Is Intermittent Fasting For you?

I believe food can help heal, cure and maintain most diseases. My mother studied nutrition in college so by default my family learned to have a different relationship with food! Food is medicine and everything in moderation was drilled in our heads.

As I’m getting older, my metabolism is slowing down, and I find that losing 5 lbs is not that simple any more and all the old tricks in my back pocket don’t work as efficiently so I’m constantly in the quest to try different eating methods.

I learned about Intermittent fasting almost two years ago and have been doing it ever since. Intermittent Fasting is basically an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn't specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them. In this respect, it's not a diet in the conventional sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern.

Intermittent fasting has recently become a health trend. It’s claimed to cause weight loss, improve metabolic health, and perhaps even extend lifespan. For me, personally, it has helped me maintain my weight and improve metabolic health.

There are a few different ways to follow Intermittent Fasting so it’s important to figure out which method is best suited for you.

Here are 6 popular ways to do intermittent fasting.

1. The 16/8 method

This is the most popular form of intermittent fasting and what I follow. The 16/8 method involves daily fasts of 16 hours for men and 14–15 hours for women. Each day you’ll restrict your eating to an 8–10-hour eating window during which you fit in 2, 3, or more meals.

2. The 5:2 diet

The 5:2 diet, or the Fast Diet, involves eating 500–600 calories for 2 days out of the week and eating normally the other 5 days.

3. Eat Stop Eat

Eat Stop Eat is an intermittent fasting program with one or two 24-hour fasts per week.

4. Alternate-day fasting

Alternate-day fasting has you fast every other day, either by not eating anything or only eating a few hundred calories.

5. The Warrior Diet

The Warrior Diet encourages subsisting on only small amounts of vegetables and fruits during the day, then eating one huge meal at night.

6. Spontaneous meal skipping

Another way to do intermittent fasting is to simply skip one or two meals when you don't feel hungry or don't have time to eat.

Intermittent fasting is a weight loss tool that works for many people, though it doesn't work for everyone.

If you decide to try intermittent fasting, keep in mind that diet quality is crucial. It’s not possible to binge on junk foods during the eating periods and expect to lose weight and boost your health.

If you have tried Intermittent Fasting, we would love to hear from you!