Intermittent fasting is known as a diet style that helps you lose weight and promotes health. Fasting can vary depending on people’s preferences, some fast 16 hours or even up to two full days, but is this lifestyle really feasible?
Follow the advice that this guide brings you to know if intermittent fasting is really better than other traditional diets to lose weight. All your questions will be answered safely and with scientific support.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting consists of alternating periods of fasting with periods of ingestion of food. There are different types of intermittent fasts, the best known being the 16/8, fasting 24 and fasting 48, although there are also others such as 12/12.
The 16/8 fast consists of fasting periods of 16 hours, followed by an 8-hour feeding period. The same happens with the other types of fasting, changing the time periods.
Does intermittent fasting work?
Intermittent fasting helps you lose weight and promotes health; however, it is not superior to conventional calorie restriction diets.
Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center , discovered in a study called that there are ways to reach the ideal weight in a healthier way. (Schübel et al., 2018).
The German Nutrition Society warns that “intermittent fasting is not suitable for long-term weight regulation and that, furthermore, there is not enough scientific evidence on the long-term effects that fasting can produce .”
Study on intermittent fasting
In collaboration with a team of researchers and scientists from
Heidelberg University Hospital, Schübel examined 150 overweight participants in the study for a year as part of this study, called HELENA.
At the beginning of the study, they were randomly classified into three groups as follows:
- A third followed a conventional calorie restriction diet that reduced their daily calorie intake by 20 percent.
- The second group maintained a 5: 2 diet plan that also saved 20% of their calorie intake for the entire week.
- The control group did not follow a specific diet plan, but was recommended, like all other participants, to eat a well-balanced diet as recommended by the DGE.
After the actual diet phase, the researchers documented the participants’ weight and health status for another 38 weeks. The researchers eventually found that the improvements in health status were the same with both dietary methods.
Is intermittent fasting better than other diets?
According to Kühn, the results of the study carried out show that the dietary method is not what really matters, but that it is more important to decide on a method and then stick with it.
By this we mean that it does not matter which method you use, but that you follow it to the letter. In the end, our body will adapt to the new demands provided by the new methods of losing weight.
Conclution
According to the advice of the experts, this method of losing weight is no better than other types of diet, but they lead the same way as the rest.
References
- Schübel, R., Nattenmüller, J., Sookthai, D., Nonnenmacher, T., Graf, ME, Riedl, L., Schlett, C. L…. Kühn, T. (2018). Effects of intermittent and continuous calorie restriction on body weight and metabolism over 50 wk: a randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. doi: 10.1093 / ajcn / nqy196
