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Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting refers to an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a fixed, regular schedule. While most diets focus on the food we eat, intermittent fasting relies more on the time at which we eat. It is backed by the belief fasting for a certain number of hours, or eating just one meal for a couple of days a week, helps your body burn fat. Currently, intermittent fasting is one of the world’s most popular health and fitness trends. People use it to lose weight, improve their health, and simplify their complicated lifestyles. If you want a reliable intermittent fasting plan, it is recommended to visit the Best Nutritionist in Lahore.

Benefits

There are several reasons why intermittent fasting is one of the most sought out ways to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Here are some of them:

  • Supports Weight Loss

Intermittent fasting is known to be effective for losing weight. One of the reasons for that is because it categorizes your eating routine at fixed times. This way, you are less likely to eat at odd times. It also trains your body to regulate your appetite, so that you only feel hungry when you’re supposed to eat.

  • Boosts Metabolic Health

Metabolic health ensures that your body is doing an adequate job at processing and metabolizing energy. Research shows that intermittent fasting improves blood sugar, lowers blood pressure, and contributes in repairing damaged cells. It also ensures the health of your brain by boosting your verbal memory.

  • Sustainable Lifestyle

Intermittent fasting is pretty simple. Since you’re only supposed to eat at specific times, you spend less time planning and preparing meals, and more time doing other things. Additionally, intermittent fasting doesn’t require conventional calorie counting. Although you still need to be careful about what you are consuming, you do not have to eliminate certain foods you enjoy from your diet. Moreover, you don’t necessarily have to buy special and overpriced foods either.

  • Balanced Diet

Since intermittent fasting is focused more on when, rather than what you eat, implementing it is also quite easy. Additionally, since you are eating at intervals, it is always a good idea to make sure that your diet is balanced, and contains a variety of nutritious foods. It is, however, a good idea to limit your intake of ultra-processed foods and focus more on whole foods.

Intermittent Fasting Methods

There are a number of ways to do intermittent fasting, all of which involve splitting the day, or the week, into eating and fasting periods. During fasts, beverages such as water, coffee, and calorie-free drinks are allowed, but solid foods are not permitted. In order to find out what method of intermittent fasting suits you the best, visit the Best Nutritionist in karachi as they can guide you effectively. Some of the common methods are listed below:

  • Time-restricted Eating

This method involves fasting every day for twelve hours. You can also go longer if you want. This is then followed by eating in the remaining hours. One example of this is the 16/8 method. This requires an individual to fast for 16 hours every single day, followed by an 8-hour eating window, in which they can fit in 2 to 3 meals.

  • Eat, Stop, Eat

This method involves a 24-hour fast once or twice per week. If you are new to intermittent fasting, this method isn’t generally recommended since fasting for 24 hours straight can be quite difficult and extreme.

  • The 5:2 Diet

This method features eating normally for five days of the week, and then restricting your calorie intake to 500-600 for the remaining two days. It is however, important to remember that the two remaining days have to be non-consecutive.

  • Alternate-day Fasting

As the name suggests, this method involves fasting every other day. There are several variations to this diet. Some people completely avoid solid foods on fasting days, while others allow up to 500 calories. On the feeding days, they can then choose to eat as much as they want. Since it is extreme, this diet isn’t recommended for beginners

  • The Warrior Diet

This involves eating small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables during the day, and eating one large meal at night.

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