Flexible intermittent fasting for hunger control
If you tried intermittent fasting and got some positive results, then you can continue with your own style. However, here is a very popular and effective method to get similar or better results than what you expect from traditional fasting. This is called 5:2 diet, which simply means that you eat normally 5 days a week, but restrict your food intake to a minimal on 2 days. The slight difference between intermittent type and 5:2 diet is that you do not completely restrict your food intake when on a 5:2 diet plan. You essentially control your hunger systematically and in a controlled way.
Is 5:2 diet different form intermittent fasting?
Yes, the idea behind 5:2 dieting is to help you restrict your calorie intake or balance your additional calorie intake on weekdays by bringing it down to almost zero on the 2 fasting days. Care must be taken that you do not gorge on food or eat anything additional on normal days to make up for the calorie loss on fasting days. As it will defeat the whole purpose of dieting or appetite control, it is advisable that you limit your weekday diet to your normal diet.
Why choose 5:2 diet?
One of the most important features of this diet is that you need not restrict yourself on fasting days. You can consume up to 25% of your regular calories on fasting days. An average woman’s calorie intake per day is approximately 2000, which means women can consume up to 500 calories on fast days. An average man’s calorie consumption per days is approx.2400, so men need to restrict their calorie intake to 600 on fasting days. This is often not as difficult as following a complete fasting diet. You can eat 3 small meals spread throughout the day. As a smart dieter, you should choose fulfilling, natural and low-calorie food such as leafy vegetables and fruits.
Does 5:2 diet push your body to starvation mode?
Not at all. In fact, this is also one of the reasons that many people have achieved their weight loss goals by following this diet. Usually, your body kicks in starvation mode after 36 hours of reduced calorie intake, which is not the case with 5:2 diet. However, the trick here is to avoid fasting on two consecutive days. You can decide your normal and fasting days according to your convenience. Those fasting two days in a row may push their metabolism to starvation mode, which must be avoided to get the best result.
Benefits of 5:2 diet
- An easy and effective fat loss plan
- Improved metabolic health
- Can be continued for long
- Reduces fasting insulin levels in many diabetics
- An effective solution for those who find restricting calories difficult
- No additional or specific food is required
- You can follow it regularly without any side-effects
Who should not follow 5:2 diet?
- Pregnant women
- Breastfeeding mothers
- Children or teenagers (It is recommended for adults only)
- Diabetics with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
- People on any type of medication
- Those with low blood pressure
- Those suffering from eating disorders
What to eat to make this diet effective
Well, the idea behind this diet or eating pattern is to keep you full, whilst ensuring that your nutritional needs are met. It serves two purposes. First, you don’t need to fight your cravings because you feel full by eating your regular meals. Second, you give your body ample time to reset itself for your health journey. Though you can start this diet for weight loss as your primary purpose, you will realise soon that it helps you control your mind. As mind plays an important role in making you feel hungry when you are not actually hungry, you learn when you really need food. On regular days, you can eat
- Eggs
- Fish
- Vegetables
- Beans
- Lean animal cuts
Salad
On fasting days, you can eat
- All types of berries
- Unsweetened tea of coffee
- Soups
- Eggs
What to avoid
- Processed food
- Carbonated drinks
- Excess carbohydrate
Other popular intermittent fasting methods
24 hour fast
As the name suggests, you can fast for 24 hours and start eating your regular meal. This can be done once or twice a week. You can plan it from breakfast to breakfast, from lunch to lunch or dinner to dinner, whichever suits your lifestyle and eating habits. Those who cannot skip breakfast, may choose the first method as one healthy morning breakfast can give you enough nutrition to help you throughout the day while burning some fat before you eat your breakfast the next day.
No matter what pattern you choose, the idea is to avoid food for next 24 hours.
16/8 eating pattern
This method works for most people as you consume only liquid food for 16 hours and then one solid meal in the next 8 hours to suit your daily schedule. You can repeat this pattern once or twice a week for best results.
Alternate day fasting ADF
Another extreme form of fasting is alternate day fasting, which simply means that you fast one day and eat normally the next day. Though you cannot follow ADF for long, you can notice a remarkable difference by following ADF for short duration.
Fasting and heart health
According to an American Heart Association’s (AHA) statement on fasting and heart health, ADF or fasting mimicking diet (FMD) have similar effects on lowering calories, sugar and protein levels. A group of Texas Tech University researchers reviewed the statement and data from 10 other studies, came to the conclusion that ADF can lead to an average weekly weight loss of 0.75 kg in some people. Read the full report here.
Skipping meals whenever possible
This is one of my favourite methods of intermittent fasting. It is about finding the best opportunity to skip a meal. Humans are naturally programmed to survive famines, therefore it hardly makes any difference if you skip a meal or two whenever you find an opportunity. The best and most convenient way to skip meal is while travelling. Skipping one meal while travelling is not only possible but also a healthy way to say no to junk or unhealthy food.
Alternatively, you can skip your breakfast if you had a heavy meal last night. In fact, whenever you don’t feel like eating, simply skip that meal. If you can skip two or three meals every week, then you can see the result within a month of so. However, the catch is that you must not overeat at other times to cover the skipped meal. Also read about one meal a day or OMAD.
