Intermittent fasting has been quite a hot topic with regards to losing weight, recently. Recently, it’s been alleged that it also helps slow aging. Is that true?
Intermittent Fasting & Aging
To state the obvious first, if you generally put yourself on an intermittent fasting diet, on your non-fasting days, if you’re smart, you’d be focusing more on consuming foods that are higher in nutritional value so you can not feel so hungry on the days that you’re starving.
You would also keep away from foods with empty calories- in other words, a high number of calories but little actual nutritional value. Why? Because it would fill you up, but you’d still feel tired when you’re fasting, because your body isn’t actually adequately fed. So if you do this, you’re likely to find yourself eating healthier. And healthier bodies lead to healthier looking skin, hair, more energy, which could all contribute to a lower biological age.
Warnings About The Diet?
According to recent studies, participants that have been put on an intermittent fasting diet plan had a higher dropout rate in comparison to a regular diet plan (38 percent in comparison to 29 percent.) This suggests that intermittent fasting might be even harder than regular dieting, which seems pretty difficult for us to follow already. Therefore, you should be warned that this is difficult so you can not be so hard on yourself.
Here are some tips to make the diet easier for yourself. First, one days when you’re not fasting, make every calorie count. In western diets, it’s very common to eat junk food and things that are high in calories and low in nutritional value. This makes your body go through what is called “hidden hunger.” You’ve eaten a lot of what makes you gain weight but you’re not actually getting the nutrients you need. So when you’re on your non-fasting days, make sure you eat foods high in nutritional value. Another tip is to have meals that are satiating, like plant-based fats, foods with lots of herbs and spices. You can also up your volume. You can eat a lot of what has few calories, rather than little of what has many calories.
Another tip is not to fast on days where you’re most active. On your fasting days, you can resort to light yoga or some stretching.