Last Updated on January 24, 2021
Intermittent fasting is becoming somewhat of a trend and a dietary option. But, if you were to consider it, would you be interested to know just what exactly are the benefits and risks of fasting?
People generally fast for religious motives, but either way, we feel that it is important to be aware of how this practice impacts your body and health, in general. So here are the 7 interesting things that could happen to your body when you fast.
1. The First Hours Of Fasting
When you begin this process, your body is still breaking down glycogen and storing glucose, so you will still feel energized. 25% of that energy goes directly to your brain, while the other 75% has to be divided between your muscles and red blood cells. People who have engaged in the fasting diet claim that the first hours are quite normal and they don’t feel any different.
2. Ketosis
After 5 or 6 hours of fasting – the number of hours will depend on the sugar levels in your blood – you will reach a metabolic stage called ketosis. By then, the ketone bodies in your blood provide you with energy. So, this is when the fasting really starts – the body will start to break down your fat in order to produce ketone bodies, and this is how weight loss happens.
You can achieve this by eating ketogenic diet foods – which are basically foods that are high in fat and low in carbs.
3. Cholesterol And Uric Acid Clean-Up
When ketosis is happening, other things that are actually more important are happening at the same time. Your body will start releasing uric acid and cholesterol into the bloodstream, and this is how your body starts detoxing.
Ketosis symptoms include headaches, fatigue, muscle pain, joint aches in some rare cases and dizziness. When this stage is coming to an end, you will start feeling less pain, and the blood pressure will drop. Therefore, the mucoid plaque and the levels of cholesterol will be reduced.
4. Resting Of The Digestive System
Prolonged fasting will fully stop your digestive process, but if you are going through intermittent fasting, and the digestive process actually takes a long time, it won’t fully stop, but it will take a rest! This is one of the fasting benefits for digestion since your digestive system works so hard to fuel your whole body.
5. Emotional Detox
It is normal that after 6 hours of fasting you will start feeling hungry, and this may lead to you feeling a little bit overwhelmed.
This can mess with your emotions – there is a chance that you will feel down, or that you will experience some feelings like sadness, anger or even frustration. You will have to control yourself in order to not take out these emotions on the people around you.
If you feel hungry, try to distract yourself – talk to someone, go for a walk, take a nap or read a book, for example. And if you start feeling negative emotions, deal with them one by one – this can be a great mental exercise that will help you deal with your emotions in your actual daily life.
6. Two Ways To Fast
If what you are seeking is to regulate your weight and your calorie intake, intermittent fasting is the way to go. Basically, the principle of this diet is to eat at certain times of the day and avoid eating at other times. This regulates your munchie desires while still allowing you to ingest all the calories you need.
Usually, people who adopt this diet will have 8 hours to eat, and 16 hours of fasting, that can be split throughout the day, if desired.
Prolonged fasting is a practice where you will consume drinks and nothing else – mostly water and juices. You shouldn’t do this unless you are advised by a health professional who will analyze your state of health and let you know if there are any prolonged fasting benefits for you.
7. The Benefits Of Fasting
To conclude this article, we summarized the health benefits of fasting for your life and your health in general.
-If you are trying to control your weight, this can be the perfect tool
-It will help you prevent type 2 diabetes because it will normalize your insulin sensitivity
-Since it will normalize your Ghrelin levels, it will end up “disciplining” your hunger, and you will have better control over your appetite.
-It will lower the risk of heart disease by lowering your triglyceride levels.
-It will slow down the aging process.
-The fasting benefits on the skin include the improvement of many skin conditions.
-It will normalize your digestive system and prevent digestive problems.
-It will regulate your uric acid levels.
So, have you ever thought about fasting? If you have tried it before, what is your opinion?
