“The best of all medicines is resting and fasting.” | Benjamin Franklin.
We know fasting in the case of diet or religious purpose. While many praise for its benefits for the body and the soul, some prevent from the harmful effects it can have on our body. Fad or true miracle of natural medicine, that's what we're going to analyze in this article. Welcome you to join us. Today, we dive into one of the most popular nutrition programs: Fasting.
I. Fasting vs Starving
Fasting is defined as a voluntary abstinence from eating for variable time intervals.
The key difference between fasting and starving is that fasting is purposely refraining from eating (sometimes drinking as well), while starving is a severe deficiency in energy and calorie intake below the level necessary to maintain a living being’s life. Fasting refers to consuming no food for less than 48 hours or low-calorie consumption for less than two weeks, while starving refers to consuming no food for several days or low-calorie consumption for over two weeks. While fasting can be beneficial for the body, starving is harmful to health. Note that the average person has 100.000 calories in fat reserves before reversing to starving mode, which corresponds to an average of 67-day worth.
II. Different types of fasting
There are two main types of fasting: Intermittent fasting (IF) and long-term fasting (LF):
1. Intermittent fasting: While many diets focus on what to eat, intermittent fasting focus on when to eat. IF is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule.
With intermittent fasting, you only eat during a specific time. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple of days a week. There are many types of intermittent fasting, such as
Alternate day fasting: Alternate-day fasting (ADF) is an intermittent fasting approach. The basic idea is that you fast on one day and then eat what you want the next day. This way, you only need to restrict what you eat half of the time.
Time-restricted eating: “Time-restricted eating” or “time-restricted feeding” refers to when eating is limited to a certain number of hours each day. An example of time-restricted eating is if you choose to eat all your food for the day in an 8-hour period, such as from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The 5:2 diet: The 5:2 diet, also known as The Fast Diet, is currently the most popular intermittent fasting diet. For five days per week, you eat normally and don’t have to think about restricting calories. Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs. This is about 500 calories per day for women, and 600 for men.
Water-only fasts: Water fasting is a period when a person eats no food and drinks only water. There is no set time that water fasting should last for, but medical advice generally suggests anywhere from 24 hours to 3 days as the maximum time to go without food.
2. Long-term fasting: Long-term fasting (LF) or prolonged fasting refers to a food abstinence from 2 to 21 days or more during which no or minimal amounts of calories, up to 200–250 kcal/days are given within appropriate schedules. As example of LF, we have:
Buchinger Wilhelmi therapeutic fasting: The BWC is a procedure whereby a person voluntarily goes without food for a certain length of time, living mainly on their fat reserves instead. This stimulates autophagy and detox enzymes, resulting in a deep cleansing of the cells and tissue. At the same time, fasting reduces all inflammatory processes, alleviates pain and improves mobility.
+ Religious fasting: Religious fasting involves a fasting regimen undertaken for spiritual or religious purposes, and is defined as a nutritional model characterized by variable degrees of caloric restriction and abstinence from specific foods. Religious fasting is actually kind of intermittent fasting. For example, we can cite Yom Kippur, Lent or Ramadan.
Yom Kippur: Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday that is marked by its solemnity and a day to begin the new year with a fresh start. It is inseparable from its 25-hour fast, which also prohibits drinking water.
Lent: Lent is the 40 days before Easter in which Catholics pray, fast, contemplate, and engage in acts of spiritual self-discipline. In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in imitation of Jesus Christ's sacrifice.
Ramadan: Ramadan has a duration of 29~30 days each year following the Islamic calendar. During this month, Muslims abstain from food and drink and sexual intercourse from sunrise to sunset.
III. Fasting put to the test
1. Intermittent Fasting : case of Alternate day fasting
Intermittent fasting is often presented as a means of stressing your body—in a good way. Based on the 'that which doesn’t kill you strengthens you' principle. Mark Twain thought it was:
‘‘A little starvation can do more for the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors. -Not just- a restricted diet, -but- total abstention from food for one or two days.’’
As we describe it below, Alternate-day (intermittent) fasting is a specific version of intermittent fasting that entails eating one day and fasting the next. A study realized by some scientist of the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Karl-Franzen's University of Graz in Austria, to look at the effects of strict alternate-day fasting in healthy people. The participants alternated 36 hours of zero-calorie intake with 12 hours of unlimited eating and the findings have shown several health benefits. In fact, it has been found that:
They had continuous upregulation of ketone bodies, even on non-fasting days. This has been shown to promote health in various contexts.
They had reduced levels of sICAM-1, a marker linked to age-associated disease and inflammation.
They had lowered levels of triiodothyronine without impaired thyroid gland function. Previously, lowered levels of this hormone have been linked to longevity in humans.
They had lowered levels of cholesterol.
They had a reduction in lipotoxic android trunk fat mass — commonly known as belly fat.
Alternate-day fasting is generally considered “safe and tolerable.” But, before considering intermittent fasting in general, make sure to discuss it with your doctor and start slowly. Skipping meals and severely limiting calories can be dangerous for people with certain conditions, such as diabetes, eating disorder, people who take certain medications, pregnant or nursing women or people with clinically low body weight.
2. Long-term fasting: Case of the Buchinger Wilhelmi program:
A study conducted among 1422 subjects who followed fasting periods lasting between 4 and 21 days shows that there were significant reductions in body weight, as well as in abdominal circumference. Blood Pressure (BP) decreased for the entire group from 131.6 ± 0.7 to 120.7 ± 0.4 for systolic BP and from 83.7 ± 0.4 to 77.9 ± 0.3 for diastolic BP. A reduction of total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and HbA1c was reported. The absence of hunger feeling, documented in 93.2% of the subjects and an increase of emotional and physical well-being, was documented. None of the subjects dropped out of the fasting procedure. Adverse effects, such as cardiac arrhythmia, were reported in less than 1% and mild symptoms like headache and fatigue occurred rarely and mainly in the first days.
3. Religious fasting : case of Ramadan & Yom Kippur.
Not eating for extended time periods, as happens on Yom Kippur, eliminates the body’s response to insulin, which leads to health benefits, including increased energy and mental clarity. Ramadan on its side has been proved to regulate ‘bad’ cholesterol, to curb appetite, to boost mood and mental clarity. Since fasting not only uses your fat reserves but also cleanses your body of harmful toxins that might be present in fat deposits, Ramadan is also a kind of month-long detox. But, the effects are often complicated by a change in sleeping patterns, and also thirst. The same dehydration issue arises with Yom Kippur. So coping with these issues, you must support your body by drinking enough water to stay hydrated throughout the day, exercise moderately, and drop unhealthy habits such as smoking and excess sugar consumption.
Sources:
In conclusion, we can say that fasting can have many positive effects on our body. But to really enjoy all these benefits, we must try our best to stay well hydrated, get enough sleep, and pay attention to not switch into starvation mode, which can be harmful for our health. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. May God bless you, take care.
Comments