Intermittent Fasting

What is Intermittent Fasting Diet?

The Intermittent Fasting Diet, which has been heard very often recently, is a nutrition model rather than a diet program. The main purpose of this nutrition model is to control the time interval in which foods are consumed and to provide energy limitation. It decides when to eat rather than what to eat. In addition to providing weight loss, it prevents many diseases and is used in the treatment of some diseases. There are several types of this feeding model with specific protocols. Accordingly, people provide food intake at certain times or on certain days during the day.

How Is Intermittent Fasting Done?

16:8 Intermittent Fasting Diet

The 16:8 diet, one of the time-limiting intermittent fasting methods; It is a method in which food consumption is limited to 8 hours. In this method, food is eaten for 8 hours and there is no food consumption in the remaining 16 hours. For example, if we had our first meal at 10:00 in the morning, our last meal should be at 18:00. In the remaining 16 hours, foods such as calorie-free foods (unsweetened tea, herbal tea, plain, unsweetened black coffee, soda, water) can be consumed.

5:2 Intermittent Fasting Diet

In this method, which is the most used of the modified intermittent fasting methods, nutrition is provided as much as needed 5 days a week, while a restricted eating plan (500-800 calories) is applied for the remaining 2 days. These 2 selected days should not be consecutive both for health and for the benefit of the diet.

Eat-Stop-Eat Intermittent Fasting Diet

In this method, known as the alternative intermittent fasting diet, it is a method in which food consumption is limited for 24 hours for one or two consecutive days.

Positive Effects of Intermittent Fasting

– Prevents obesity due to energy restriction.

– It increases insulin sensitivity and thus contributes to the reduction of insulin resistance.

– Regulates glucose regulation and provides a protective effect against Type 2 diabetes.

– Helps increase HDL (good cholesterol) levels, lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels. For this reason, it provides a protective effect on cardiovascular diseases.

– It has positive effects on some neurological diseases such as dementia.

Who Should Not Do Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent Fasting is not appropriate for some individuals. These individuals are those have diabetes, pregnant and lactating mothers, individuals with low blood pressure, adolescents, individuals with eating disorders, individuals with an intense exercise program and those who use regular medication. Therefore, intermittent fasting should be a personalized, balanced and sustainable plan, as in any diet, and should be planned under the control of a dietitian.