What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting is a diet pattern where you consume food at particular hours and avoid any food intake for the rest of the day. It is one of the most popular health and fitness trends worldwide, and people are following it to get in shape and improve their health and lifestyles. In IF, the focus is usually on the time the food is restricted rather than which food to avoid; hence it is described as an eating pattern. Intermittent fasting methods involve 16 hours of fasting or 24 hours of fasting twice a week. It has proven effects on your body and brain that helps you to live longer.
Intermittent fasting methods
There are several ways to do intermittent fasting. These methods involve eating very little or eating nothing at all. These methods include
- Eat-Stop-Eat: This method involves fasting for 24 straight hours. You can perform this method according to your schedule. Food intake is completely restricted in this method.
- The 16/8 method involves restricting your food intake for 8 hours between the time you find convenient and fasting straight for 16 hrs in a day. This method is also called as Leangains protocol.
- The 5:2 diet: In this method, you consume 500–600 calories on two nonconsecutive days of the week and usually eat on the rest of the days.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
As mentioned earlier, intermittent fasting has proven benefits, and when you fast, lots of changes occur in your body on cellular and molecular levels. Some benefits are:
- Increase in insulin sensitivity: When you fast, your levels of insulin drop dramatically, making insulin more sensitive and fat in the body more accessible.
- Cellular repair: When you fast, the cells in your body initiate repairing processes in which old and dysfunctional proteins built inside the cells are removed. This process is called autophagy.
- Human growth hormone: The levels of human growth hormone increase which aids in muscle gain and fat loss.
- Longevity: Fasting may change the functions of some genes related to longevity and protection against diseases. It helps in increasing your life span.
Read more – 13 Ways to live a longer and healthier life
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting can have many benefits for your body and brain. It has been proven that it helps in fighting against many diseases and other benefits from cell repair to anti-ageing. The addition of intermittent fasting to your lifestyle will help you in the long run of life. You can get free teleconsultation from our expert doctors once you order medicine on our online pharmacy – Truemeds or you can also download our Truemeds app. You can avail of branded and generic medicines by uploading your prescription on Truemeds. When placing an order for medications online, you may save more money by selecting alternative or generic medicine advised by Truemed’s expert doctors. You can save up to 72% on your purchase and get free home delivery* pan India.
Disclaimer- The information given in this article is true to our best knowledge. Still, consult your healthcare professional before practising any information mentioned in this article.
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