Flexible intermittent fasting is a diet plan that involves scheduled periods of eating coupled with times of withholding food. According to "The Handbook of Intermittent Fasting -- Effective Solutions for Weight Loss and Muscle Definition," the secret to flexible intermittent fasting is to alternate eating and not eating in a set schedule. The diet requires you to have enough discipline to fight the urge to eat when you're hungry during a scheduled fasting period, which manipulates your body's natural defenses to starvation. Consult a medical professional prior to starting flexible intermittent fasting.
Diet Claims
According to "Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease," inducing a state of hunger triggers several biological reactions that can cause you to lose weight. Additionally, through intermittent fasting, you can lose weight in less time than with other traditional, balanced dieting methods. Fasting for a short period of time will temporarily boost your metabolism, causing your body to burn fat more rapidly. The extreme hunger you experience also triggers some of your body's biological reactions that will facilitate weight loss. Currently available clinical research, however, does not support the effectiveness of flexible intermittent fasting. Check with your doctor before starting this type of strict diet.
The HGH Connection
HGH is a hormone your body produces when you are hungry. Fasting is one of the primary ways for your body to induce the production of HGH. This hormone, in turn, allows your body to burn fat, preserve muscle tissue and increase your body's sensitivity to insulin. The reason HGH promotes the burning of fat when you're hungry is that by using your stored fat for energy, you are theoretically able to go out and find food. The HGH is, therefore, an evolutionary process. Similarly, the increased sensitivity to insulin means that your body temporarily requires less insulin to function properly. HGH triggers these responses, because your hunger evolutionarily resulted from nature-induced famine.
Drawbacks of Starvation Mode
Flexible intermittent fasting tricks your body into thinking it is suffering from starvation. While you may burn some extra fat during the fasting periods, once you do eat, your body will store as much fat and energy as possible away to meet the immediate needs of your body. This process prepares your body for future periods of hunger or starvation. According to "The ACP Handbook of Women's Health," the storage of fats, however, may nullify the weight-loss benefits of flexible intermittent fasting.
Consciously Going Hungry
In addition to the body's biological reactions, one of the problems associated with flexible intermittent fasting is overeating when you do allow yourself access to food again. According to "The ACP Handbook of Women's Health," the human body and mind do not function properly when subjected to voluntary starvation. Furthermore, most individuals do not have the required discipline to avoid overeating at the conclusion of the fasting periods. Developing the required discipline also can result in the development of serious eating disorders.
References
- "The Handbook of Intermittent Fasting - Effective Solutions for Weight Loss & Muscle Definition"; Idai Makaya; 2009
- "Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease"; Joel Fuhrman and Neal D. Barnard; 1995
- "The ACP Handbook of Women's Health"; By Rose S. Fife et al; 2009
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