Basics of Intermittent Fasting and Time Restricted Feeding (TEF)

• Intermittent fasting is not a diet, it is a lifestyle and a specific way of eating. Rules are simple, you eat in a time window and you don’t eat (expect water) rest of the time.
• Though our ancestors may not have done fasting at their will , ancient hunter-gatherers didn’t have the convenience of food accessibility that we enjoy today. Due to which they might have to stay fasted until they go hunt or gather something to eat. As a result, humans evolved to be able to function without food for extended periods of time.
• In fact, fasting from time to time is more natural than always eating 3–4 (or more) meals per day. This way different systems of our body get enough rest and time to repair.
• Fasting makes our bodies fat adaptive, means our body learns to derive energy by burning fat reserves.
• Fasting is also often done for religious or spiritual reasons, including in Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.

Methods

There is 16/8 Intermittent fasting method in which you would eat within 8 hours and stay fasted for 16 hours by only drinking water. Another methods is 18/6, means fasting for 18 hours and feeding window for 6 hours. Same applies for other fasting methods like 20/4 or One meal a day (OMAD).

In fact even you can choose your own way of fasting which is more convenient to you and sustainable like 12/12 or 14/10 or 15/9. There is no hard and fast rule for feeding and fasting windows. However many researchers claim that health benefits of fasting starts after 16 to 18 hours fast depending on the body type and conditioning a person has.

Diet and Nutrition

Intermittent fasting doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.

Coming to the topic of diet and nutrition when doing Intermittent fasting, you have to ensure that you are consuming enough calories and nutrition during your eating window. As you are compressing 3 or 2 meals into a narrow band of time (like 8 hours or 6 or hours), you need to focus on nutrient dense foods and hit the required calories.

Do remember that, for losing weight you have to be in calorie deficit (energy from food we eat must be less than energy we spend by various activities). For muscle gain or build body, you have to be in calorie surplus (energy from food must be greater than we expend).

It is possible to gain muscle even while doing intermittent fasting, however it is difficult to do as you have to consume the entire bodybuilding specific diet in the small feeding window. If you are looking to build muscle, IF is not a recommended option though muscle development is possible during IF.

Refer Foods to consider during feeding window

Benefits

Refer Benefits of IF or TEF

Safety of Fasting

Fasting is generally safe for majority of population. However, below categories of people must avoid fasting.

• Children and teens under age 18.
• Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Those with a history of eating disorders.

People suffering from Diabetes, Kidney diseases, Liver diseases, using certain medications need to be extra cautious if they wish to do fasting. They need do fasting only under strict medical supervision.

~Praveen Jada

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