Intermittent Fasting – What Is It, What Are Its Advantages, And How Can You Incorporate It?

Intermittent Fasting (often shortened to IF) is sometimes referred to as a diet, but it would be more accurate to say that it’s a pattern of eating.

In its simplest form, it is nothing more than going for longer periods of time without eating than usual. In other words, periods where you eat followed by a period of fasting.

This article discusses the benefits of intermittent fasting, the various patterns you might adopt, and a caveats.

Why Intermittent Fasting?

The theory of IF is similar to that of the Paleo diet – i.e. it’s based on how our ancestors would have eaten.

Back then, humans didn’t eat three meals per day, on a more or less fixed schedule.

Instead, they ate when food was available, which means they might go for a day or more without food, and at other times, when food was plentiful, they might eat large feasts.

So, intermittent fasting more closely mirrors how our bodies evolved to work – since three meals a day is a relatively recent change – which makes is a more natural pattern to follow.

Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

Based on various studies, the benefits of IF include:

1. Better focus and clearer thinking.
2. Fasting for three days can help to reset your immune system (e.g. reduction in white blood cell counts, activation of stem cells).
3. Fat burning.
4. Fighting disease and other health problems (e.g. allergies, arthritis, asthma, diabetes).
5. Higher energy levels.
6. Improved mood (e.g. fewer / reduced symptoms of anger, confusion, depression, tension).
7. Increased insulin sensitivity.
8. Less inflammation.
9. More efficient “garbage disposal” (which is more correctly called autophagy), which is the process by which damaged molecules are eliminated from your body.
10. Normalized levels of ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone which tells the body when it’s hungry and when it’s had enough.
11. Reduced risk of degenerative brain diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s, dementia).
12. Repairing your cells and DNA.
13. Slowing down the aging process.
14. Stimulating the production of natural human growth hormone.
15. Weight loss.

And, of course, since you won’t be eating as often, you will likely save some money too. 🙂

Types Of Intermittent Fasting

There are many ways you can do this, including:

1. Alternating fast. This involves eating normally every alternate day, and on the intervening days, you either eat nothing, or you drastically reduce your calorie intake (e.g. to 500 calories or so).
2. Compressed eating window. With this pattern, you only eat within a certain window each day. This window would typically be anywhere from six to ten hours long, with eight being a popular option. This means you might eat breakfast late (e.g. at 11:00 am, and have dinner early, i.e. before 7:00 pm), which is sometimes known as the 16/8 plan.
3. Fasting for a set number of hours. This may be anywhere from 16 hours to as long as five days, although 72 hours is often the recommended maximum).
4. Listen to your body. Instead of sticking to a rigid schedule, eat when your body tells you that you’re feeling hungry. You’ll discover that this is fewer than three times a day, which effectively means you are skipping meals and/or fasting.
5. Multiple fasts per week. When eating like this, you would go on maybe a couple of 16 – 24 hours fasts each week, on non-contiguous days.
6. One meal a day. Sometimes known as the Warrior Diet, this involves eating small amounts of fruit and vegetables during the day, and then having one large meal in the evening.
7. Random fasting. As the name implies, this means you’re not eating or fasting on a set schedule – your periods of not eating are, literally, at random. This is good because it keeps your body on it toes, and is maybe the closest to the way our ancestors would have eaten (and, therefore, to the way our bodies evolved to process food).
8. Skipping one meal a day. This might be breakfast, or you might want to eat a late lunch and then skip dinner.

Out of all these, the 16/8 plan is generally considered the easiest to stick to on a regular basis, although I would still recommend including a random element to it.

What You Can And Cannot Eat

In general, since intermittent fasting is about when you eat rather than what you eat, then there are no restrictions. For example, you’re not really counting calories every meal, and you’re not limiting yourself to certain food types such as carbs or proteins.

Having said that, then since you are eating less food, you need to ensure that what you do consume is healthy. That may mean swapping out fast food from the take-away for more nutritious options (e.g. organic, no trans fats, less sugar – either natural, artificial, or added)

Caveats

1. While generally regarded as safe for men, women need to take care because of its effects on their hormones, which can lead to a disruption in menstrual cycles and fertility. This doesn’t mean women should not try IF – but you need to be aware of the possible side-effects (e.g. irregular periods), and it’s definitely not a good idea if you’re planning on becoming pregnant, because the hormonal changes can cause infertility. And when you are pregnant, you should avoid this eating plan because your body (and your baby) needs a steady supply of nutrients.
2. Prolonged fasting (which some define as more than three days) can lead to health issues, including higher cholesterol levels, damage to your pancreas, increased risk of diabetes, fainting, headaches, arrhythmia, and reduced muscle mass, and of course, malnutrition. So, as with most things in life, do intermittent fasting in moderation, don’t become obsessed by it, and try to follow one of the many recommended plans.
3. If you are so hungry that it’s all you can think about, and/or it’s causing you stress (i.e. you’re hangry, to use a modern term), then it’s better to have something. It needn’t be a large meal – just a piece of fruit or a few nuts can be all it takes to stave off the hunger pangs, and you’re still eating much less food than normal.
4. When fasting, remember to stay well hydrated, preferably with plain, filtered water. Herbal tea infusions can also work well – but refrain from adding sugar. This is because we get about 20% of our water from the food we eat, and if you’re not eating as much, then you need to make sure you compensate accordingly.
5. Even though you need to stay hydrated, it’s best to stay away from alcohol during the fasting part of the cycle.
6. When your fast has ended, you should try to get your body used to food again by eating snacks or light meals, more frequently than you would usually eat. Some people recommend starting with bone broth or fruits (either whole or juiced).
7. If you are in any doubt about whether IF is right for you, or if you have any existing medical conditions, talk to your doctor and/or a qualified nutritionist.

Personal Experience

Starting in around 2004 or 2005, I have been on a few four-day fasts.

While the first one wasn’t exactly planned that way (i.e. it just happened), the subsequent ones were deliberate choices.

So, how did I find them?

1. The first day was really not that difficult. Yes, I felt a bit hungry, but nothing major.
2. Late on the second day, as well as parts of day three, I did experience hunger pangs, where it felt like something was clawing away at my stomach. These episodes lasted for no more than 30 minutes, and only two or three times throughout the day. They were unpleasant, but easily bearable.
3. By day four, the last day of my planned fasts, I was really take it or leave it about food. I was hungry, but the stomach being gnawed sensation did not recur.

After these fasts, I felt like I had more energy and was less lethargic, and I noticed some of my minor aches and pains had vanished.

Also of interest, perhaps, is the fact that in 2006, I developed anosmia, which means I lost 99% of my sense of smell (and consequently taste, except for the basics like sweet and sour).

I’ve never been that fussy about sticking to a strict eating schedule, and I have almost never eaten breakfast (because eating too soon after getting up makes me nauseated), but my interest in food has lessened since I lost my senses of smell and taste.

The problem was, though, that only eating once a day, typically late at night too (which I know is not recommended), might have involved skipping a lot of meals, but it wasn’t intermittent – this was the pattern every single day, which means my body adjusted to it, just like it adjusts to a regular low-calorie diet.

Conclusion

Intermittent fasting has a whole range of benefits, and in many ways, it’s one of the easier diets / eating plans to follow, because you don’t have to worry (too much) about what you eat.

But as I found from personal experience, the key is to make it intermittent or even random. Once your body detects a consistent pattern, it will adjust and you’ll find many of the benefits are reduced (or vanish).

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Complete Guide To Fasting
2. Find A Nutritionist (US Only)