Not So Fast with “Intermittent Fasting”
“Intermittent fasting resulted in weight loss but not more than a diet that simply cut calories, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed. Researchers said both plans led to health improvements and that losing 5% of baseline body reduced visceral fat by 20% and liver fat by more than 33%.”- People (11/27)
As popular as intermittent fasting is right now, this blog post is not designed to directly address that. 😊 Moreso, this is another blurb uncovering how to read between the science! Let’s break it down:
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern in which food consumption is limited to a specific time window, with a commitment to fasting the remainder of the day. For example, one way to practice intermittent fasting is to limit food consumption to an 8-hour time window, perhaps from 9am to 5pm.
If we are used to eating from ~7am to ~10pm (13-hour window), then shrink this window to 8 hours (9am to 5pm), we are obviously cutting out 5 hours of potential food consumption. As long as we don’t drastically increase the size of our meals within the new 8-hour time frame, then we are undoubtedly reducing our daily caloric consumption. Who’s to say that this simple caloric reduction isn’t responsible for weight loss experienced while following a pattern of intermittent fasting, as opposed to intermittent fasting itself? Aren’t there a number of ways to reduce caloric consumption?? (Answer: YES!)
I always like to look at fad diets in comparison to a standard balanced, healthy diet. Does balanced, healthy eating teach us to avoid eating around the clock and to conclude food consumption ~2 hours prior to going to bed? YES! Does intermittent fasting say anything about what you should be eating during your defined time frame of allowed consumption? Nope- but a healthy diet does! Does intermittent fasting say anything about how often you should be eating during your defined time frame of allowed consumption? Nope- but a healthy diet does!
I could go on for a while about this, but my underlying point here is simple. Fad diets tend to emphasize ONE element of healthy eating, then disregard the rest. If this is the one element you are missing when adhering to a standard, balanced diet, then it might be a great fit for you!! Otherwise, let’s simply thank such diets for highlighting certain dietary principles then move on. In this case, let’s thank the intermittent fasting trend for reminding us not to continue consuming food until all hours of the night + the reminder that our total daily caloric intake DOES matter (it’s not all just about macros now), then move on. Let’s leave drastic dietary measures to the second line of defense, making sure to always give healthy eating a fair shot before resorting to more restrictive methods of eating. Who’s with me?!