Evidence for Intermittent Fasting
The Evidence for Intermittent Fasting:
The latest Causes or Cures Podcast is posted!
I’ve done a couple episodes on Intermittent Fasting (IF) before, but I was excited about this one because my guest conducts many of the trials currently being done on IF. I feel like the more “wellnessy” circles were interested in IF for a while, but now the more tranditional scientists are catching up with the movement and trying to put data behind personal experiences.
While I talk a little about my own experience with intermittent fasting (IF) in the podcast, I tweak my diet and feedback over time. Like, I think IF can work for me at certain times, but then I switch back to 3 meals a day or only eating when I feel hungry. The only consistent thing to my experimental diet approaches is that I maintain awareness about my calorie consumption and make the effort to not consume more calories than I need. I’m big on portion control- from measuring cups, to small bags of snacks to taking home doggy bags when I go out to eat. Restaurants almost always serve more than I should eat in one sitting. I could eat it, sure, but I shouldn’t if I want to keep the weight off. I also have to be mindful of my eating habits, because I struggled with bulimia for years. It takes a long time to recover from bulimia (truly), but you can do it once you stop making food your dictator and stop using it to control your feelings and emotions. ( The main character in my fictional book, Manic Kingdom, though based on a true story, had bulimia and much of that was pulled from my personal experience. Read it so you can see how out of control it can get if you don’t address it.) But back to intermittent fasting…
In this episode of Causes or Cures, I chatted with Dr. Krista Varady about the evidence for intermittent fasting. Dr. Varady has conducted numerous randomized controlled trials on intermittent fasting and is with the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Her recent review on IF was published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, which you can read here. You can follow her on Instagram here.
In the podcast, she will discuss the evidence for intermittent fasting, its relationship to weight loss, if it helps with certain disease states, long-term results vs short-term results, different results in adults vs kids, if there is something “unique” about IF or if any health benefits come down to calorie restriction, and if she thinks it’s a better diet to follow than others. Hope some of you guys tune in and let me know what you think!
To listen to the podcast, click here.
In addition to the evidence for intermittent fasting, you can check out some of the other more recent podcasts, such as: