WHAT IS INTERMITTENT-FASTING DIET? 

It is a term used to explain the several ways in which you can manipulate your eating patterns of a day. As the name suggests, it involves not having any meal for a certain period, with the motive of losing weight and improving body health. It can go on anything from multi-day fasts to skipping meals a few times a week. It appeals due to no restrictions on large calorie meals on a daily basis. An individual eats a normal diet some of the time with occasional fasting, which can be a period of greatly reduced calories or eating the same amount of calories over a day. 

TYPES OF INTERMITTENT-FASTING DIET

1. 5/2 WAY

  • In this, you put your body on restricted calories for two consecutive days of the week, and one of the most popular methods of IF. 
  • On the other days of the week, a person can follow the regular diet but not the binge eating on unhealthy foods.

2. 16/8 WAY

  • In this method, you eat only for the eight-hour period each day and skipping breakfast.
  • The 8 hour eating time should be consistent every day. One can decide the timing accordingly when they need energy, and it should be mostly unprocessed whole foods.
  • In the fasting period of 16 hours, coffee, diet soda or sugar-free chewing gum is allowed.

3. EAT-STOP-EAT

  • In this version, you do the fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week.
  • A person doesn’t eat from dinner time to the next day’s dinner time, only having calorie-free beverages in these hours.
  • For the other left days of the week, you can have a normal diet, without counting calories or by putting any restrictions eating healthy as much as possible.

HOW GOOD IN THE BODY NUTRITION? 

  • It restricts the nutrition to the body, surprising the body every day can rupture your metabolism.
  • This diet doesn’t have any advantage over calorie-restricted foods.
  • Apart from giving short-term results, it lacks in nutrition, and non-fixed meals cause stress to the body.

DOES IT HELP IN CURING ANY DISEASE? 

  • It is known as a hermetic stressor for the body, leading to good stress for leading to positive adaption.
  • It promotes cellular repair through regular autophagy, a way that body cleanses itself from damaged cells and proteins, which reduces the risk of diseases and chronic illness.
  • Other benefits are like improving insulin sensitivity, reducing inflammation and promoting injury repair and brain function.
  • Improving cholesterol results and blood markers like liver enzyme, HBA1C, and CRP.

WHAT ARE ITS SIDE EFFECTS? 

Pregnant women cannot follow this as it will cause epigenetic changes in the baby.

  • Causes metabolic problems later in life.
  • Can lead to storing calories more efficiently and easy weight gain. 
  • A person having the issue of adrenal fatigue needs to stay away from this as it provides short-term results but the extra stress will create problems.
  • People with Low thyroid function should think twice before opting for this diet because extra stress can make an impact on the T4 to T3 conversion.  
  • A history of anorexia or bulimia restricting food can cause past issues to resurface. 
  • Children and teenagers who are growing and usually very active should avoid intermittent fasting, giving no added benefits to them.