What is intermittent fasting and why it's important in the ketogenic diet

**Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a pattern of meal frequency. The goal of intermittent fasting is to tell when to eat, not what to eat.

There are several models of intermittent fasting. The most common is the 16-8 model, which is 16 hours of fasting and two meals to be eaten in the remaining 8 hours. This method is the most popular because you simply skip breakfast and add more calories to subsequent meals.**

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting, in addition to simplifying your days since you will spend less time cooking, offers numerous benefits for your health.

This feeding model in fact stimulates a process called autophagy which is a process that allows the recycling of damaged cells and consequently helps to prevent the development of cancer cells.

Another benefit of intermittent fasting is the lowering of insulin in the blood thus allowing the raising of the so-called Growth Hormone, also known as GH (Growth Hormone).

This hormone helps cell growth, cell reproduction as well as cell regeneration. This powerful hormone therefore allows you to preserve the muscles, despite the fact that no calories are consumed during fasting.

Growth hormone is literally an anti-aging hormone. In fact it is usually elevated in children, but over time adults lose the ability to generate it. By stimulating the production of this hormone you will have an anti-aging effect as it helps to preserve muscles, ligaments and muscle elasticity.

According to some studies, intermittent fasting can stimulate the production of growth hormone up to an amazing 2000%, and if you perform intense workouts during fasting (preferably before the first meal) it is possible to increase that even more. percentage.

Finally, an added benefit, and perhaps the one people aspire to most, is weight loss.

When glucose stores are depleted, the body will naturally begin to prefer stored fat as an energy source. The first results should start to show after a week or two. Looking in the mirror, you should see an improvement in the waistline and an overall look of a thinner stomach.

How to adapt quickly

The first few days when starting intermittent fasting it is possible to have a decrease in energy and an increase in hunger in the hours preceding the first meal. This is because the body has not yet adapted to the new diet and in these cases it is advisable to slow down the process.

The best thing to do in these cases is to start with breakfast in the late morning and then move it from day to day more towards lunch until you start the day straight from lunch.

Another tip I can give to adapt faster is increase your fat calories in the evening. By increasing the fat the day before, and at the same time reducing the carbohydrates as much as possible, the next morning it should be easier to arrive at the first meal of the day not too hungry.

The various models of fasting

The most common intermittent fasting model is 8-16, or a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour meal break, but it is not the only one.

The most effective intermittent fasting pattern is probably what is referred to as OMAD (One Meal A Day). This model predicts the consumption of a single meal per day to be consumed usually in 1 hour and then fast for the remaining 23 hours. Although with this pattern the benefits would be exponentially greater than with the 8-16 model, it is not recommended for those who are just starting this path because it could be too difficult at the beginning.

The ideal would be to start with the standard model of 16 hours of fasting and then increase them from time to time if you are not hungry. In fact, when the body adapts, the feeling of hunger should subside, allowing you to increase the hours of fasting without too many problems.

Obviously, OMAD is not recommended for those who are already thin and want to have the benefits of intermittent fasting without losing weight. In this case the pattern 8-16 or the 6-18 should be sufficient to maintain the weight.

Another popular model is the 4-20, which with two daily meals spread in just four hours is very close to OMAD. During the 20 hours of fasting the autophagy process has reached optimal levels and weight loss becomes even faster.

What you cannot eat (and drink) while fasting

There is a lot of confusion surrounding this topic. The question "What breaks a fast?" It is one of the most common in the ketogenic diet world.

There are many conflicting studies in this area and many more have yet to be done. The advice I give in these cases is to avoid anything that may have calories. Even if the consumption of a small calorie breaks fasting only for a short time, I do not recommend that you risk reducing the effectiveness of fasting for a small snack.

The things accepted during fasting are:

• Water

• Coffee (without sugar or other)

• Tea (without sugar or other)

• Some medicines or supplements

Anything else I recommend avoiding as it could break the fast and slow down progress.

Why do both intermittent fasting and ketogenic diets

Combining intermittent fasting with the ketogenic diet helps you get into ketosis faster as it helps you decrease glucose stores faster and force your body to use stored fat.

Furthermore, combining both results will be significantly better than diet alone, or vice versa only intermittent fasting.

It is not necessary to combine them both, but if you want to have better results and in a shorter time then it is recommended.

When to avoid intermittent fasting

There are some cases for which intermittent fasting is not recommended.

The first case is if a woman is pregnant or lactating. In this particular case it is set up to support the growth of the fetus and to do this fasting is not recommended.

The second is if you have had or still have ** eating disorders ** such as anorexia or bulimia.

Conclusion

Intermittent fasting has incredible benefits, from autophagy and cellular recycling, to weight loss. By combining fasting with the ketogenic diet you can get better results faster and also help you get into ketosis faster and more smoothly.