- Fasting Helps Weight Loss
Fasting can be a safe way to lose weight as many studies have shown that intermittent fasting – fasting that is controlled within a set number of hours – allows the body to burn through fat cells more effectively than just regular dieting.
Intermittent fasting allows the body to use fat as it’s primary source of energy instead of sugar. Many athletes now use fasting as means to hitting low body fat percentages for competitions.
2. FASTING PROMOTES LONGEVITY
This might seem a little bit farfetched, but various studies have shown that fasting can actually help you live longer.
There are a number of reasons why fasting can help you live a longer life. The first one has to do with metabolism.As you grow older, your body’s metabolism starts slowing down, which leads to the gradual loss of muscle tissue through a process known as sarcopenia.
Fortunately, fasting helps to speed up your metabolism, preventing these degeneration and loss of muscle tissue.Secondly, as you grow older, your cells also grow older and their performance decreases. There is an accumulation of old cellular material within the cell.
3. Intermittent Fasting Changes The Function of Cells, Genes and Hormones
For example, your body initiates important cellular repair processes and changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible. Here are some of the changes that occur in your body during fasting.
- Insulin levels: Blood levels of insulin drop significantly, which facilitates fat burning.
- Human growth hormone: The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits.
- Cellular repair: The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells.
- Gene expression: There are beneficial changes in several genes and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease.
4. Fasting Speeds Up The Metabolism
Intermittent fasting gives your digestive system a rest, and this can energise your metabolism to burn through calories more efficiently. If your digestion is poor, this can effect your ability to metabolise food and burn fat. Intermittent fasts can regulate your digestion and promote healthy bowel function, thus improving your metabolic function.
5. BOOSTS YOUR BRAIN FUNCTION
Not only is fasting great for your body, turns out it is good for your brain too! Fasting improves your brain function in a number of ways.
First, fasting boosts the production of a brain hormone known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF). Release of BNDF activates stem cells within the brain and converts them into neurons.
Increased production of BNDF has been shown to protect the brain cells from the degenerative changes that are associated with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, while low levels of BNDF have been associated with depression and several other brain problems.
6. Intermittent Fasting May be Beneficial For Heart Health
Heart disease is currently the world’s biggest killer.It is known that various health markers (so-called “risk factors”) are associated with either an increased or decreased risk of heart disease.
Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve numerous different risk factors, including blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers and blood sugar levels.
However, a lot of this is based on animal studies. The effects on heart health need to be studied a lot further in humans before recommendations can be made.
7. Fasting Improves Hunger
Just think about this, can you actually experience real hunger if you eat a meal every 3-4 hours? Of course you can’t. In fact, to experience the true nature of hunger, this would take anything from 12 to even 24 hours.
Fasting helps to regulate the hormones in your body so that you experience what true hunger is. We know that obese individuals do not receive the correct signals to let them know they are full due excessive eating patterns
8. Intermittent Fasting May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the world’s most common neurodegenerative disease.There is no cure available for Alzheimer’s, so preventing it from showing up in the first place is critical.A study in rats shows that intermittent fasting may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or reduce its severity.
In a series of case reports, a lifestyle intervention that included daily short-term fasts was able to significantly improve Alzheimer’s symptoms in 9 out of 10 patients.
9. IMPROVES YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Ever noticed that when animals fall sick, they stop eating? Have you ever wondered why this happens?
That’s a natural instinct through which the animals try to reduce the stress on their internal systems and focus their energy on battling the infection.Therefore, next time you fall sick, resist the temptation to look for food and focus on fasting instead.
Fasting does a number of things to your immune system.Remember, we mentioned that fasting triggers the regeneration of old cells within the body.
10. Fasting Helps Clear The Skin And Prevent Acne
Fasting can help clear the skin because with the body temporarily freed from digestion, it’s able to focus its regenerative energies on other systems.
Not eating anything for just one day has shown to help the body clean up the toxins and regulate the functioning of other organs of the body like liver, kidneys and other parts.
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Sources:www.lifehack.org,www.cleverism.com,www.healthline.com
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