Diet IF (Intermitten Fasting) - intermittent fasting - will work when you do not have the head to count calories, you are too busy to eat regularly, and box diets seem too expensive for you. The rules of the IF diet are simple - you separate the periods in which you can eat from those in which you refrain from reaching for anything (fasts).

What is the IF diet?

No matter how much you eat, important when - this is the simplest way to describe the principles of the IF (Intermittent Fasting) diet. Most nutritionists argue that the best way to eat is regular meals - four or five every 3 hours, but periodic fasts have more and more followers.

They argue that since the obesity epidemic continues to grow stronger, it may not be the only correct diet and encourage periodic fasts. IF is not a completely new diet, it was invented a few years ago - but unlike many fashionable diets, there have been no reports that it could be harmful.

On the contrary - more and more studies confirm its benefits.

IF diet - rules

The IF diet regimen, or rather the way of eating, is based on the fact that you clearly separate the periods in which you can eat (these are the so-called eating windows) from those in which you definitely refrain from reaching for anything (fasts) - then you can only afford something calorie-free, e.g. water, coffee with a little milk or tea with a sweetener, or chewing gum.

It is enough to extend the break between dinner and breakfast to 12 hours to lose about 3.5 kg in less than 4 months without limiting calories and changing the diet. No yo-yo effect!

  • 16/8, i.e. for 16 hours You fast during the day and you can eat for 8 hours.During these hours you eat three meals and two snacks. Women can start from 14/10, with time extending the non-eating time by another 2 hours. (you can stop there). This is the most popular model. Usually fasting begins at around 5:00 PM. 8pm and ends the next day at 12pm when you eat breakfast. This variant is especially recommended for those who exercise in the afternoon, because a post-workout meal is recommended (replenishes muscle glycogen stores). The fasting start time can be moved to e.g. 6 p.m. and then breakfast is only a bit late, because it falls around 10 a.m. - this is an option for those whowhich would be difficult to go without a noon meal. It is by far the simplest and easiest to use, because you go to bed before you get hungry, sleep halfway through your fast, and your morning coffee with skim milk suppresses hunger.
  • 20/4, i.e. fasting lasts 20 hours and the period of eating only 4.This is the so-called a warrior's diet, a diet close to the prehistoric one: a warrior or a hunter had time to eat only after returning to the camp, after a day of fighting or hunting. Within 4 hours, e.g. between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., you eat two very solid meals, at least one warm.
  • 5: 2 - you eat normally five days a week,follow the dietitians' recommendations, you do not overeat, and for 2 days you follow a diet - you eat 500-600 calories. Depending on your preferences, you can fast, e.g. every 2 days (e.g. Tuesday and Friday) or at the weekend.
  • 6: 1 (eat-stop-eat),which consists in fasting every 6 days, e.g. you eat lunch one day and start your meal the next day after lunchtime.

IF diet - does it work?

Diet supporters, referring to the results of research on the use of fasting and the experience of people who have tested such a diet on themselves, argue that it works and absolutely does not hurt. They assume that the body is programmed to fast. Our ancestors did not have access to food all the time.

They only rely on what they managed to hunt. Therefore, they did not eat five meals a day (to this day, in many regions of the world people fast for cultural and religious reasons).

They also have another argument: they believe that by eating every 3 hours we have no chance to feel hungry, which disrupts the natural mechanisms and the work of the biological clock. And hunger is needed to initiate many metabolic processes.

IF diet - who is fasting good for?

Certainly for those who have not worked well in traditional methods of losing weight, i.e. limiting calories and eating meals 5 times a day. People who are busy, leading an irregular lifestyle, it will be easier to control their diet if they do not have to think about eating for part of the day.

The most controversial thing is skipping breakfast, which is considered the most important meal of the day. The IF diet relieves you from the obligation to eat in the morning - because the eating window usually starts at noon or even later.

Although nutritionists and doctors argue that without a solid meal, you should not leave the house, in practice it turns out that many people are unable to swallow anything but coffee in the morning, and forcing themselves to eat meansworse well-being, nausea, abdominal pain and a feeling of heaviness.

Listen to "How to fight obesity" on Spreaker.

IF diet - who should avoid IF diet?

It is worth remembering that the IF diet is not for everyone. It should be avoided by people who train intensively every day, work hard physically and do not sleep well (e.g. young mothers) and pregnant women.

