Are you looking for tips for Intermittent Fasting? We all know that Health is wealth. This proverb says it all. Physical health is a crucial factor that shapes an individual’s personal development and well-being. We live in a high-tech world where we seldom get some time to take care of our health. Busy work schedules keep us engaged all the time. But amid all this, it’s very important to take care of oneself, exercise often and eat healthily. Therefore, it’s significant to explore the ways to tackle all this in the easiest way possible.
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What is Intermittent Fasting?
In simple terms, intermittent fasting can be defined as an eating pattern that determines when to eat and when not to eat. It’s more like a method that sets a rhythm between periods of eating and fasting. Among the three methods of intermittent fasting, 16/8 is considered the most sustainable one and it has been gaining popularity over time. An individual who follows the aforesaid method skips breakfast and limits their eating period to 8 hours, say like 1pm to 9pm. The next 16 hours are spent fasting. Anyone who follows a continuous cycle between these two periods is said to be practising intermittent fasting.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is said to have numerous benefits for your body and brain. A few of them include losing weight and visceral fat, reducing insulin resistance, regulating blood pressure and blood sugar levels, initiating cellular repair processes, and reducing oxidative stress. In other terms, this is a trending lifestyle method that helps you live longer with positive well-being.
Tips for Intermittent fasting
Let’s all agree that we live in an advanced world and our life revolves around an end number of factors like corporate work, household chores, etc. For such busy people, it’s difficult to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Read upon some easy tips to follow an intermittent plan:
1. Modify your plan gradually
This is one of the most important tips for intermittent fasting. In the initial stages, it may seem difficult to follow the schedule. Therefore, it is important to take it slow. Modify the diet plan day by day instead of going all-in in the very beginning. Align it with the schedule and modify it gradually so that it becomes easier for your body to adapt to the new style of eating and fasting.
2. Keep yourself hydrated
The urge to eat something, especially during fasting time is quite natural. Therefore, to avoid such cravings keep yourself hydrated. Intake of water and similar hydrating drinks can help you fight stress if any as well as overcome cravings. Other than water you can consider drinking hydrating fluids like herbal tea or black coffee devoid of sugar.
3. Small frequent meals
Taking small frequent meals is another most important tips for intermittent fasting. As mentioned before, in intermittent fasting, the eating and fasting hours are split into two consecutive periods with a considerable break between the two. Once the eating period opens up, instead of taking big meals during the respective allotted hours, split the meals and thereby the calorie intake. In other words, eat frequently every two to three hours. While doing so one must ensure that they don’t overeat or undereat.
4. Prepare meals ahead of time
While practising intermittent fasting, make sure you don’t go overboard once the eating window opens. How do you make sure you do this? It becomes easier to stick to the schedule once you prepare a solid meal plan and prepare them ahead of time. Meal prep is an efficient method to avoid the momentary cravings for junk food. This way, you can keep your calorie intake in check as well. This is another one of the most important tips for intermittent fasting.
5. Rest and relax
During the fasting time, try your best to not get engaged with activities that require a lot of energy, namely exercises like jogging, hiit workouts, or cycling. As we all know, spending more time exercising can consume your energy and leave you famished. So, the tendency to call off the fasting hour will be higher. Therefore, avoid intense workouts during the fasting window and instead focus on resting, meditating, and relaxing to attain peace of mind.
6. Stop obsessing over food
During the fasting hours, our thoughts will wander around and stick close to eating and our brain tends to visualise various food cuisines. But this isn’t a big deal. The tendency to eat arises only if a person starts to think about food. Therefore, to avoid obsessing over food, one can engage oneself with small activities like reading a book or watching a movie. This is indeed helpful to divert our attention and thoughts. This can surely be considered one of the important tips for intermittent fasting.
7. Consume filling foods
In your diet plan, incorporate nutritious low-calorie filling foods. This can keep your hunger at bay. Consuming low-calorie food may seem unsatisfying and you may overeat to meet your hunger. While following intermittent fasting to lose weight, the tendency to make wrong choices over low-calorie food is generally high. This is why one must consider taking low-calorie filling food that can surprisingly satisfy your hunger. Some low-calorie filling food includes oats, soup, berries, Greek yogurt, chia seeds, legumes, potatoes, etc.
8. Nutrient-dense food
Maintaining a well-balanced diet during intermittent fasting is another one of the important tips for intermittent fasting. Therefore, eat nutrient-dense food once the eating window opens up. Foods rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients can regulate blood pressure, blood sugar levels and prevent nutrient deficiencies if any. A balanced diet can help you keep your weight loss in check as well as fuel your body with adequate nutrients to lead a disease-free healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting has become a trending lifestyle to enhance positive physical and mental well-being. These tips for Intermittent Fasting will surely help you. While getting started with intermittent fasting, it is highly advised that one chooses the right method that suits their body and eating style. Extreme ways of fasting may not work out in the beginning. Therefore, ensure to make the slow and steady move. Here, consistency and patience are the key factors for the appropriate results.
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