Is intermittent fasting based on solid science and if so how does it work?
In: Chemistry
All dieting is about callorie in vs callorie out.
Few ideas are there with 1 meal a day.
By starving yourself, not eating all day except 1 meal. Your body gets used to not having food. Your stomach shrinks, and you are better able to control the type of food you eat. And you eat less than the normal amount of callories. Because eating 2000+ calloried in 1 meal is hard. So you lose weight
Your only having 1 meal, so better be something good, rather than a half a bag of chip because you were bored.
No it is not effective. Early data with limited sample size had a positive effect but as more people were studied the results are coming out more “mixed” in other words, it works as often as it doesn’t compared to doing nothing.
The known facts are simple.
1. Exercise – You will burn the same average calories per day no matter the amount/type of exercise you do so it wont help your weight loss to exercise but it is incredibly beneficial for good health and has secondary effects that can cause weight loss.
2. Food – less calories in = weight loss. Simple right…. Go to 3.
3. You can’t just “eat less” Your minds subconscious systems such as the endocrine system really mess with your ability to make rational choices coupled and then there is the whole new forming habits which is a real challenge for humans. This is why all fad diets don’t work.
4. Weight loss is possible through sustained healthy choices. Pre plan meals for the week and have them ready to eat so the meals you choose in advance are easier to get. The initial step is just making sure you plan meals and buy groceries for the whole week on a single day. Eat before buying groceries as you will be in a better psychological space this way. It is important to include allowances for take away or whatever in the plan, achievable plans with small changes work best.
Once you have an established process of planning meals work on substituting meals with high saturated fats and sugars to have less of the aforementioned and more fibre and herbs and flavours. A Mediterranean diet is the ideal example for good body weight and longevity of life.
I’m not a dietician but I once heard a physicist talking about dieting and it inspired me to read a lot of the scientific literature. Best of luck in your goals
I guess it depends (assuming the goal is weight loss).
If the goal is to lose weight, there’s exactly one way to do that – consume fewer calories than you spend. For most people, that’s around 2000 calories. Intermittent fasting is just a technique for doing this. If you struggle with counting calories or cutting out snacks, restricting yourself to one or two meals a day is just a strategy to simplify this.
That said, it’s not *better* than basic calorie counting, especially if you’re sensitive to the big swings in blood sugar and binging on unhealthy food that makes you nutrient deficient. I usually ask myself two questions when I see a weight loss thing: 1) Will this actually impact calorie intake/consumption? and 2) Are they trying to sell me something? If they can’t answer yes to the first and no to the second, that’s a reason to be cautious.
It promotes autophagy (aw-taw-fa-gee)
Autophaghy is when a cell basically recycles itself. So, the cells says, “out with the yuck, let’s fix that with some new” not to be confused with splitting. Not splitting. Just fixing.
This helps ward off illnesses. You know, cancer etc. Cancer is called neoplasia, new growth. It’s an overgrowth of the sh*t part of the cell. The cell that maybe didn’t get recycled from autophagy.
Fasting helps prevent cancer. This also goes into a relationship with glucose/sugar. Eating spikes sugar. Creates insulin. Eat too much too often? Now you’re insulin resistant. Now you have a higher cancer risk. Wanna become less insulin resistant? Do fasting for autophagy.
It’s complex but interesting. Hope that was an ok eli5. Yes, even though fasting is also a spiritual practice, it’s rooted in science and it isn’t willynilly new age frou-frou.
Yes and no.
Intermittent fasting is about making your body use more energy then you add by eating, so the body has to eat your existing fat.
It works. However being overweight usually is the result of other issues. For example people using food to cheer up when they are sad, or to celebrate when they are happy. Neither is wrong, but if you do it all the time you will gain weight. Of course it can also be because of medical issues.
So a lot of people diet, loose weight, stop dieting, and regain weight. So actually finding out what lead to you being overweight in the first place will be harder, but allow you to stay at your comfortable weight.
The solid science is restricting calories is the key to weight loss, and beneficial for diseases like type 2 diabetes.
Any study that shows IF benefits to ameliorate a disease would need to control for caloric restriction.
The way it works is that it provides a very easy framework to make it easier for someone to eat less than if they were not fasting.
If they fasted but still ate an equal amount or more in the allowed eating window then it does not work.
Pretty much every fad diet is based on pseudoscience and intermittent fasting is no exception. The only one I know of which has any real factual basis is that a strict Keto diet can be useful in managing and mitigating early stages of Diabetes.
The main thing for weight loss is always calories in < calories out and always has been and always will be. Any particular diet is only useful for you if it helps you prrsonally maintain a calorie deficit.
Some people have success with intermittent fasting because it helps them control their calories intake. Others have success with grazing because it helps them manage feelings of hunger etc.
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