Max Wright Food Blog Assignment

Scheme and concept. Clock face symbolizing the principle of Intermittent fasting. Vector illustration. Infographic

Intermittent Fasting has become a popular trend in the food and fitness worlds. Many people swear by it and claim they will never waiver from it. Others claim it is a fad, just like any other diet, that is not sustainable for the rest of your natural life. The catch about the intermittent fasting trend is that, unlike other diets or fads, it does not restrict the foods you eat. No juicing, cleansing, detoxing, or any other type of dietary restriction. Intermittent fasting is said to allow you to EAT ANYTHING.

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting is a planned pattern of eating where on fasts in the early hours of the day, for approximately sixteen hours, and then breaks their fast in order to eat a sufficient amount of proteins, carbs, and fats but not allowing themselves enough time to eat in a calorie surplus. Therefore the intermittent fasting participant is on track to lose body fat/weight due to eating in a caloric deficit consistently.

How is it Different From Fad Diets?

Rather than focusing on specifically on the type of food that you eat. Intermittent fasting focuses on the eating schedule in, other words, when you eat and don’t eat. There are different methods of intermittent fasting, the most common are sixteen hour fasts on a daily basis and 24 hours fasts two out of seven days per week. Therefore the intermittent fasting trend revolves around splitting the days or weeks into non-eating and eating portions.

Types of Intermittent Fasting Breakdown

These are the three most common types of intermittent fasting:

Type 1 Is, as previously discussed, the 16/8 hour plan. Also known as the “Leangains protocol” (Kris Gunnars, 2018) it encases not eating in the morning hours and breaking your fast after 16 hours. The earlier you wake up, the earlier you can begin to eat for the day. This method can be utilized safely everyday.

Type 2 is a traditional full day fasting technique used twice in one week.

Type 3 can be a way to get used to intermittent fasting before starting to try longer fasts. This method allows for 500-600 calories on two days of the week, making sure they are not consecutive, and food is eaten normally the rest of the week.

The most common type of intermittent fasting is type 1. It can be inferred that it is the most common because it is the middle ground between eating normally and fasting 24 hours a day.

Effects On The Body

All types of intermittent fasting will cause weight loss. The weight loss can happen rapidly or over a longer duration of time depending on your calorie intake during your eating periods.

When fasting, the body adjusts its hormones so that it allows energy storage (glycogen) to be more readily available for use. The levels of HGH (human growth hormone) naturally increase drastically. This allows for better fat loss but also muscle gain when eating enough protein when you do eat. When fasted, insulin sensitivity also increases which will allow for sored adipose tissue to be more accessible. There is also alteration in cellular repair and gene expression within the body. These changes aid in the loss of body fat and the maintenance of muscle when coupled with decent to good macronutrient intake after fasting.

Lifestyle Simplicity

Intermittent fasting does not just provide a new way of becoming more fit, it also provides a simpler way to maintain a healthy physique. Instead of forcing yourself to eat at certain times or withholding from a somewhat unhealthy indulgence, intermittent fasting allows for more leniency. As long as you complete the planned fast, it is likely that you will still be in a daily caloric deficit due to the restricted eating periods and the fact that it is difficult to eat a “typical” day’s worth of food in 8 hours or so. So if you feel the urge to have some sugar or a treat of some sort, you can feel good about the indulgence and enjoy it knowing that you haven’t completely given up on your goals.

Deterrents

The main deterrent from intermittent fasting it the hunger when fasting for eight hours daily or 24 hours twice a week. It may be difficult to resist eating during these periods because your body wants fuel. Although this may seem like it could be uncomfortable, it may be less of a challenge than just “eating healthy” when trying to convert ones self to a healthy lifestyle. This is because it gives a more of a guideline than “eating healthy” and allows people to eat food that they enjoy. There are also ways to suppress the hunger from a fast such as drinking sparkling water. The carbonation in the sparkling water will help provide a feeling of fullness. It may be suggested to drink coffee to suppress appetite although, be forewarned that coffee is a diuretic and can easily dehydrate you which can contribute to the difficulties of fasting.

Is Intermittent fasting for everyone?

Intermittent fasting may not be as beneficial for women as it is for men. There are studies that warn about potential infertility and less insulin sensitivity benefit. It may be best to consult with a health care professional if you: diabetes, low blood sugar regulation, have low blood pressure, take medications, are underweight, have a history of eating disorders.

