Intermittent Fasting: How to Successfully Lose Weight and Increase Longevity
Learn how intermittent fasting can be a sustainable and healthy way to lose weight and increase longevity
It's January. And if there's anything synonymous with January, it's New Year's resolutions and weight loss.
Your Instagram feed is flooded with programs boasting the latest diet and exercise trends. Gym memberships are up. Maybe you find yourself searching for the latest Fitbit to help you track your progress.
As you've aged and matured, the number on the scale seems less important. You're more focused on how you look and feel. You want energy. You want to feel strong and flexible in your body. You want to move without pain and age well.
And let us not forget some of the diseases brought on by aging.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease
Diabetes Type II
Cancer
But what if there’s a way you could prevent them? What if you could lower your risk of cancer?
Weight loss isn't just how you look and feel. It can be a path to living your best life as you age and longevity.
Unfortunately, Americans considered to be a “healthy weight” are now in the minority. And money spent treating health problems related to being overweight or obese is over 90 billion dollars per year.(1) And it's no wonder that Americans are looking to lose weight. A Gallup poll shows in the last 20 years, on average, women have gained 11 lbs and men 6 lbs.
If you feel anything like your Instagram feed which is packed with diets, new fads, and weight loss programs. You're left feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to start when it comes to making a lasting impact on your health and weight loss journey. Intermittent fasting has gained popularity in the last several years.
Between 2017 and 2021, 55% of Americans say they would like to lose weight. And about 25% of all Americans are actively trying to lose weight.(1)
So the question is, does intermittent fasting have a lasting place in our quest to lose weight and gain health? Or is it the latest fad to fall away when the newest celebrity trend hits the headlines?
In today's blog, I’ll give you an overview of intermittent fasting and help you discover if this could help you in your weight loss journey.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Simply put, intermittent fasting is a length of time spent without eating. Although we put it in the diet category, it's not about what you eat but when you eat. People who participate in intermittent fasting most often don’t change the type of food they eat, but shorten the windows of time spent eating and lengthen the windows of time spent fasting.
Although intermittent fasting has gained popularity in recent years, it’s not a new practice. In fact, when humans spent most of their time hunting and gathering they would go long periods of time between meals.
Many religious practices include fasting as part of their religious practices. Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims all include fasting as a way to prepare for specific religious ceremonies or during specific times of the year.(2)
Outside of religious practices, most people who participate in intermittent fasting do so following one of these methods:
Alternate-Day Fasting
Alternate-Day Fasting is fasting for one day (eating <500 calories) and eating regular meals on alternate days.
5:2 Fasting
5:2 Fasting is where you eat your regular diet for five days and then fast for the remaining two days, eating <500 calories on each of your fasting days. A variation of the 5:2 diet is fasting for two days of the week, but the days are not consecutive.
Time-Restricted Eating
Time-Restricted Eating refers to a period of time during the day when you're allowed to eat. This is often an eight-hour window where you consume your calories of unrestricted foods and then fast for the remaining 16 hours.
Recent studies suggest the current window of time most humans eat is 14.5 hours. The biggest difference between time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting for weight loss is that time-restricted eating is aligned with the biological day as compared to intermittent fasting which implies fasting for a 24-hour period or longer.(2)
How Does Intermittent Fasting Help You Lose Weight?
Intermittent fasting helps you lose weight by allowing time for your body to burn through the calories you’ve eaten and allows for time to burn fat as an alternate energy source.
When you eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day, your body is taking in a regular supply of energy. Calories are converted into sugar to fuel the body. When your body no longer needs fuel to function the excess sugar is then stored as fat.
Intermittent fasting allows the body time to burn off excess sugar and switch to burning fat as an alternate fuel source helping you to lose weight and improve your body composition. This process is called metabolic switching.(3)
So what does this all mean? A 2019 review of 11 randomized controlled studies found most overweight and obese people who participated in the form of intermittent fasting had a weight loss of 3-8% of their total body weight.(4)
But this is not the only benefit of intermittent fasting.
