Health fad diets come and go. Some of them can be helpful, while others can actually damage your health. And it can be difficult to decide which fads belong in which category. There’s always a risk of choosing a strategy that turns out to be useless or even harmful to your health. That’s why it’s always a good idea to look at the research before deciding to change what or how you eat. The evidence for intermittent fasting is growing at the moment, and it seems to be living up to the hype. The practice of fasting may sound a little worrisome and extreme, but the evidence suggests that it can be extremely beneficial in some situations. If you’re thinking about trying this health fad to lose weight, reduce inflammation, or recover from a chronic health condition such as adrenal fatigue, here’s how to do it safely and effectively.
Intermittent fasting is a health fad that seems to be sweeping the world. However, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what people mean by intermittent fasting because it isn’t just one thing. Basically, intermittent fasting involves periods of normal, healthy eating, and periods of fasting, or not eating at all. There is a lot of evidence for intermittent fasting showing that it can improve metabolic health, help with weight loss, protect against certain health problems, and even extend your life.
One of the big reasons this health trend is popular is because it’s about when you eat rather than what you eat. Though it obviously isn’t a good idea to eat processed or very sugary foods during your eating periods, as long as you eat a healthy diet, you should enjoy some benefits from this way of eating. You can also drink water, coffee, tea, and other beverages without calories during the fasting period, so dehydration isn’t usually a worry. There are lots of different fasting routines to follow if you decide to try this strategy. Some of the most popular fasting routines include:
Although these methods might sound difficult, most people report that they’re actually fairly easy to stick to. This is particularly important because it means that you shouldn’t find it difficult to continue using fasting as a long term strategy to improve your health.
There are several different types of intermittent fasting routines, but the evidence for intermittent fasting suggests that one type may be more useful than others. All these fasting routines have the potential for weight loss and other health benefits, but not all of them affect the deeper processes in the body and decrease inflammation or affect longevity.
The evidence for intermittent fasting supports the Fast Mimicking Diet (FMD). This method follows a routine of 5 days of reduced calories and 25 days of healthy eating. The regimen combines mild calorie restriction, protein restriction, and specific rations of low GI foods. According to studies, it’s the only diet that affects the IGF-1 pathway, which can help reverse diabetes and slow down the signs of aging. Participants in a recent human study performed to test the efficacy of the FMD diet noticed the following results:
There is a lot of evidence for intermittent fasting, most of it identifying distinct and important health benefits. But the question is, why does it work? The answer lies in the evolutionary past. Humans have a long history and, for a big part of it, fasting was normal. When humans were hunters, food intake depended on how well the hunt went, which means that when it went badly, they didn’t eat. That’s why the human body is designed to cope with fasts, otherwise, we would never have survived this period in history.
When you fast, a lot of processes in the body change to keep you alive. Most of these changes have to do with hormones, genes, and cellar repair processes, and these changes are the key to the many health benefits of intermittent fasting. According to the evidence for intermittent fasting, here are some of the benefits you could enjoy if you adopt this strategy:
Despite all the evidence for intermittent fasting, that doesn’t mean that this regimen is right for everyone. In some cases, it may exacerbate certain disorders or diseases or even damage your overall health. This fasting routine is generally considered safe for most people between the age of 17 and 70, but there are some specific issues and problems which could increase its danger. The following people shouldn’t fast:
If you fall into any of these categories, it’s important that you don’t try intermittent fasting. However, if you don’t have any of these issues, make sure that you get help and supervision from a trained medical professional before you make any major life changes. They will be able to ensure that you’re in good physical condition and can withstand the stress of this type of eating plan.
There have been numerous studies designed to gather evidence for intermittent fasting. And unlike most health fads, this one seems like it might actually be good for your body and your long-term health. People often try intermittent fasting because they’re concerned about issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and weight loss, and this tactic may help with all of these issues in the following ways:
Inflammation is rapidly becoming one of the biggest health threats in the modern world. This is partly because it’s so hard to identify. It isn’t something that you can see from the outside, although high levels of inflammation can be detected through certain blood tests. And it is linked to many health problems and diseases.
Inflammation typically occurs when your body is fighting off something harmful. It’s actually a natural process prompted by the immune system that causes redness, swelling, and heat in an attempt to expel invaders. This is a normal and helpful process. However, it isn’t just harmful invaders that cause inflammation. Other factors such as a poor diet, environmental toxins, certain diseases, emotional or mental stress, and a sedentary lifestyle can also increase inflammation levels. And these causes can’t be expelled from the body, which often results in chronic inflammation. This is a low-grade inflammation that has no target and so just builds up in the body, clogging its systems and causing damage. If left unchecked, this type of inflammation can result in autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and adrenal fatigue. People who have a combination of serious disorders like these often have chronic inflammation that may be causing or exacerbating their health problems.
Your body is designed to cope with different types of stress. It does this by activating the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response, a network of six circuits of organs and systems that prepare the body to respond to stress. The NEM stress response is a system that’s designed to cope with short term causes of stress such as a physical threat. But it isn’t designed to cope with chronic, ongoing stress caused by harmful factors such as a poor diet, lack of exercise, environmental stressors, work and relationship pressures, health conditions, or chronic inflammation.
When you experience this kind of stress, the NEM stress response activates, which prompts the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands. Cortisol is a hormone that has several essential functions in the body. During times of stress, it prepares your organs and systems to fight or flee. But like most things, too much cortisol can be a problem, and it’s even worse when the demand for cortisol is high over long periods of time. This can leave your system in a constant state of tension and readiness, leading to adrenal fatigue.
