It's possible that you've heard of intermittent fasting. It's a hot topic these days. Some discuss it when trying to figure out how to reduce their weight. Some discuss it as a means of enhancing their general well-being. Still, what is fasting intermittently? Does it benefit your body? What advantages exist? Exist any unintended consequences? Does everyone find it right?
What Is a 12 Hour Fast? How Does a 12-Hour Fast Work?
Let's first go over what a 12-hour fasting diet entails and how to perform a 12-hour fast on a daily basis before talking about the advantages of 12-hour fasting.
A 12-hour fast and a 12-hour eating window are part of the 12/12 intermittent fasting diet, but you are free to set your own schedule for these periods of time.
For instance, you could start the 12-hour fast at 8 PM and eat your first meal at 8 AM the following day. This implies that you will eat from 8 AM to 8 PM and fast for 12 hours every night, starting at 8 PM and ending at 8 AM when you will eat your first meal.
When you practice 12-hour fasting, you eat within a 12-hour window while fasting for 12 hours each day. There are various options for scheduling meals within your eating window even though the fasting time is predetermined. As long as you limit the number of meals during the eating window, research indicates that the advantages of a 12-hour fast are comparable to those of longer fasts.
You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner during your eating window when you use this strategy. Does this sound like you? Until the food industry successfully persuaded us a few decades ago that we must eat at least every two to three hours, this manner of eating was accepted as normal.
These days, a lot of people eat at least fourteen times a day: breakfast, lunch, snacks with coffee, second breakfast, cookies with coffee, coffee break with cake, supper, dinner, and several snacks after dinner before bed.
As you can see, this is a very different eating pattern than having three meals a day and no snacks in between. It also enhances general health and has a major impact on hormone levels.
You are allowed and encouraged to consume as much water and noncaloric drinks as you like during the 12-hour fast. During a fast, in addition to plain water, you can also have seltzer or carbonated water, herbal or caffeinated tea, or black coffee without any cream or sweetener. After the 12-hour fasting window has passed, you are free to consume any food or liquids you choose.
Naturally, nutrient-dense, healthful foods from a variety of food groups—vegetables, fruits, eggs, low-fat dairy products, lean proteins, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds—should take center stage.
You may also decide to combine the 12/12 intermittent fasting diet with other weight loss plans or lifestyle diets like the Paleo diet, the keto diet, the vegan diet or other plant-based diets, or a low-sodium diet, depending on your dietary preferences, weight loss objectives, and caloric needs.
Which Benefits Come With a 12-Hour Fast?
Fasting for 12 hours has several possible health advantages in addition to practical ones. Benefits of the 12-hour fast include the following:
1: Adaptability
A 12-hour fast offers a great deal of flexibility, as previously mentioned. You have the freedom to decide what you want to eat, when you want to eat, and when you want to fast. Because of its adaptability, the 12/12 intermittent fasting diet may be more long-term viable and increase adherence, helping you to maintain your health and weight loss objectives.
2: Beginner Friendly and Easy for Novices to Use
Diets involving intermittent fasting are common for both weight loss and overall health, but some of them can be quite restrictive because of the length of the fasting period each day. When it comes to the overnight fast while they sleep, most people basically experience a 12-hour fast every single day.
Attempting a 12-hour fast might not require much change or intentional restriction of food intake beyond what you are already naturally doing, depending on the precise timing of your last meal or snack before bed and your breakfast or first calorie intake in the morning.
You would simply have to wait until 7 AM for breakfast and/or caloric beverages like coffee with added cream and sugar or tea with milk in the morning if, for instance, you eat dinner at 7 PM and then skip the bedtime snack.
For those interested in intermittent fasting, a 12-hour daily fast can be a good starting point or beginner-friendly option before moving on to more rigorous intermittent fasting schedules.
3: Improved Insulin Sensitivity
Your hormonal profile is changed by intermittent fasting, which has a host of possible health benefits. For instance, reducing insulin levels through intermittent fasting can help with fat loss and lower the risk of insulin resistance.
Your blood sugar levels should drop to the point where some fat burning occurs around the 12-hour mark in a fast. Though far short of a 12-hour fast, your body should still have adequate blood glucose and readily available glycogen to burn fat and carbs for energy.
Therefore, when you fast for less than 12 hours, your body doesn't need to adjust very much to a lack of energy intake. There are still benefits to insulin from a 12-hour fast, even though your insulin will not drop as much as it would with longer fasting periods.
Your insulin levels will rise less frequently the less frequently you eat, especially high-carb foods. This may lessen the likelihood of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
4: Elevated Rate of Metabolic Process
While extended fasting lowers your metabolic rate, research indicates that brief energy intake restriction can raise your metabolic rate and promote lipolysis, or the body's breakdown of fat for energy.
5: Weight Loss
Intermittent fasting has been shown in studies to aid in weight loss. Remember that you still have 12 hours to eat if you are only fasting for 12 hours a day. This is more than enough time to consume a substantial amount of calories.
To achieve the benefits of a 12-hour fast, you must be aware of your energy expenditure and calorie intake. You should aim to be in a caloric deficit while fasting for 12 hours a day.
6: Reduce the Risk of Diseases
One advantage of maintaining a daily 12-hour fast is that this caloric pattern may help lower the risk of numerous illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, some malignancies, and obesity. This is mainly because it reduces insulin, inflammation, and oxidative stress.
