Intermittent fasting is currently a trendy health and fitness trend that is being practiced. Intermittent fasting helps in losing weight, improving your health and lifestyle. It has also shown to have powerful effects on your body and helps in living a longer life.

If you are also planning on starting the intermittent fasting and looking for a guide, you have come to the right place. First, let us discuss what intermittent fasting exactly is.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is an everyday eating pattern that cycles between the time of fasting and eating. It is not a diet plan as it does not tell you about what to eat or not but rather when you should eat your meals.

The common intermittent fasting methods include fasting for 24 hours, twice a week, or fasting for 16 hours a day.

Fasting is an ancient common practice. The early human didn't always have food to eat all year round. Sometimes, they could not find any food to eat. Hence, the human race evolved to be able to function without food for specific periods.

Fasting is also a common practice done for spiritual or religious reasons.

What Is 16/8 Intermittent Fasting And Its Method?

There are more than one method of doing intermittent fasting, but all of them must involve splitting the day or whole week into fasting and eating periods. And during the fasting periods, you either eat something very light and little or nothing at all.

However, 16/8 intermittent fasting is considered to be one of the best methods of intermittent fasting. It involves limiting your consumption of calories containing drinks or food in the eight hours that you choose to eat and a fasting break for the remaining 16 hours.

You can repeat this cycle as frequently you wish, depending on your preference. 16/8 intermittent fasting is very popular and helpful, especially for people looking to burn fat and lose weight. It is an excellent method to lose weight as it does not have a strict diet plan, is very easy, and requires minimal efforts to follow.

Along with helping lose weight, 16/8 intermittent fasting also helps in improving blood sugar control, enhancing longevity, and boosting brain functions.

How To Get Started With 16/8 Intermittent Fasting

The 16/8 intermittent fasting method is one of the simplest, sustainable, and safest methods.

Start by picking eight hours and limit your food consumption to that time and stick to it. Refrain from eating anything for the rest of the 16 hours.

Many people mostly prefer to eat between noon and 8 pm as you will only have to fast overnight and skip breakfast the next day. But, you can also choose the time according to your convenience as long as you follow the rules of 16/8 intermittent fasting.

It is crucial for you to stick to a healthy, nutritious diet during the eating period for more benefits. Try including veggies, fruits, healthy fats, sources of proteins, and whole grains in your diet and avoid oily or junk food.

Drink water if you feel hungry during the fasting period to avoid other drinks that contain sugar and additives as water is calorie-free. Drinking helps as it is often confused with hunger.

Benefits of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting

The best thing about the popular 16/8 intermittent fasting is that it is flexible and relatively easy to follow. Along with that, it is also very convenient and requires very minimal efforts when it comes to the time and money you need for preparing food.

Some of the benefits of 16/8 intermittent fasting are:

Improves blood sugar control: intermittent fasting reduces increasing insulin levels up to 31% and reduces the risk of diabetes by lowering the blood sugar by 3-6%
Weight loss: intermittent fasting restricts your food intake to a few hours a day, which helps in cutting calories. Not only that, studies show that fasting also helps in boosting metabolism, which helps in increasing weight loss.
According to some animal studies, intermittent fasting has been found to extend longevity, although humans' evidence is limited.

Drawbacks of The 16/8 Intermittent Fasting

Although 16/8 intermittent fasting has many health benefits, it has a few drawbacks and might not be suitable for everyone.

When you restrict your food intake to just eight hours a day, some people can eat more during those 8 hours to make up for the rest of the 16 hours fasting. This may result in digestive problems and weight gain.

There are also some negative short-term side effects like weakness, fatigue, and hunger of intermittent fasting that may happen in the first few days, but they will subside once you get used to it and get into a routine.