Five Things You Should Know About Intermittent Fasting

The reason why skipping meals works for weight loss

When we speak of intermittent fasting, most people get frightened without realizing they are already doing it. Intermittent fasting simply means a period of time you aren’t eating.

Let’s get this straight! We all have 24 hours a day, and we spend seven to eight hours sleeping. This means in a whole day, we do not eat for eight hours.

In other words, if you can go through eight hours at night sleeping without eating, then you can do two hours fast in the day.

The reason most people don’t believe they can skip meals for two hours in the day is because they have been told that skipping a meal is bad for their health and that it causes some kind of eating disorder. So they make it a habit to eat without skipping meals.

Whether dry fasting or water fasting, you should choose the hours you can handle and gradually progress. However, keep these facts about intermittent fasting in mind so that you get the best results.

Intermittent fasting controls your hunger

Intermittent fasting is a great way to control hunger, but it will be difficult, especially if you have a routine in place. You have to realize that hunger is just a physical sensation. When you are hungry, it doesn’t mean your body is in danger. And it doesn’t mean you will die if you don’t eat.

With that in mind, you shouldn’t worry about the sensations because your body has it under control.

Although there are times you will feel like you are hungry, what you actually need is fluid. This is the time you binge on junk food and snacks. And there are times you won’t feel hungry at all, and you extend your fasting period until you begin to feel actual hunger.

Skipping meals restores balance

We gain weight from eating more food than we should, which causes our bodies to shut down. Weight gain is an imbalance between the in and out of the body. Our hormones, particularly insulin, are responsible for weight gain.

Whenever we eat food, the insulin goes up because insulin takes blood sugar into the cell, where we can use some of it as energy and then store the rest for the future.

So when you eat too often, you trigger insulin too often without allowing some time between meals for the insulin to come down. If this happens more frequently over a long period, you risk triggering insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance causes an imbalance in storage and usage, leading to more hunger and craving. Fasting, however, shifts the imbalance between storage and usage because your body doesn’t have access to the food that triggers insulin resistance.

It’s a safe and healthy practice

Most people avoid intermittent fasting because they think it is an eating disorder. Some say intermittent fasting is a replica of Bulimia.

Bulimia is when someone has an unhealthy emotional relationship with food. You feel guilty about food, so you deprive yourself of food. And when you can no longer endure it, you compensate with excess.

Although it’s true intermittent fasting can mimic Bulimia. The difference is when you’re fasting, you build a healthy relationship with food because it reduces cravings and hunger over time.

It makes you drink more water

It is said that when you eat less, you forget to drink. In reality, it is the opposite. When you reduce how you eat, you are likely to drink more water. You will be forced to carry a water bottle around in order to fill up hunger cravings.

It’s important to note that there will be some distress when you are trying to change a pattern, habits and expectations in the body. You will experience mood swings, low energy, and increased cortisol due to the stress.

These changes occur because the body is trying to get over a carb addiction in which you’ve been providing blood sugar by eating hourly.

However, these changes occur on the first four days of the exercise, but after that, you feel it less. So what you need to do is compare the short-term discomfort to the long-term benefits.

Intermittent fasting is liberating

An eating disorder is when the food controls you. So whether you have a traditional eating disorder or you eat six times a day, and you can’t live without that, it means food is controlling you.

When food controls you, it controls your energy level, your mood, and your schedules. If you have to eat to feel good, then food becomes a drug.

With intermittent fasting, you learn to eat when it is convenient. You will have more time to yourself because you cook and eat less.

Over time, you will have more control over your food habit. You will feel much less hunger and cravings. You may even incorporate intermittent fasting in your wellness routine.

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