In the search for a diet plan that will actually work, you may have come across something called ‘intermittent fasting’. While you likely know what fasting is, at least on a basic level, you may not have heard of intermittent fasting previously. Why is it so popular? Could it work for you? With this post, we’d like to discuss this method of eating, so you can consider it for yourself.
Before we get started, it’s important to point out that it’s always necessary to discuss a change in diet with your doctor before getting started. Everyone has unique dietary needs based on their personal health history, so don’t go ahead with intermittent fasting or any other diet plan before talking it over with your healthcare professional.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
The basic idea behind intermittent fasting is that you are going to restrict your feeding time during the day. You will set a schedule for eating at the start of your diet, and you will obey that schedule each day, with as few exceptions as possible. While that might sound difficult and restrictive, it may be a little easier than you expect once you get started.
In fact, intermittent fasting has become popular because of how simply it can be worked into your life. Once you set your schedule based on your personal needs and preferences, you can use that schedule to guide your meals. Where other diets leave some things open for interpretation or have so many rules that it is hard to keep everything straight, intermittent fasting is about as simple and straightforward as it could be. If you like the idea of keeping things simple, be sure to at least give this diet option some careful consideration.
A Couple Examples
To give you a better idea of how intermittent fasting works, let’s walk through a couple of examples. First, we are going to discuss an individual who has decided to perform a 16 hour fast each day. This is often referred to as a 16:8 diet in the intermittent fasting world, as the dieter will take 16 hours off and only eat during an 8-hour window. That might sound incredibly restrictive but remember that sleeping hours count when doing the math.
So, what would a 16:8 intermittent fast look like? The hours you select are entirely up to you and your schedule but allowing yourself to eat between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. would be a common arrangement. Or, if you can’t fit your dinner in before six o’clock arrives, you may wish to eat from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., or even from noon to 8 p.m. The key is to pick a window that matches up nicely with your schedule so it’s not hard to fit your meals within the allotted time frame.
While 16:8 is a great way to go for many people, some will be more restrictive and take their window down to just four hours. Going to 20:4 is something that you may choose to do after having success starting out with 16:8. If you land on a 20:4 routine, it might be that eating from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., or something like that.
It’s All About Time
It’s hard to call intermittent fasting a ‘diet’ per se, as it doesn’t really prescribe any specific foods to consume. Rather, it’s all about the clock. If you restrict your eating to specific hours of the day, you are following along with intermittent fasting as it is meant to be. From there, the rest is up to you.
Now, with that said, are you going to experience good results if you restrict the time you eat, but then go crazy on fast food and sugary snacks during your eating window? Probably not. Even if you did a 23:1 intermittent fasting diet, you could do quite a bit of damage in that one hour if you ate the wrong things. As is always the case when trying to lose weight, you have to be smart about what you eat. The same kinds of foods that tend to show up on every other diet are going to be good choices while you are doing intermittent fasting.
Desirable Flexibility
It might feel restrictive at first to limit the times during which you eat, but as you get into it, you’ll realize the flexibility that is afforded by this plan is really its strong suit. As long as the clock says you can eat, there are no rules to follow. No counting calories (unless you want to), no checking lists to see what you can eat, etc. You’ll want to make smart choices most of the time, but you won’t be breaking any rules if you have something more indulgent from time to time.
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