Is Intermittent Fasting Effective?

Intermittent e fasting is type of diet that have been followed around the world for the purpose of losing weight and gaining control on eating habits as well as avoiding unnecessary binge eating. The question here is that is intermediate fasting effective for all the reasons mentioned? Or is it just another fad diet in the market? Can a nutritionist recommend you this sort of diet? Well, the answer is in the blog so I suggest you keep reading.

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting is a cycle of fasting and eating. Intermittent fasting tells you the time period of fasting in a day or week. However, presently there are no guidelines given about what foods to eat and what to avoid.

Types of intermittent fasting

The different type of intermittent fasting exists that involves different fasting periods. A person can choose which suits him/her best and can start with it. First, let’s talk in detail what time periods are available to an individual to choose from or what are the different types.

The 16/8 Method

The one and only rule of this diet is that you have to fast for about 16 hours every day and the rest of 8 hours of the day are for eating. During the fasting time, you are allowed water, coffee and tea. Most of the people prefer the time period of noon to 8 pm.

Eat-Stop-Eat

This type of intermittent fasting requires the person to fast from dinner to the next day dinner, that’s about approximately 24 hours fast. A person can do this once a week or even twice. This may require lots of patience to fast for entire day. Proper hydration is strongly recommended for this diet.

5:2 Diet

This sort of diet encourages a person to eat 25% of their recommended calories for two days and eat normally for the next 5 days of the week. For most people, 25% calories from recommended intake falls between 500 – 600 calories (it can differ from person to person depending upon their caloric requirement).

Nutritionist point of view

As these diets claim that they are an effective strategy towards weight loss, one can’t deny that the will aid in the weight loss process. However, the main question to ask is that are they healthy for the human body and are they more effective than the other traditional methods? Let’s talk in detail

Where the 16/8 method is considered, it requires you to fast for 16 hours a day and does not abstain you from taking in your required calories. It also promotes weight loss and increases your metabolism according to studies. Apart from that, it may lead to individuals eating more during their eating period ( not everyone but for some and can present a huge problem). Also, this diet may not be for everyone and one should consult his/her dietitian before starting this (specially people with health issues).

In eat-stop-eat method, there is an obvious weight loss through caloric deficit. However, no evidence is present that indicates that fasting for the whole day will be more effective than being on caloric deficit every day. More research is still needed to prove benefits of such diets, Also, if one is not eating right during the eating period then nutrients deficiency can occur. Your food choices should be healthy.

5:2 diet is another diet that encourages you to be on caloric deficit for two days in a week and eat normal for the rest of the five day of the week.

The main drawback of these diets is that no information regarding what kinds of food one should be eating and the ones to be avoiding is present at the moment. This way, a person could be eating a fast food meal which has calories more than 1500 which could be more than his/her maintenance calories. So, he/she wouldn’t be on a caloric deficit anymore and that kills the main idea of intermittent fasting which is to be on a caloric deficit.

Next drawback that I have noticed is that after the fasting period is over and an individual is allowed to eat. Their poor dietary choice as well as the need to reward themselves for being able to fast for the required time period will make the whole experience a fail. Thus, abolishing the whole purpose of fasting.

According to a 2017 research that was published in American Medical Association, intermittent fasting did not help more in the weight loss process than any other traditional practice. Participants who practiced alternate-day fasting and those who went caloric deficit lost the same amount of weight over a period of one year.

My Verdict

Intermittent fasting is a good option as long as you are having nutrient dense meals, not binge eating and not doing it too much (by that I mean, not doing extra fasting, must stick to the rules of it). However, if you can’t control your cravings and eat a little too much during eating period then I strongly advise against this diet as you will not be losing weight instead you will be gaining more than ever. Intermittent fasting may be easy and cheap but it requires you to be fully committed in order to carry this out as well as not give in to the cravings. Lastly, consult your dietitian before starting it.