Interval Fasting

Interval fasting, also called intermittent fasting, means going without food only for a short period of time, in contrast to traditional fasting, in which a person does not consume solid food for at least 7 days. Interval fasting is now trendy, because it is easy to hang in there, suitable for everyday use, very effective and healthy at the same time. Interval fasting does not come with the dreaded yo-yo effect, as is the case with interval fasting, because the time of the fasting is too short for the metabolism to adapt to the changed situation and switch to "low flame."

This type of eating pattern is nothing unnatural, because going without food is anchored in our genes and has a long tradition. People have fasted as long as they have existed. In the Stone Age this happened rather involuntarily, because food was not always available, as is the case today. Therefore our body is adjusted to periods without food and uses the fasting times productively. Our body processes its fat reserves during this time and stays particularly fit and alert.

The most common variations of interval fasting include:

The "16:8 method", which is the most popular method and also recommended to athletes. Here, a person fasts 16 hours a day and eats normally during 8 hours a day. Here one typically skips breakfast and then eats lunch and dinner as normal. My tip: Avoid eating late in the evening, in order to permit the body's health-promoting mechanisms to work even better.

The "Alternate-Day-Fasting" asks participants to skip eating every other day. Drinking is of course allowed and actually very important, but only unsweetened drinks and coffee without milk and sugar. The best drink is still water, because water bests binds the toxins released during fat loss and then excretes them.

The "five-to-two method" allows participants to consume a maximum of 20% to 25% of the required calories on two days a week. Ideally, these two days should not follow each other.

Then the "Eat-Stop-Eat-Method" guides participants to fast from lunch to lunch or from dinner to dinner up to twice a week.

No matter the method, individuals should choose the method that best suits his or her everyday life, because this is the only way to change a diet permanently to fasting intervals.