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What is Intermittent Fasting?

The Intermittent Fasting concept is basically based on eating for a certain duration of a day and giving rest to your body by fasting the rest of the period of the day. It works on the mechanism of Autophagy. Autophagy word came into limelight when in 2016, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for Autophagy.

What is Autophagy?

Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of Autophagy is “self-eating.”

Autophagy is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells and it trigger's during the fasting period of your body. In Indian culture, people are fasting at different occasions and probably this was one of the ways for them to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

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How Intermittent Fasting works?

The goal is to systematically starve the body to trigger fat burning. Our body consumes the required amount of energy from our regular meal and stores any excess amount of energy in the body in the form of fat. However, when the fasting period starts during Intermittent Fasting our body uses this stored fat in our body to supply the required energy to our body and this triggers the fat burning process helping in weight loss. Based on scientific study and analysis there is sufficient evidence that when done correctly it triggers weight loss and has significant other health benefits.

Popular Ways To Do Intermittent Fasting:

There could be different ways to do Intermittent Fasting as far as you are able to starve your body for a certain period where it can trigger fat burning process or trigger the autophagy mechanism

16:8 Intermittent Fasting
5:2 Diet Meal Plans
Alternate Day Fasting
Fast on two specific days in the week
The Warrior Diet

All of the above diet plans are effective if follow properly and with some discipline, however my most favorite is 16:8 Intermittent Fasting. In this blog post, we will talk in detail about the 16:8 Intermittent Fasting method, benefits, limitation, etc

16/8 Intermittent Fasting Schedule:

You can have a different types of Intermittent Fasting schedules but below is the one which we have followed throughout the last 10+ years and it has really helped us. You can follow this or have a modified one as well. It works as far as you stick to the basic rule:

Note: You should start with 12-hour fasting and slowly moves toward a 16-hour fasting schedule by judging how your body responds to change and what works well for you. The 12 hours fasting schedule gives you some benefits as 16 hours one but depends on your body type, age, and your metabolism rate. The idea is to give your body some free time to rejuvenate & repair your body cells to keep you healthy.

Why should we go for Intermittent Fasting?

Follow a Life Style NOT a Diet Plan - This is my suggestion based on my experience. Most of us always struggle to lose weight even by following different diet plans. No matter what diet plan you choose it will work temporarily. In reality, you cannot follow any diet plan throughout your life and is the main reason why we fail to reach our goal, and even if we get there, we cannot sustain it for long.

Have you heard the story of the Rabbit and the Tortoise and how that Tortoise finally wins that race due to his slow and steady approach? We have to follow the same approach through this schedule.

Diet plans are like crash courses which help you reduce weight while Intermittent fasting is a lifestyle to which one needs to adapt.

Also, Intermittent fasting gives you the flexibility to enjoy the food of your choice and you do not need to restrain yourself from eating even high-calorie content food. You just need to be disciplined.

All food options and recipes mentioned in this blog are the things that we enjoy regularly. We still lose weight or prevent it to increase further.

Tips:

You can eat your regular meal during lunch i.e. Meal 2 though you just need to ensure that you avoid eating fried or oily food items unless it is a cheat day. For us, Meal 2 mostly consists of Indian traditional Thali = Rice, Dal, Chappati, and Vegetables. Meal 2 provides you a good amount of carbohydrates and provides you enough energy to get through the day. Few of the Meal 2 options as below :

Meal 1 and Meal 3 should focus more on Protein content.
Meal 1 - The Protein content fulfills the requirements of your body after your workout.
Meal 3 - The Protein content helps you limit your craving till your bedtime.
Cheat Day - You can select one day in a week as your cheat day and eat anything you want including high calories food. You can choose any food option listed in our International and Indian cuisine section to treat yourself. Just ensure you limit your sugar intake.

Believe me! You will be able to chalk out a balanced meal plan which will have a place for everything and all types of food.

8/16 Intermittent Fasting Benefits:

Few benefits of intermittent fasting:

Weight Loss
Disease Prevention
Extended Life Span
Induces various cellular repair process

The list could go on and on but in short, its ultimate benefit is to help you to sustain a healthy lifestyle without preventing you from enjoying your favorite delicacies.

8/16 Intermittent Fasting -Who Should Avoid It?

Intermittent Fasting is certainly not for everyone and before following this diet regime you should consult your doctor especially if you having an underlying illness, underweight or having eating disorders. For women with fertility issues, planning to conceive or going through pregnancy period, breastfeeding then these diet plans are not recommended.

Conclusion:

With so many different diet plans and weight loss methods available nowadays, my recommendation it to try out any of them but observe the impact carefully. Some diet plans suit some person but may not be suitable to some other based on their body type. Intermittent Fasting is also a way to trigger weight loss and also to rejuvenate your body through the body cleansing process of Autophagy. However, it is up to individuals to observe and decide which diet plan suits them and they would like to continue with it.

For any further suggestions or inquiries, you can leave your comment in the post section, I would be happy to answer it for you!