Intermittent Fasting: Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting – a new trend is gaining popularity online. In this article, we at CM will tell you what this new trend is all about and what exactly makes it so popular. We’ll explain the benefits, such as increased fat burning and improved cholesterol levels, as well as the downsides, such as headaches and fatigue. You can read about what criticism and what opportunities this fasting concept brings in our article.

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What Is Intermittent Fasting?

How Intermittent Fasting Works

Tips & Experiences for You

Benefits: Fat Burning and Cholesterol Levels

Downsides: Fatigue and Headaches

Criticism of the Fasting Concept

Questions and Answers About Intermittent Fasting

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

“Intermittent” means “interrupted”. The name already gives it away: intermittent fasting is a way of eating in which you alternate between eating and fasting. It’s more of an eating schedule than a diet, since it doesn’t dictate what you should eat, but rather when. Interval fasting is becoming increasingly popular and is especially popular among athletes and for weight-loss reasons. Unlike therapeutic fasting, interval fasting is a form of long-term eating pattern. One reason for the popularity of this type of fasting is that it’s flexible and simple to plan. Unlike the DASH diet …

How Intermittent Fasting Works

There are different methods of interval fasting. Here’s a simple summary of the most popular approaches:

16:8 Method

16:8 method: with this approach, you’re allowed to eat whatever you want for 8 hours. For the following 16 hours, however, you have to skip meals. The fasting phase during sleep is thus extended by a few hours. For example, you could skip breakfast and eat between 12 pm and 8 pm.

5:2 Method

5:2 method: on two days per week, you consume 500 to 600 calories. On the remaining days you can eat whatever you want.

Eat-Stop-Eat

Eat-Stop-Eat: fasting days and eating days alternate. You skip food for 24 hours, and for the following 24 hours you can eat whatever you want.

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Tips & Experiences for You

Interval fasting or intermittent fasting is risk-free for a healthy person. Personal accounts often mention increased resilience and more energy.

You can find experiences and tips on interval fasting here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAt-Hk8FBqU

Benefits: Fat Burning and Cholesterol Levels

Intermittent fasting brings a variety of benefits. In addition to the benefit of losing weight, there are numerous other aspects that speak in favor of interval fasting.

These benefits include:

Increased fat burning
Inhibited inflammatory processes
Improved cholesterol levels
Reduced age-related risk factors

Downsides: Fatigue and Headaches

Some negative side effects show up during the adjustment period, but they usually disappear quickly. These side effects include:

Increased fatigue
Dizziness and headaches
Cravings and bad mood
People with eating disorders and pregnant women should consult their doctor regarding interval fasting.

The benefits that intermittent fasting brings are diverse and reach every corner of the body: fat burning is increased, inflammatory processes are inhibited, blood cholesterol levels improve, and the brain produces more new nerve cells. This reduces age-related risk factors, makes it easier to lose weight, and it’s also plausible that such an eating pattern has a life-extending effect.

Side Effects During the Adjustment Period?

Especially at the beginning, while the body is adjusting, side effects can occur — though they usually subside quickly:

Increased fatigue may occur in the evening, but is often perceived quite positively. Especially in the early days, dizziness and headaches may be felt. We recommend drinking enough to prevent this. In the first few days, cravings and a bad mood can occur, but they usually fade quickly once the body has gotten used to the new eating pattern.
Pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding, as well as people suffering from an eating disorder, should not prioritize interval fasting as their eating pattern. In the case of a chronic illness, you should first consult your trusted doctor.

You’ll learn about the biggest and most common mistakes with intermittent fasting, and how to best avoid them, in this video.

Criticism of the Fasting Concept

The most popular 16:8 hour fasting window fits best into most people’s daily routines, but according to some experts it isn’t the optimal timeframe. There are also warnings against overeating during the eating window. 16 hours, they say, isn’t long enough yet for optimal results. A 20-hour window would be closer to ketosis. The weight loss, they argue, isn’t due to some insulin-metabolism effect, but rather because the excess supply of food is simply left out.

Questions and Answers About Intermittent Fasting

As with all diets, this way of eating raises a lot of questions too. You can find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about intermittent fasting here.

What Does Intermittent Fasting Mean?

Intermittent fasting literally translates to “interrupted” fasting. Because with this type of fasting, it’s not about not eating for as long a period as possible; rather, this type of fasting has more of an interrupted character. For example, there’s the 16-hour fast. After 16 hours, you’re allowed to eat again. So the fasting doesn’t last days or even weeks, but rather only spans a period of hours, which you can also schedule however best fits your individual daily rhythm.

What Is 16-Hour Fasting?

16-hour fasting is a form of intermittent fasting where you should eat nothing for 16 hours. During these 16 hours, only water and unsweetened tea are allowed. For the remaining 8 hours of the day, you can eat whatever you want. Of course, you can also schedule the 16 hours so that you’re asleep for most of that period anyway. For example, you could skip breakfast and then eat in the afternoon, whatever you feel like.

How Good Is Fasting?

Fasting is recommended by many doctors, since it relieves the digestive system and gives it time to recover. It’s also been shown that intermittent fasting significantly improves blood values, and, as described above, a fasting period brings other benefits as well.

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