Intermittent Fasting Is Not the Answer
Intermittent fasting was once considered a powerful weight loss strategy, but recent scientific evidence suggests it’s not exactly a miracle solution.
First, intermittent fasting is the process of planning all of your meals for the day within a narrow time window, typically between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. days a week and fasts on the other two. The idea is that restricting food intake at certain times will reduce your calorie intake, which will ultimately lead to weight loss.
It’s understandable why many believe that intermittent fasting can be the key to weight loss. In the end, a 2017 statement from the American Heart Association confirms this practice, explaining that “deliberate eating with mindful attention to meal timing and frequency can lead to a healthier lifestyle and management of cardiometabolic risk factors.” Celebrities such as Hugh Jackman, Gisele Bündchen and Terry Crews have lauded the practice. But it turns out the science just doesn’t back it up.
A new year-long study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that when patients were divided into two groups (one with calorie restriction and time restriction and the other with only calorie restriction), the results showed no benefit from eating for a specific period of time. time. narrow window. Those who followed intermittent fasting saw no significant improvement in waist circumference, BMI, body fat, blood pressure, or metabolic risk factors compared to controls.
Worth noting: Both the control group and the variant group in this study did lose weight. And this is because the key to success in losing weight is and remains calorie intake. It doesn’t matter when you eat, what matters is what you eat. So breathe a sigh of relief, lovers of midnight snacks – forward, after midnight. Just consider making it with carrots and hummus instead of chips and cookies.