Intermittent Fasting

As many of you may know, fasting originally started as a form of religious practice. However, nowadays it is getting increasing popular to do so for weight loss. In addition, people are starting to claim that it presents additional health benefits. But is this really so?

First of all, I want to get to some basics. Unlike the traditional, religious form of fasting, people who use it for health benefits tend to do what is known as 'intermittent fasting'. This means that in their diet schedule, they would have some fasting days as well as non-fasting days. In addition, most 'fasting' days do not mean to starve/thirst oneself, but rather limit the time of food and water intake to a window of 8 hours. Therefore, this actually gives plenty of time for eating. However, the extent to which 'fasting' is done also depends on the individual. If you are very driven and committed to this plan, you may literally consume nothing except for water during this 8 hours. But to make this fasting effective, you should limit your calorie intake to about 1 quarter of the recommended daily intake at the very minimum. Therefore, you should only consume a maximum of 500kcal.

2 common plans include:

a) 5:2 diet - In which you have 5 non-fasting days and 2 fasting days per week. The 2 fasting days shouldn't be consecutive. This is quite easy to do.

b) Alternate day diet - Alternate between non-fasting and fasting days. This requires some serious commitment.

So now that you know all of this, let's look at some pros and cons of fasting.

Pros:

1. Simple and easy to follow

Unlike specific diets, you do not have to go through the trouble of finding particular foods/supplements. You regulate the amount you eat, not necessarily what you eat.

2. Some flexibility

You adjust the diet plan to fit your needs and schedule. You can also amend the plan as you go on.

3. POSSIBLE health benefits

There has been numerous studies on other animals, that shows fasting can be beneficial. This includes lower blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and reduced risk of chronic diseases. Therefore, it is quite possible that there is similar effect on humans.

Cons:

1. Hard and needs commitment

It is easier said than done. To keep intermittent fasting up for more than a week is already a challenge. If you are a busy, active person, it is likely that such lifestyle would not fit you.

2. Risks

Not consuming as much food/drink may result in you having headaches, mood swings and blood pressure that is too low. This may be more severe to some than others, and would be especially bad during the first week or two.

3. Backfire

Fasting may cause some people to eat too much on non-fasting days, which can result in gaining weight than losing. Therefore, you might require close monitoring of progress as you go along.

Anyways, that is it for today guys. I cannot really tell you if you should/should not try intermittent fasting, but personally I don't think it is necessary if you are have a relatively healthy diet and weight. But if you do decide to try it out, I hope you think about some of the points I mentioned before you get straight into it.

See you in my next post!