Nutrition, Diet and Health Tips

intermittent fasting (IF)

What is intermittent fasting? Basically this is alternating feeds or altering the times and the days you feed with days that you are not eating. IF has been practiced from way back, especially in our Kenyan societies where the first meal of the day would be served at around 10/11 a.m after the first ‘Shamba’ break and the last meal was served at around 6/7 p.m before bed because people needed to sleep early in order to prepare well for the next day events.

In the current modern world, where things are evolving and the way we do things has changed mainly due to urbanization and modernization, the African way of eating evolved and we started including more meals and snacks to our daily routines. Unfortunately this meals or additional snacks in most cases are usually not ‘healthy’ and thus the burden of diseases such as cancers, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, arthritis etc is on the rise. Due to this researchers are looking into ways in which this diseases can be controlled and one of the ways is this IF.

Types of IF

• 16/8– This, if properly looked into is practised by majority though they might not be aware that they are doing IF. It’s fasting for 16 hours and taking up feeds within the 8 hours of the day, let’s say having your dinner before 8pm and breakfast after 10 a.m. Another form of this fasting would be 12/12, 18/6, 20/4.

• OMAD. This is a fast that entails feeding once. That is taking up calories, nutrients in a single sitting, others call it 23/1, fasting for 23 hours and feeding only within one hour.

• 5/2. This entails feeding ‘normally’ for 5 days of the week and fasting 2 days that are not consecutive. In this fasting days, one is allowed to take up to 25% of their energy or caloric needs for ‘maintainance’. It’s the most common form of IF.

• Alternating fasts – this includes taking up enough for a day while alternating with a fast day. Not so common, but it’s gaining popularity.

Benefits of IF.

• Weight loss – No crazy science here, if you miss meals, your body will take up stored fats and convert it to energy for the body to function. All forms of IF have reduced intake of food. This would mean that you would eventually loose weight.

• Clear skin

• Improved metabolism

• Controlled blood sugars and pressure

• Better sleeping patterns

• High energy levels

• Less expenditure on food

Dangers of IF

• Macro and micro nutrient deficiency.

• Electrolytes imbalance

• Interrupting the ‘normal’ feeding pattern

• Risk binge eating and elevating other eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.

• Risks affecting fertility in women negatively.

• Irritability and nervousness

Conclusion

IF if properly done, after proper assessment, with proper guidance with follow up, can be very beneficial and it can be used together with a set diet plan to achieve certain targets. Use IF cautiously and under guidance of a registered dietitian to minimize on the complications. Stop immediately if you get irritable, nausea, cold limbs, too weak. It’s never that serious. It Is not for everyone.

By Lilian Mumina

Registered and licensed clinical Nutritionist

MPH (Epidemiology and disease control)

BSc. Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics.