Is Intermittent Fasting Good or Bad?
What is Intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is where a person fasts for 16 hours a
day, and eats for only 8 hours, at regular periods of time. During the time
that you can eat, it is always important to make sure that you consume foods
with low amounts of calories, and that you include foods rich in protein, in
your diet. Also, it is important to remember that you can always have water, tea,
or coffee when you are fasting.
Also Read: Must Eat Foods When on a Keto Diet
Of course, intermittent fasting is opted for by those who are looking to lose weight or are trying to get into good shape and get fit. It is then natural that one might have a few doubts about how intermittent fasting works?
Below key points that might help clear your doubts:
1) It is always difficult to not eat for 16 hours a day in the
beginning, but you will eventually get used to it. Intermittent fasting helps
you set boundaries, and helps you regulate and monitor what you put into your
body, which is always a wonderful thing. Always make sure to avoid sugars, and prefer
to eat fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, lean proteins, and
healthy fats.
2) Intermittent fasting is done every day of the week, where
breakfast is skipped, after the meal that you will have taken on the previous
night.
3) Make sure that you cut out at least 500 calories from your
diet in a day, to be able to lose at least a pound per week.
4) A lot of water intake is always recommended during
intermittent fasting, as it greatly helps with the metabolism of your body, and
with your digestion as well. It is also important to avoid any beverages containing
caffeine, like sodas and beverages. Opt for vegetable, chicken, or bone broth instead.
5) People who are suffering from certain conditions, especially
anorexia and bulimia, and any other eating disorder, should avoid intermittent
fasting. Intermittent fasting is also not recommended for pregnant or
breastfeeding women.
6) One thing to certainly remember is that intermittent fasting
may not suit everyone. This might turn out to be yet another trial at trying to
lose weight, for those who have failed to lose weight by other methods
previously. However, if it does work for you, kudos to you!
Also Read: Is it true that Eating Less helps in Weight Loss?
A few health benefits that intermittent fasting offers:
1) Reduces
cholesterol levels in the body
2) Glucose control
is improved
3) Liver fat is
greatly reduced
4) Overall blood pressure is greatly improved
5) Your sleep cycle is greatly improved due to the systematic eating routine
6) Helps maintain
your overall health perfectly, and is also known to increase your life span
7) Has been known
to stop tumor growth, especially in the case of breast cancer.
Side effects of intermittent fasting:
1) Loss of Appetite:
2) Mood Swings and Irritability:
When the amount of food that you eat is less, it always leads to feeling
incomplete, and slightly off, which might lead to mood swings and irritability.
This is because all the fasting leads to fatigue and tiredness.
3) Increased Carvings:
It has been
proven that those who choose intermittent fasting have increased food cravings,
which makes them eat the wrong kinds of food, which defeats the purpose of
intermittent fasting in the first place.
4) Slow Metabolism:
As we tend to
lose out on some major nutrition while intermittent fasting, the body’s
metabolism slows down drastically. Therefore, people with diabetes and previous
cases of eating disorders and pregnant and breastfeeding women are advised to
avoid these
5) Hormonal Imbalance:
A lot of
women have experienced increased hair loss and changes in their menstrual
cycle while intermittent fasting. Since your body experiences a high amount of
calorie deficit and the lack of a well-balanced diet have been known to cause
these hormonal changes.
Keeping all these things in mind, it is completely up to a person to choose to go with intermittent fasting or not.