Intermittent Fasting (IF) and Time Restricted Eating (TRE) are here to stay.
And for good reasons:
Intermittent fasting is a way to get the benefits of a regular calorie reduced diet without restricting what you eat, just when you eat it.
Intermittent fasting reduces both weight and fat, and can improve blood sugar and blood lipids. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure and some markers of inflammation. Many animal studies show improvements in brain health too.
While these benefits of IF are similar to those with calorie reduced diets, IF has some key advantages including being easier for some people to stick with and it might help people eat more intentionally.
There is also evidence that IF preferentially reduces fat while preserving muscle and may help our bodies become more “metabolically flexible.”
More research is needed to really understand long-term benefits of IF on the body and brain, as well as which IF approach is optimal for different people and different health goals.
IF is one way that women in menopause can manage their hormonal weight gain. Just remember, the studies show that women often do better on a relatively short IF schedule (like 12 hours is enough to get benefits!).
So no reason not to start.
I like to make myself butter teas and Bulletproof type coffees when I am not quite into fasting.
They help me to get closer to a fasted state. Using foods they consist of mainly fibre, water and fat (the types of foods that would be on a keto diet) is sometimes called being on a fasting-mimicking diet.
We can explore that idea in future posts.
xoxo
Dana
As promised, the science:
References:
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