19/05/2018
Once again the blessed month of Ramadan has arrived, and with it, countless controversies regarding diet and exercise. Many trainers and coaches usually give relief to their clients and tell them to enjoy this blessed month and will focus on training after Eid. I am all in with the Idea, it's mentally healthy to take some time off, from your diet and training or to drop it a notch. So if you have been a “Good Lad” and want to take a month off, focusing on your deen. It is most certainly a good Idea. Although the Idea of fasting in Islam is to not indulge in gluttony, instead to be modest in your diet and exercise patience. Some people kill the entire point of fasting by excessive eating during the feeding window.
Inspired by our method of Fasting, many researchers and trainers adopted our way of eating during Ramadan and re labelled it as intermittent fasting, in short IM. There have been many peer related studies done on Intermittent fasting and most appreciated the fact that short term Intermittent Fasting has many benefits for Mind and Body. The focus of this post will be majorly on Intermittent fasting and its benefits.
Intermittent fasting is of six types, they are as follow :-
Alternate Day Fasting : Its the most efficient fasting method when it comes to weight loss as it allows you to cut upto 50% of the calories. It involves alternating between a day of fasting and a day of eating. This is strictly for short term and can evolve into eating disorders.
One Day per week fasting : This is the most popular way of IM, since its very practical and easier. Although the results are not near other methods but this type of IM can be incorporated into your lifestyle.
9 Hour Fasting : This involves fasting for the first 8 waking hours and then eating from the ninth hour. This program is good for beginners as it allows you to eat every day while still reaping the benefit of IM.
One Meal per day Fast : As the name suggests, it involves having one large meal, this can also be renamed as 23 hour fast. It is becoming popular recently. It is good for weight loss but very hard to practise, since you have 23 hours of fasting period.
Nightly Fast : This simply involves stop eating few hours before going to bed. You fast all night during sleep. It is also a good program for beginners as it involves minimum lifestyle changes.
16/8 or 12/12 : This type of fasting is called Time Restricted Fasting, it is very similar to the fasts of Ramadan and will be the focus of this post. Ramadan fast can be as short as 10-12 hours to as long as 16-18 hours. This summer in most countries it will be a 16/8 type of fast. This is a very good program for beginners, since they can have multiple meals during a short window of 8 hours and then have enough fasting time for IM to take its effect. It is also one of the most widely practised method in fitness athletes.
IM is not just religious or the modern way of dieting. IM has existed even during the time of our primitive ancestors. They had hours of fasting periods, due to inexistence of fridges, super markets and the fact that they actually had to hunt for food, sometimes there was no hunt and our bodies adapted to be able to function without food for extended periods of time.
Intermittent Fasting, time restricts you and it allows better meal management and easier control over your diet. Since you know you can only have food during the feeding window. It is also of extreme use for working men and women. You can fast during the working hours, it is at that time you are most unprepared and tempting food is readily available.
Intermittent fasting has countless benefits for your Mental and Physical Health. Some of the benefits of IM are as follow :-
Insulin : Insulin Sensitivity improves and blood levels of insulin drop considerably. The lowering of insulin makes your fat reservoirs easily accessible for breakdown. It also reduces insulin resistance and improves sensitivity in Type 2 DM patients.
HGH : Human Growth Hormone levels have been noticed to raise after IM, which further aids in fat loss and Muscle mass gain.
Gene Expression : Genes related to longevity and immunity are expressed in larger numbers.
Cell Repair : Fasting recruits the cell for Autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cell. This gives some protection versus Cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Oxidative stress : IM reduces oxidative stress in body and helps fight inflammation.
CVD risk factors : Reduction in Cardiovascular risk factors is also another big benefit for patients at risk. Certain disease markets like LDL, Cholesterol, Triglycerides and sugar levels are reduced.
It may help fight Depression, a hormone called Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor is deficient in some patients with depression.
As it is evident from above content that so many benefits Exist of Intermittent Fasting. The most wonderful of all things is, Prophets of Allah have been commanding to fast since thousands of years, Moses, Jesus and Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), they all emphasised on fasting. How could they have known all the benefits of fasting without any research or study ? This thought is mind blowing in itself.
Let us welcome this Ramadan with Physical knowledge and importance of Fasting in one’s life. The spiritual Benefits are already well known among the masses and scholars. Thank Allah Almighty for giving us this opportunity to cleanse our Mind, Body and Soul.
