Things You Should Know About Intermittent Fasting

Fasting is a lifestyle trend that has gained great momentum in recent years... Although the most well-known reason for this is because it helps us shed excess weight, there are actually several other reasons why it is so popular today.

In fact, this nutritional approach has the ability to guard against disease, promote longevity, and expand our mental and emotional awareness by transcending the restrictive boundaries of the ego. But while this approach may help many of us, it may not be for everyone…

In this article, we highlight the types, benefits and potential risks of fasting to guide you in determining whether it is suitable for your goals and lifestyle...

What is Fasting?

We can describe fasting as the practice of intentionally abstaining from food for a certain period of time. It is categorized into prolonged and intermittent fasting. 

Prolonged fasting, which can be implemented from two days to several weeks, allows only water, tea and coffee consumption in the process. Since it creates an excessive restriction in our body, it is mostly inadvisable as a lifestyle in today’s holistic health approach.

Intermittent fasting (IF) on the other hand is a dietary pattern that alternates between eating and not eating. It focuses on when we eat rather than what we eat and can be practiced indefinitely. And while it provides almost the same benefits as prolonged fasting, it is considered more feasible and healthier than the other. 

Therefore, we will proceed through intermittent fasting below...

Types of Intermittent Fasting

Time-restricted eating: This method, which has the greatest ability to be included in our lifestyle, involves eating only for a certain period of time each day. It comes in versions such as 12:12, 16:8, 18:6 or the more intense, 20:4. In the 16:8 diet, for example, we can only eat for 8 hours of the day, and nothing else except water and unsweetened tea/coffee the rest of the time. 

Alternate day fasting: Refers to alternately not eating for 24 hours on one day of the week (or eating no more than 25 percent of what we normally eat) and returning to a normal eating routine the next day.

Modified fasting: A method in which we consume 25 percent of our usual energy needs on selected days and eat normally on the remaining days. The most popular form is the 5:2 diet, which involves consuming an average of around 500 calories for 2 non-consecutive days and not counting calories for 5 days.

What Can We Eat?

Probably the most popular feature of intermittent fasting is that it allows us to enjoy all sorts of foods that we would normally eat during our eating window. Let’s emphasize the word “normally” here, because if we eat too much unhealthy foods, such as greasy fried foods or junk food, during the non-fasting interval, we may limit the benefits of this dietary pattern. 

In other words, to adopt a healthy eating routine as much as possible in intermittent fasting, neither overdoing it nor restricting ourselves to less than we need, is of great value. For example, following a Mediterranean-style diet that includes plenty of fruit and vegetables, healthy fats and whole grains can help us radically improve our lifestyle, even after we discontinue intermittent fasting.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Physical Healing: 

Intermittent fasting;

• promotes weight loss,
• focuses our metabolism on burning fat,
• balances our hormones,
• increases release of the fat-burning ‘norepinephrine’,
• protects against Type-2 diabetes by lowering blood sugar and fasting insulin levels,
• rapidly boosts our growth hormone (HGH) levels and up to 5-fold,
• enhances our awareness of hunger and satiety,
• optimizes our blood pressure and cholesterol levels and improves our heart health,
• boosts our immunity by raising our microbiome levels,
• allows our cells to regenerate through autophagy,
• supports the toning of our muscles,
• makes our skin more vibrant and healthier.

Mental Clarity: 

Intermittent fasting;

• increases levels of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) in our brain,
• improves our memory, learning speed and cognitive functions,
• reinforces our ability for quick thinking and problem solving,
• enhances our body-mind connection,
• sharpens our senses,
• helps us to return to the mindfulness of present,
• lowers our stress levels,
• supports us to release restrictive mental burdens,
• builds up our willpower and self-discipline,
• restores our circadian rhythm and improves our quality of our sleep.

Spiritual Purity:

Intermittent fasting;

• allows us to detach from the physical “whims” of the ego,
• deepens our connection with our spiritual being,
• invites our soul to find its inner light,
• unlocks the true potential of our essence,
• helps us to acknowledge ourselves as we are,
• promotes our self-confidence and self-compassion,
• encourages us to cleanse our emotional toxins,
• resurfaces our creative power,
• helps us to discharge the energies trapped inside us,
• reminds us of our unity with the universe,
• promotes a deeper connection with nature.

Potential Risks of Intermittent Fasting 

At first, the process of our body adapting to IF can be a bit painful. First of all, our chemistry, which is accustomed to constantly eating and perhaps a little too tied to night snacks due to busy workload, triggers the feeling we call hunger stress. This can lead to headaches, low energy and difficulty in concentration. We may also exhibit signs of mood swings such as recession or ‘hanger’.

But let’s not let this demotivate us. Indeed, this annoying process will probably start to ease considerably after the first 16 hours. When our body finds its own energy source from fat stores through ketosis, it will calm down and our hunger stress will decrease. Over time, we will begin to observe that all the issues we initially complained about, even migraine, are sustainably alleviated by intermittent fasting.

One of the problems we may experience after starting intermittent fasting is the tendency to eat irregularly. It will be natural to feel an intense appetite during our first eating intervals, but it is worth reminding ourselves not to overdo it and to eat a healthy and light diet. Otherwise, our adaptation to this pattern of nutrition will be unnecessarily delayed.

Apart from that, intermittent fasting has a high safety profile for most of us, unless you have a significant health problem or risk. After all, tolerance to hunger is part of our genetic heritage and our bodies are highly adaptable to new conditions... So intermittent fasting is considered safe enough to turn into a permanent lifestyle, as long as we eat healthy and take care of our well-being the rest of the time.

However, if you have a medical condition, you must get a doctor’s approval before trying intermittent fasting. This is especially important if you:

• have fertility problems;
• are trying to get pregnant;
• are a pregnant or breastfeeding woman;
• have a history of eating disorders;
• suffer from Type 1 diabetes;
• need to take regular medication with food;
• have problems with blood sugar regulation or
• have low blood pressure.

Overall, intermittent fasting is a way of eating that offers many physical, mental and spiritual benefits and has low risks compared to other nutritional diets. And the fact that it has many variations makes it easier to find the one that suits us. This approach can be also experienced in holistic Spa & Wellbeing programs such as Anahata Wellbeing Resort's ‘Intermittent Fasting Retreat’ or Chiva Som Hua Hin's ‘Immune Resilience’...

Meet you in our other articles where we explore different self-care ingredients that promote holistic health...