Intermittent Fasting for Woman

15. June, 2019

Healthy eating

Intermittent fasting has been very trendy in recent years. Though this method can be very beneficial, You should do it with caution. In this article You will find out how to do it right.

Here are few methods of intermittent fasting:

The 16/8 method involves daily fasts of 16 hours for men, and 14-15 hours for women. On each day, You restrict Your eating to an 8-10 hour “eating window” where You can fit in 2-3 or more meals.

Eat-Stop-Eat is an intermittent fasting program with one or two 24-hour fasts per week.

Alternate-day fasting means fasting every other day, either by not eating anything or only eating a few hundred calories.

Medical studies have shown that intermittent fasting:

Increases energy

Improves cognition, memory and clear-thinking

Increases insulin sensitivity and lowers diabetes risk

Improves heart health

The Fasting and Hormone Connection

Intermittent fasting can cause hormonal imbalance in women if it’s not done correctly. Women are extremely sensitive to signals of starvation, and if the body senses that it is being starved, it will ramp up production of the hunger hormones.

So when women experience insatiable hunger after under-eating, they are actually experiencing the increased production of these hormones. It’s the female body’s way of protecting a potential fetus — even when a woman is not pregnant.

Of course, though, many women ignore these hunger cues causing the signals to get even louder. Or worse, we try to ignore them, then fail and binge later, then follow that up with under-eating and starvation again. And guess what? That vicious cycle can throw your hormones out of whack and even halt ovulation.

In animal studies, after two weeks of intermittent fasting, female rats stopped having menstrual cycles and their ovaries shrunk while experiencing more insomnia than their male counterparts. Male rats experienced lower testosterone production. Unfortunately, there are very few human studies looking at the differences between intermittent fasting for men and women, but the animal studies confirm that intermittent fasting for long periods of time can sometimes throw off a woman’s hormonal balance, cause fertility problems and exacerbate eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder.

Fasting for Women

Fast few days a week instead of every day. This is a gentler approach that helps the body more easily adapt to fasting.

Fast on 2–3 nonconsecutive days per week (e.g. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday)

On fasting days, do yoga or light cardio.

Ideally, fast for 12–16 hours.

Eat normally on your intense exercise days.

Drink plenty of water

After two weeks, feel free to add one more day of fasting.

Benefits of Healthy Eating

All the elements that enable detoxification come from food. Two of the biggest misconceptions about detoxing are: one, You have to starve yourself; and two, You have to do it once or twice a year. In reality, science shows You need to eat in order to detox — and You can, and should, be doing that every day.

Meeting Your essential nutrient needs can come with major benefits in terms of Your health. Without these crucial nutrients, Your body would not be able to function properly. Benefits that come with getting enough nutrients include improving Your immune system, building muscle, keeping Your heart healthy and staying hydrated and keeping Your body working efficiently.

Although most people can get all the nutrients they need from food, if You have a restrictive diet or need an extra boost, You can also consider supplementation to help meet Your needs. Be More superfoods are great way to boost Your nutrient intake.