Healthy Living: Is intermittent fasting worth it?

WE ALWAYS talk about what to eat to be healthier, but it is just as important to have periods of times when you don’t take in any foods; perform fasts to allow your body and immune system to rest and recover. Intermittent Fasting is currently one of the world's most popular health and fitness trends. Besides having value in weight-loss, its benefits extend beyond that; it can help you live an all-around healthier life too, according to studies involving animals and humans.

By definition, intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that involves regular, short-term fasts, or periods of minimal or no food consumption.

The two most common fasts are the 5:2 and the 16:8, alas eating a healthy diet for 5 days and fasting completely and just drinking water for two days, or the second option, where you fast 16 hours and eat a healthy diet in an 8-hour window – say between 8am till 4pm or 10am till 6pm.

The latter form is also called time-restricted feeding.

The following are 7 promising health benefits of IF as evidenced by preliminary studies:

1: The strongest evidence is on its significant positive impact on insulin and human growth hormone (HGH) levels, namely, to decrease insulin and increase HGH levels, which facilitates fat burning, and in turn has a positive impact on reversing insulin resistance.

2: IF has been found effective in increasing your metabolic rate, helping you burn even more calories, and lose visceral fat, the harmful fat in the abdominal cavity linked to disease.

3: Free radicals are produced every day and damage the delicate strictures of your cells and your DNA, predisposing you to inflammation and cell mutations. Several studies show that IF may enhance the body's resistance to this oxidative stress.

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4: IF has been found to be effective in reducing inflammation. Mount Sinai researchers found that fasting reduces inflammation and improves chronic inflammatory diseases without affecting the immune system's response to acute infections.

5: IF has been found to be beneficial for heart health. Beyond the above points of reducing inflammation, visceral fat and oxidative stress - all contributing to cardiovascular damages, it may also lower triglycerides, LDL and blood pressure.

6: IF shows promise in improving brain health. IF delayed the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease in animal models. It increased longevity, improved cognitive function and reduced brain plaques.

7: One of the most exciting applications of intermittent fasting may be its possibility to extend lifespan. In one study, 2,000 people who had undergone a cardiac catheterization procedure were followed for an average of 4.4 years, including 389 "routine fasters" who had been fasting regularly for at least five years and discovered the routine fasters had a 45% lower mortality rate than the non-fasters during the follow-up period.