The increase in the supply and consumption of ultra-processed products and sedentary lifestyles, as well as lifestyles marked by high stress, are factors that have contributed to overweight and other diseases that affect people’s lives, leading them to implement wrong eating habits.
Losing weight, maintaining it, or controlling blood glucose levels, have become real challenges for the population and in this search to find an adequate remedy, new options have emerged. Among them intermittent fasting.
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In that desire to lose weight, many people try diets and methods of which they are not clear. That is the case of intermittent fasting, which is gaining more and more popularity. However, there are those who criticize this method considering that it is the first step to develop gastritis. What is the truth?
According to Mariana Silva López, Coordinator of the University Master’s Degree in Advanced Sciences of Human Nutrition, at the International University of Valencia (VIU), intermittent fasting consists of reducing the number of meals per day.
“Intermittent fasting consists of reducing the number of meals per day, presumably to only 3, thus fasting for between 8 to 10 hours. There are those who can practice it up to 12, or even 18”says the expert.
However, we cannot forget that our body has its own biological rhythm and as individuals we are ‘programmed’ for certain forms of life and specific schedules. The first thing we must do before starting any type of fast is to put ourselves in the hands of a nutritionist. In addition, during the hours when eating is allowed, we should not saturate ourselves with food, as well as eat according to our nutritional needs and in a healthy way.
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about this type of fasting that works not only to improve our health, as it helps reduce diabetes and blood pressure, according to recent studies, but also as a method to lose weight.
But you have to know that this will only happen if we have a caloric deficit in our diet during fasting days. In other words, we must reduce the calories we eat per day if our goal is to lose weight, as is the case with any type of diet.
Regardless of the intention or objective with which it is carried out, Even if we fast, we must continue to maintain a healthy and balanced diet that includes the intake of fruit, vegetables, vegetable and animal protein, legumes and cereals, and where we avoid ultra-processed products, added sugars and high-fat foods.
Effects on the body
But What happens in our body when we make a meal after a break of 12 hours? The truth is that there are very few studies on this. In fact, some of them point out that eating after a similar fast can cause hormonal imbalances (specifically insulin) and glucose levels during the hours after eating. Little is known about the possible long-term effect of these deregulations. As we said, there is a lack of studies in this regard.
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Similarly, Juan Antonio Nieto Fuentes, an expert at VIU, points out that intermittent fasting is in conflict with the recommendations issued by official bodies on nutrition. “One of its proposals is to make five meals a day based on a balanced diet, with an adequate distribution and caloric content. Moreover, various studies show how the lack of breakfast in school children is associated with lower academic performance.
Finally, it is necessary to highlight that adequate dietary models, such as the Mediterranean diet, based on five meals a day, have been shown to be successful. They are related to weight maintenance, with the prevention of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and even show a better prognosis in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
