Can intermittent fasting work for you?
A weight-loss strategy gaining popularity relies less on food-management and more on timing.
Intermittent fasting is the process of manipulating your calorie intake based on a time schedule. The most common version condenses your meals for the day into a smaller window of time, such as eating all your meals between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm.
“When you eat less frequently, your body doesn’t have as many spikes in blood sugar,” says Dave Brummert, an exercise specialist at the Orlando Health National Training Center at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital. “When you do eat, your body can better control your blood sugar levels. That’s very important for those with diabetes as well as people who are overweight.”
Intermittent fasting also reduces the amount of inflammation in your body, and its potential benefits include:
• Helping prevent abnormal cell growth that can lead to cancer
• Improving your cholesterol and triglycerides levels
• Lowering risk of cardiovascular disease
• Reducing diabetes risk
The 16/8 method
The most common form of intermittent fasting is the 16/8 method, where you eat all your calories during an eight-hour window and eat nothing during the other 16 hours of the day.
Alternate day fasting is another type of fasting method, in which you eat at normal times and amounts one day (say, 2,000 calories) and then either eat no calories the next day — or no more than 25 percent of your typical calorie intake for a day (500 calories).
An actual 100 percent fast every other day is not as common. In fact, it could cause some loss in muscle mass over time.
“The 16/8 fast seems to fit normal work schedules pretty nicely and has all of the benefits of fasting without getting to the point of muscle loss,” Brummert says.
Intermittent fasting might not be for you if you have uncontrolled blood sugar issues or a history of eating disorders.
If you want to try intermittent fasting, talk to your doctor first.