Intermittent fasting prevents chronic disease (and improves sleep) – here’s how it works. According to a British research, this nutritional scheme is not only as effective as the more traditional low-calorie diet, but it is also easier to follow in the long term.
What is intermittent fasting?
This is the latest trend in dietary regimes: an increasingly widespread practice, which includes periods of complete fasting and periods in which eating is allowed. There are no precise prescriptions on what to eat or when to eat it. But, clearly, it is recommended to eat meals that include a free choice of foods, as long as you limit sugar, alcohol and moderate yourself with carbohydrates and fats. Among recommended foods, as you might imagine, there are the healthiest: lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
There are several versions of intermittent fasts (just like the items in the autumn-winter collection). Here are the most common types:
Method 16/8, where sixteen are the hours of fasting and eight are those in which three meals are allowed. Within the eight hours it is possible to eat whatever we want.
Metodo Eat-Stop-Eat, which involves a total fast of 24 hours two or three times a week
Method 5: 2, which provides for a total consumption of only 500 calories throughout the day, for two non-consecutive days of the week. For the other 5 days, you can eat normally.
the Method 16/8 it is certainly the most popular, because it is more sustainable and easier to put into practice.
Intermittent fasting: how to lose weight and stay healthy. There are several scientific studies that show how the intermittent fasting – a dietary regimen that provides for periods of caloric restriction alternating with periods of normal food intake, on a recurring basis – is capable of bringing numerous health benefits. This practice not only helps lose weight but it is also useful to counteract aging and cellular stress, to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, to improve sleep and quality of life.
Intermittent fasting: how to lose weight in good health with the 5: 2 scheme
The 5: 2 scheme has become very popular in England, and it is on this model that the research team at Queen Mary University of London focused its attention by starting the first randomized study (treatment assignment, diet in this case, to subjects happens with a random method) on this type of diet. The researchers compared the benefits of the 5: 2 diet with those of the traditional low calorie diet and found not only that the results of the two dietary interventions are practically the same, but also that people prefer to follow intermittent fasting rather than the traditional diet. low calorie to lose weight. The study, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), was published in the scientific journal Plos One.
Diet 5: 2: how it works and what are the benefits
The 5: 2 diet was conceived by Michael Mosley (doctor who worked at the Royale Free Hospital in London and who has been a producer and presenter of BBC science documentaries for years) and Mimi Spencer (journalist who writes about fashion and cooking for London Evening Standard, Sunday Time, Vogue, Guardian, Observer). She became famous in 2012 following a BBC documentary “Eat Fast and Live Longer” based on the bestselling book “The Fast Diet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy and Live Longer with the Simpe Secret of Intermittent Fsting” in good health and live longer with intermittent fasting ”) co-written by Mosley and Spencer.
This nutritional model provides for the possibility of eating what you want in the first 5 days of the week, while in the other two a drastic reduction in calories must be implemented (500 kcl for women and 600 Kcl for men). The creators of the diet claim that this eating pattern makes you lose weight in a healthy way but also brings numerous health benefits including: extending life expectancy, strengthening immune defenses, improving cognitive functions and reducing the risk of dementia and disease. Alzheimer’s.
I study
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London followed 300 adults with obesity for a year with two objectives: to evaluate the long-term effects of the 5: 2 diet and compare them with those of a classic low-calorie diet, and to understand which of the two approaches was more “Attractive” and easy for subjects to follow.
Each of the participants was randomly assigned to three different groups (who were prescribed three different types of diets). The first group of 100 participants (“traditional advice group”) were given the “traditional” nutritional advice by a consultant who in 20 minutes provided them with written material with indications for managing weight. Another group of 100 participants (“self-help group”) were given advice on how to follow the 5: 2 diet through a booklet that illustrated meal examples and provided online links where they could find more information. followed the diet alone and without special assistance. The last 100 participants (“support group”) received advice and information on how to follow the 5: 2 diet, but, in addition, they were enrolled in a series of group sessions lasting six weeks, aimed at comparing the diet experience with others and with consultants who can be asked questions.
Intermittent fasting prevents chronic disease (and improves sleep) – here’s how it works
The 5: 2 diet is as effective as the low-calorie diet but like it more
At the end of the year, participants from all three groups showed moderate weight loss (approximately 5% of baseline body weight in 15% -18% of the participants). However, when the researchers asked to rate each dietary intervention, participants who followed the 5: 2 diet better rated their experience in terms of usefulness, and stated that they would recommend the diet to others as well. Furthermore, compared to the participants who followed the traditional diet, they were more predisposed to continue this diet even after the experiment.
“With our study – said Dr. Katie Myers Smith, Chartered Health Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at Queen Mary University – we found that although the 5: 2 diet is as effective as the traditional dietary approach in terms of weight loss. , users still prefer this scheme because it is simpler and more attractive ”.
.