You hear a lot about intermittent fasting and the benefits it can have for the body if done properly. Nevertheless, It is easy to fall into certain mistakes that will not allow fasting to be effective and, not only that, but also can hurt your health.
Therefore, in today's article, we want to talk again about intermittent fasting, how to do it correctly and above all, about some mistakes we can make when we start doing this practice.
What is intermittent fasting?
Fasting consists of not consuming food for several hours of the day (from 10-12 hours until we feel hungry). Depending on the hours you fast, it has some or other benefits. However, as we will see later, we should never force our body. When we are hungry we must eat and break the fast.
During the fast different processes are carried out: fat burning, autophagy, etc. It has numerous benefits to recover our health, to gain metabolic flexibility, improve insulin resistance, improve the health of hormones.
We are talking about a very beneficial practice, but it must be done correctly so as not to harm our health. In the same way, we should avoid fasting continuously, but reserve it for short periods of time.
If you want more information about intermittent fasting, its benefits, how to start doing it, etc. We recommend you read the following article: Intermittent fasting, is it beneficial? How to do it?
The fast is broken when we eat, that is, we can take herbal teas, bone broth (due to its collagen), black coffee (to which we can add ghee or coconut oil). To break the fast we must avoid carbohydrates and sugars. The ideal is to take proteins such as eggs or healthy fats.
Errors to avoid for intermittent fasting to be effective
It is important to have some clear points before starting intermittent fasting, because it is a good practice but carried out in a bad way can damage our metabolism and our hormones.
Thinking it is a diet to lose weight
We should not think of intermittent fasting as a "weight loss diet." Fasting brings us many benefits to our health and specifically to our metabolism. However, using it improperly can harm us. Thus We should not think about doing it to lose weight, but to gain health. We may lose weight if it is what our body needs, but it is not the goal for intermittent fasting.
Overeating, binge eating, junk food
A common mistake is to think that since we are going to fast, we can eat all we want of the products we want no matter what. This is a big mistake, with binge eating or poorly nutritious food we are going to find ourselves physically ill.
It is possible that if we have just started fasting, when we feel hungry we cannot control the amount we are going to eat. Thus, The ideal is to eat nutritious and satisfying food, which will not only be good for us but also complements the practice of doing intermittent fasting, providing us with numerous benefits to our health.
Another trick is to break your fast with a small amount of nutritious food. For example a little ham, avocado, nuts, etc. In this way, we will be giving food to our body and after waiting a little time we will be able to eat more food until we feel satisfied but without going overboard.
Eat less
Just as eating too much is bad for our health, eating too little too. Must listen to our body and eat what it needs. Being hungry can have a serious impact on our hormones, thyroid problems. We must become satisfied.
Fast the same hours every day
If what we are looking for is to fast for many hours, the ideal is to have dinner early and not break the fast until the next day. Now, we must break the fast the moment we feel hungry. Starving is the same as eating little, it affects our body in a negative way and can lead to illness. Thus, we must avoid starving.
It is possible that some fasts are 10 hours, others 12, it does not matter, we will feel the benefits. As we progress in the practice of fasting, in a natural way, the hours that we can go without eating will increase. It is therefore essential that we learn to listen to our body and let ourselves be guided by it. to know when to break the fast.
Autophagy begins when we fast for about 18 hours, however, we should not force ourselves to do all the hours on the same days.
We must bear in mind that every day is different, we spend a different energy and that is why we must give our body the fuel it asks for.
Not personalizing our fasts
Each person is different, therefore, we must do blood tests, glucose, eat one or the other food, help one hour or another. It is a mistake to take the practice of another person and follow it as it is, since we do not all have the same situation, nor the same nutritional needs.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
In case of being pregnant or breastfeeding, we must avoid fasting. In this case, our body is working hard to create a new life or generate food for your baby, so eat as much as you need and when you need it. Forget about fasting in these cases.
Maybe you might be interested in:
- We talked about breakfast: what foods are the best to break the fast?
- Keto or low-carb dieting for women
- Keto and Paleo eating: differences
As we have seen, there are great benefits to intermittent fasting if it is done good. It is advisable to put yourself in the hands of a nutrition specialist to guide us during, at least, the first time that we are going to carry out this type of practice. So we can learn to fast safely.
However, if we decide to do it on our own, we must go little by little, without forcing and following all the advice that we have left you in this article and the links that are throughout it. Above all, find out and if you feel bad, stop fasting.