What is Intermittent Fasting, and How Does it Work?
Intermittent fasting is a brand-new type of diet that cycles between fasting and eating. It is popular because it does not require counting calories and can be done by anyone.
The intermittent fasting diet has been around for centuries, but it has recently become popular in recent years. Nevertheless, it is being used by celebrities like Beyonce, Hugh Jackman, and Kim Kardashian, who have all lost weight through intermittent fasting.
Nowadays, many healthy apps propose you try intermittent fasting. For example, the Lasta weight loss app for iPhone promotes intermittent fasting by providing a guide that includes meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists. The user can set personal goals, such as their desired weight or BMI, which will calculate the number of calories required to achieve those goals in a given time.
An intermittent fasting diet can be broken down into the 16/8 and the 5:2 methods. The 16/8 method means that you fast for 16 hours (usually from dinner to breakfast) while you eat within an 8-hour window, while with the 5:2 method, you fast for 2 days out of 7 days.
● Intermittent fasting can be done by skipping breakfast or limiting the hours you eat during the day. For example, you may only eat from 10 am-6 pm or within an 8-hour window each day.
● It’s important to note that intermittent fasting does not require complete abstinence from food for extended periods (i.e., longer than 24 hours). Instead, it typically involves restricting calorie intake for anywhere from 12-24 hours (e.g., one full day every week).
● The most important thing to remember when doing intermittent fasting is that it’s not about starving yourself or depriving your body of nutrients but about training your body to use its fat stores as fuel instead of carbohydrates.
Why Gut Health Matters?
Gut health is a term that refers to the condition of the digestive system, especially the stomach, and intestines. It is increasingly being recognized as an essential factor in our overall health.
Gut health is the key to our overall health. It dramatically impacts the immune system, brain function, mood, and weight. A healthy gut microbiome will help you to lose weight, have a better perspective, and have less inflammation.
The gut microbiome is the main factor that determines gut health. About 80% of your immune system and 90% of your neurotransmitters reside in your gut.
Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve gut health by reducing inflammation and increasing gut-derived serotonin, which can improve symptoms of depression. When done correctly, intermittent fasting may be an effective way to maintain a healthy gut while achieving other health goals.
We should all strive for a healthy gut because it is integral to our well-being.
How Intermittent Fasting Helps Improve Your Gut Health and Leads To Other Dietary Benefits
Fasting can be a powerful tool for improving gut health. It also has other benefits, including reducing inflammation and cholesterol levels.
There are many ways to fast intermittently, but extending the overnight fast by skipping breakfast is the most common. People who are used to eating breakfast may find this hard at first because they are used to having a sizeable carb-heavy meal in the morning. But there is a myriad of ways you can make your morning routine healthier without skipping breakfast altogether, such as having eggs or protein shakes instead of cereal or toast.
This will help you eat less and lose weight, but it also has some other benefits for your gut health:
Help with digestive problems
Intermittent fasting is a diet that promotes the idea of not eating for a particular window of time to boost one’s metabolism.
It helps with digestive problems because it gives the stomach time to rest and digest what it has eaten. It also helps people lose weight because they cannot eat as much as they usually would in a certain amount of time. So, it helps with digestive problems by keeping the stomach empty, which prevents bloating and constipation.
Reduce inflammation in the body
It can help reduce inflammation by lowering insulin levels, hormones released when we eat.
Studies have shown that high insulin levels are responsible for inflammation in the body. This can lead to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Using natural materials such as ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon while Intermittent Fasting to reduce the amount of insulin in our bloodstreams, we can reduce its inflammatory properties.
It has been shown to reduce oxidative stress
Intermittent fasting is a diet that restricts food intake to certain hours of the day. It is different from other diets because it allows for a short period of eating and drinking each day.
Research has shown that intermittent fasting may improve health by reducing oxidative stress, which can lead to chronic diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or even cancer. This diet benefits the gut microbiome, brain function, and weight loss.
Protects against heart disease, diabetes, and cancer
Fasting stimulates autophagy, the process by which cells recycle their components. This process can reduce cell damage and prevent cancerous growth in cells.
The lack of food during a fast helps to clear out harmful bacteria that may have accumulated in your gut from food that was not digested properly.
During a fast, the body releases less insulin, which can help protect against diabetes and heart disease.
Improve brain function and moods
The innovative idea behind intermittent fasting is that it gives your gut a chance to heal itself from the constant bombardment of food and the opportunity to repair any damage done to your gut lining. Sharing a break from digesting food gives your gut a chance to heal, which can lead to improved brain function and moods.
The gut-brain axis is the connection that goes between the brain and the gut. The gut, or more specifically, the gut microbiota, a diverse ecosystem of bacteria in your intestines, has a vital role in mood and mental health.
You will have more energy all over the day
One of the crucial benefits of intermittent fasting is that it can energize you throughout the day.
Our stomachs and intestines produce ghrelin. Ghrelin tells our brains that we need to eat more. When we don’t eat for an extended period, ghrelin levels drop. This is why intermittent fasting can help you lose weight.
How to Do an Intermittent Fast?
The first step to intermittent fasting is to determine your eating window, which is the number of hours you will be eating food. Next, you must decide when and how often you want to fast.
Here are five steps to do with intermittent fasting:
- Find a time when you will not be interrupted for at least 16 hours.
- Set the alarm for your first fast period.
- Eat your last meal before the brief, and then don’t eat anything else until after the fast.
- Drink plenty of water during the fast to stay hydrated.
- If you feel hungry or light-headed, drink one glass of plain water and wait 15 minutes before returning to your fasting schedule.
Conclusion: Intermittent Fasting is The New Way to Maintain a Healthy Gut Health!
To sum up, Intermittent fasting is a diet that restricts eating to a specific period each day. This diet is not about what you can eat but when you can eat. It is not a brand-new concept, but it has been popular in recent years due to its benefits for gut health.
There are many ways that intermittent fasting can improve gut health. Still, one of the most important benefits is the promotion of autophagy in the body which means that our cells can clear out old, damaged cells and replace them with newer ones.
Intermittent fasting also increases levels of good bacteria in our digestive system, which helps us digest food better and improves our immune system response to potential threats such as bacteria or parasites in our food or environment.