The Benefits of Fasting Go Beyond Weight Loss
More and more research suggests the benefits of intermittent fasting go beyond weight loss and help prevent or reverse diseases commonly seen with aging.
Type II Diabetes
Type II Diabetes occurs when your body is unable to burn excess glucose found in the body. Intermittent fasting helps to stimulate the insulin receptors in the body, helping your muscles and liver burn the added glucose. Having excess glucose in the body can also contribute to added inflammation found in the body which puts more stress on other systems of the body, including the brain, liver, and the heart.
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease includes symptoms like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor heart rate, and insulin resistance. These symptoms not only can cause heart disease but also increase your risk of stroke. Intermittent fasting has been shown to lower blood pressure, improve your heart rate, enhance your physical fitness, and lower your cholesterol.
Neurological disorders
Neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and stroke, are all thought to have impaired mitochondrial function within the cells of the body. In a previous blog, Why Boosting Your Mitochondrial Function is the Key to Living a Long and More Vibrant Life, I go in-depth talking about how mitochondrial function relates to aging and dis-ease.
Intermittent fasting helps to protect our cells against oxidative stress and damage to the mitochondria delaying and potentially preventing the onset of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Traumatic injuries
Traumatic injuries, including spinal cord injuries and peripheral neuropathy, have been shown to benefit from intermittent fasting when practiced prior to an injury and continued after an injury. Some studies show improvements in overall nerve conduction and a reduction in spinal cord lesions. In short, intermittent fasting helps healing following an injury.
Cancer prevention
Intermittent fasting and periodic fasting (fasting for 2 days or more) have been shown to be as effective as chemotherapy. And decrease the widespread of specific cancers. Intermittent fasting also can protect normal cells from the toxic effects of chemotherapy treatments.
The potential benefits of intermittent fasting are profound. And there continues to be emerging evidence demonstrating its benefits related to cancer prevention and multiple sclerosis.(5)
But you may be thinking, is it safe? Are there any side effects?
How Safe is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. Children and teens under the age of 18 years old should not participate in fasting.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, people who have type I diabetes, and those who have a history of eating disorders should not practice intermittent fasting.
For women, the phase of your cycle is also an important factor to keep in mind. (6)
And you should always consult with your healthcare provider to discuss if intermittent fasting is right for you.(7)
Some side effects you may experience include:
Hunger
Fatigue
Insomnia
Irritability
Decreased concentration
Nausea
Constipation
Headaches
For most people, these side effects go away within one month. And the benefits of intermittent fasting far out way momentary discomfort. But this is also why I recommend you talk with your doctor when starting a new health routine.(8)
Denver Sports and Holistic Medicine Is Your Expert in Weight Loss
With all the information out there about weight loss, knowing where to start can seem overwhelming. And diet, no matter which one you subscribe to, is only one piece of the puzzle.
But don't worry. Dr. Martina Sturm at Denver Sports and Holistic Medicine partners with you to help you achieve your ideal weight in a holistic and sustainable way.
I, Dr. Martina Sturm, will discuss your comprehensive health history and lifestyle habits. This helps me understand what's been working and what isn’t. I dig deep to help discover what may be preventing your weight loss. I uses functional lab testing to identify underlying causes that may be leading to your weight gain, such as:
Hormone imbalances
Poor sleep
Stress
Poorly functioning detoxification pathways
Gut health issues
From here, Dr. Martina will work with you to create an easy-to-follow holistic weight loss plan. A plan that's sustainable for years to come. She will provide you with:
A nutrition and lifestyle plan
High-quality nutritional supplementation, nutraceuticals, and herbal medicine
Acupuncture
Weight loss injections
At Denver Sports and Holistic Medicine, Dr. Martina is committed to walking with you during your weight loss journey. By finding the root cause of your weight gain, you’ll find effective ways to help you reach your optimal weight, so you look and feel better than ever.
Why wait when you only have weight to lose? Request your free 15-minute consultation with Dr. Martina today and get started.
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