The Intermittent Fasting Diet Plan Guide
Before beginning the intermittent fasting diet, learn everything you need to know about it, including its history, rules, and components as well as the science behind it.
A nutritional concept known as intermittent fasting entails either long stretches of fasting followed by brief windows of eating, or 24 hours of fasting followed by 24 hours of eating (this is referred to as alternate-day fasting).
There are many types of intermittent fasting, but the most common protocol involves a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour window for eating.
The fundamental concepts behind intermittent fasting are as follows:
increasing the amount of time your body spends burning fat
reducing the system’s overall insulin load Increased energy
lengthened lifespan.
Recently, a number of significant investigations were conducted to see how these claims compared to the research, and the findings were rather intriguing.
History Behind Intermittent Fasting
Since Martin Berkhan is primarily to blame for the diet’s broad popularity in the bodybuilding and figure competition communities, it is frequently thought that intermittent fasting as it is generally understood and practiced started with him. But the concept of fasting as a nutritional principle has a much longer history.
According to Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, eating while ill feeds the illness. “Instead of using the medicine, better fast today” is credited to Plutarch, an additional ancient Greek author, and historian. Benjamin Franklin, a more modern founding father, once said, “The best of all medicines is resting and fasting.”
Thus, while intermittent fasting has recently gained popularity and entered mainstream health and fitness culture, the concept of fasting has existed since the beginning of civilization.
General Overview of Components & Main Principles of Intermittent Fasting
A nutritional philosophy known as intermittent fasting makes use of fasting and feasting intervals. There are many types of intermittent fasting, but the most common protocol involves a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour window for eating.
In general, intermittent fasting does not prohibit any foods and does not by design prescribe any exact calorie allotments, macronutrient ratios, or a list of acceptable or bad items to eat.
Meal Timing/Frequency
Intermittent fasting, in contrast to many other dietary frameworks or regimens, largely depends on the frequency and timing of meals. Intermittent fasting often adopts a 16-hour window for fasting, followed by an 8-hour window for eating.
During the feasting window, the majority of people will eat 1-2 relatively large meals, though you can also have multiple little meals at different times. Other methods of fasting, like the alternative day fast, call for a 24-hour fast, followed by an identical 24-hour period of feasting.
Restrictions/Limitations
There are no hard and fast food restrictions or limitations aside from the timing constraints and limitations. The feasting window is frequently regarded as an “anything goes” period.
But in reality, those who benefit from intermittent fasting the most frequently use another dietary plan (like IIFYM or flexible dieting) to give their food consumption during the feasting window some structure.
Does it Include Phases?
Although some people go through fasting cycles where they spend lengthy periods following the fasting protocols and then periods eating normally, intermittent fasting does not involve any stages in its nutritional program.
Who is it Best Suited For?
The ideal candidates for intermittent fasting are those with busy schedules who would prefer to pack their meals into one or two meals a day rather than space them out throughout the day. Fasting is a great way to change one’s eating patterns and learn how to control hunger cues.
Shortening the time spent eating during the day can frequently lower total calories, making intermittent fasting a good method for helping people control their calorie intake.
How Easy Is it to Follow?
Because it does not restrict or limit food intake, permits eating without meticulous calorie counting, and won’t interfere with your social life (you can still go out to eat and order off the menu), intermittent fasting is simple to follow. Additionally, since cooking, eating, and cleaning up take less time, it can greatly simplify life.
It might be challenging for some people who enjoy the preparation and eating of food; it can also be challenging for persons who have difficulty learning to control their appetite during the early stages of following a diet.
Mainstream Belief Behind Diet
Intermittent fasting is generally accepted to have some health and weight loss advantages over the standard 3-meal-per-day regimen and to unlock some parts of human evolution.
The following ideas underlie intermittent fasting:
increasing the amount of time your body spends burning fat
reducing the overall insulin load on the body increases longevity and energy levels.
Scientific Studies and Interpretation of Data
Numerous research has examined the advantages of using intermittent fasting as a strategy to encourage fat loss.
As was previously said, ancient civilizations had the belief that fasting might have positive effects on one’s health.
Many of the fundamental hypotheses about the overall health advantages of fasting still hold true today, however, it is still debatable whether or not this is mainly due to calorie restriction.
The studies that have been done to present these advantages on an unbiased basis are summarised below.
Fat Loss Benefits
The ability to lose fat via intermittent fasting is one of its main marketing points. Numerous research, including those using alternate-day fasting and even the intermittent fasting regimen, have looked into the impact of meal frequency on fat loss.
Social media and fitness forums dismissed these studies for a while because they weren’t actual studies of the particular intermittent fasting protocol; however, recently, one study was carried out using the conventional 16/8 fasting/feasting protocol as recommended by conventional intermittent fasting protocols1.
In this study, those who used the intermittent fasting protocol did shed roughly 3.5 pounds more fat than those who followed a typical diet, but this also happened at the same time as they consumed fewer calories, suggesting that the reason for the greater fat loss was probably related to lower calorie intake.
The fact that “Testosterone and IGF-1 levels decreased, levels of several pro-inflammatory cytokines decreased, levels of cortisol increased, levels of insulin and blood glucose decreased, levels of triglyceride levels decreased, levels of T3 levels decreased, and levels of RER decreased slightly” is one of the study’s more intriguing findings, according to Greg Nuckols.
All of those are things you could anticipate finding in a calorie deficit. It’s also true that the IF group had a very minor calorie deficit (less than 10% below maintenance), which is probably not enough of a deficit to account for those effects.
Overall, this research suggests that IF “tricks” your body into believing you’re dieting, even if you’re at (or close to) calorie maintenance, in a manner that’s generally consistent with enhanced health and longevity”2.
Muscle Building Benefits
When calories are kept constant, it appears from a close examination of the fasting literature that intermittent fasting does not appear to offer any significant benefits to muscle growth.
Due to increased cellular cleansing activities (including autophagy and the heat shock protein response), fasting durations may enhance the quality of muscle tissue3,4,5. However, this research is still in its early stages and is largely conjecture at this moment.
Overall Health Benefits
The impact of fasting on general health and longevity may be the most fascinating of all the areas of research on fasting. Periods of fasting extend the life and enhance a number of metabolic markers as these animals age, according to various studies in animal models6, 7.
Increases in autophagy—a cellular “cleaning process”—may be the most well-known effect of fasting. Although there is some solid animal evidence that fasting may lengthen life, there is only short-term data on people and no long-term data is available, so much of this is still conjecture8.
Conclusion
A flexible approach to dieting that allows for food consumption, intermittent fasting may have special metabolic advantages for longevity and health. Because it allows you to limit your calorie intake, intermittent fasting can be a great technique for fat loss.
The well-known intermittent fasting pattern of a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour window for eating can be adopted, as can the alternate-day fasting strategy of a 24-hour fast followed by a 24-hour feast. Due to the fact that it does not restrict or limit food intake and permits eating without meticulously calculating calories, intermittent fasting is simple to adhere to.