Intermittent fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating that alternates periods of eating with long periods of not eating (fasting). Different methods incorporate fasting on different schedules—from fasting every day over night to 24-hour fasts once a week or every other day. Many research studies have been performed on the benefits of fasting. Here are a few proven benefits to try intermittent fasting.
1. IF Reduces Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress from free radicals causes damage to DNA and proteins and enzymes in the body. Oxidative stress has been linked to many chronic diseases and accelerates the aging process. Many studies have suggested that IF can improve the body’s ability to overcome oxidative stress.
2. IF Can Lead to Weight Loss
It stands to reason that if you’re cutting out anywhere from 3 to 9 meals a week, you should be taking in fewer calories than you normally do…that is, unless you compensate by eating more during the days and meals when you’re not fasting. Because fasting lowers insulin levels, it improves your body’s ability to burn fat stores and increases your body’s metabolic rate. Studies have shown that people who fast lose an average of 3% to 8% of their body weight over 6 months.
3. IF Can Prevent Heart Disease and Diabetes
Multiple studies have shown that IF has positive impacts on cardiac risk factors. Studies have shown that IF can lower blood pressure, lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, and increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol. This may lower your overall risk for heart disease (though the relationship of cholesterol and heart disease is currently debated, IF works to decrease cardiac events in many ways).
Studies in humans have also shown that IF can lower blood glucose by 3% to 6%. In addition, because IF lowers insulin levels, it has been shown to prevent the development of insulin resistance—a major precursor to the development of type 2 diabetes. Lowering your insulin levels with IF is a smart strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
4. IF Can Protect Your Brain
IF has been proven to have many benefits that are important for brain health. It prevents oxidative damage to brain cells and increases the growth of new nerve cells. IF has been linked to an increase in a brain hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which may protect against depression. Several studies have shown that IF can protect against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. Preliminary research has also shown that IF can significantly improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in people already affected by the disease.
5. IF Can Lengthen Your Life
One of the first proven benefits of IF was its impact on lifespan in rats, with fasting rats living nearly twice as long as rats fed a normal diet. Of course, long-term studies of IF on humans will take longer to demonstrate, but given the protective benefits of IF on oxidative stress, hormone levels, and cardiovascular risk factors, lengthened lifespan seems a likely result of IF.
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