what you need to know before trying intermittent fasting

intermittent fasting is one of the most popular eating styles globally – and for good reason. a sustainable, balanced approach to eating, if includes regular, short-term fasts that offer transformative benefits like weight loss, improved body composition, disease prevention, longevity and overall wellbeing.

intermittent fasting isn’t about following a new way of eating. it’s about returning to how our ancestors ate for centuries as a way to avoid modern health complications and diseases.

despite its popularity, many are still confused about the exact ins and outs of intermittent fasting, especially the many different forms it can take. the most popular method is the 16:8 method, which involves fasting for 16 hours and consuming all meals and calories during the other eight hours on a 24-hour day. this might mean skipping breakfast, eating your first meal around midday and finishing your last meal by 8pm. for people who love breakfast, the first meal could be consumed around 10am, with dinner finished by 6pm.

during the fasting period, water and low-calorie beverages like black coffee and tea are allowed as they don’t interrupt the body's fasting state. some people also find it helps them feel satiated during their fasting window.

nuut makes intermittent fasting super easy with our new nuut intermittent fasting meal plan that dives deep into the science of fasting with delicious, nutrient-rich meals for fast and long-lasting results.

the nuut intermittent fasting plan follows the 16:8 method, which involves fasting for 16 hours and eating three meals within 8 hours. it starts gently with one day of fasting followed by a regular eating day. the rest of the week is split into days of fasting and normal eating (i.e. two days on, one day off). each week includes a variety of simple, delicious recipes which maximise your fasting results.

to start, begin by picking an 8-hour window for your fasting days and limit your food intake to this time.

popular 16:8 time windows include:

• 7 am to 3 pm

• 9 am to 5 pm

• 12 pm to 8 pm

• 2 pm to 10 pm

the new nuut intermittent fasting meal plan includes everything you need to follow the it style of eating like a pro:

• 19 plant-based nuut chocolate sachets

• 14-day nutritionist-approved downloadable meal plan

• 21 delicious nutritionist-approved recipes

intermittent fasting benefits

expect to experience incredible benefits, like weight loss, longevity, better heart health, and increased cellular repair processes. research shows that periods of fasting can be used as an overall health tool to improve irregular glucose levels, high blood pressure and disproportionate percentages of body fat, as well as reducing inflammation. if has also been positively linked to a reduction in ectopic fat, the unhealthy fat surrounding organs, typical of type-2 diabetes.

here's how it works…

ketosis is a natural metabolic state in which the body produces ketone bodies out of fat used as the body's energy source instead of carbohydrates. glucose (blood sugar) from carbohydrates is the preferred fuel source for most body cells; however, following a high-fat and low-carbohydrate keto diet or fasting can force your body to switch over to ketosis. you need to fast for a minimum of 12 hours to transition into this ketogenic metabolic state to call on ketone bodies in conjunction with free fatty acids as the body's primary fuel.

the presence of ketones helps prevent many chronic diseases by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. research has also shown that ketosis can regulate appetite, normalise blood sugar and insulin response and aid weight loss.

Autophagy is a process activated further into periods of fasting, which triggers many of intermittent fasting’s five star benefits. autophagy is your body's process of reusing old and damaged cell parts. your body's cellular recycling system disassembles a cell's junk parts and repurposes the salvageable bits and pieces into new, usable cell parts. without it, the body experiences accelerated ageing and neurodegenerative diseases, because the more we age, the more autophagy is reduced. fasting can be used to activate a pathway that inhibits what is called mtor activity, which ultimately induces a state of autophagy. to achieve this result, glucose levels must gradually deplete with a significant drop in insulin levels.

according to the limited research available, you need to fast for at least 24 hours to experience deeper states of autophagy. in human studies, autophagy has been detected in neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that helps to heal damaged tissues, an essential part of the immune response) once 24 hours of fasting is reached. so to reap the benefits of fasting-induced autophagy, you must follow one of the variations involving more extended fasting periods.

what are you waiting for? jump on board and experience intermittent fasting’s benefits the nuut way.