What happens when you fast intermittently
Your body undergoes a lot of changes, when it is deprived of food. In fact, your cells start various repairs, which essentially means that dysfunctional protein is removed, and new cells start developing.
Making body fat accessible: As you don’t eat for long duration, your insulin level is reduced significantly. This process results in making the stored fat accessible for energy.
HGH gets a boost. Intermittent fasting helps you burn fat because your HGH or human growth hormone level goes up remarkably. This is good for overall fat burning and weight loss.
Autophagy and fasting- Cellular cleansing
What is autophagy and how is it related to fasting? The term autophagy was coined by the Nobel prize winning scientist Christian de Duve in 1962. Let’s discuss an analogy to make it simple for you to understand this natural metabolic procedure in our body, and how fasting triggers it.
Not long ago, and even today, desktop computers are highly popular, useful and cost-effective. When the hardware and software of our PCs get outdated, we have two options. We can either replace the whole PC with a new one or have some vital parts upgraded or replaced to achieve the desired performance. As it is always not possible to replace the whole PC, we choose an upgrade or repair option, which often involves repairing hardware as well. Once the old and outdated software or hardware is replaced, the PC starts working normally. This is exactly what happens at sub-cellular level in our body, known as autophagy. Our body has an in-built mechanism to identify and replace old cell membranes, proteins and organelles. The process of autophagy ensures that broken-down machinery at cellular level is taken care of efficiently.
Fasting to activate autophagy
Eating raises the insulin level in our body and reduces the glucagon level. Its opposite is also true. When we don’t eat, our glucogon level goes up and insulin level goes down. Autophagy is activated when glucogon level is up. Simply put, when you fast or don’t eat, your glucogon level goes up and autophagy process is activated. That is the reason why fasting is important to activate this natural cellular cleaning or autophagy process.
No autophagy results in many health issues
Let’s try to understand it by this analogy. If you don’t clean your house, debris will accumulate and make the appearance of your house ugly. You can bring and place something new only when you remove the junk. At cellular level in our body, if junk proteins are not removed, they keep on accumulating and may result in various health issues. In fact, this is often cited as one of the reasons behind Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and cancer. Read more
Fasting not just for weight loss
Though we cannot deny the fact that the primary reason behind fasting in any form is weight loss or fat burning in the modern world, it is recommended at least once or twice a month for renovation at cellular level. In fact, during Hindu religious functions and in many other cultures, the main performer of the ritual is supposed to fast for a specified period (usually the whole day). The scientific reason behind this tradition is obvious by the points mentioned above. The underlying reason is to cleanse your body at cellular level for the auspicious occasion.
Hunger control-key to fasting effectively
Not many of our readers will disagree that hunger control is at the core of any type of fasting, whether intermittent or any other pattern to suit individual needs. As fasting is nothing but a way of controlling hunger systematically, you must learn to skip meals whenever your get an opportunity. This practice will help you try fasting for whole day. Those who fast regularly are often healthier than those who don’t fast at all. Don’t make weight loss your only goal, but try to focus on overall health, which will reduce your weight naturally.
Effect of fasting on brain
If you are hungry, you are more energetic and vigilant
I need not emphasise that when you are hungry for power, hungry for excellence or hungry for recognition, aren’t you more energetic than normal to achieve your goal? Our brain is activated, energised or boosted to satiate that hunger by making us work harder, and focus on the goal with strong determination. We go the extra mile to achieve the goal. How does it all happen?
Improvement in cognitive functions
Professor Mark Mattson of The Johns Hopkins University has done extensive research on how fasting affects the functions of brain. The findings of his research confirmed that fasting causes many chemical changes in human brain, resulting in remarkable improvement of cognitive functions. As per his report, fasting poses a challenge to the brain, and the brain reacts to it by adapting response pathways so that it can handle the stress caused by lack of food or reduced caloric intake. Additionally, growth of neurons boosts learning and memory significantly.
He further adds that brain’s reaction to intermittent fasting is same as it is to regular exercise. Somewhat similar findings were reported after a clinical trial on old adults aged 60-79. Here is the result of their experiment.
“Significant increases in brain volume, in both grey and white matter regions, were found as a function of fitness training for the older adults who participated in the aerobic fitness training but not for the older adults who participated in the stretching and toning (non-aerobic) control group.” Read the full report here
Can intermittent fasting repair DNA?
As per Professor Mattson, his studies suggest strong indications of nerve cells’ enhanced ability to repair DNA during intermittent fasting. Though some studies have shown positive results, further research is required to confirm it.
Evolutionary point of view
Cavemen did not have a food counter everywhere when they stepped out of their caves. In fact food was scarce, and it required more energy and mental agility to search for food when they were hungry. Interestingly, nature has already prepared humans and many mammals to face this situation. In many mammals, during caloric deprivation, the sizes of all organs are reduced, except that of brain and male testicles. It clearly indicates that nature has designed human body in such a way so that cognitive functions remain unaffected or enhanced during starvation.
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