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The holidays are over and we are in a hurry to lose those two or three kilos of extra we have taken. In search of miraculous remedies, we type 'diets to lose weight' in Google and intermittent fasting emerges more strongly than ever. But does it really work? And, more importantly, is it good for your health?

Let's go by parts. The first thing that should be clarified is that fasting is the action of not eating food . A prolonged fast causes a lack of nutrients and energy sources that can cause changes in the structure and function of organs and even death.

FASHION

Known as intermittent fasting has become an increasingly widespread practice despite the dangers that it entails if it is not performed under the strict supervision of a specialist. Beyonce, Hugh Jackman, Ben Affleck and Nicole Kidman are some of the 'celebrities' who perform it to fine tune their bodies.

Their 'adepts' include in their daily customs periods ranging from several hours to even days when they refrain from eating solid foods. The most common is not to eat between 12 and 18 hours or consume a maximum of 500 calories, one or two days a week .

IS IT EFFECTIVE?

It is estimated that this type of diet allows you to lose between 1 and 1.5 kg per week, including more festive or social feeding days that are compensated with fasting hours or hours. However, more than 70% of people who perform intermittent fasting recover the weight lost in the medium term .

AND HEALTHY?

There are several scientific studies that state that intermittent fasting controlled and performed by healthy people can have a positive impact on our health for various reasons:

- Increases the protein of youth or also called SIRT3. Calorie restriction prolongs shelf life and improves diseases related to aging.

- Reduces mortality. It has been proven that intermittent fasting can help improve resistance to infections and that it does not adversely affect the health of people who enter the elderly but rather the opposite.

- Controls the diseases associated with the heart since it reduces triglycerides and lipid profile. With the self-selected diet, after 8 weeks they not only reduced weight and waistline but also reduced cholesterol.

- It has a certain effect on cancer cells , limiting their progress and making their growth less. By consuming 15% of the energy needs on the day of fasting, global proliferation can be reduced without reducing body weight. They make the effects of chemotherapy more bearable.

- In the nutritional field , it should be clarified that while intermittent fasting slightly increases metabolism if it is prolonged over time it slows it down (approximately 8% after three days), which is what usually happens when a low diet is performed in calories

WHAT RISKS ARE RUNNING?

As a doctor, I think that stopping eating is never the best solution to lose weight . Controlling the basal metabolism and adapting the diet to each person according to their physical conditions and level of overweight is the best way to educate long-term eating habits.

Launching into the adventure of intermittent fasting without the recommended professional medical follow-up goes against the main precepts known when making any diet; five daily meals separated by no more than four hours between each of them, varied in terms of nutritional components based on the analysis of each individual and accompanied by a controlled physical activity.

What can be the consequences of a fast to the planned and without medical control?

- Unmasking a disorder of eating behavior (anorexia, bulimia, etc.).

-Cause from small nutritional deficiencies, hypotension that can cause dizziness and falls; Major potassium deficiencies can trigger a cardiorespiratory arrest and, if the fast is very prolonged, starvation states with damage to vital tissues and organs

MARÍA AMARO is a Nutrition Specialist at the Feel Good Clinic (Madrid).

Who should never do it?

Drop down

-Children, teenagers and senior citizens.

- Pregnant.

-Very weak people or with eating disorders.

-And, in theory, no one to do it without medical supervision.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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