Now before you start forming opinions, let me get to explaining. As a dietitian, Ive never been keen on advising clients to follow quick weight loss solutions. Ive never been a fan of detoxing, cleansing, fasting or even diets such as Atkins and Paleo. With the aforementioned, youll achieve results but its temporary and when life gets in the way (travel, social obligations, family life), you tend to veer away from consistency. While that may not be your choice, thats just how things work.
Since I started pursuing nutrition (over 8 years ago), Ive been focused on helping my husband find a healthy lifestyle one that particularly works for him. I introduced him to the concept of breakfast because he would wait until 10 or 11am to eat his first meal, scarf it down and then complain of acidity soon after. I encouraged him to avoid egg yolk because of his susceptibility to familial high cholesterol. I suggested he use a reusable water bottle to focus on adequate hydration. Sure, these tips are simple. I also recommended to follow a dietary pattern of eating smaller, more frequent meals daily. So instead of 3 large meals, why not focus on breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and then dinner. This way you eat small portions and encourage variety in consumption.
What weve come to realize over the years is that the smaller, frequent meals really doesnt work for his type. What is his type? His type is a super busy, global friendly, start-up entrepreneur. The type that travels often. The type that has to meet people for dinners. The type that speaks on panels. The type that sits in transit for long periods. The type that sleeps late. The type that gains weight with stress especially in the midsection. With all these variables, it becomes an obstacle to eat healthy and regimented especially to follow the smaller, more frequent meals. We had to find a better solution and fast.
As a result, I was introduced to Intermittent Fasting. I was not able to find a significant amount of evidence based research but after a couple weeks, I came across Professor Mark Mattson. His research demonstrated a connection between caloric intake and weight loss as well as caloric intake and brain function. He explains, Every time you eat, glucose is stored in your liver as glycogen, which takes about 10 to 12 hours to be depleted. After the glycogen is used up, your body starts burning fats, which are converted to ketone bodies, acidic chemicals used by neurons as energy. Ketones promote positive changes in the structure of synapses important for learning, memory, and overall brain health. If you eat three meals a day with snacks between, your body doesnt have the chance to deplete the glycogen stores in your liver, and the ketones arent produced. (Similarly, exercise also produces a similar effect on brain health.)
To date, there have been two types of fasting patterns that have been explored. One is the 5:2 (five days of normal caloric consumption i.e. 2000 for women, 2500 for men and 2 days of 500 calories per day) and one that follows a time-restricted diet which follows a fasting time and a feasting time. Feasting time is usually a window of 8 hours so your body has time to exhaust its supply of glycogen, start burning fat, and produce ketones.
To understand if this dietary pattern could work for you, here are some points to consider:
If you have answered yes to at least three if not all of the questions, it could be worth considering Intermittent Fasting. Whats interesting to note is that through this process, you begin to understand how your body operates and assess hunger cues.
When implementing, its important to pay attention to the following:
Remember, just because you fast for 16 hours doesnt mean that the feasting window is a literal translation to feasting. It means that you are eating in an 8 hour window but you want to consume wholesome, nutritious food. Food that does good for your body. The same goes for if you decide to try the 5:2 pattern dont overeat on the 5 days because youre restricting for 2 days, but instead, be mindful. Your ultimate goal is a healthier lifestyle by lowering body fat and overall weight in a consistent way. Even Laurie Woolever, Food and Wine magazine contributor, recaps her attempt at intermittent fasting.
As Professor Mattson says, I hope its not a fad. Theres a lot of science behind it, and the science is only increasing.
Follow this link:
The CEO's Diet: Could Intermittent Fasting Work? - Huffington Post
