Health / Food / Productivity
5 Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Is Improving My Life
And how you can also get started easily
I practice intermittent fasting for half a year now. I don’t regret this decision a single bit. The change brings me a huge number of advantages.
Intermittent fasting is also called interval fasting sometimes. This type of fasting is not about a one-time sacrifice but a permanent change. That can’t be healthy at all, many think.
But there are many scientific indications that fasting is healthy. Thus, in one study, fasting mice became older than the comparison group¹.
Here’s how Intermittent Fasting positively impacts my life and how you can make it happen too. First, let me explain how exactly I fast.
What is 16:8 intermitting fasting?
16 to 8 fasting is the kind of fasting I do every day.
It is straightforward: Within 8 hours, you are allowed to eat. Within the remaining 16 hours, not. This also applies to snacks.
Example: I eat breakfast at 11 a.m., and the last meal before 7 p.m. I ate only within 8 hours.
How much and what to eat does not matter for 16:8-fasting. Nor does the question of how many meals, i.e., whether one should eat only breakfast and dinner, for example.
Essentially, it’s just a matter of sticking to that time window.
Most people eat two meals within 8 hours.
Having two meals instead of the usual three sounds like a sacrifice — but it must not be accurate. In most cases, the two portions are larger. This is a significant advantage. Here is why.
1. I am much more productive
After eating, many people first feel an urge to lie down in bed or on the sofa. The body uses energy for digestion, and we notice this. Performance decreases.
It’s a terrible problem to have such a drop in performance, especially at lunchtime. It always threw me completely off track.
Thanks to intermittent fasting, I only eat in the morning & evening. There is no performance slump at noon/afternoon.
Directly to this belongs the advantage that I have more time. We will get to that now.
2. I have more time
Eating takes time—both the preparation and the consumption.
Cutting down to 2 meals a day can save a lot of time. Even if you still eat the same amount in total.
The reason is simple: cooking more doesn’t always cost more time. Cooking one portion of pasta in the crockpot takes the same amount of time as cooking two servings.
By eating one less meal, I save a tremendous amount of time — and the food intake is healthier. In fact, we should eat for 20 minutes. But most people are way too quickly because they are in a hurry. As a result, they eat too much or even get digestive problems.
3. I am more sportive
In the morning, we often have a tight schedule.
Besides eating, there is hardly any time left for sports. Right after eating, a workout is not a good idea anyway. That’s exactly why many people skip early morning sports.
Intermittent fasting can guarantee the necessary time for sports in the morning — but not only that. Working out on a full stomach makes no sense.
Exercising with a relatively empty stomach works much better.
4. I sleep better
With a full stomach, we get tired, but sleep is not ideal under these circumstances.
Experts recommend waiting at least three hours after you’ve eaten to go to bed².
At least 3 hours is not so easy. Especially not if you eat snacks in between.
Thanks to intermittent fasting, I eat dinner very early — usually 4 or 5 hours before I go to sleep. Therefore I sleep much better, but without going hungry.
5. I spend less money on food
Every one of us orders or picks up food from time to time. Most of all, I order in the evening at lockdown from restaurants I want to support. During the lunch break, many people buy something to eat at a snack bar or bakery.
I don’t have to explain to anyone that ready-made food is much more expensive than cooking it yourself.
Thanks to intermittent fasting, I don’t have to eat lunch during work hours — I don’t have to cook, and I don’t have to buy food. That saves a lot of money in the long run.
Preparing less different food can save money that we don’t even realize we are wasting.
The cost of food is not actually incurred when we buy it, but when we have to throw away uneaten food — an absolute waste of money.
The more different things you cook, the more unique things you have to buy: That one sauce for dinner, a specific vegetable for a bowl at lunch, Bananas for breakfast.
Sooner or later, everything runs out, and we’ve effectively wasted money.
By cooking fewer different things, I buy fewer different things — and save by throwing less away.
How you can get started
You may want to give intermittent fasting a chance now. It’s not that difficult to start — there’s just one challenge.
Getting started
16:8 intermittent fasting means not eating for 16 hours and being allowed to eat within 8 hours. Many people consciously set themselves to eat only two meals a day — in my case, it came naturally.
If you used to eat three meals a day, you have to make the switch now. In the first 24 hours, this usually means starving. But don’t worry, as soon as you have managed this step, it indeed won’t happen again.
Now you have to pay attention to something else, which I recommend to everyone, regardless of fasting.
Eating properly
As already mentioned, in my case, it was pretty automatic that I switched to two meals a day.
In my estimation, the body switches to completely different amounts that you eat because of the limited time window. I notice this, especially at breakfast. When I then eat something again after 16 hours, I eat a lot. But then I’m so full that I don’t feel hungry until the evening, usually just a little bit.
So be prepared for your body to get in two meals a day what it would otherwise have gotten in three. Especially if the morning amounts are drastically more, this, of course, takes more time. It’s essential to also commit to eating at your leisure. Giving your feeling of satiety a chance is necessary for a healthy diet.
But thanks to your time savings, you can and should be able to take this time.
There is a simple tip for a healthy meal duration: After each bite, you put your cutlery away again. Then grab it again for the next bite. Of course, this seems cumbersome, but it helps to eat at the right speed.
Source
[1]: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/fasting-increases-health-lifespan-male-mice