- Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. There are many different types of intermittent fasting, such as the 16/8 – which I’m doing right now. Eat during an 8-hour window and fast for 16 hours. Numerous studies show that it can have powerful benefits for your body and brain.
- Cellular repair:The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells.
- Gene expression:There are beneficial changes in several genes and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease.
When you fast, insulin levels drop and human growth hormone increases. Your cells also initiate important cellular repair.
2. Intermittent Fasting Can Help You Lose Weight and Belly Fat.
Generally speaking, intermittent fasting will make you eat fewer meals and you will end up taking in fewer calories.Lower insulin levels, higher growth hormone levels and increased amounts of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) all increase the breakdown of body fat and facilitate its use for energy.
Short-term fasting actually increases your metabolic rate by 3.6-14%, helping you burn even more calories. In other words, intermittent fasting works on both sides of the calorie equation. It boosts your metabolic rate (increases calories out) and reduces the amount of food you eat (reduces calories in).
According to a 2014 review of the scientific literature, intermittent fasting can cause weight loss of 3-8% over 3-24 weeks. This is a huge amount. Those sampled also lost 4-7% of their waist circumference, which indicates that they lost lots of belly fat, the harmful fat in the abdominal cavity that causes disease. Another study also showed that intermittent fasting caused less muscle loss than continuous calorie restriction.
All things considered, intermittent fasting can be an incredibly powerful weight loss tool.
- Intermittent Fasting Can Reduce Insulin Resistance, Lowering Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes.Type 2 diabetes has become common in recent decades. Its main feature is high blood sugar levels in the context of insulin resistance. Intermittent fasting has been shown to have major benefits for insulin resistance and lead to an impressive reduction in blood sugar levels.
In human studies on intermittent fasting, fasting blood sugar has been reduced by 3-6%, while fasting insulin has been reduced by 20-31%.
Intermittent Fasting Changes the function of cells, genes and hormones.
Insulin levels: Blood levels of insulin drop significantly plus fat burn.
Human growth hormone: The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits.
I’ll let you know how I go. x
