In recent years intermittent fasting (IF) has quickly become one of the most popular diet trends. This “style” of eating is marked by long periods of no eating or “fasting,” followed by short windows where you are “allowed” to eat. For example, you may be permitted to eat only from noon to 6pm. Rather than focusing on what foods you eat, intermittent fasting focuses on when you eat.
Perhaps you’ve seen social media influencers rave about their success on this diet, or even try to claim it’s “not a diet” because it doesn’t tell you want to eat. But let’s be clear- it is a diet! And we know that diets aren’t sustainable or helpful long term. So while some experience short term weight loss on this diet, intermittent fasting can have serious negative health implications and this style of eating can completely diminish the body’s natural hunger cues and response, something that is so important for a healthy relationship with food! And if you lose weight while intermittent fasting, you’re likely to gain all of that weight back.
If you’re looking to make sustainable, long term weight loss a priority (instead of just jumping on the latest eating trend,) there are so many other ways you can do that! If you’re ready to ditch diets for good this year and work towards your weight loss goals or weight maintenance (with sustainable results!), here’s why intermittent fasting may not be for you:
Your Body Needs Energy in the Morning
When you wake up, your blood sugar tends to be particularly low. Regaining energy and having a high-protein breakfast is important to replenish the nutrients needed for optimal brain function and muscle support throughout the day! With intermittent fasting, you tend to not have your first meal until noon or later – which could leave you feeling low energy and fatigued and could cause you to overeat later in the day.
Intermittent Fasting Doesn’t Account for Needs on Different Days
Our nutrient needs and level of hunger could vary every day depending on what we ate the day before, our level of activity, health, or even our menstrual cycle. What if one day you wake up early to go for a run or are going to spend all day sweating at the beach? With intermittent fasting, you wouldn’t be given the time to supply your body with the nutrients it needs for that activity or day.
Intermittent Fasting Reduces Trust with your Body
Intermittent fasting tells you when to eat – ultimately eliminating your body’s natural hunger cues and stopping you from eating when you actually want too! Honoring your body’s hunger cues is crucial for developing body trust and can help you give your body what it needs most! It’s important to keep our body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates throughout the day. If we starve, or practice extended fasting, we could trigger a drive to overeat or binge on food our body desperately needs! This style of eating can even lead to a sort of “planned binge” where you eat as much as you can in a short period (since your body knows it won’t get food again for a while). Remember- our bodies are smart and will do what they can to protect themselves!
Intermittent Fasting is Honestly Just another Diet
While it may seem glamorous and appealing, intermittent fasting is honestly just another glorified diet trend wrapped up in a pretty bow! Any “diet” telling you what and when to eat is depriving yourself of natural hunger cues and food – which can cause high stress levels, disruption of sleep, increased anxiety and depression, and eventual weight gain (even if you initially lose weight from dieting). Dietiting is not a sustainable, long-term solution to healthy living and reaching your weight-loss goals.
Ready to finally make sustainable choices towards your health? Take this FREE quiz (takes less than 1 minute to take) and you’ll learn what Nourished Eating Personality you are, receive guidance on how to build balanced eating habits that are realistic so you can feel good, and how to start feeling in control of your food choices, at all times! The quiz takes less than 30 sec to take, and you’ll receive your results immediately after!
You deserve to feel completely confident and equipped when it comes to your health and nutrition, and this quiz is a great place to start! Be sure to DM me on Instagram and let me know your results!