of fasting (or minimal non-fasting – intake of around 500 calories per day), etc...Time-restricted feeding refers to eating only on particular periods during the day, while the rest of the day is spent fasting.
Since intermittent fasting doesn't limit your nutrition diversity, but only the period in which you can eat, it's not really a diet, but more a lifestyle. Many people state that they achieved numerous health and fitness benefits while practicing this method, such as weight loss, increased longevity, decreased risk of some chronic diseases, improved brain function and memory, increased energy, lower bad cholesterol, and, by some studies, it even lowers the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Be aware that this type of diet is not meant for everybody. If you think that this option could be right for you and that your body could take the long periods of fasting and keep functioning properly, here's our advice. When starting this type of diet, we recommend that you opt for a 16:8 type of intermittent fasting.
16:8 diet
This type of diet includes eating in a time period of every 8 hours every day. It is much easier to stick to this type of intermittent fasting than, for example – fasting every other day, all day. Also, it's suitable for those who have a busy schedule. You choose the hours that suit you – if you prefer a late dinner, have the first meal of the day around 1-2pm so that you can have your dinner around 9-10pm. You can eat whatever you like, but as much as you've eaten before the diet.
5:2
When on this diet, your nutrition stays normal as ever 5 days a week, but on 2 consecutive days, you limit the calorie intake to around 500 – 600 a day.
ADF
ADF, or alternate-day fasting, is definitely the hardest choice. It includes fasting every other day. This type of fasting is actually not recommended for many people, due to its restrictiveness.
All that being said, we need to mention that intermittent fasting has not yet been backed up by many substantial pieces of evidence, but it has shown results with weight loss. If you opt for this type of diet, be careful not to overstep your body's possibilities.
Nessie L.B.