Intermittent Fasting
Being an exchange student is a lot of different challenges. Undoubtedly, getting to know local cuisine and food is one of the things most internationals are looking forward to during their visit.
However, it’s not that fun when grocery and eating facilities in the country of your choice are much more expensive than at home. This is exactly a situation that occurred to me during my exchange semester at Norway: before trip I had expected that prices would be high, but the reality exceeded any expectations. Essentials (for me) like beef, fish, beer and diet sodas were many times more expensive than in Russia, average customer basket cost 40-50% more. All in all, while it was indeed disappointing that you cannot just forget about dietary restrictions and go full on junk food for a night as it would cause budget shortfall, I found quite fascinating how my new eating regime during exchange helped me to adapt, get fit and heavily cut food costs, therefore, I’d like to share with HSE Illuminated readers my intermittent fasting experience.
1. Intermittent fasting isn’t a diet. It’s a pattern of eating. It’s all about time.
Essentially, intermittent fasting is a type of eating plan that involves periods of fasting – during which you can consume only water, coffee, and tea – and eating – when you can generally eat what you like. Each person's experience of intermittent fasting is individual, and different styles will suit different people. The rules are simple. A person needs to decide on and adhere to an hour fasting window every day. For example, a person could choose to fast 12 hours between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. They would need to finish their dinner before 7 p.m. and wait until 7 a.m. to eat breakfast but would be asleep for much of the time in between.
Fasting for 16 hours a day, leaving an eating window of 8 hours, is called the 16:8 method or the Leangains diet. During the 16:8 diet, men fast for 16 hours each day, and women fast for 14 hours. On this fast, people usually finish their evening meal by 8 p.m. and then skip breakfast the next day, not eating again until noon.
2. It’s better to combine it with other diet but it’s possible to keep your preferences in menu
Evidently, intermittent fasting works much better in combination with other dietary restrictions like keto or keeping your carbs low in general. However, it will work even without aid: if you keep your feeding window time and calories intake strict, fasting will do its thing. Just remember to listen to your body and not to feast after fast.
3. It gives you focus
Many people who tried intermittent fasting report that their cognitive abilities increase, they become more focused and motivated. Intermittent fasting has been shown to significantly reduce inflammation, help to create more brain cells, boosts human growth hormone and burn fat for fuel instead of sugar. Fat is actually a better and cleaner source of fuel than carbohydrates. Not only does fat produce more energy per gram than carbohydrates do, but it actually produces less free radicals, which cause inflammation.
4. You experience weight loss, become fit and feel more energy
Intermittent fasting has been shown to boost metabolism and fat burning while preserving lean body mass, all of which can aid weight loss. What you will notice with this pattern of eating is that you will be less hungry in between meals and have more energy.
5. It’s easy and saves money
Last but not least, with restricted meal intake you end cup consuming much less goods that obviously results in lightening the financial burden: in my personal experience I found out that I spend less money on food during intermittent fasting in expensive Norway than during traditional low carb diet in Russia. I eat one or two major meals a day – without obsessing over what to eat – and still make consistent progress towards achieving my health goals.
It’s very easy to follow, all you have to do for starters is download fasting tracker on your phone – I recommend Zero (iOS/Android) – and try to fast for the first time.
Text by
Rostislav Miretskiy