Perhaps you've heard all sorts of advice about how to eat to lose weight and improve your health. However, regardless of what they say, they contain the same message: never skip meals. Intermittent fasting diet therefore goes against conventions.
Intermittent fasting diet (IF) has one simple rule: skip meals. In the traditional sense, you eat at least three meals a day (sometimes six, if you break them into smaller ones). In IF, you skip at least one of them, and you are allowed to eat in a specific time frame (or window) such as 4 hours or 6 hours. The basic premise is that the fewer calories you take in a day, the higher the chances of losing weight. Moreover, studies suggest that the body is most is more receptive of insulin after a person has fasted.
There are many subtypes of this diet. One of these is called Lean Gains designed by Martain Berkhan. It's considered ideal for those who want to build muscle mass while losing body fat. Fasting occurs for 14 hours for women and 16 hours for men. The rest of the time can be used for eating.
There's also Eat Stop Eat, which states you fast for a day at least once a week.
It doesn't really matter, though, which of these IFs you wish to follow. The main rules are the same. First, find the best fasting schedule for yourself and be consistent with it. This is to prevent any adverse reaction from your hormones.
Second, although you're not allowed to eat, you can drink to keep yourself hydrated and to stave off hunger. These include water, coffee, or tea. Avoid drinking sugary since you don't want to create a sudden sugar spike, which will only make you feel hungry. Besides, it defeats the purpose of going into IF.
Third, you are not required to go on with 100% fasting especially if you're just starting out. Again, the rule is consistency.
Fourth, just because you have some time to eat doesn't have to mean you can eat just about anything. Stick to healthy, whole, unprocessed food so you can truly reap the benefits of the plan.
