SHARES
“My family and I would fast on religious occasions. Lately, I notice that more and more people around me are discussing about the health effects of fasting. Is that true?” Azim, 43, is curious about the impact of fasting on our health.
In fact, it is a healthy habit to fast. This is widely practised by people around the world throughout history. It benefits our health as a whole. Having said that, if you are pregnant/ breast-feeding, diabetic, or unsure if fasting is suitable for you, make sure you talk to your family doctor to learn what best suits you.
Intermittent fasting is skipping one or two meals. It is a way of fasting, usually carried out by limiting our daily eating to a 6-8 hours window of time.
Photo by EpicTop10.com from Flickr
Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
1. Lose Weight
We boost our body metabolism when we fast. In this sense, the body releases hormone (noradrenaline) that increases breakdown of fat when we fast. Also, by reducing the number of meals we eat, we can also restrict our total calorie intake.
Having said so, we can easily overeat when we are hungry, especially when we break fast. This may in turn result in higher calorie intake than usual. Therefore, cut down on your number of meals and total calorie intake to gain the maximal benefit of weight loss.
2. Lower Risk for Diabetes
Intermittent fasting can help reduce insulin resistance in people with pre-diabetes. This increases our body metabolism and burn more fat. On top of that, we also gets rid of nighttime eating which is highly associated with obesity and diabetes.
3. Less Inflammation
Oxidative stress causes body inflammation. This leads to many chronic diseases and accelerate the ageing process. In this context, fasting can decrease the number of oxidative free radicals in our body and reduce inflammation. Hence, by abstaining ourselves from food once in awhile improves wide the condition of a range of health issues such as asthma, arthritis, high blood pressure etc.
4. Better Heart Health
Fasting benefits our heart by improving a lot of risk factors leading to heart attack. For instance, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol level, and inflammatory markers. All these can damage our blood vessels and cause the build up of plaque inside our arteries. When these plaque ruptures, it blocks our blood vessels and causes heart attack.
5. Good for the Brain
Intermittent fasting reduces our chance for stroke. Likewise, it also decreases inflammation and brain damage. In recent years, animal studies are also showing an increase in growth of new nerve cells associated with fasting. As such, this potentially protects people from Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Cell Repair & Prevents Cancer
While fasting, our body cells kicks off a self-repair process that removes dysfunctional proteins. These proteins build up over time in cells, leading to diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, abstaining ourselves from food, from time to time, can protect us from these diseases.
Photo by Andy Johnson from Flickr
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting is a healthy lifestyle practice that benefit our health as a whole. Yet, make sure you take precautions if your body is at risk of low blood sugar. Talk to your doctor today to learn more about the right and safe way and find out what best suits you!
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References:
1. Tello M. Intermittent fasting: surprising update [Internet]. Harvard University. 2020. (Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156; last updated on 2020 Feb 10; last accessed on 2020 Apr 7)
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
