Intermittent Fasting: All You Need to Know!
What is Intermittent Fasting?
First let’s start by defining FASTING: fasting is the voluntary action of not consuming any food for a certain period of time, either for spiritual or health reasons.
Intermittent Fasting: means not eating for a period of time every day or week.
There are different protocols, for example: we can go 12 hours without eating (including the hours we sleep) and 12 hours, which will be our eating window (A.V.).
Other periods are – 14 hs/ 10 hs – 16 hs/8 hs – 18 hs/6 hs and up to more than 24 hs, 36 hs and 72 hs which are recommended for special pathologies and to be done with medical accompaniment.
The BREAKFAST is the action that breaks or interrupts the fast, and this is done daily, regardless of the time of day.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
1) Neuroprotective: increases mitochondrial biogenesis (the process of creating mitochondria), increases autophagy, increases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), increases ketones, decreases inflammation and oxidative stress.
2) Cardioprotective: increases circadian rhythm variability, lowers blood pressure and preserves contractility.
blood pressure and preserves cardiac contractility.
3) Intestinal Integrity: as the absence of food promotes anti-inflammatory pathways, reduces intestinal permeability and increases intestinal microflora.
4) Liver Preservation: protects against fatty liver disease.
5) Glycaemic control: since fasting sensitises insulin, i.e. we will NOT have those glycaemic peaks.
6) Anti-inflammation: as it reduces anabolic pathways.
7) Chronobiology: regulates our biorhythms.
8) Autophagy: activates the AMPK pathway and inhibits Mtor (which detects excess nutrients) and AMPK detects lack of nutrients and when the body detects lack of nutrients it inhibits anabolism.
9) Metabolic flexibility: the ability to use all energy substrates according to the stress it is under, i.e. the ability to use fats and carbohydrates.
-M.F. signs: you don’t need to eat every 2 hours or you can fast without the need to be aware of food.
10) Fat loss: which will come as a consequence of good nutrition, with real and unprocessed products.