Longer fasts also result in an increase in autophagy, which may further lower your risk of the aforementioned conditions and help lower your risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease.
Health benefits of intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting has been linked to certain health benefits, though research on the topic is still ongoing. First of all, weight loss is a typical outcome of intermittent fasting. This is because your body is getting its energy from fat rather than glucose. Furthermore, you're probably eating fewer calories than you were before you started intermittent fasting if you choose healthy foods when you do eat. Combining these two strategies is a great way to lose weight and reap the benefits of improved health. People with neurological conditions, certain cancers, and cardiovascular disease may benefit from intermittent fasting. Additionally, intermittent fasting may help reduce bad cholesterol and alleviate arthritic symptoms.
Make sure you consult your physician before starting an intermittent fast. They will assist you in determining whether you are a good fit. When recommending a course of action, they will take your medical history, medications, and state of health into account. It might be necessary to modify or keep an eye on your eating habits if you suffer from any long-term health issues, such as diabetes or heart disease.
How to Improve Your Health
Intermittent fasting is not the same as a diet plan. Though it may provide some of the same health benefits as a diet, it's really more of an eating pattern. It indicates that you fast (avoid eating) for a set period of time each day, typically longer. After that, you eat once more a day, usually for a shorter period of time. During your fast, you are permitted to consume calorie-free beverages like water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea.
The division of each day's eating and fasting periods is called an eating schedule. One of the most widely used and straightforward schedules is the 16:8 schedule. This suggests that you will eat your regular meals for eight hours after a sixteen-hour fast. For example, you may want to fast from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. the next day. You would then have a filling lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. after that. You wouldn't eat anything after 7 p.m. until 11 a.m. the next day. This is just one example of a time. You can select any 16-hour or 8-hour block of time that works best for your schedule. But it's important to keep a regular eating window every day.
Alternating days and the 18:6 method, which entails fasting for 18 hours and eating for 6, are two other sporadic fasting schedules. On alternate days, you fast for twenty-four hours, then you eat a healthy meal for twenty-four more hours. Every other day, this schedule is still adhered to. There is also the schedule option of 5:2. This entails fasting on two days a week and eating a regular, nutritious diet on the other five. This schedule is a little different in that it permits you to have one small meal (500–600 calories) on your days of fasting.
The window of time during which you are allowed to eat is known as your eating window. Throughout your eating window, choose nutritious foods and pay attention to portion sizes. Restrict your calorie consumption and avoid junk and fast food. You don't need to eat anything specific, but you should still make sure you're getting the nutrition you need. Some choose to base their dietary choices on what they eat. This plan primarily consists of fish, whole grains, beans, and fruits. Other options include lean proteins and healthy fats.
How intermittent fasting works
A minimum of twelve hours of fasting modifies your metabolic system's operation. Your body uses your metabolic system to turn the food and liquids you consume into energy. Most of the time, your body uses glucose, a form of sugar, as its main energy source. Glucose is present in the meals and beverages you eat and drink. When you eat three meals a day, your body maintains a steady blood sugar level because you are eating and drinking frequently.
However, when you fast for more than 12 hours, your body starts to use less glucose because you're not eating as frequently. When your body doesn't get the glucose it needs, it turns to stored fat for energy. At that point, the fatty acids are absorbed by your body and enter your blood. They produce something called ketones. Your body then uses the ketones as fuel. This is known as a metabolic switch. Your body is switching from glucose to ketones.
When your body burns fat rather than carbs, you might lose weight. But your body's cells and organs might also be profiting in the background from the ketones.
You need to fast for at least twelve hours in order to benefit from intermittent fasting. It takes that long for your body to switch from burning glucose to burning fat. Your body will need some time to get used to this new eating schedule. Therefore, don't expect results right away. You may not notice or feel any effects for two to four weeks.
Things to think about
Your body may need two to four weeks to adjust to eating on an intermittent fasting schedule. You might experience headaches and experience feelings of hunger, irritability, or fatigue during those initial weeks. Prior to beginning, acknowledge that you might feel this way and devise a strategy to overcome these emotions. Your body will adjust to this eating schedule after a few weeks, at which point those symptoms ought to subside. Ultimately, a lot of people claim that adopting an intermittent fasting lifestyle makes them feel better.
When choosing a meal plan, avoid going without food for extended periods of time. That might be harmful. It may cause your body to believe that you are starving. Your body may go into starvation mode as a result, storing fat for later use rather than using it.
Not everyone can maintain an intermittent fast. It is not advised for those under the age of eighteen, women who are expecting or nursing, or for certain individuals with heart problems, kidney disease, or diabetes. To find out if it's safe for you, speak with your doctor.
Medical professionals and scientists still have a lot to learn about intermittent fasting. The effects on the body and its systems are being studied. Additionally, they want to find out if sticking to this eating plan for a long time has any long-term advantages.
Bottom line
One very approachable form of intermittent fasting for beginners is the 12-hour fast. Although a lot of people don't think of it as intermittent fasting, the advantages are similar to those of longer fasts. It doesn't really matter whether you fast for eight or ten hours or twelve; the difference is merely marginal.
For those who find longer fasts uncomfortable or who need to eat three meals a day in order to take their medications, this is the best option.