People with adrenal fatigue experience a feeling of being wired and tired, widespread NEM circuit dysfunctions, and baffling symptoms that no one seems able to identify or correct. Having Adrenal Fatigue, or Adrenal Fatigue, can be very frustrating and frightening until you find someone who understands what’s happening and can help you make changes to address the problems. However, key evidence for intermittent fasting now suggests that this strategy may be very useful in this path to recovery from mild forms of Adrenal Fatigue and the circuit imbalances it causes.
The inflammation circuit usually becomes unbalanced very early on in Adrenal Fatigue. This circuit includes the immune system, your gut, and your microbiome, composed of all the microorganisms that live in the various environments in your body. These three components have vital roles when it comes to inflammation.
The gut issues are often a source of inflammation. When there are problems with the gut such as constipation, diarrhea, or food sensitivities, it can cause the lining of the gut to become more permeable, which allows unwanted particles through. This is often known as “leaky gut”. This triggers the immune system and can cause inflammation. Normally, the inflammation repels the invader, and your system returns to normal. But when you have Adrenal Fatigue and chronic stress, inflammation and gut problems can linger and end up affecting the rest of your body, including your brain.
These same gut issues can cause your body to struggle to digest food properly and affect the balance of good and bad microorganisms in your the body, creating a state of dysbiosis. This type of imbalance has been implicated in conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and obesity, and it can also result in infections and mental disorders. Obviously, bacterial imbalances also lead to activation of the immune system, as it must work to fight off the infections that occur. And this results in even more inflammation.
Correcting this type of problem isn’t easy. However, the evidence for intermittent fasting suggests that this might be a new avenue of help in a variety of ways.
Adrenal Fatigue is usually associated with a range of troubling symptoms and disorders. This is part of what makes it so difficult to correct, because it causes widespread problems that don’t seem to be connected to any one disorder or disease. However, the evidence for intermittent fasting suggests that it could help with a lot of these symptoms and problems. This includes the following very common symptoms:
When you have Adrenal Fatigue, addressing the individual symptoms doesn’t solve the problem. Instead, you need to work on reducing stress and rebalancing the circuits of your NEM. This often isn’t easy. It means that you must reduce the sources of stress in your life such as work or relationship pressures, poor dietary habits, a sedentary lifestyle, environmental toxins, and other harmful factors. And this can be a long process with lots of starts and stops, particularly if you don’t have the help of a medical professional who’s aware of Adrenal Fatigue and its effects.
A healthy diet is essential to Adrenal Fatigue recovery. Typically, this means a diet that’s high in vegetables as well as lean proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains. Equally important is the elimination of processed foods as well as foods that can cause sensitivities such as gluten. This will give your body the nutrients it needs to fuel the healing process. Adopting this type of diet will help to rebalance your entire system, including the inflammation circuit.
Maintaining a healthy diet and steady blood glucose level is important to avoid the reactive hypoglycemia frequently experienced by many with Adrenal Fatigue. Evidence for intermittent fasting suggests that this could be a beneficial part of that process if the body is healthy enough, as in the early stages of Adrenal Fatigue. However, for a person in the advanced stages of Adrenal Fatigue, intermittent fasting can trigger adrenal crashes because the body simply does not have the energy reserve to go on too long without food, such as for a long overnight fast. If you have advanced Adrenal Fatigue, it’s best to restore your health through other methods, and only try intermittent fasting when your body is healthier.
One of the keys to recovering from Adrenal Fatigue is reducing inflammation and rebalancing the inflammation circuit. To rebalance this circuit, its three components must be returned to good health and full functioning. Here’s how the evidence for intermittent fasting suggests it can help:
The three systems in the inflammation circuit always work in tandem. So, when one becomes unbalanced, the others naturally follow. But the reverse is true as well. When you improve the health of the gut, it helps reduce inflammation and encourages a better balance of good and bad bacteria. This decreases the overactivity of the immune system, markedly improving the health and balance of the inflammation circuit and decreasing your body’s stress levels, giving your adrenal glands a chance to rest and recover.
As noted above, despite all the evidence for intermittent fasting being positive for those who are healthy or in mild Adrenal Fatigue, you still need to be careful when you adopt this strategy if you have moderate to advanced Adrenal Fatigue. When you have Adrenal Fatigue, your entire system will be delicate and may overreact to additional stress.
This can cause issues such as an adrenal crash, where the body returns to a state of low physiological function so that it can rest and recover. Basically, this can mean that you’ll be unable to leave your bed for a long period until your body has recovered enough to face daily life again. Adrenal crashes often occur during Adrenal Fatigue after a period of heightened or acute stress such as a bereavement or acute infection. But if your system is very sensitive because of Adrenal Fatigue, a period of fasting could be enough to bring on this type of crash as well. This is the last thing you want from a strategy that’s meant to help you recover from Adrenal Fatigue, not make your health worse.
The only way to avoid this is to work with a trained professional who’s aware of Adrenal Fatigue and of your struggle with it. They will have the experience and the training to tell if intermittent fasting would help or hinder your individual recovery and design a personalized plan that suits your condition and goals. So, even if the evidence for intermittent fasting makes it sound like a beneficial strategy for your health, don’t try to adopt it on your own if you have Adrenal Fatigue. Without proper support, there’s too great a risk that it will only lead to further problems.
No matter how well certain health strategies work for other people, they have to work for you. Your body and your condition are different than everyone else’s, which is why trying to adopt other people’s health strategies often doesn’t work and can even damage your health. As a result, despite the evidence for intermittent fasting, you need to be careful when you try this technique. Get the help of a medical professional who’s aware of your condition and of your Adrenal Fatigue and can help you adapt the practice to suit your body and your physical condition. This will help you avoid some of the consequences of this practice while still enjoying its benefits.
There is a growing body of evidence for intermittent fasting. This practice was once dismissed by health experts. But now, studies are showing that there can be some very important health benefits to adopting this practice including reducing inflammation and supporting weight loss.
