Hunger Control-Intermittent Fasting- 5:2 Diet

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

  1. An easy and effective fat loss plan
  2. Improved metabolic health
  3. Can be continued for long
  4. Reduces fasting insulin levels in many diabetics
  5. An effective solution for those who find restricting calories difficult
  6. No additional or specific food is required
  7. You can follow it regularly without any side-effects

Who should not follow 5:2 diet?

  1. Pregnant women
  2. Breastfeeding mothers
  3. Children or teenagers (It is recommended for adults only)
  4. Diabetics with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
  5. People on any type of medication
  6. Those with low blood pressure
  7. 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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Restlessness when sleeping or RLS

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Restlessness When Sleeping and RLS | 7 Benefits of Savasana

Restlessness when sleeping

Do you feel restlessness when sleeping, without any specific reason? Are you anxious of thinking deeply about something that you cannot control? Don’t know why it is happening or are you looking for a tried and tested restlessness cure? No matter what your exact symptoms are, you can rest assured that you are not alone and there are people who have overcome their restlessness and similar issues by using natural methods such as relaxation, meditation and various yoga techniques. Also, there are many cases which require medical intervention. Let’s have a look at a few basic facts about general restlessness and RLS or restless leg syndrome.

Cannot sleep due to restlessness?

Do you find it difficult to sleep properly despite working very hard throughout the day? While insomnia or inability to sleep is one of the reasons of restlessness when sleeping, there are various other symptoms that can help you identify your issue. If you want to move constantly or your legs or arms get cramps while at rest, then read on. You cannot calm your mind or cannot stop thinking about something unpleasant, triggering more restless and anxiety. You may also feel the combination of both physical and mental restlessness.

Here are some common symptoms of restlessness

  • Inability to focus on anything
  • Unable to manage your time
  • Unconscious or conscious leg movement
  • Foot or hand tapping
  • Cramps in arms or legs, when at rest
  • Unnecessary palpitations
  • Inability to sleep or insomnia
  • Frequent distraction at work for no specific reason

Are restlessness and anxiety related

It goes without saying that when you are anxious about anything, your mind is working extra hard to reach a conclusion about the issue you are thinking. As it seems to be impossible, you become even more anxious, and it becomes visible in your behaviour, physical sensation and emotions. You can get annoyed at the slightest of provocation or even without any valid reason. Negative emotions will be more dominant and visible than positive ones, and you may feel that you are completely alright. Others can quickly identify your disorder and suggest a visit to your physician.

Positive or negative restlessness

On the other hand, restlessness is not always negative in nature. You can also be restless or over-excited to do or achieve something. Though it is true that most often restless is related to anxiety, which is negative in nature and is a kind of psychological disorder, it is not always the case. Positive restlessness is often visible in teenagers or adolescents, trying to experience something for the first time. From academic achievements and excellence in sports to first job interview or excitement of owning your first car, anything can be the reason for restlessness. We’ll focus on restlessness that needs treatment or attention.

Causes of restlessness

  1. Excessive use of caffeine in any form such as coffee or carbonated drinks
  2. Certain types of medication
  3. Sudden changes in medication
  4. Psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, or schizophrenia
  5. Certain neurological issues can also cause restlessness

How to identify restless leg syndrome

Do you find it difficult to sit for long duration or do you move your legs unconsciously while sitting? Yes, you will not notice it because it happens unconsciously. If others have noticed your tapping feet or unnecessary leg movements, then consider taking action about it. You may be suffering from restless leg syndrome. Physicians and therapists take unique approaches to treat different patients depending on their exact health conditions and overall medical history.

Quick tips to IDENTIFY RLS or restless leg syndrome

  • Throbbing sensation in legs
  • Feeling of pins and needles in feet quite frequently
  • Painful cramping in calves
  • Burning or tingling sensation in legs

Moving the legs usually relieves the symptoms temporarily, but if it becomes frequent or worsens, then get medical help. You can also try a few yogic methods that work wonders for many people. However, yoga in general, requires discipline and regularity to give you any significant result. Just check what suits you the best.

Restless cure

There are various methods and home remedies to handle and minimise restlessness. If you believe that your problem is more of psychological in nature, then simply focusing on one task at a time can prove to be highly effective. Do not over-commit if you cannot deliver something within a certain time frame. In fact, under-commitment and over-delivering is the best possible way to control restlessness as you work within your limited resources without getting anxious about what if you’d not be able to deliver on time.

Restless leg cure
  • Mustard oil massage on both the legs, especially on calves
  • Soak your legs in warm water regularly
  • Cool and hot packs alternatively
  • Hamstring exercise also helps in some cases of RLS
  • Limit your caffeine intake

Identify your RLS triggers

Sitting for long duration is the most common trigger for RLS syndrome. However, there are a few other triggers as well. Have you noticed that when you consume caffeine or alcohol, your RLS aggravates. If you are on some kind of medication or special diet, then try to notice if you get restless leg after that medication. If that is the case, then consult your physician about the issue and try to get your medication changed, if possible. Alternatively, you can also give yoga a try for relief. If you can pinpoint the exact triggers that aggravate your situation, then you can manage your health more effectively.

