Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Research suggests that intermittent fasting may be one of the most powerful and effective interventions for anyone that is struggling with weight and other health issues. Fasting shifts the body from burning sugar and carbohydrates to burning fat for fuel.

That’s good news for anyone that is trying to lose weight. 

Intermittent fasting is not a cycle of binge eating or eating a lot of food and then about starving yourself. It is not dieting. Intermittent fasting allows you to time your meals in specific intervals so you can plan for regular intervals of fasting. Some people prefer to engage in daily intermittent fasting, where you fast for periods throughout the day, while other people find fasting one or two days a week is more effective. 

Many different versions of intermittent fasting exist. 

Effective Intermittent Fasting

For intermittent fasting to be effective you must fast for a minimum of 16 hours. That means you can limit eating to the hours of 11am to about 7pm, then not eating anything between. That means you may skip breakfast and eat lunch. This is counter to much of the advice that suggests breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 

Some restrict their fast even more, eating only within a six to eight hour window within the day. 

The body takes approximately six to eight hours to digest glycogen stores in the body, and after that it begins to burn fat. If you are constantly replenishing the body’s stores of glycogen however, the body never gets an opportunity to burn fat. The key is allowing the body to have enough time to burn fat as fuel, so you have an opportunity to lose weight. 

When in your eating window, it is important to eat healthy foods and not junk foods, as this is counterproductive and does not provide the body with the essential nutrients it needs to be healthy. If you minimize carbohydrates you can actually shift your body into a fat burning mode fasting.