Are you overweight and suffering from different health issues such as obesity or diabetes? If yes, then don’t worry! Nature has a solution. Try intermittent fasting, which is the natural and effective way to lose weight. It is a special type of eating plan that switches between eating and fasting in a regular pattern. The research has revealed that intermittent fasting is a safe tool to manage body weight and prevent several diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes.

Intermittent Fasting Plans

Many diet strategies focus on what you eat, while intermittent fasting pays attention to when you eat. When you eat at specific times and fast for several hours, your body burns fat quickly. There are different intermittent fasting plans. Some of them are:

• The 5:2 method

• The 16:8 diet

• Warrior diet

• Alternate-day fasting (ADF)

The 5:2 Method

It is a very simple and straightforward fasting plan, which involves five days of normal eating and two days of fasting in a week. In the initial five days of the week, you do not restrict your calorie intake, while on fasting days, you decrease your calories to one-quarter of your daily requirement. For example, if you consume 2000 calories daily, on fasting days, you take only 500 calories.

A recent study has concluded that the 5:2 diet is very effective in weight reduction and blood glucose management in diabetes patients. The 5:2 method provides great flexibility, as there are no restrictions regarding what or what not to eat on full-calorie days.

The 16:8 Diet

It is the most famous style of fasting for weight loss. In this dietary pattern, you are allowed to consume food and high-calorie drinks for 8 hours a day, and for 16 hours of the day, you abstain from food.

Other dieting plans have strict rules, while this method is very flexible and based on time-restricted feeding (TRF). You can select any eight hours of the day to eat. Another study has found that the 16/8 diet reduces fat mass and increases muscle mass in male athletes.

Additionally, eating too much junk food or high-fat snack during eating hours can refute the positive effects of the 16:8 intermittent fasting plan. Be sure to consume a balanced, healthy, and high nutrients diet while eating 8 hours.

The Warrior Diet

It is a bit extreme than the 16:8 method. In this plan, you can eat a small number of raw vegetables, fruits, boiled eggs, dairy products, and low-calorie beverages for 20 hours per day. While in the remaining 4 hours, you can eat what you want, but it must be healthy, unprocessed, and organic.

Alternate-Day Fasting

On this plan, you fast every other day and eat whatever you want on a non-fasting day. You are allowed to consume just 500 calories on a fasting day. A study has revealed that adults lose 3.5 kg weight after practicing alternate-day fasting of 36 hours and normal eating for 12 hours in 4 weeks.

Whether you start your alternate-day fasting plan, try to incorporate a nutritious diet in a plan, which involves low-calorie vegetables and high protein foods.

Take away

An intermittent fasting diet is a natural way to get rid of undesirable bodyweight. To get optimal results, focus on a balanced diet as well. It is also good to improve your overall wellbeing and prevent diseases. So, eat healthy food and practice intermittent fasting to avoid the adverse effects of extra body weight.

 References

1. de Cabo, R. and Mattson, M.P., 2019. Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging, and disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 381(26), pp.2541-2551.

2. Mattson, M.P. and de Cabo, R., 2020. Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease. Reply. The New England journal of medicine, 382(18), p.1773.

3. Carter, S., Clifton, P.M. and Keogh, J.B., 2018. Effect of intermittent compared with the continuous energy-restricted diet on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized noninferiority trial. JAMA network open, 1(3), pp.e180756-e180756.

4. Moro, T., Tinsley, G., Bianco, A., Marcolin, G., Pacelli, Q.F., Battaglia, G., Palma, A., Gentil, P., Neri, M. and Paoli, A., 2016. Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males. Journal of translational medicine, 14(1), pp.1-10.

5. Stekovic, S., Hofer, S.J., Tripolt, N., Aon, M.A., Royer, P., Pein, L., Stadler, J.T., Pendl, T., Prietl, B., Url, J. and Schroeder, S., 2019. Alternate day fasting improves physiological and molecular markers of aging in healthy, non-obese humans. Cell metabolism, 30(3), pp.462-476.