It is not intended for diabetics who take insulin and people with kidney and liver disease. It should also be remembered that fasting is not indifferent to the endocrine system, so people who have problems, e.g. with the thyroid gland, and especially those taking medications, should consult a doctor before starting a diet.

Worth knowing

Good sides of the post

1. The body has time to deal with all the food that you eat in the last, even very heavy meal. Then he can focus on processes, incl. repair and regeneration.

2. The level of triglycerides is falling (if we avoid fast food, sweets, s alt, "improvers", processed products).

3. The body gets rid of inflammation faster.

4. The concentration of free radicals responsible for aging and degenerative processes is falling.

5. Growth hormone levels rise by up to 1,300% in women and 2,000% in men. The lower its level, the greater the tendency to gain weight and accumulate fat around internal organs (visceral obesity that is dangerous for the heart). Growth hormone is also called "fit hormone" because it helps to maintain good physical condition. It is an ally of fat burning, it helps build muscle mass, and thanks to it, fat reduction does not take place at the expense of muscles. Its beneficial effect on libido has been known for a long time.

6. Specialists argue that such fasting is a kind of "zeroing" the body and reprogramming it to function properly. This applies primarily to people with insulin resistance - in them, the body spends the energy from eating on building, instead of burning fat.

7. Fasts lasting several hours or a day help in re-sensitizing the body not only to insulin, but also to leptin - a hormone that controls appetite and improves the body's ability to use the accumulated fat as a source of energy. We then begin to react properly to the third hormone responsible for weight, i.e. ghrelin (the "hunger hormone"), which means the end of overeating.

IF diet - menu option 16/8

FOOD for the 16/8 diet

BREAKFAST(APPROX 12 AM)

honey millet with plum and sunflower seeds

  • 3 tablespoons of porridgemillet
  • 2/3 cups of natural yoghurt
  • 3 dried plums
  • small banana
  • teaspoon of honey
  • 2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
  • pinch of sea s alt

Rinse the groats in a strainer under running water and cook in water with s alt. Slice the banana. Mix the cooked porridge with the yogurt, add the sliced ​​plums, honey and seeds roasted in a dry frying pan. Mix everything up.

I SNACK(APPROX. 2 PM)

green cocktail

2 handfuls of spinach oranges small apples a teaspoon of lemon juice a teaspoon of maple syrup or honey a teaspoon of ground linseed Wash the spinach, peel the fruit and cut it. Blend all ingredients.

LUNCH(APPROX 4 PM)

turkey with rice and cucumber salad

  • turkey breast slice (the size of a hand)
  • cup of cooked brown rice
  • 1/2 limes
  • teaspoon of rapeseed oil
  • medium pickled cucumber
  • red onion
  • teaspoon chopped parsley
  • parsley or cilantro
  • s alt, pepper

Sprinkle the turkey fillet with s alt and pepper. Cover with lime slices and bake. Slice the cucumber and onion, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with herbs. Serve with rice and turkey.

II SNACK(APPROX. 6 PM)

Parma ham rolls

  • 1/3 melon
  • 3 slices of Parma ham
  • Cut the melon into crescents, wrap them with slices of ham.

DINNER(APPROX. 20 HOURS)

toasts with eggplant and goat cheese

  • small eggplant
  • 2 dried tomatoes
  • tablespoon chopped parsley
  • parsley
  • garlic clove
  • teaspoon of olive oil
  • tablespoon of goat's curd cheese
  • 2 slices of whole grain bread
  • s alt, pepper

Bake the eggplant and peel it. Blend the flesh with garlic, olive oil and parsley. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes, season with s alt and pepper. Apply the paste on the bread smeared with cheese and bake for 10 minutes at 180 ° C.

IF diet - beware of pitfalls

Unpleasant sucking in the stomach after several hours may end up throwing yourself on food - without looking whether it is he althy or not. After a long power outage, the brain will start crying out for reward and it will find that it craves sweet and caloric things the most.

Such symptoms appear in the first days of the diet. It is the most difficult for people who used to eat a lot before and got their body used to the constant feeling of fullness. The adaptation process lasts from a few to a dozen or sodays depending on the degree of insulin sensitivity - the weaker, the longer.

Advocates of the IF diet advise to make changes gradually, such as starting with 12-hour fasts, eventually extending to 14-16 hours. The opponents of this type of eating remind that it does not help in mastering eating habits commonly considered to be correct.

It is also worth listening to the body and checking when hunger is the most severe and planning a nutritional window for that time. Then you can move them gradually.

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Diets