For example, you restrict yourself from eating any food or calorie-containing beverage from 6 pm- 10 am. You would have your first meal at 10 am and consume healthy foods every few hours until 6 pm. This is a 16/8 intermittent fast.
What exactly happens during the intermittent fast?
Let’s take a closer look at some scientific research on intermittent fasting.
Eating causes a spike in insulin levels. During a fast, your insulin levels drop, making it an optimal environment to burn some body fat.
Intermittent fasting is especially beneficial in preventing type 2 diabetes. It improves insulin resistance, helps reduce blood sugar levels, and can protect against kidney damage.
Intermittent fasting causes human growth hormone (HGH) to increase significantly. Higher levels mean fat loss and more muscle.
It also activates the cellular repair process that includes the removal of waste from your cells.
During a fast, the nervous system injects norepinephrine (a hormone & neurotransmitter) into fat cells, allowing them to be used for energy.
Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve your heart health by improving blood pressure, LDL and total cholesterol, triglycerides, and inflammation affecting the heart.
The Research Behind Intermittent Fasting
Based on research, periodic intermittent fasting may protect against disease and increase longevity. This is done by preventing and reducing the oxidative stress, and also through the intermittent fasting’s ability to combat inflammation. Both are key components of common diseases.
Intermittent fasting is also good for your brain. It can help you grow new nerve cells and increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This can help to fight depression and prevent strokes.
As you can see, intermittent fasting has many benefits besides just weight loss.
But the benefits of rapid weight loss are what makes intermittent fasting so popular. It is one of the most effective methods to speed up weight loss, far better than just restricting your calories.
Intermittent can be a challenge the first few days but once your body adapts the pounds will melt off.
The hunger cravings most people experience are not actually from hunger per se but from the body’s craving for sugar. As the days pass, the cravings will eventually subside.
Combined with a product like Almased, intermittent fasting can be a powerful tool in your weight loss arsenal.
