But what exactly is intermittent fasting? Is it that healthy? How does it work and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is a (diet) eating method in which periods of fasting are alternated with periods in which people eat.
During the fixed periods, there is no food and only drinks without calories, such as coffee, tea, water and light drinks, can be consumed.
Unlike many diets, IF does not omit any nutrients or certain foods.
IF is not a diet at all, but a structured way of eating where you do not initially look at what you eat, but mainly emphasize when you eat.
Some examples of IF are:
- Alternate Day Fasting - Fasting 36 hours and eating 12 hours
- Warrior Diet - Fasting 20 hours and eating 4 hours
- Lean Gains - Fasting 16 hours and eating 8 hours
- Eat Stop Eat (ESE) - Fasting 24 hours once or twice a week
Of these, the Lean Gains method is still very popular with athletes and athletes and is generally very well maintained.
Furthermore, the methods do not differ much from each other. The periods in which you fast and eat are different, but the principle remains the same:
Do not eat throughout the day, check your hunger and eat only a few healthy, nutritious (protein-rich) meals a day.Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy?
Today, more and more health benefits are linked to intermittent fasting (IF).
IF can improve your metabolism, inhibit inflammation in the body, reduce the risk of cancer and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Periods of fasting and/or calorie restriction can also improve brain health, increase cell turnover and play a major role in the aging process and extending lifespan.
While more good studies are needed to confirm these many health claims, it is certainly interesting to follow and investigate further.
In any case, it does not hurt to occasionally fast and eat less (often) or skip your breakfast in the morning.
What Are The Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting?
- Good for your health.
As described above, IF can lower your risk of all kinds of conditions (including high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol) and have a positive effect on your physical and mental health.
Easier to lose weight and/or maintain weight.
The main reason people engage in IF is generally to lose weight or to maintain weight. IF is a handy way to ensure that you eat fewer (or not too many) calories every day, because you simply eat less often.
- Stimulates fat burning.
Exercising on empty stomach results in higher fat burning. This does not mean that you lose weight faster and burn more calories per day. Because even if you burn more fat during your workouts, if there is no negative energy balance (calorie deficit), you will not lose weight. The energy balance is then always the most important.
- Better saturation.
Eating larger meals less often will also keep you full and make it easier to maintain your diet.
- More flexibility.
IF is a handy tool to “save calories”, as it were, and to use this during the day as a kind of buffer when you have a birthday or dinner in the evening, for example.
- It is simple and practical.
IF it is easy to apply in your daily life. It is generally just a matter of delaying your breakfast or not eating for (part of) the day. You also don't have to eat or think about what to take every 2-3 hours. This makes it a lot easier to plan your meals.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Intermittent Fasting?
- Too big meals.
For athletes and/or people who want to gain weight and eat a lot of calories, it can be very difficult to get them all in a short time and only 2 or 3 meals.
- It gives less saturation.
According to research, eating 6 meals does not provide more satiety than eating 3 meals a day. Less than 3 meals a day can harm good satiety, but this varies greatly from person to person.
- Overeating or "binging".
Some people save their calories so they can “go crazy” at the end of the day. Remember, even if you fast 16 hours a day, it is still possible to get too many calories. IF is no excuse to eat badly and work everything in.
- Less energy.
This is especially true for people who do a lot and/or heavy physical work. They may have less energy while fasting.
- Less recovery/muscle growth.
The body gets into a “catabolic state” more quickly with prolonged fasting, which can lead to less recovery after training and less muscle growth. However, all the methods we have described above do not generally have a negative effect.
* Short periodic fasting (16-24 hours) generally has no negative consequences for the loss of muscle mass. Long-term fasting (36-72 hours or more) can cause muscle loss and is therefore not optimal for avid athletes and athletes.
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