The New Food Fad: Intermittent Fasting

For decades, worldwide scientists in the nutrition realm have proclaimed several food guidelines to the world. In 1974, the first food pyramid was released in Sweden. Later year in 1992, the United States Department of Agriculture stepped in and promoted the program from state to state (Meredith, 2016). Nevertheless, this food pyramid does not decrease diseases such as obesity and diabetes. “It is not just about what we eat, but when we eat” (Mosley & Spencer, 2015, p. 15). People started to turn to the ancient wisdom in religious fasting and a therapeutic fasting treatment for obesity in the 1960s, eventually, a modern health revolution called intermittent fasting, in particular, the 5:2 diet was introduced and became influential in the United Kingdom and Australia around ten years ago (Mosley, 2012). With unveiled evidence to prove the benefits of practicing intermittent fasting, a person’s physical, mental, and spiritual health will be enhanced powerfully toward a positive impact on his or her longevity and the journey of anti-aging.

First and foremost, emerging findings have revealed that intermittent fasting can help people experience weight loss to control obesity and also diabetes. In 2018, a group of 88 obese women attended an experiment to show their success in the practices of calorie restriction and intermittent fasting (Lyons, 2019). Meanwhile, intermittent fasting assists patients to get rid of brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF), cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer tumors, inflammation, etc. According to Islamic Fasting and health (2010), type 1 diabetes can be well-controlled, and sometimes it causes weight loss due to fasting plasma glucose (Azizi, 2010, p. 3). Note that intermittent energy restriction (IER) is another term to describe a similar concept in fasting. As a matter of fact, various studies have demonstrated that IER has the function of “protecting neurons against oxidative, metabolic, and proteotoxic stress in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases” (Mattson et al., 2014, p. 4).

IER is not just an improvement for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease but also benefits mental disorders like PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Regarding mental health, it is a status of well-being that an individual is capable of resolving life events under specific pressure with a consistent and steadfast contribution to his or her community (WHO, 2018). In general, when people suffer from mental disorders, they have a higher possibility to experience insomnia. The good news is many scientists support the statement that this fasting diet can reinforce our circadian rhythms, thereby improving sleep quality (Almeneessier et al., 2018). During bedtime, people who practice intermittent fasting can produce a higher level of human growth hormone (Ho KY et al., 1988).

According to the Sleep Foundation, this diet method helps participants spend more time on rapid eye movement during their sleep hours (Ryan, 2021). All in all, intermittent fasting boosts our quality of sleep, whilst reducing the rates of insomnia. If we had substantial time to sleep like 8 hours, our daily performance will be advanced naturally. To answer the advantages of defeating depression, we have to discuss the impact of intermittent fasting on brain health. Stephanie Bair, the researcher who works for Stanford Law School found that IER is a good tool to increase the performance of an elder’s memory, or cultivate the new neurons, and also benefits cognitive function in mental disorders such as depression and anxiety (Bair, 2015). Hence, the relationship between mental health and intermittent fasting can be described as positive. If someone is diagnosed with depression, he or she is suggested to take intermittent fasting as a therapy strategy.

The further step is to talk about how intermittent fasting can affect people’s spiritual health. As we’ve known, fasting is an ancient traditional event in different religions such as Christianity, Islam, Jewish, Buddhism, etc. The most famous representative is Ramadan Fasting in the Islamic world. During Ramadan, Muslims are taught not to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. This period is similar to 20:4 time round fasting in the modern style. In addition, several Christian denominations also encourage their audience to commit to Friday Fasting throughout the whole year (Boyers, 2019). Simultaneously, some churches might promote Lutherans Fast due to the commandant of Jesus Christ in the new testament.

As a Christian, when I practice intermittent fasting in a spiritual context, I usually could be more peaceful because the motivation is to worship God and listen to His voice. To get closer to the Almighty God, I try my best to humble myself and lower my food desires to be concentrated on seeking His presence. Imagine a daily routine without cooking and washing dishes, how much time we can save from running these errands? With regard to the purpose of religious fasting, it is of significance to guide people to “fortify their body, purify their spirit, and elevate their consciousness” in the reconciliation of their spiritual life (Venegas-Borsellino et al., 2018, para 1). According to the report of Early Quakers and Fasting, a Quaker named Nayler February 1653 stated that “My dear brother Francis is well, hath been in a fast about 8 or 10 days, God is good while raising up his own people to praise and serve him” (Carroll, 2008, p. 4). From my perspective, Nayler practiced this lifestyle aimed to explore a spiritual breakthrough and he succeeded.

All the benefits of practicing intermittent fasting we discussed above have been concluded as an outcome of longevity and anti-aging. As previously mentioned, human growth hormone can be produced during the fasting period. This phenomenon can be proved by the animal experiment, “the optimum amount of fasting appeared to be fasting 1 day in 3 and this increased the life span of littermate males about 20% and littermate females about 15%” (Anton&Frederick, 1946, p. 1).

As revealed, this is an experiment regarding two groups of participants to clarify the differences that whether calorie restrictions will affect human survival rates. Indeed, the answer is YES. People who attended CR are healthier than the controlled group. As for human beings, when we can handle health issues, the life span is supposed to be extended. That is why I selected subtopics of physical, mental, and spiritual health toward the effects of intermittent fasting.

Last but not least, counter-arguments are emerging among the population who hold the opposite opinions, especially in the United State. On the one hand, people argued that animal research in IER cannot be used as an equal result to human data. It cannot provide substantial data to support reactions in intermittent fasting for human practices (Horne et al., 2015). On the other hand, some contributors depicted that ruining a normal diet circle can be a disaster for a person’s inner mechanism, in particular, those young participants or pregnant mothers. To be specific, our blood glucose and tissue levels of oxidizing will be dramatically changed based on this diet method.

Not to mention if you experience extreme hunger, your temper can be out of control and it causes anxiety or even frustration with this new food fad: intermittent fasting. One more scenario is to feed your children in the early morning. Your family members must be acceptable to your fasting, or it has the possibility to bring misunderstandings and even antipathy about your option. If a person is determined to maintain a long-term practice, then he or she has to consider the social price to bear the negative consequences (Brittany, 2020).

Although the opposite viewpoints sound strong, this profound food fad still found its target audience. It has been promoted globally since a scholar named Michael Mosley post his discovery 5:2 diet on a UK broadcast in 2012. Nowadays, more and more people jump into this trend and each one has his or her own reason to be consistent. If we go through the feedback from worldwide health institutes, authorities like American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, the National Health Choice in the United Kingdom increase their voice to support intermittent fasting for curing diseases. Meanwhile, this eating diet continually attracts celebrities and public figures to endorse, which brought intermittent fasting to a hot spot stage either in Silicon Valley or Hollywood.

Many commercial applications came out as a fundamental support for this specific community. For instance, zero is a fasting app I use regularly to record my fasting journal. Multiple coaching courses and practical articles can be accessed on this app.

Being educated in this new food fad is not just necessary but could be a key to embracing success and even satisfaction in a long-term period.

In a nutshell, intermittent fasting is regarded as a profound strategy to live a healthy life. At least three components related to health can be implemented. To be specific, it benefits our physical health, mental health as well as spiritual health. Even though the counter partners propose their reasons, intermittent fasting is being increasingly popular, especially in the context of pandemics. People are thrilled to join a united community to practice and be aware of their whole-body health. For sure, some people prefer to practice privately but it is still a hot topic at present.

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