How does intermittent fasting help you lose weight?
“Basically, fasting activates the body’s self-cleaning powers, even every cell,” explains Matejka. However, this process, known as autophagy, is not the main reason for voluntary renunciation for many fasters. They want to lose weight, and they often manage to do so gradually through short-term fasting: “Because between the 13th and 16th hour the body switches from burning carbohydrates to burning nutrients to burning fatty acids.” a point at which it begins to break down its stored fat reserves – and then you lose weight. “In order to take advantage of this effect, however, you should hold out intermittent fasting for two to three weeks,” advises Matejka.
In the eating phase: You can treat yourself to something, but you should also pay attention to healthy ingredients
“Here you can safely rely on the old adage: Eat like an emperor in the morning, like a king at noon and leave like a beggar in the evening,” advises Matejka. Breakfast can then be lavish. Maybe a full English breakfast with eggs and bacon or a millet porridge with fruit. At lunchtime, we recommend a lot of vegetables, freshly steamed or cooked, little meat and sometimes fish. Sources of protein such as legumes also help fill you up.
There should be at least four to five hours between meals. So avoid snacks. Because with every food intake, the body converts it into sugar. It goes directly into the blood, so that the insulin level rises, and that promotes fat build-up.
After intermittent fasting: what’s next with a healthy diet?
“The practical thing about intermittent fasting is that you can start without a lot of preparation and return to your usual routine without much effort,” says fasting expert Matejka. But therein lies the problem. “Anyone who returns to their old eating habits will quickly experience the yo-yo effect known from diets,” warns Matejka. His advice: “Use fasting to get started with a healthy and sustainable diet.”
According to the expert, it consists of classic Mediterranean food. So lots of regional fresh vegetables, little red meat, but more fish and high-quality fats such as olive, linseed or rapeseed oil. “Important when choosing the dishes: Pay attention to the quality of the products and your personal digestibility,” says the expert. People with irritable bowel syndrome, for example, should steam or gently cook vegetables instead of eating raw vegetables. And: “Take time to eat. This promotes digestion and metabolism. “
–
