Periodic Fasting To Lose Weight And Improve Health
The word “fasting” should not evoke sacrifice, suffering, and hunger. Periodic fasting means arranging meals so that the digestive system has more time to rest.
Thus, other functions in the body are able to function better, you sleep better and the weight starts to drop.
Read on for what periodic fasting is all about, what the health benefits are and how it helps to lose weight.
Periodic fasting is not the same thing as diet
This has nothing to do with a traditional diet or diet regimen. You don’t have to be hungry or count calories. Rather, it is a shift to healthier eating so that you eat healthier and smarter. This allows you to gain normal weight without being hooked on food and eating.
Intermittent fasting involves extending natural fasting hours between dinner and breakfast to allow the body to regenerate and lose weight.
Dinner is eaten earlier and breakfast is eaten later than usual. This, of course, depends on your circadian rhythms and lifestyles, which are affected by your family schedule and habits, work and other expenses.
The most important thing is not to eat solid food for at least 12 hours. A good fasting time is 18 hours. It doesn’t have to be done every day, but it would be best to do it several times a week.
What kind of fasting schedule is it?
Beginners
Some nutritionists recommend skipping breakfast or dinner. This can be followed sometimes as long as you are not hungry.
If you are a beginner, try intermittent fasting on this schedule:
- Breakfast: 9:00
- Lunch: 14:00
- Dinner: before 21:00
Now one of the readers may find themselves fasting unnoticed. Others may make the mistake of eating too late or eating at night.
The first option is therefore a 12-hour fast.
More experienced
If you have already done a 12 hour fast and it went well without any problems, you can try the following:
- Breakfast: 11:00
- Lunch: 15:00
- Dinner: before 19:00
With this program, you will experiment with how your body responds to 16 hours of fasting. You may be even less hungry in the morning the longer the night fast.
If you want to extend the fast to 18 hours, you can combine breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.
How is it done?
Periodic fasting takes advantage of the opportunity to eat better. Choose nutritious and filling foods and leave out low-nutrient foods.
Recommended dishes
- Cold pressed vegetable oils such as coconut, olive, sesame
- Legumes
- Balls
- Nuts
- Seed
- Avocado
- Oats
- Buckwheat
- Quinoa
Foods to avoid
- Fine flour
- White sugar
- Ice cream and other desserts
- Fried foods
- Industrially processed meat
- Pre-cooked food
- Soft drinks and juice
- Junk food
Practical tips for intermittent fasting
Here are some tips on how to succeed in intermittent fasting:
- Drink plenty of water throughout the day, but not with meals or during fasting hours. When you feel hungry, you are often just thirsty, so drink water.
- Don’t be hungry. Eat enough just healthy food.
- During fasting hours it is allowed to drink fasting tea.
- Chew your food well and enjoy every meal. Try new recipes and have fun!
- Fasting can be easily started on a public holiday or on a weekend when you are already asleep for a long time, so fasting did not feel very long.
- Do not fast on busy days or when you need a lot of concentration, for example when you drive a lot.
As soon as you start intermittent fasting, you will feel full of energy, the swelling will go away and your body will feel lighter. You will find yourself motivated to fast when you have experienced the benefits it brings, and fasting does not feel like hard work.
