Alternating between eating and fasting – many consider this the best way to lose weight. Studies show: it is an alternative, but not a magic cure.

So-called intermittent fasting is currently enjoying the greatest attention of all weight-loss diets.

This is how it works: You do not eat any food for a longer time than usual, interrupted by shorter eating phases. There are different options, for example, eating normally one day and nothing at all the next. Or eat five days, fast two days. Or change weekly.

The different forms of intermittent fasting

The health benefits of intermittent fasting have long since spread. This form of nutrition is particularly popular because it is intended to support weight loss. If you fast for 12 to 16 hours every day, a mechanism is activated in the organism that converts body fat into energy.

The growth of cancer cells and the formation of metastases should also be stopped with the help of interval loads (6, 7, 8). Of course, intermittent fasting can also lower cholesterol levels back to healthy levels.

It is fascinating that intermittent fasting can activate the so-called autophagocytosis. Autophagocytosis describes the self-cleaning power of the body and thus the ability of each individual cell to dispose of accumulated slags. If autophagocytosis works perfectly, it is actually no longer possible to get sick.

As stated by biophysicist Thomas Finkenstädt:
“Autophagocytosis is one of the main inhibiting processes of degenerative diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases.
Even with multiple sclerosis, intermittent fasting could give a healing impulse, as we have explained here. The same applies to diabetes and the prevention of breast cancer. Since intermittent fasting even stimulates the formation of new nerve cells in the brain, it is also one of the best diets to stay mentally fit and active.”

However, since a different type of intermittent fasting is described again and again, some people no longer know exactly how to fast intermittently correctly. In the following, we present the various forms of intermittent fasting.

With all methods, of course, you pay attention to a healthy diet and meet the rules of a full-fledged alkaline diet!

1. Method intermittent fasting: Fasting for 12 hours a day

While in typical therapeutic fasting you usually eat nothing for days and only drink some broth and juice or even just water, intermittent fasting is more of an eating rhythm. Because you usually eat normal amounts, only at certain times, while at other times you consistently eat nothing.

The simplest form of intermittent fasting is to fast for at least 12 hours a day, so you don’t eat anything. For most people, this is not difficult, because the rule is fulfilled even if, for example, you do not eat anything from 8 pm in the evening until the next morning at 8 am. It is therefore the ideal form of fasting for beginners, as you sleep the majority of it anyway.

It is mostly difficult for people who habitually eat late dinner and have breakfast again in the early morning, which is not recommended from a health point of view, which is explained in more detail in point 2.

Of course, you could also eat at night – e.B. during shift work – and fast during the day from e.g. 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the evening.

2. Method Intermittent Fasting: The 16:8 Fast

If you have managed to go 12 hours a day without food, you can extend the night fasting time to 16 hours – which corresponds to the optimum of intermittent fasting. One also speaks of the 16:8 fast, because one fasts for 16 hours and is allowed to eat during the remaining 8 hours.

Sometimes it is claimed that men should fast for 16 hours, women only 14 hours. Just try which method is better for you.

For example, with a fasting period of 16 hours, you would finish your evening meal at 6 p.m. and could have your first meal at 10 a.m. the next morning. Theoretically, you could also finish the evening meal at 10 p.m. and then serve the first meal the next day at 2 p.m. However, late evening meals are generally not advisable, as in the evening the digestive organs only work on a low flame.

It would be similarly unfavourable to finish the last meal of the day at 3 p.m. and have breakfast again at 7 a.m. Because in the morning, the body is usually still busy with the purification and removal of waste. If you eat now, you interrupt these important activities.

In the 8-hour time window of food intake, in the original 16:8 variant, you only eat two main meals! There are no snacks. Sometimes, however, it is said that you can eat three meals and that the most important thing is simply to observe the 16-hour fasting phase.

It is best to proceed in the way that you feel most comfortable. For example, if you’re struggling to meet your energy needs with just two meals because you simply can’t eat as much as you need at once, then opt for three meals. Athletes also often eat three meals.

During the fasting times and also between meals within the 8-hour window, you only drink water or at most herbal tea. If you want to drink coffee, juices or whatever, then you would have to take these drinks with meals.

A study in mice showed that the 16:8 method protects against obesity, chronic inflammation, diabetes and liver disease – even if the animals had consumed the same number of calories as mice that could choose when they wanted to eat (and became ill or overweight in the long term).

3. Method intermittent fasting: Fast for 2 days every week

Another form of intermittent fasting is the 5:2 method. You consume the usual amount of calories five days a week (but of course eat healthily). On the other two days of the week, the calorie intake is reduced to 600 kcal (men) and 500 kcal (women).

