Intermittent fasting and the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting in human terms:

Intermittent fasting is becoming one of the world's most popular health and fitness trends. Many researches have shown that intermittent fasting is a major lead for weight loss and disease protection. Many people reported having more energy during a fast and feeling healthier.

We can sum up intermittent fasting in one sentence: alternating cycles of eating and fasting.

In this article, we explain to you why you should definitely give intermittent fasting some of your time.

What exactly is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting is basically an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of fasting and eating. The concept does not dictate which foods to eat and not eat, but rather when to eat and not eat. There are several types of intermittent fasting, all of which split your day or your week into periods of fasting and eating. Sleeping is considered a fasting phase, extending your fast to skip breakfast and eat your first meal at noon then your last at 8PM is one type of intermittent fasting. You are, therefore, restricting the eating phase to 8 hours a day and fasting for 16 hours a day. This is the most popular type of intermittent fasting known as the 16/8 method.

Despite what you may think, intermittent fasting is actually not hard to do. Hunger may be the initial issue for beginners, but it's not actually a big issue at all. Eventually, your body will get used to the fact of not eating for extended periods of time.

What are you allowed to eat or drink during intermittent fasting?

Food is not allowed during the period of your fasting, however you can drink water, coffee, tea and any sort of low-caloric beverages. This concept also applies to supplements; as long as they are low in calories you are allowed to consume them.

What are the types of intermittent fasting?

Even though there are many variations of intermittent fasting, here is a list of the most popular ones:

The 16/8 intermittent fasting method: As previously stated, this method consists of fasting 16 hours per day, for example eating between noon and 8PM.
Eat-Stop-Eat intermittent fasting method: This method is a 24 hour fasting phase, for example not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 Diet: Eating only around 500 calories during only 2 days of the week.

Why intermittent fasting?

Believe it or not, mankind has been fasting for thousands of years. In some cases it was out of necessity when there simply wasn’t enough food to eat or during sickness. In other cases, it was done for religious reasons; while different, those fasting phases are mandated in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.

The science behind intermittent fasting

There is nothing unnatural about fasting because our bodies are equipped to handle long phases of not eating.

During intermittent fasting, insulin levels and blood sugar reduces in our bodies, while growth hormone increases.
During intermittent fasting, all processes in the body change in order to allow our bodies to thrive during that particular phase. These processes include hormones, genes and cellular repairs.
Some do intermittent fasting for weight loss purposes, while others do it for metabolic health benefits.
Intermittent fasting can improve many different risk factors and health markers.
Some researches show that intermittent fasting can help you live longer.
Other researches show that intermittent fasting can also prevent heart disease, type ll diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and others.

Conclusion:

Intermittent fasting is a life hack. It makes everything simpler while improving your overall health at the same time. You get to save a lot of time with food preparation and cleaning by not having to eat 3, 4 or more times per day.

Intermittent fasting, when applied, can have some major health benefits so as long as you stick to healthy foods. It is very effective for weight loss and improving or maintaining overall health.