Intermittent fasting is the term we use to describe a period in which fasting and eating are combined. And although this term is relatively young, fasting has been a common practice throughout history for therapeutic, naturopathic and / or religious purposes.
In fact, our body fasts at night while we sleep and we break it with “break-fast”. But the topic that we are going to discuss in this article is a version that, after several investigations, has been described as a good tool to give the body rest and cause autophagy.
What is autophagy?
The Japanese Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2016 for the discovery of the mechanisms of autophagy. The word of Greek origin “autophagy” means “to eat oneself” and we could explain it as a natural mechanism of our organism to regenerate itself.
This procedure provides the body with “fuel” to generate energy and provides everything necessary for cell renewal. Cells benefit from autophagy to eliminate invading bacteria or viruses. In addition, this mechanism serves to get rid of proteins or defective structures that arise from aging.
Thanks to this Nobel Prize, many health sectors are investigating how to stimulate autophagy. Dietitians, nutritionists and professionals in the health sector, propose intermittent fasting as a method to activate this natural process of generation, since they have observed how, thanks to it, the human body stimulates these mechanisms.
How to do intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting can be done in many ways. There is fasting 16/8 or 14/10 and fasting 24. According to studies that recommend intermittent fasting, they suggest option 16/8 as more beneficial for improving health.
The 16/8 fast is based on fasting for 16 hours and then being able to eat for 8 hours. To do this fast, it is proposed to have an early dinner and have a later breakfast, so it would be 16 hours in total.
For example, if we eat dinner at 8:00 p.m. we will let 16 hours pass and we would break the fast at 12.00 noon, beginning the 8 hours of ingestion. In this case, it is recommended to make two single meals. The last one at 8pm at night. Fasting at night and not during the day respects our circadian nature.
During the hours we eat, it is not worth eating as much as you want. Try to make your dishes contain foods that have a lot of nutrients, avoiding processed foods, sugars and white flours. The proposal: Vegetables and legumes, vegetable or animal quality protein sources, Omega 3 from vegetable sources or oily fish, whole grains and fruit. And good hydration.
During the hours that we are fasting, we can drink water, infusions or teas without sweetener. It is not clear whether you can drink coffee or not. Those who reject it, point out that it is better not to drink it during fasting so that the liver can rest. They agree that you cannot drink broths, milk, or vegetable drinks.
As for the frequency of fasting, the minimum is to do intermittent fasting one day a week and a maximum of five days. If you decide to do intermittent fasting in any of its versions it will be great, but if you do not want to do it, it is recommended for all people to be able to do 12 hours of fasting daily; having dinner at 9:00 p.m. and not having breakfast until 9:00 a.m. the next day.
Benefits of intermittent fasting
Studies of intermittent fasting in humans suggest a number of possible benefits:
- It reduces insulin resistance and blood sugar.
- It regulates blood glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides.
- It helps maintain muscle mass and promotes fat loss.
- It helps the oxidation of fatty acids.
- It improves mitochondrial function.
- It helps to generate metabolic and energetic flexibility.
- It increases neurotrophic factors, important for memory.
- It increases adult neurogenesis and antioxidant enzymes, thus slowing down aging.
- It reduces inflammation in the body.
- It has positive effects on neuronal plasticity.