Sunday, June 23, 2013

Will Intermittent Fasting Help You Lose Weight

Under certain circumstances, there is a great deal of evidence that says intermittent fasting can help with burning fat. Intermittent fasting is spacing your last meal of the day and your first meal the next day farther apart to as much as 16 hours. The rational is that after you eat, your body takes about six to eight hours to metabolize that glycogen, then to continue functioning it goes into your fat stores.
But if we start feeding our body before that six to eight time period, or before the glycogen has been used, we never allow our system to tap into our fat storage. This makes it very difficult to ever lose weight. Of course we can go too far when we fast. When we go past a certain point, our system realizes it isn't going to get any more food and goes into starvation mode. At that point it basically stops using our excess fat.
Tests have shown that there are additional health benefits to intermittent fasting. These include increasing insulin sensitivity, reducing oxidative stress, and increase the capacity for resisting cellular stress. All of these will retard aging of the cells as well as preventing diseases associated with cell damage.
So is an intermittent fasting plan right for everyone? Actually, all of the factors that go into healthy weight reduction make it nearly impossible to find one magic bullet that will be right for everyone. First, it is safe to say that pregnant women should never fast. A baby needs all the nutrients they can get, and some studies have actually suggested that fasting can alter the baby's heartbeat and breathing patterns, along with increasing gestational diabetes.
Those that suffer from hypoglycemia, a condition of abnormally lower level of blood sugar, should not go through periods of fasting. Your goal if you have this condition would be to normalize your blood sugar levels first, then if you decide to fast opt for a less rigid version of fasting. Those with diabetes also will not be helped with intermittent fasting.
Finally, you must realize that if you are going too fast, you must pay even more attention to your nutrition levels when you do eat. By continuing with a toxic-rich diet of highly processed foods, then proceed to not eat for 15 or 16 hours, you could be doing your body more harm than good in the long run. Putting together a healthy diet plan to make sure you are getting the proper nutrition in the shorter time period you are eating in will be vital.
Whenever you are going to make dramatic changes in your diet, even if they are healthy changes that will eventually greatly benefit your health, it may take a little while for your system to adjust to the change. But listen to what your body is telling you, and if you are going a little too quickly, don't fight it. Just go a bit slower with the changes, and if it is good for your system will eventually adapt.
Tapping into fat storage is one of the secrets to weight loss. It not only requires good diet and exercise, but there is evidence that what you eat and timing when you eat is important. Rich Carroll is a writer and health enthusiast living in Chicago.

1 comment:

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