Do you want to lose weight? Decrease inflammation in your body? Decrease blood pressure? Improve blood sugar? Improve your memory? Prevent dementia? And even possibly extent your life?
Then you should look at a way to restrict your calories intake.
There are different types of calorie restricted dieting:
- Intermittent fasting (IF): Fasting for varying periods of time, typically for 12 hours or longer.
- Calorie restriction (CR): Continuous reduction in caloric intake without malnutrition.
- Time-restricted feeding (TRF): Restricting food intake to specific time periods of the day, typically to 8 hours each day.
- Alternate-day fasting (ADF): Consuming no calories on fasting days and alternating fasting days with a day of unrestricted food intake, or a ‘‘feast’’ day.
- Alternate-day modified fasting (ADMF): Consuming less than 25% of baseline energy needs on ‘‘fasting’’ days, alternated with a day of unrestricted food intake, or a ‘‘feast’’ day.
- Periodic fasting (PF): Fasting only 1-2 days per week and consuming food ad libitum on the other 5-6 days per week.
Intermittent fasting continues to gain attention within scientific and medical communities, as an increasing number of studies demonstrate that some form of caloric restriction may decrease disease risks and regenerate numerous areas of health.
While prolonged fasting or severe calorie restriction can be difficult and potentially dangerous, intermittent fasting (IF) and fasting-mimicking diets (FMD) are much less restrictive.
IF causes a metabolic switch from glucose to fatty-acid derived ketones and represents an evolutionary conserved trigger point that shifts metabolism from lipid/cholesterol synthesis and fat storage with weight gain and diabetes —-> to mobilization of fat through fatty-acid oxidation and fatty-acid derived ketones, which serve to preserve muscle mass and function. In essence, IF allows the body to use its stored energy. After all, that’s what it is there for. Thus, it improves body composition in overweight individuals. [1]
A growing body of clinical and scientific data suggest these modified forms of fasting can have significant benefits for critical areas of health, including glucose regulation, cardiovascular function, blood pressure control, inflammatory response and more. [2]
A recent observational study showed that Intermittent Fasting, using an alternate-day fasting program for ten months, eliminated the need for diabetes medication. [3]
While the benefits of IF continue to emerge in published literature, more practitioners are recommending this relatively simple approach for their patients as a promising strategy to improve numerous areas of health.
For benefits of Fast Mimicking Diet (FMD) please see my blog from 4/24/17.
For more information on intermittent fasting and other ways to improve your health, please schedule an appointment with Dr. Koganski 215-750-7000 or https://www.NewtownInternalMedicine.com
References:
[1] Stephen D Anton, et al. Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting. Obesity(2018)26, 254-268. doi:10.1002/oby.22065
[2] Kelsey Gabel et al. Effects of 8-hour time restricted feeding on body weight and metabolic disease risk factors in obese adults: A pilot study. Nutrition and Healthy Aging 4 (2018) 345–353 DOI 10.3233/NHA-170036
[3] Suleiman Furmli et al. Therapeutic use of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an alternative to insulin. Case Reports 2018;2018:bcr-2017-221854
Tags:
intermittent fasting
time restricted feeding
periodic fasting
fast mimicking diet
obesity
diabetes
weight loss
blood pressure
memory loss
dementia
