When it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle, it feels like there is some new trendy diet that people swear by every other day—whether it’s going vegan, cutting out gluten, or eating exclusively raw fruits & vegetables. Most often, the hardest part about integrating a new diet into your daily routine is resisting the temptation of all the delicious (but now forbidden) foods; it can be torturous to go out for a meal with friends and not be able to indulge in the same delicacies you once could. However, some research suggests that you don’t need to give up any of your favorite foods to keep your weight regulated and live a long & healthy life—because it’s less about what you eat, and more about when and how much. Welcome to the world of intermittent fasting ✨

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Eating three big meals a day (while it may feel completely natural to us, at this point) is actually a rather modern social construct—which is, on the contrary, quite unnatural for our bodies. For thousands of years, before European settlers colonized most of the world and imposed their work ethics and eating patterns on a large part of global society, indigenous peoples like the Native Americans were eating whenever they felt the urge to. Rather than following the clock for designated meal times (which can lead to eating when you’re not actually hungry and consuming more calories than your body needs), you instead allow more time between meals and wait for the hunger to kick in. As you do this, your body enters a sort of “starvation mode” that keeps it running & burning fat much more efficiently. This has led nutritionists to recommend intermittent fasting—not only for purposes related to weight loss, but also as a positive impact towards general health and longevity of life.

“Fasting has the potential to delay aging and help prevent and treat diseases while minimizing the side effects caused by chronic dietary interventions.” — Fasting: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

Some say that fasting may also increase the body’s responsiveness to insulin, which regulates blood sugar and helps control hunger—also that it creates “mild stress that continually revs up cellular defenses against molecular damage” and “ramps up autophagy, a kind of garbage-disposal system in cells that gets rid of damaged molecules, including ones that have been previously tied to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases.” Much of the benefits are likewise linked to a general limitation of calorie intake; in many animal studies, limiting calories consumed by 30-40% through intermittent fasting has been shown to extend the lifespan of the animal by a third or more.

What all of this suggests is that incorporating periods of intermittent fasting into your diet could be incredibly beneficial to your health, regardless of what you choose to eat. Some people skip lunch a few times a week; others fast for entire 24-hour periods. One popular method among people trying to lose weight & build muscle at the gym is called Leangains, where one fasts for 14-16 hours a day and then “feeds” for the remaining 8-10 hours. Though most people find it easiest to fast overnight and into the morning, delaying their first meal of the day.

But ultimately, only you can decide what suits your lifestyle best. So if you’re considering cashing in on the benefits that come with intermittent fasting, try out different methods and see how they make you feel. Yes, you will feel hungry, but you might also appreciate your meals more than ever—because, as they say, “Hunger is the best spice.” So why not spice up your life a bit more? 😉

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