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Last Updated: Jan 10, 2023
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Intermittent Fasting The Best Tool To Fight Obesity And Diabetes!

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Dr. Samir AnadkatDietitian/Nutritionist • 29 Years Exp.fellowship in diabetes, Professional Training in Mind Body Medicine, Professional Training in Mind Body Medicine, MS, MBBS
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In the earlier days, the food was not as readily available as it is today. For that reason, our ancestors probably did not eat every day. This has made the idea of intermittent fasting popular as a way of losing excess weight and reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Intermittent fasting involves eating a regular diet for five days of a week and lowering your calorific intake to 25% of your usual intake for the remaining two days.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits of this diet.

  1. Weight lossBy fasting intermittently, you are not starving your body but increasing your metabolism rates. This is because when your calorific intake reduces, so does the body’s insulin levels. At the same time, the growth hormone levels may increase. Simultaneously, norepinephrine is sent to the fat cells by the nervous system to break down fat cells into fatty acids that can be used to release energy. As a result of these changes, the rate at which fat burns increases considerably. Thus, while no muscle weight is lost, there could be significant weight loss due to the loss of fat.
  2. Reduced triglyceride and cholesterol levels: When you are forced to lower your calorific intake without compromising on nutrition for your body, your diet will include more fresh fruits and vegetables instead of refined carbs and processed foods. These foods have a low-fat value and bad cholesterol value. However, they do contain good cholesterol that helps remove bad cholesterol from the body and reduce triglyceride levels.
  3. Lower blood pressure: Your diet plays an important role in controlling hypertension. Fasting for one or two days a week can cleanse your system and be very beneficial in lowering blood pressure levels. This is because it increases resistance to oxidative stress and helps reduce inflammation. Lowering of blood pressure levels is also one of the effects of weight loss. Thus, intermittent fasting helps lower blood pressure both directly and indirectly.
  4. Reduced risk of diabetes: Lowering a number of calories being consumed can reduce insulin resistance and in turn lower blood sugar levels. This can protect a person against type 2 diabetes and reduce their risk of suffering from this condition. It also protects a person against kidney damage. However, this effect of intermittent fasting is seen more in men than in women.
  5. Improved brain functioning: Intermittent fasting can also benefit the brain. While it reduces oxidative stress and inflammation, it can promote the growth of new nerve cells that boost brain functioning. In addition, it increases the level of hormones such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (32, 34, 35) that helps prevent depression and other issues.

There are many other variations of intermittent fasting. It is firmly rooted in our Indian tradition too. Eating once a day on certain days of month or week, doing navratri fast etc are some forms of intermittent fasting. There are many scientific protocols developed in recent years to this effectively and result oriented manner. World over intermittent fasting is used by health practitioners to reverse diseases and restore health. All the best!

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

 

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