Intermittent fasting:

Intermittent fasting has become a lot of popular among the health and fitness industries in the past few years.It entails alternating fasting and non-fasting intervals in order to improve health, loose weight and speed up the metabloism.In this aticle,we will dive deep into the science of intermittent fasting (IF) and its practical applications.

It is actually the eating schedule for people to follow in which the people alternate between the periods of fasting and periods of eating. The main goal is to generate a calorie deficit, by ingesting less calories during fasting period, t

Methods/Schedule for intermittent fasting:

The variety of methods of intermittent fasting are as follows:

• The 12/12 method: This method is usually for the people who just started intermittent fasting.In this method 12 hours in a day is fasting period and the next 12 hours are the eating period
• The 16/8 method: It is a method of 16 hours fast followed by 8 hours eating window.
• The 5:2 method: This method involves eating for 5 days and then restricting calories intake for the 2 non consecutive days by 500-600 calories
• The Eat-Stop-Eat method: This method entails going without eating for consecutive 24 hours once or twice in a week
• The Alternate-day method: In this method fasting is done every other day.

The main idea behind the intermittent fasting is that you will consume less calories overall by controlling the time in which you eat. Its crucial to note that intermittent fasting is actually an eating style rather than a diet. This implies that as long as you stay under your suggested calorie consumption, you can eat anything.

Benifits of intermittent fasting:

The effects of fasting intermittently has been extensively researched both in animals as well as humans. Fasting has numerous advantages incluing:

1. Weight loss: It has been proved through the research that intermittent fasting has alot of benifits and weight loss is one of them. The reason behind it is that,by creating thecalories shortfall , the body is compelled to use fats stored in the body for energy purpose, which results in the weight loss of the body.
2. Increased Insulin sensitivity: Intermittent fasting can help in lowering the chances of type 2 diabetes by increasing the insulin sensitivity.
3. Improved heart health: Studies has shown that intermittent fasting can lower the LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides levels which are the common risk factors for the varity of heart diseases.
4. Improved Brain function: Intermittent fasting has been shown to enhance the memory and focus in the brain
5. Anti-aging effects: Intermittent fasting has also been linked to the increase in lifespan of the animals . Thus it can also do the same for humans aswell.

Intermittent fasting for women:

While using fasting as an effective weight loss strategy for women for fast weight loss .there are some crucial factors to keep in mind

1. Hormones: Women’s hormones are susceptible to variations in calorie intake and fasting durations. Intermittent fasting should not be done by women  who are pregnant,breasfeeding and trying to get pregnant.
2. Fasting time: Women may benifit more from shorter fasting intervals.According to some research,women may benifit more from fasting for shorter periods of time less than 14 hours.
3. Caloric intake: It is important for women to adjust calorie intake during the eating period as they require less calories than men .
4. Nutrient intake: Its crucial for women to make sure they are obtaining enogh nutrients during their eating periods .In order to achieve this, taking high quality multi vitamins and nutrient dense food can help.

Groups of people who should avoid:

Although for most of the time this type of fasting is considered safe and benificial but for some group cautions are needed before persuing the intermittent fasting.These groups are:

• Eating disorder individuals
• Breast-feeding or pregnant women
• Individuals having underlying medical conditions like diabetes,low B.P, gastric ulcer etc
• People indulging in heavy exercises
• Children

Affan Lateef

Hi, I’m Affan lateef , a pharmacist by profession. I have a degree in pharmacy and over 5 years of experience helping people achieve their health goals. I write about various topics like health, artificial intelligence in health, mental health, diet and weight loss. Follow me here on these platforms given below.