Dr. Shyam P Lohani

A balanced diet, moderate physical activity, and good enough sleep are key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. There should be a delicate balance between them for a good lifestyle. A healthy diet that consists of whole foods such as vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits, whole grains, lean protein, healthy fats, nuts, and legumes, is vital for a healthy lifestyle.
We cannot live an unhealthy life in other areas and expect adopting one good practice to solve all of our problems. But we can slowly adapt to habits, continue to self-experiment, and gradually develop a health strategy that works best to our goals, and healthy lifestyle. Nowadays, people are becoming more conscious of a healthy lifestyle and a better quality of life. In recent times, the intermittent fasting approach has come to the attention of the general public with many health benefits.

Scientific evidence
Eating is one of the fundamental human recreational activities, and wherever we go, it is one of the rituals to have and experiment with food. Moreover, fasting is not a new concept. It has been practised by religious groups and the medical community for ages. It was not until recently that it became highlighted and promoted as a solution for weight loss and associated health benefits. In fact, humans have fasted throughout the ages for various reasons ranging from the religious to food scarcity. It is only recently that intermittent fasting has caught the attention of the general population as a great way to eat, lose weight, and get health benefits.
The concept of intermittent fasting is not something uncommon but a part of daily normal life. It is perhaps the oldest and most powerful dietary intervention practised knowingly or unknowingly. Intermittent fasting follows the basic idea that to eat as much as we want for a certain period of time and fast for specific period of time by either taking very few calories or nothing at all.
Healthy weight management comes up with many benefits. There are numerous proven benefits from a reduced risk of diabetes to less joint pain, lower incidences of certain cancers, and an overall stronger cardiovascular health. In this connection, the Mediterranean diet, one of the popular regimens seem especially well suited to delivering healthy advantages provided that people stick with the regimen and avoid overeating.
The fasting causes a number of obvious and often detectable changes in our body and that doing this regularly helps us restrict calories and actually modifies how our body works to make us healthier as well. Some popular examples of intermittent fasting are the 5:2 diet plans, where we eat normally five days a week and restrict ourselves to very little food on the remaining two days, or the various time-restricted fasting like the 10:14 or 16:8, where we only eat during a set number of hours a day.
The liver is the organ that stores excess glucose in the form of glycogen. The body uses glucose preferentially for energy before it turns to burn body fat. The metabolic shift which takes 10 to 12 hours to use up the calories in the liver before it starts using stored fat for energy requirement of our body. After each meal, glucose is utilised for energy, and fat is stored in fat tissue, but during fasts, once glucose is depleted, fat is broken down and used for energy.
Several human and animal studies of intermittent fasting found that it improved disease parametres such as insulin resistance, blood fat abnormalities, high blood pressure, and inflammation, even independently of weight loss. Research has shown beneficial effects in patients with multiple sclerosis, intermittent fasting reduced symptoms in just a few months.
During intermittent fasting, it is important to eat healthy foods which include whole grains, healthy fats, and protein, but to limit saturated fats and avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates. However, on fasting days or hours, the body should be well hydrated. Even during fasting days or hours, unsweetened water, tea or coffee are allowed in most of the diet plans.

Bottom line
In recent times, taking a break from eating intermittently has become a popular weight loss technique among people throughout the world. Many individuals choose intermittent fasting as a weight-loss technique without fully understanding the risks associated with it for specific group of people.
While fasting for a day or two is rarely a problem for a healthy individual but can be quite dangerous for an individual who is not already eating a healthy diet, or for people with liver or kidney problems, any kind of compromised immune system functioning, or are on medication. The different diets and workouts can help us discover a fitness and health strategy that works for us. However, caution should be applied by people with pre-existing illnesses.
Finding a diet plan that works best is different for each individual. A diet plan correctly chosen may work right for an individual but caution should be practised to select a sustainable one and that should make us feel healthy. It is important for all of us who want to follow an intermittent fasting approach, however, need to take an advice from a dietician or nutritionist prior to adapting to one of the techniques.

(A Professor, Lohani is the founder and academic director of Nobel College. lohanis@gmail.com)