Have you ever practiced intermittent fasting? If this animal hasn’t bitten you yet, it can happen when you know the benefits of this form of feeding.
Our time can be defined as the “age of regimes. “Diets to detoxify the body, ketogenic diets for weight loss, diets to care for the gut microbiota, ecologically correct diets, Paleolithic diets and one of the most famous of recent times. : intermittent fasting, which has as many followers as detractors.
- What is intermittent fasting?How does it work?What are the physiological.
- Psychological and cognitive benefits of this type of food?See all the answers below.
Intermittent fasting is a diet that consists of alternating periods of feeding and fasting in a more or less structured way, intermittent fasting consists of abstaining totally or partially from eating for a while before eating regularly again, however the rest of the Meals should be a bit more robust to ensure the necessary nutrient intake.
During fasting periods you should not eat, however, there are some foods that do not break the fast, such as tea and infusions, black coffee, kombucha and vegetable bones or broth.
There are different ways to fast intermittently, we all fast because we eat dinner one day and have breakfast the next day, but there are longer periods, to start longer periods of fasting it is best to start gradually, allowing the body to get used to periods of time without eating. Let’s see what types of fasting are most common.
This type of fasting is best for beginners as it is very easy to follow and does not require sacrifices, perhaps only anticipates dinner a little and eats breakfast a little later than usual, for example, dinner at 8 p. m. and having breakfast at 8 o’clock a. m. De this way we will spend 12 hours fasting, most of them sleeping.
However, if your schedule doesn’t allow it, you can also make sure your fasting period includes everything from breakfast to lunch.
Also known as Lean Gains Diet, it consists of reducing the feeding period to 8 hours and extending the fasting period to 16 hours, is the most studied, practiced and easy to follow type of fasting of the ‘long fasts’.
The most common way to practice it is to advance dinner time a little, for example at 8 a. m. , and keep fasting (without breakfast) until lunchtime, in this case around half the day. That’s why it is one of the most comfortable to follow, it is widely used by athletes, as well as strength training with heavyweights, such as crossfit, as a method to increase muscle mass.
This type of fasting is also known as the “warrior’s diet”. The best way to do this is to leave the food window during the last hours of the day and prepare a more abundant dinner than usual to ensure the necessary nutrient intake.
It is based on the belief that humans are “night eaters” because in the Paleolithic era, men changed the hours of the day hunting and eating at night.
It is an intermediate form of fasting: it is stricter than the 16-hour fast, but softer than the fast of 24 and 48 hours, these latter two forms are much harder and more extreme, should not be practiced continuously or without medication. supervision and, of course, must be carried out gradually, accustoming the body to fasting.
Intermittent fasting seems to be closer to a natural way of eating than to the way we conduct our daily lives. We eat mechanically, usually at certain times and, when eating, we eat with or without hunger.
Fasting has great benefits for the body
Derived from physiological benefits, intermittent fasting also offers cognitive and psychological benefits what are these benefits?
Despite the physiological and psychological benefits, intermittent fasting is not for everyone, pregnant or lactating women, people with type 1 diabetes, people with very low BMI and/or eating disorders, children, people with renal or hepatic impairment should not fast.
In addition, intermittent fasting can lead to anxiety, increase the obsession with food, and even cause compulsion after periods of fasting. This can lead to eating disorders, such as binge bingeing and bulimia nerve.
Therefore, if you have any of the above conditions, it is best not to fast intermittently, but if not, we want to invite you to try it to demonstrate its many advantages. Remember: you should always consult a professional.