Are you confused about fasting, intermittent fasting, calorie restricted eating, eating windows….phew it’s hardly surprising is it?
This week I talk about how fasting has been a part of our heritage. However in our past it was usually religious or cultural and often had spiritual elements.
In modern times it is being used as a way to restrict calorific intake and as a weight management tool.
The terms such as intermittent fasting, hunger diet, 5:2 25:5 are all ways to dramatically reduce your calories on a certain number of days a week or month. Usually restricting them to 500 calories on the fasting days. Whilst Wendy agrees that this has been shown as a successful way to help overweight people lose weight. The studies generally take overweight people with a very poor diet. What we don’t have for comparison is a study that took the same people (or half the group) and encouraged them to simply eat a diet filled with whole naturally food. Her personal opinion is that this would offer similar beneficial results.
The terms 18:6 16:8 and 12:12 are regarding a time restricted eating window, or a fasting window, which ever side of the coin you prefer. Wendy has this as a preference, but worries about the smaller eating window allowing enough time to get all the beneficial nutrients on a daily basis.
My preference is to give our guts adequate time to heal by allowing a minimum of 12 hours per day food free. And by ensuring the last meal of the day is at least 3 hours before bed you are giving your guts the best chance to repair and rest overnight. There was a study done by US Army where they showed that eating earlier in the day was more beneficial to weight loss than eating the same food later in the day.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/eat-more-calories-in-the-morning-to-lose-weight/
As always share my personal views and opinions on why these certain diets my or may not be beneficial. My focus is always on ensuring optimal health rather than just weight loss results.
To find out more about my membership DITCH THE DIET which was designed to help people who have tried traditional dieting and realise that it just doesn’t work. It is an educational and supportive group, I share lots of information, recipes and advice to support you to make your own choices and ultimately create your own diet.