The two calorie-restricted days should not follow each other. So you choose e.B. Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday, so that there are always two to three “normal” days (but at least one) in between.

In a study of 107 overweight women, it was shown that this method can lead to weight loss success just as well as a sustained diet, so that many people naturally prefer to choose intermittent fasting, as you only restrict calories for two out of seven days and not permanently, as with a normal diet.

In the same study, it was found that the 5:2 method lowered insulin levels and improved insulin sensitivity and can therefore be implemented very well as diabetes precursors.

Of course, this method can be combined with the methods described under 1 or 2.

4. Method intermittent fasting: Fasting every other day

If you want to further enhance the effect, e.B. in terms of weight loss, you can also reduce the calorie intake every other day as described under 3.

You can go even further by actually fasting every other day, so on these days only take water, herbal tea, broth or juices.
On the eating days you can eat as much as you want.

A November 2013 study looked at how intermittent fasting affected weight and heart health. The subjects fasted every other day with 25 percent of the amount of calories required for their energy needs. On the other days, they ate as much as they wanted. After 12 weeks, the participants had lost 5 kilograms more weight than the normal-eating control group. Their body fat percentage has also decreased noticeably.

This method of intermittent fasting is not recommended for beginners, not even for people with health problems. It is also very exhausting in the long term and difficult to sustain.

5. Method intermittent fasting: Weekly 1 day fasting

Fasting one day a week can also be called intermittent fasting. On this day, only calorie-free drinks are allowed, such as water or tea. Nothing to eat.

Often this form of intermittent fasting is also called 24-hour fasting, because you only have to fast for 24 hours, e.g. from breakfast to breakfast or from lunch to lunch.

If you find the 24-hour fast to be too long and have problems with persevering, you can first try the 12- or 16-hour fast and then extend the fasting period to 24 hours. The method described below also helps to slowly get used to intermittent fasting.

6. Method intermittent fasting: Skip meals

As a beginner in intermittent fasting, you can try to skip one or the other meal. If you are never really hungry in the morning anyway, then skip breakfast. If you are not so hungry in the evening, then skip dinner. Of course, you can also cancel lunch.

It is important here that you learn to interpret your body and its hunger signals. Many people have breakfast because they are used to it or because it is preached again and again how important breakfast is (which it is by no means, at least not for everyone), but not because they are really hungry.

So from now on, only eat if you actually feel hungry. Your body will be relieved when you finally perceive its desires and respond to them. Unnecessary meals will automatically fall under the table in this way.

7. Method Intermittent Fasting: The Warrior Diet

The Warrior Diet is a particularly extreme form of intermittent fasting. You eat nothing during the day or only small snacks from raw food (fruits, vegetables, few nuts) or a small protein shake (e.B. before training). In the evening there is a big meal where you eat what your body wants. A healthy instinct is required for this, as the dinner should of course not be composed of cake, chips and sweet particles.

The founder of the Warrior Diet (Ori Hofmekler) justifies his diet form with the fact that the primitive man was so busy hunting and collecting during the day that he only had time in the evening to eat in peace. A large evening meal is, therefore, something very natural and would suit our instincts very much.

Dinner contains all nutrient groups: proteins, fats, carbohydrates and sufficient vegetables. During the day you should always feel a quiet hunger. Anyone who does sports should, of course, carry out the training before the evening meal.

If the total energy intake is concentrated on a single meal, it is difficult from our point of view and experience to consume sufficient nutrients and vital substances, as not everyone manages to eat as much at once as would be necessary to meet the need.

Also, not everyone feels comfortable after a large evening meal, as this often causes poor sleep at night due to feelings of fullness. However, those who have always preferred to eat only in the evening and did not have a great appetite during the day will find the fulfilment of their personal nutritional instincts in the Warrior Diet.

Intermittent fasting – Which method is right for you?

The presented methods of intermittent fasting show that it is mainly important that the respective person feels comfortable with it. In order to find the right method for a person, it is important to follow your own nutritional instincts and preferences and to live by them – of course always on the basis of healthy foods.

If you still have cravings for sweets, junk food and alcohol, you should not rely too much on your appetite. In this case, the healthy instinct is still covered by addictions to industrial food and must first be freed. In this case, first, change your diet to a wholesome and healthy diet made from the freshest possible ingredients and then test different options for intermittent fasting until you have found the form that best suits you.

With any form of diet change, cleaning out the colon from the old, can make the transition easier and also help with motivation.