What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is now being used as the most popular way of maintaining good health. The phenomenon includes alternate cycles of fasting and eating. People are adopting this strategy as it helps in losing weight, improving metabolic health, protects against diseases, and enhances your lifespan.
This eating pattern does not say which foods to eat. It focuses on when you should eat them. There are different intermittent fasting methods. The different methods are divided the day or week into eating and fasting periods. You can skip your breakfast and eat your first meal at noon and last meal at 8 PM. You will fast for almost 16 hours every day and restrict your eating pattern to an 8-hour window. This is the most common type of intermittent fasting and is known as the 16/8 method. Intermittent fasting is easy to do. Many people say they start feeling better and have more energy when they fast. When you are fasting you are not allowed to eat any food. You can only drink water, coffee, tea, and other non-caloric beverages.
Benefits of intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting not only helps to burn fat but also gives more benefits. There is a range of benefits associated with this type of strategy. It gives you a lean and thin body and sharpens your mind. Intermittent fasting can also help you to protect against age-related neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, many types of cancers, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.
Some important benefits of intermittent fasting are:
Studies reveal that intermittent fasting boosts your memory.
It also helps to improve the functioning of your heart and balances your blood pressure. It also improves heart rate and other heart-related disorders.
It also improves your physical performance. It helps in losing fat and maintains muscle mass.
Intermittent fasting also helps to prevent obesity and it also helps in balancing blood sugar levels in the body.
Studies also show that intermittent fasting also helps to increase your lifespan.
10 popular ways to do intermittent fasting
You can choose the right type of IF that will work best for your lifestyle. 10 popular ways to do intermittent fasting are:
- 5:2 Fasting: This is the most common IF method. In this method, you eat normally for five days, and then for two days, you eat 500 or 600 calories respectively for women and men a day. You can choose any days for fasting. If you feel hungry on a fast day, you can look forward to tomorrow when you can eat again.
- Time-restricted fasting: In this method, you have to choose an eating window. This is generally 14-16 hours fast. According to a method, when you fast for many hours your body can get rid of waste substances. This helps to increase cell metabolism and improve insulin function. You can eat your first meal at noon and last meal at 8 PM.
- Overnight fasting: This is the simplest method and involves 12 hours every day. For example, you eat your dinner at 7 pm and resume eating at 7 am. It is easy to follow and you do not have to skip meals.
- Eat stop eat: In this method, you can fast for a complete 24 hours and then resume normal eating. You can do this once or twice a week. You can get back to normal eating after fasting for the whole day. You can eat a higher amount of calories on the non-fasting days.
- Whole day fasting: In this method, you eat only once a day. You can either choose to eat dinner and then not eat again until the next day’s dinner. You are fasting for 24 hours. You are fasting from dinner to dinner or lunch for lunch. This is the best way to lose weight. It is difficult to get all the nutrients in one meal. It is difficult to follow.
- Alternate day fasting: In this method, people can fast every other day. This is a popular method of weight loss. Studies suggest that this is an effective method that helps obese people lose weight.
- Choose your day fasting: This gives you a choice of choosing your eating pattern. You can do time-restricted fasting every other day or once or twice a week. You can eat normally on Sunday, and then stop eating by 8 pm, then resume eating again on Monday at noon. It is like skipping breakfast for a few days a week.
- Up day down day: In this method, you eat normally on one day and then eat fewer calories the other day. You have to eat one-fifth of your normal calories on a down day. You can choose meal replacement shakes on the down days to stick to the regimen easily.
- All in one plan: You get one cheat day in this method. You have to skip eating for 36 hours. You can choose any other intermittent fasting method for the other days. You can fast longer when you are busy. This will help you to remain productive at work.
- Fast for 20 hours: In this method, you can fast for 20 hours and can eat one large meal every night. When you eat it and what you eat is important for this method. You should feed your body with the right nutrients when you eat one large meal.
Natural remedies for weight loss
Many natural remedies help to improve metabolic processes in the body. The natural remedies for weight loss are listed here:
Herbal remedies
Boerhaavia diffusa; Studies suggest that this herbal remedy is believed to improve digestive functions and increases the body’s metabolic rate.
Yograj Guggul: Studies suggest that this herbal remedy is believed to cause a burn-down of fat to prevent abnormal storage of fat in the adipose tissue of the body.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Benefits+of+Yograj+Guggul+for+obesity&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
Dandelion Root: Studies suggest that this herbal remedy is believed to stimulate the pituitary gland to release its hormones in optimal quantities, to balance the disturbed economy of the body.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Benefits+of+Dandelion+Root+for+obesity&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
Taraxacum Officinale: Studies suggest that this herbal remedy is believed to directly stimulate the thyroid gland to secrete only the requisite doses of its hormones, which in turn controls weight gain.
Homeopathic remedies
Phytolacca: Studies suggest that this resonance homeopathic remedy is believed to reduce the buildup of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and cholesterol, a culprit that contributes to heart disease, stroke, and atherosclerosis, a form of arteriosclerosis.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Benefits+of+Phytolacca+for+obesity&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5