Chapter 4: Why Should I Try Intermittent Fasting?
There are a lot of different diet plans that you can choose from. Some help you limit your carb intake and focus on the good fats and proteins. Some will limit your fat intake and focus on good and healthy carbs.
With all of the choices on the market, and with at least a few of them being legitimate options for losing weight, you may be curious as to why you should go with intermittent fasting. This chapter will take a look at the various benefits of intermittent fasting and how it will make a difference in your health.
Changes the function of hormones, genes, and cells
When you do not eat for some time, several things happen to your body. For example, your body will start initiating processes for cell repair and change some of your hormone levels, which makes stored body fat easier to access. Other changes that can happen in the body include:
Many people go on an intermittent fast to lose weight. In most cases, intermittent fasting will naturally help you to eat fewer meals. You will end up taking in fewer calories, which will lead to weight loss.
In addition, fasting enhances the hormone function to facilitate weight loss. Higher growth hormone levels and lower insulin help your body to break down fat and use it for energy. This is why short-term fasting can increase your metabolism by at least three percent.
On one side, it boosts your metabolic rate so that you burn more calories while also reducing how much you eat. According to a 2014 review of scientific research on intermittent fasting, people were able to lose up to 8 percent of their body weight in less than 24 weeks.
Helps with diabetes
Type-2 diabetes is a disease that has become widespread in recent decades. Anything that reduces your insulin resistance should help lower your blood sugar levels and protect you against type 2 diabetes. Some studies show how intermittent fasting can have benefit in insulin resistance and can help lead to a dramatic reduction in blood sugar levels.
In several studies on intermittent fasting, blood sugar was reduced by three to six percent, while insulin was reduced by twenty to thirty-one percent. One study on diabetic rats also showed that intermittent fasting was able to protect the rat against kidney damage, which is a common complication with more serious forms of diabetes. This shows that intermittent fasting may be a good option for anyone with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
There are some differences between the genders. There is one study that showed that for women, blood sugar control could actually get worse after going on the intermittent fast for a few weeks. It’s recommended to talk to your physician before starting any kind of diet plan.
Simplifies life
While this may not be considered a health benefit like the others, it is still an important one to mention. Many people find that intermittent fasting can make their lives easier. They find that they do not need to focus too much on the calories they are eating, as long as they stay within the hours that they are allowed to eat. They can go a few days a week without having to worry about making a meal. Overall, this diet plan can make your life easier.
When you can cut out some of the work that you need to do during the day and focus on something else, you can end up with less stress in your life. We all know how too much stress can have a negative impact on our health and life. When you can reduce stress, it is much easier to be the healthiest version of yourself.
Good for the heart
Heart disease is considered one of the biggest killers in the world. Intermittent fasting can help with some of these risk factors, such as lowering blood sugar levels, inflammatory markers, blood triglycerides, cholesterol, and blood pressure.
The biggest issue is that a lot of studies on intermittent fasting have been done on animals. We need to have more studies that test intermittent fasting and heart health in humans.
Can help with cancer
Many people suffer from cancer each year. This terrible disease is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells. Fasting has been shown to have some great benefits when it comes to your metabolism, which could lead to a reduced risk of cancer.
Some human studies show that cancer patients who fasted were able to reduce some of the side effects that come with chemotherapy.
Good for the brain
What is considered good for the body is good for the brain as well. Intermittent fasting can help improve metabolic features that are known for helping the brain to stay healthy as well. This could include helping with insulin resistance, blood sugar level reduction, reduced inflammation and oxidative stress.
There have been several studies done on rats that show how intermittent fasting can help increase the growth of new nerve cells, which improves the brain’s function. Fasting can also help to increase the levels of the brain- derived neurotrophic factor. When the brain is deficient in this, it can cause depression as well as some other brain issues.
Helps with cellular repair
When we go on a fast, the cells in the body can initiate a waste removal process that is known as autophagy. This involves the cells breaking down and metabolizing any proteins that can’t be used any longer. With an increased amount of autophagy, it could help protect the body against diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
May prevent Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, so your best course of action is to prevent it from happening. One study that was done on rats showed that intermittent fasting might be able to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, or at least reduce the severity of it.
Some case reports have shown that a lifestyle alteration that included some daily, or at least frequent, short-term fasts helped to improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in 9 out of 10 patients. Animal studies also show that this kind of fasting could help to protect against other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s.
While most of these studies have been done on animals, the results look promising. Intermittent fasting is a trend, and studies on ways it makes your body healthier are relatively new. It will take some time to study all the benefits of intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting could help you to live longer
One of the most exciting things about intermittent fasting is that it can help you live longer. There have been several studies of rats that showed how intermittent fasting could help extend their lifespan - similar to what happens when you go on a continuous calorie restriction. In some of the studies, the effects were dramatic. In one of them, when the rats fasted every other day, they ended up living 83 percent longer than the rats who didn’t do fasting.
Although it has been hard to prove an increase in lifespan because intermittent fasting has yet to be studied on people long enough to determine this, it is still a popular idea for those who are trying to prevent aging. Given that there are known benefits to metabolism with this diet, it is no wonder that people believe that intermittent fasting will able to help them live longer and healthier lives.
As you can see, there are lots of benefits of going with the intermittent fasting diet. We only touched on a few of them, but there have been many studies done on the effects of this diet and why it can benefit you. Whether you are trying to improve brain health, live longer, lose weight, or get more energy, intermittent fasting can improve your life.