5 Science-Backed Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
It turns out that skipping breakfast may have a host of benefits from frying fat to reversing diabetes.
Between keto, paleo, and Whole30, it can be hard to keep up with the latest happenings in the trendy-diet sphere. Unfortunately, many of the strict eating plans involve meticulous tracking of every bite you take. If monitoring macros, calories, and ingredients isn’t up your alley, we may have the solution for you: intermittent fasting, or IF.
Rather than tracking what’s on your plate, IF requires you to focus on when you choose to sit down to meals. There are different variations of IF ranging from fasting for two days of the week and then eating your normal caloric load to fasting for about 12 to 16 hours per day (usually including sleep time). Many people choose to adopt the 12- to 16-hour overnight fast, in which you would finish eating at about 8 p.m. and hold off breakfast until about 12 p.m.—an easier and more sustainable approach than skipping meals during the day. Although you’re fasting, IF allows you to drink virtually-calorie-free drinks such as water, tea, and black coffee (so make sure to skip the usual add-ins like milk and sugar!).
Think you can breeze through breakfast and actually stick to this trendy eating habit? “Research seems to be finding [IF] benefits to weight, blood sugar, inflammation, and potentially to brain health,” Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN, and founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition and Lifestyle tells us via email.
As with any diet, consult your doctor before starting IF. If you’re looking to give this trend a chance to conquer your health and weight-loss goals, check out our expert-backed tips below
A. You’ll Burn Fat
An animal study published in the journal Cell Research found that following intermittent fasting for up to 16 weeks helps prevent obesity, and preliminary benefits were apparent after just six weeks! The researchers found that IF kickstarts the metabolism and helps burn more fat by generating body heat. “Intermittent fasting without a reduction in calorie intake can be a preventative and therapeutic approach against obesity and metabolic disorders,” says study author Kyoung-Han Kim, according to Science Daily.
B. You’ll Live Longer
Nothing says “healthy lifestyle choice” like longevity! A Harvard study shows that IF’s food-free period manipulates the energy-producing mitochondria of your cells and increases your lifespan. As you age, your body is in a natural decline that affects your cells. But the study showed that the lower levels of energy produced during fasting times caused the mitochondria to shift and maintain their functions longer than normal to promote healthy aging and a longer lifespan.
C. It Keeps Your Brain Healthy
One of the most agreed upon benefits of the IF diet is the fact that it promotes healthy brain function and wards of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to research by Mark Mattson, a professor of neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, the act of forgoing food is a challenge to your brain that causes it to take preventative measures against diseases.
So how exactly does it work? The fasting period gives your body more time to deplete your body’s glycogen stores and causes you to burn fat instead of sugar (hello, weight loss!). This fat-burning process produces ketones, which boost your energy and banish brain fog. Mattson suggests packing the day’s meals into a short eight-hour period so that your body has time to efficiently deplete glycogen stores and enter ketosis.
D. It Reduces Inflammation
We experience sporadic inflammation on a daily basis, from stubbing a toe to coming in contact with allergy-triggering dust mites. But suffering from chronic, long-term inflammation can lead to weight gain and unwanted belly fat. That’s where intermittent fasting comes in. A study from Obesity shows that fasting produces an anti-inflammatory effect on the neuroimmune system that a high-fat diet would otherwise prevent.
E. It Can Reverse Diabetes
Over 29 million people in America have diabetes, and one in four doesn’t even know it. Diabetes can be managed via diet, exercise, and medication; and according to University of Southern California researchers, intermittent fasting may also be able to stop the disease in its tracks. The study notes that a fasting-like diet triggers the production of new pancreatic cells to replace dysfunctional ones, can control blood sugar, and can reverse insulin resistance and depletion.
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