Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting: Fasting is not starvation. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food, while fasting is the voluntary withholding of food for health or spiritual reasons.
Fasting has been practiced by all civilizations worldwide for thousands of years.
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It’s not about what you eat, but more about when you eat. Fluids such as water, tea, small amounts of coffee etc. are not restricted in IF.
These are the most popular methods:
The 16/8 method: Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as between 12-8 . Then you fast for 16 hours in between, til lunch the next day. Ideally you do not want to eat later than 3 hours before bedtime.
Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 diet: With this method, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
IF has been shown to drop insulin levels and make insulin more sensitive. This forces more fat loss, thus assisting in weight loss. Growth hormone levels significantly rise in IF which help muscle growth and fat loss. Many immune and genetic functions balance and repair themselves with IF, leading to longevity and disease protection.
IF can help you lose weight, reduce inflammation, improve blood sugar and insulin control, improve brain and heart health, may reduce cancer risk and overall act as an anti-aging tool.
Pregnant, breastfeeding, underweight/eating disorder individuals and less than 18 years of age people should not IF. Diabetic, hypoglycemic, low blood pressure or seriously ill people should not IF without medical guidance or supervision.
At KNC, we have experience with IF and assisted many through implementation and monitoring of this technique. If interested, give us a call.
Some info above is taken from https://www.healthline.com/nutri…/intermittent-fasting-guide