Yoga for restless leg

A lot has been covered in our previous posts about various yogic postures and exercises that help people suffering from leg pain and cramps. Some of them are useful for restless leg syndrome as well. For example, one posture or Asansa I never forget to mention about is Pashchimottanasana or complete posterior stretch. This is essentially a forward bend pose in which the arms and legs remain parallel to the ground. The practitioner clasps his/her toes, and tries to touch the knees with his/her nose whilst ensuring that their knees don’t bend. This simple, but not easy asana is highly beneficial for not just restless leg syndrome, but also for back pain, spinal issues, digestive disorders, cardiac health and obesity. If you have any of these issues, then start practising pashchimottansana gradually. What I mean by gradually is that you must not force yourself hard to attain the perfect posture. Try to bend forward slightly more than the previous day so that your backbone becomes flexible enough for the position. You will notice a remarkable difference in your overall health if you can do this asana every day.

Second important and effective yoga postures for restless leg is a kind of standing version of the same pose, called Uttansana or standing forward pose. However, I must say that you won’t be able to do this Asana unless you are able do Pashchimottansana first.

Child’s pose (Balasana), Janu Sirasana and many other leg stretching postures are beneficial for leg pain, cramps or restless leg issues.

Harnessing the power of deep breathing to cure restlessness

Breathing happens so naturally and effortlessly that we often underestimate its power. In fact, I will not be exaggerating if I say that we hardly breath deeply, which is so powerful that many health issues can be controlled or cured by it. Simply deep breathing in the morning hours (preferably before sunrise and in natural environment such as parks, lake side or any open area with greenery) can remarkably improve your restlessness, and calm your mind. However, regularity is the key here. You cannot expect magical effects after a few days. Just start deep breathing regularly for a month or so, and see the results.

Meditation to control restlessness

With deep breathing, develops the power of meditation, which is essentially about training your mind for higher awareness, better focus and deep introspection about your inner self without cutting off from your current environment. At places of worship, no matter what faith or religion you belong to, you find an object, thought or word to focus on. The basic idea behind rituals or methods of worship is to train your mind to focus on your object/ idea of faith (God) so that you can discover your inner self and remain at peace for a few minutes that you spend there. If you worship everyday in any form, all you need to do is spend some more time and try to empty your mind from all thoughts, which is nothing but a meditative state. This simple practice can calm your mind and relieve your restlessness. If you want to learn how to mediate for better effects, then consider learning the art of breathing first. Get a copy of Breathing In Flow, displayed below.

Relaxation for 20 minutes every day

There are various relaxation techniques to suit your personality type and preferences. However, what I suggest is a highly effective method for everybody. This is called Savasana or corpse pose. Though it seems to be simple, it is not easy. You must learn how to achieve complete relaxation without falling asleep, which is not possible for beginners. Here is how you should do Savasana.

  1. Place a soft yoga mat on the ground
    Lie flat in the middle of the mat without using any pillow
  2. Keep your hands on either side slightly away from your body and palms facing up
  3. Feel every breath while inhaling and exhaling slowly
  4. Feel that your lungs are expanding and contracting as you inhale and exhale
    Let every part of your body feel relaxed starting from the toe to head
  5. Do not let any other thought come to your mind, just focus on your breathing while keeping your whole body completely relaxed
  6. Do not sleep as you are supposed to remain awake to feel the relaxation

After 30-45 minutes, your body and mind will be completely relaxed. Do not worry if your thoughts start wandering or you start feeling sleepy as you learn the techniques of Savasana gradually. After practising for a week or so, you’ll notice the difference.

Initial difficulties in performing savasana

Unless you are pregnant or have some severe backbone related issue that restricts you from lying flat of your back, it should not be difficult for you to perform Savansa. Pregnant ladies can put some soft pillow under their head or use something else for comfort. The idea is to completely loosen your muscles, joints and all stiff parts of your body so that you can relax completely. If lying flat is causing some discomfort, then hold off on this posture or asana until you get your discomfort issue cured. Those with backbone related issues must consult their physician before trying this posture.

Similarly, if you have discomfort in straightening your knees, then you can put a folded blanket under your knees for support. However, gradually your hamstring will be stretched fully and you’ll feel comfortable even without any support.

7 Benefits of Savasana

  1. Relaxes your body completely
  2. Calms your mind
  3. Help you achieve a meditative state (after some practice)
  4. Serves dual purpose, relaxation and meditation
  5. Highly effective in reducing blood pressure and anxiety
  6. Helps in managing insomnia
  7. Stimulates and balances blood circulation

Savasana is recommended after all types of yoga sessions. This will relax your body and prepare you for the day with a calm mind and energised body. If you prefer to do this asana in the evening, then you will notice the effect in the form of sound sleep and complete freshness when you wake up next morning. Please note that you do not have to sleep in this posture. This can be practised in the evening hours before dinner. There must be a gap of some 2 hours between the end of your Savasana session and your bedtime.

Last but not the least, I’d like to mention my personal views about restlessness. If you can control your mind, whether by practising meditation, relaxation or any other technique, you can manage restlessness effectively. Medical attention is required only when the symptoms are very severe and you have already tried all possible natural methods of curing restlessness. Also, it is always advisable to seek expert advice if you are on medication or have any special health condition.

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