References

Get the FREE Intermittent Fasting Book Here:. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Greg O’Gallagher’s Personal Intermittent Fasting Experience. (2018, July 04). Retrieved from https://blog.kinobody.com/best-of/diet-nutrition-and-fasting/my-first-experience-with-intermittent-fasting/

Gunnars, K. (2020, January 02). 6 Popular Ways to Do Intermittent Fasting. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-ways-to-do-intermittent-fasting#section1

Gunnars, K. (2018, July 25). Intermittent Fasting 101 – The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide#what-it-is

Kamb, S. (2020, January 01). Intermittent Fasting For Beginners: Should You Skip Breakfast? Retrieved from https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/

Leicht, L. (2018, November 26). Intermittent Fasting: How to Lose Weight With This Popular Eating Plan. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/intermittent-fasting

Ries, J. (2020, January 03). This Is Your Body On Intermittent Fasting. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/body-intermittent-fasting_l_5e0a3220c5b6b5a713b22dcb

The recent food trend that many are raving about is cutting out meat and dairy products for a wider variety of protein that comes from plants. Canada’s food guide has adapted this principle recommending that you chose proteins that come from plant sources because they can provide more fibre and less saturated fat than other protein sources. Canada’s food guide also claims that “ you don’t need to eat large amounts of protein foods to meet your nutritional needs” (Food Guide, 2019). It proceeds to list a large lists of protein foods.

The List is as follows:

Beans, peas and lentils

Choose:

dried beans, peas and lentils to soak and cook at home
low sodium canned beans, peas and lentils, or rinse and drain them to reduce the amount of sodium

Nuts and seeds

Choose:

dry roasted nuts and seeds without added:
- sugars
- fat (oils)
- sodium (salt)
peanut butter or other nut butters that list peanuts or nuts as the only ingredient. Choose ones with little to no added:
- sodium
- sugars
- saturated fat

Fish and shellfish

Choose:

canned fish with little to no added sodium
fresh or frozen fish and shellfish that has not been:
- breaded
- battered
- deep-fried

Lean meats

Choose:

skinless poultry
lean cuts of meat such as round and loin
fresh or frozen meat and poultry without rich sauces
meat prepared with little or no added sodium or saturated fat

Milk and dairy products

Choose:

lower fat cheeses
unsweetened lower fat yogurt
unsweetened lower fat milk

Soy products and fortified soy beverages

Choose:

low sodium soy products
unsweetened fortified soy beverages

There are some problems with the protein sources in the list above that, to the general public, may not be obvious but could pose some health problems. To speak to the attempt that Canada’s food guide has made to sway people’s diets towards eating healthier protein sources, not all their suggested protein sources are bad.

For example:

For one cup of green beans there is fifteen grams of protein, one gram of fat and forty-five grams of carbohydrates, including fifteen grams of fiber and many micronutrients. These are great stats in that they provide a good amount of protein which will prevent a protein deficiency, they are a low fat content which will allow the consumers diet to naturally decrease in the amount of fat they eat if they use green beans as a substitute for another food. As well, they have 45 grams of carbohydrates which, despite the common misconception, are very healthy for you because they provide you with the energy needed to take on the activities of the day.

The list refers to nuts and seeds as good protein sources. This is something that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend as a protein source due to a few factors. For one, most nuts have a higher fat content than they do protein. Secondly, that fat is mostly saturated fat which isn’t the best type of fat for the human body. Nuts having a high fat content means that they are calorically dense. This recommendation could be misinterpreted by the general reader of the food guide and could be less beneficial for the body than some of the other protein sources listed.

I am not against having a plant based diet and I understand that it does provide many worthwhile health benefits. To be recommending this kind of diet to the general public, who do not necessarily care to be diligent in tracking what they eat, could cause problems. Plant protein sources don’t always provide complete protein and are best eaten in conjunction with other plant protein sources that provide amino acids that the other source could be missing. This is likely not widely known and is just one of the problems that could arise.

Canada’s food guide recommends a very low amount of protein per day. They currently recommend about 0.8g per kg of body weight. For a person who weighs 180lbs, this comes out to about 65g of protein per day. For anyone that is performing physical activity daily, this amount of protein likely won’t be enough to allow your body to properly recover. 0.8g per pound of body weight will be a good measure of how much protein is needed to allow your body to maintain its muscle mass and even build muscle.

In conclusion, I believe that choosing plant based protein sources is a good practice. I have reservations about how the Canada’s food guide explains what sources are good and their recommendations for daily quantity of protein. A change should be made to the food guide to detail the topics I’ve talked about in order to make sure the general public is educated about what and how they are eating.

References

Flanagan, R. (2019, January 22). Canada’s Food Guide recommends we eat more plants, less meat. Retrieved from https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-s-food-guide-recommends-we-eat-more-plants-less-meat-1.4263478

Healthy eating recommendations. (2019, December 04). Retrieved from https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/eat-protein-foods/