In the last decade, the fasting diet method or commonly known as Intermittent Fasting has become one of the most popular health trends. This method can help people to regulate their appetite and weight to support optimal health processes.

However, for some people, intermittent fasting is not appropriate. This could be due to medical reasons or its misrepresentation as a nutritious and sustainable diet for all. Discover more about women's health with Nona Blogs

Just like other healthy diets, intermittent fasting also has a method that you must follow in order to get optimal results. However, before we discuss intermittent fasting as a diet and its pros and cons, we will first discuss the meaning of intermittent fasting.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting or fasting diet is a diet method that aims to regulate eating patterns by not eating for a period of time. However, you can consume zero- or low-calorie drinks.

Intermittent fasting is more easily interpreted as an eating pattern where you refrain from consuming any or excessive calories for a long period of time. This process generally lasts between 12 and 40 hours.

During this time, you are still allowed to drink water, coffee, tea and other zero- and low-calorie drinks. You are just not allowed to eat any food or drink that contains more-than-minimal calories.

An example of this method is, if you last ate at 7pm on Monday, then you are not allowed to eat until 7pm on Tuesday.

From this example, we can see that this method does not regulate what food or drink is consumed, but focuses more on what time you can eat and what time you cannot eat. Fasting for almost 24 hours can be difficult to do, and tends to be extreme. For this reason, this method is not recommended for beginners. However, for the fasting time itself, we can actually set and adjust it according to the abilities of each individual.

Intermittent Fasting Diet

As previously explained, intermittent fasting is the same as other diet programs, where this method has varying regulations to reduce food consumption. During this period, you are required to eat food in small portions or not at all.

These are some of the most popular eating patterns in the intermittent fasting diet:

1. 5:2 Diet
   In this 5:2 diet, you reduce the amount of calorie consumption by 25% from the normal amount of consumption, or the equivalent of one serving. On this 5:2 diet, you can eat normally for 5 days a week and limit your calorie intake to between 500-600 on the remaining 2 days.
2. Eat-Stop-Eat This method requires you to stop eating for 24 hours a few days each week. For example, you stop eating at dinner time until the next dinner time comes around. The next day you can stop fasting. You can do this method once or twice a week.
3. 16/8 Method
   This method can also be called the eating method with time restrictions. In this method, you can divide your day into 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating. For example, you eat from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. After that, you can continue fasting for up to 16 hours.

After looking at the above intermittent fasting methods, some people may think this diet is too extreme and will be difficult for some people to do. Intermittent fasting certainly raises pros and cons, especially in the medical and health aspects.

Thus, we will discuss the pros and cons of intermittent fasting so you can decide whether you want to try it.

Pros of Intermittent Fasting 

For some people, intermittent fasting fits into a healthy, long-term diet model and researchers are still finding new health benefits of it.

There are several benefits of intermittent fasting that might interest you:

• Becoming a Sustainable Lifestyle Change
  As explained earlier, the main point of the intermittent fasting diet is actually to regulate our eating patterns. Regulate what foods and drinks can be consumed, and when we should stop or start eating.
  
  This method can be really good for your health because by reducing the number of calories, the body will use stored sugar and fat as an energy source. This can help prevent the risk of developing serious diseases.
  
  
• Be a Supporter of Weight Loss and Improve Metabolic Health
  There are two main reasons for you to try intermittent fasting. First, intermittent fasting can help regulate weight, and second, it can help improve metabolic health.
  
  Several studies have shown that intermittent fasting can be used for weight loss, although it is still not as effective as other diet methods that rely on limiting daily calorie consumption.
  
  Besides being able to reduce calorie intake, intermittent fasting can also support weight loss by regulating appetite to suppress hunger. In addition, by adjusting the diet there are several things that can improve health such as:
• Decreasing blood sugar
• Protecting brain health
• Repairing damaged cells
• Lowering blood pressure

Cons of Intermittent Fasting

Since we have seen the pros or benefits of intermittent fasting, next we will discuss the cons of intermittent fasting.

As explained earlier, intermittent fasting is a pattern or method that aims to regulate calorie intake to improve metabolic health. Although this pattern aims to regulate a healthy eating pattern, intermittent fasting requires some adjustments to a point where not everyone can do it successfully.

• It can cause the body to be unproductive
  According to Loop Cayman, one of the disadvantages of intermittent fasting is that it can cause the body to be unproductive. This is because the body does not have a lot of energy.

• It can cause digestive problems
  In addition, if this pattern is carried out for a long period of time, it is feared that it can cause digestive problems, such as abdominal pain, cramps, and bloating.
  

 

 

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Those are some explanations about intermittent fasting and its pros and cons for health. Before you try this method, it is good if you study the rules and patterns of the diet first and consider its benefits and drawbacks.

You certainly need a healthy body to begin with to undergo the program to avoid its potential downfalls. Thus, you can start by drinking enough water, diligently exercising, getting enough sleep, etc. Good luck!