Thursday 16 April 2020

Why does Intermittent Fasting work?

My wife asked me this question the other day and I was not 100% sure. I mean lets fact it, if it is something in the body then it is probably going to be hormonal in some way. Here we are talking about weight loss my mind would instantly go to insulin regulation, after all that is why low carb worked so well for us. 

Basically when you eat 3 meals and snack then you are likely eating from very early until very late, even eating 3 low carb meals a day you could start eating at 7am and finish at 7-8pm (as I have done when out running late etc.) in this instance you are only fasting over night for 11-12 hours. By eating your 3 meals over the span of 8 hours rather than the 12 mentioned above you are now fasting for 16 hours. As mentioned in the video below if you then go further and eat 2 meals over 4 hours a few times a week you are then going to have some 20 hours fast. 

This graph is copied from this paper (Mattson 2016 et al). Only thing that the above paper is missing is B, 1 day fast, supplemented with the time restricted feeding. 

So basically as expected it comes down to insulin regulation, by restricting your feeding window you are stabilising your insulin (at a low level for longer periods of the day and as insulin is the key between fat storage and usage we are going to see an advantage when it comes to burning fat. I guess this is why IF even works for some people when on a high carb diet. Sure it will take longer to get to the fat burning window but it is reached unlike when said person is in a normal snacking extended eating period.



The paper referred to above shows lots of useful information. It states that there are lots of positive benefits found, at least in mice, when a form of fasting is used. less inflammation, better resistance to stress and more. 

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