Controlling one’s diet is a quintessential part of health moderation. Whether one eliminates carbohydrates with the Keto diet, focuses on proteins with the Atkins diet or only eats highly nutritious foods, diets heavily affect one’s health. However, a diet can focus on more than what goes into one’s food and instead revolve around scheduling meals.
This is the idea behind Intermittent Fasting, a dieting style focused on prohibiting food intake during certain parts of the day.
However, while this diet’s philosophy makes sense—forcing the body to operate on its previously stored calories by denying it access to additional calories—it may contribute nothing more to one’s day than a cumbersome schedule to follow. As such, it warrants exploration to determine whether it provides health, harm or nothing.
So how does this diet work? According to most educational resources—like those provided by the UC Davis Office of the Provost—the human body stores energy in the form of fats and uses sugars for short-term energy. Proponents of intermittent fasting like John Hopkins’ Medicine scientist Mark Mattson argue how purposefully abstaining from eating makes “the body [exhaust] its sugar stores and [start] burning fat.”
Intermittent fasting also doesn’t exhibit one established and restrictive means of getting started. An article from John Hopkins Medicine remarks how one could “[eat] for eight hours and [fast] for 16 hours” in a day. They also note how one could eat “regularly for five days a week” and harshly restrict caloric intake for the rest of the week.
This article also argues for several health benefits of intermittent fasting, pointing out potential correlations between cardiovascular health, memory and participants utilizing the dieting style.
Scientific studies seem to support a handful of these claims. An article published in the journal Nutrients explored how intermittent fasting could make hearts healthier. They noticed people’s cholesterol levels decreased while partaking in intermittent fasting, which lessens “the risk of developing coronary heart disease.” Additionally, that article mentions other studies exploring how intermittent fasting decreased participants’ blood pressure.
As for the claims regarding increased mental health, other organizations have explored how exactly the brain reacts to intermittent fasting. An article published in Nutrition Reviews analyzed the relationship between the diet and causes of Alzheimer’s. Their initial results indicated that intermittent fasting noticeably impacted the “production of oxygen free radicals,” a factor that may cause Alzheimer’s.
However, while this diet might sound extraordinarily helpful, its core philosophy is inherently incompatible with some people. For example, shifting to an intermittent fasting eating style could cause extraordinary hunger. If one is suddenly not eating for long periods, it makes sense to assume their bodies would react appropriately and experience extreme hunger. This poses a threat to people who need to carefully control their caloric intake due to health issues like diabetes. Additionally, The John Hopkins Medicine article even states that people interested in this diet should watch out for side effects like headaches and nausea. However, intermittent fasting should not be completely disregarded solely because some people might not put up with it well. The advice from its advocates makes it sound like one should approach it the same way they approach learning how to swim. Don’t drop right into the deep end if you don’t know how to keep yourself afloat and allow your body the time it might need to become accustomed to intermittent fasting if it sounds like something that will help you live a longer and happier life.
