INTERMITTENT FASTING: FAD OR FRUITFUL?

DOES RESTRICTING WHEN YOU EAT HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT?

BY CATHY CHESTNUT

Intermittent fasting has become one of the most popular health trends of the last five years. It may even be one of the tools in your wellness toolbox.

Proponents of this weight-loss trend claim it burns fat, reduces fat storage, and prompts other health benefits. However, to call it intermittent fasting isn’t the most appropriate description.

Establishing an eating pattern that incorporates a span of time when food is not consumed in a 24-hour period is more accurately called time-restricted feeding, according to both Dr. Lindsay Michelle Wiles, an obesity medicine physician at Tampa General Hospital + USF Health Bariatric Center, and her colleague, Amanda L. Musin, a TGH registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist.

Intermittent fasting has been practiced for thousands of years for religious purposes—in the form of a 24-hour fast before feasting or periodic diet restrictions—before returning to a typical, daily diet. But your diet, simply put, is the food and drink you regularly consume each day. Therefore, if you are mindfully practicing a time-restricted diet, it’s part of your daily—not annual or occasional—regimen. “It’s truly just a restriction of when you’re consuming food,” Musin said.

Time-restricted eating is popular for weight loss. It’s been proven to break down fat and reduce fat storage and caloric intake. It’s linked to other benefits including blood pressure and blood sugar control, improved energy levels, lowered triglycerides, and insulin resistance. It is also believed to promote better sleep and improve circadian function (your daily sleep and wakefulness cycle). It may even reduce inflammation throughout the body

Claims of wider benefits need more scientific study— currently underway—to better understand how an established eating pattern impacts hormones and other complex internal factors, Wiles said. “There’s been a lack of evidence-based studies to fully understand the underlying science, but I think over time, studies will show more benefit for metabolic health and inflammation,” Wiles sai

Many people already practice some form of timerestricted eating without even knowing it. If you don’t snack after dinner and sleep eight hours before tackling breakfast, you already are. “It’s a healthy nutritional plan. I think we all benefit from fasting overnight for 12 hours,” said Wiles. “As our day goes longer and longer, we graze throughout the day, and eat later and later.”

The most common approach to a time-restricted diet is a 12- or 16-hour period of fasting and a 12- or 8-hour window for eating each day. Obese patients who are mindfully attempting a time-restricted diet for the first time may fast for only six hours. “My patients are specifically trying to lose weight. We start where they are at,” said Wiles. “If we hit a plateau, adjusting the fasting time is a good way to change it up.”

Timing and duration matter. “The smaller the window for eating, the less sustainable,” Wiles explained. “I tell my patients if they are choosing a six- or eight-hour time frame for eating, it will be more beneficial if they do it earlier in the day. And be sure you are consuming fluids—at least 64 ounces in a 24-hour period. That’s important.”

No matter how it’s structured, intentionally timing meals teaches people to focus on the quality of the sustenance they are fueling up on. It also helps regulate the daily circadian cycle because calories are being used to provide energy when you’re active during the day, rather being stored, unused, at night, Musin noted.

“Most people have almost constant access to food. Even in food deserts [areas where healthy food options are sparse], there’s fast food on every corner,” said Musin. “It is interesting to see how our bodies are metabolically responding. We’re living in this world of excess and the body doesn’t know how to work with that. We need to eat less and move more.”

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