Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting, Why it works.
You’ve probably heard of intermittent fasting recently. Over the last 5 to 10 years intermittent fasting has become very popular. Its popularity has risen due to the mass success of this dieting style. The success of intermittent fasting is because it pairs so well with the human bodies overall function. Our bodies are designed to use food as energy when it is available and store any extra potential energy to be used later. This energy storage function is extremely important in be survival of the human body, making us able to have and use energy sources even when not readily available to us. You can make this process work for you to help you lose weight. By giving your body a chance to tap into stored energy you can burn off fat resulting in weight loss.
The issue of obesity is a fairly new issue in the world. Not too long-ago food wasn't so readily available, and people went longer average times between meals. The growth of agriculture, global food trade along with many other variables have changed this drastically over the last century. Now days food is not scarce, and people tend to eat much more than they used to. Some people can eat as much as 6 meals per day. (which is fine if you're trying to gain weight, assuming your Meals are of the healthy variety) But, if your goal is to lose weight, then these type of eating habits will keep you from achieving that goal. If you’re constantly eating then your body is constantly storing away fats to later be tuned into energy, Resulting in weight gain. By fasting you are making your body use up the storage of energy to power the body.
How Intermittent Fasting Works.
We've all heard of insulin, but do you know its role in the body? Insulin is a hormone produced by the body in the pancreas. After we eat our bodies trigger the pancreas to release insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin in bloodstream assists the cells in your body to hold/receive the sugars so that it can be used at a later time. Once insulin levels in the bloodstream go down your body is able to start tapping into this stored glucose. When fasting for a prolonged amount of time your body will realize there's no incoming energy source and start releasing off the stored glucose from its cells converting it to energy.
The fasting times are different for everyone, so you'll want to do a little experimenting to find out what works best for you. A good fasting period is anywhere from 14 to 18 hours. If you eat dinner at 7:00 o'clock at night, then you won't want to eat again the next day until around 11:00 o'clock AM. Depending on your body you might need to extend your fasting time if you don't seem to lose any weight in the first few weeks. Everyone is different, for some people this can happen in only a few hours of fasting and others may take 12 hours or more before the body will start to burn off energy stores.
Give it time
As with any diet or fitness technique you need to give it enough time to have success. Do it for a few weeks before you start to adjust any parts of your dieting technique. Once you have given your body time to adjust to this new dieting schedule you can then adjust your fasting time a little at a time to see what works best for you. It's also important to eat foods that are healthy. If you are feeding your body with foods that don't have nutritional value your body will be relying on storage that are not optimum sources for the body's energy. Remember, put good in get good out.
If you are reading this article it means that you are trying to be more health conscious. Keep doing what you're doing. Research and learn as much as you can about nutrition, fitness and your body. Pay attention to what works and what does not. Overtime your efforts and education will pay off.