16:8 intermittent fasting : Benefits, How-to, tips, helps in weight loss?
16:8 intermittent fasting, popularized by Martin Berkhan of Leangains.com, which is where the name originated. 16:8 diet plan is now being seen as the future lifestyle for being healthy.
Benefits of includes weight loss, prevention from type 2 diabetes, better insulin levels, improved brain function, enhanced cellular repair and many more such as works as an anti aging and tightens the skin.
Sometimes it may be difficult to follow these diet plans as you may get food craving and you may not be able to control your hunger till that time. So may take some food ( less than 50 calories) which will decimate your hunger and energize you.
What is 16:8 intermittent fasting?
16:8 is the most popular and widely followed type of intermittent fasting. Basically, 16:8 is the diet where you eat for about 8 hours and fast for next 16 hours, which divides 24 hours into two states, one is fasting state and the other is eating window.
According to your personnel preferences this type of intermittent fasting can be repeated from once a week or twice a week to everyday. But it recommended to follow intermittent fasting everyday till you achieve what you are aiming for. And further it can be added as a part of your lifestyle as it has many health benefits also.
What time frame works the best? According to Courtney Peterson, an assistant professor at nutrition at University of Alabama at Birmingham, says from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. seems to be the most beneficial, as in most people, blood sugar control is best in the morning and gets worse as the day progresses. You also digest food faster in the morning which has metabolic advantages in the body of eating earlier in the daytime.
But don’t worry, if it’s somehow not possible for you to keep your eating window in that time zone. Another study suggests that eating from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then fasting for 16 hours can also be very beneficial for weight loss.
Benefits of intermittent fasting
After years of studies researchers found out many benefits related to intermittent fasting and some of them are -
* Weight Loss
The main aim of intermittent fasting is to be in calorie deficit which in turn helps in weight loss. As intermittent fasting makes you eat fewer meals. Unless you eat more during the non fasting time.
In scientific terms, fasting helps in maintaining the right balance of the three main factors which increases the rate of fat burn and those are
° lower insulin
° increased level of Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
°increased amount of norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
Short term fasting also helps in increased metabolism.
Read : Intermittent Fasting and Metabolism
* Increased Heart Health
As fasting lowers down insulin level which helps in making ketones. Insulin controls the fatty acids from the fat cells that is the main source of fuel for the heart and heart prefers to run on ketones. A type of ketone (acetoacetate) turns to glucose, this is one of the three type of ketone.
The problem is when your body is running on glucose at that time you don’t have a much of oxygen and you’re getting a lot more waste in form of CO2 so fasting switches your body from glucose to ketone but when you eat it’s inverted you go from ketosis to glucose. Ketones also have the ability to feed the heart if the heart is in damaged state.
By lower insulin arteries will become less stiff and blood pressure will be in controlled state.
Improving insulin resistance will automatically increases the ability to absorb electrolyte.
* Prevents Cancer
As fasting helps in preventing from obesity and type 2 diabetes, which both are risk factor for cancer.
Researches suggests that as fasting helps infighting cancer by lowering insulin resistance and level of inflammation.
A study performed in 2018 found out that fasting can improve quality of life in people undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. In this the participants fasted for 60 hours starting 36 hours before the beginning of chemotherapy treatment.
The outcome of this experiment is somewhat positive and shows that the participants fasting during chemotherapy reported higher tolerance to chemotherapy, fewer side effects, and higher energy levels when compared to others.
How to do it
The first and fore most thing before starting anything, you should know the reason, why you are doing so? Fix your aim and then try to achieve it with full dedication and keep trying till you are not able to achieve your goal.
So after admitting to 16:8 intermittent fasting, then choose a 16 hour fasting window that includes the time that a person spends is sleeping. Its totally depended on you how you select your fasting window.
Experts suggests to take last meal in the early evening, as metabolism slows down after this time and may find difficulty in digesting the food. Or must take last meal 2–3 hours before bed. However, this is not applicable on everyone.
Researchers advice to choose one of the following time period for eating :
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
noon to 8 p.m.
During this time frame people can consume their calories that should contain all the nutrition.
Some people may need to experiment to find the best eating window and mealtimes for their lifestyle.
Tips for Intermittent Fasting
* Stay hydrated
* Can take black coffee or tea ( less than 50 calorie)
* Don’t think of fast whole time. Stay busy.
* Try intermittent fasting for atleast 1 month for some results.
* Try to be in calorie deficit ( if your aim is to lose fat) and follow a low carb diet
* Exercise daily
* Don’t binge after fasting
Helps in fat loss?
° Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
Intermittent Fasting can increase Human Growth Hormone (HGH) by almost about 1300 to 2000 times depending upon your body type.
° Insulin
When we eat out insulin level increases but during fasting insulin level decreases which is in coherence with that of fat loss. As when insulin level is low our body gets energy from stored fat cells which help in fat reduction.
° Norepinephrine
Intermittent fasting leads to an increased level of norepinephrine which boost your metabolism to increase calorie burning throughout the day.
° Reduce in calorie consumption
As you are restricting yourself to eat during particular time window for which you have to skip at least your one meal. By doing this, your calorie consumption throughout the day is reduced which helps in weight loss.
The bottom line :
Intermittent Fasting helps you lose weight and have other health benefits also which helps you leading a good and healthy life.
Intermittent fasting totally depends on body type whether it suits you or not.
Originally published at https://allaboutbestlife.blogspot.com on May 18, 2020.
