LOSE IT-04.2019

BY NICKY PERKS

HEALTH

VOLUME 30 LOSE IT! 13

ccording to advocates of

intermittent fasting (IF),

strategically skipping a meal

or two has a host of health

benefits: it lowers your diabetes

risk by decreasing insulin

resistance; enhances growth hormone production

(good for anti-ageing); and improves cognition

through the release of dopamine.

In short, IF is a way of eating that focuses

on when you eat instead of what you eat, and

involves going without food for a determined

period of time. One popular approach is the

16:8 fast, where you fast for 16 hours (say

between the hours of 7pm and 11am), and eat

within an eight-hour window. Then there is the

5:2 method, where you restrict your food intake

to about 500 calories for two days a week and

eat normally the other five days. Others prefer

a 24-hour fast once or twice a week.

As trendy as fasting has become, it seems

that it may not be beneficial for everyone –

and women in particular need to be careful.

As Dr Jason Fung, a nephrologist and world-

leading expert on IF and low-carb lifestyles,

explains, fasting is not a new idea. Men and

women have been fasting for religious reasons

for thousands of years; usually only pregnant

women, the sick and children abstain from this

practice. He adds that in his own clinic, where

close to 1 000 patients have been treated using

fasting protocols, he hasn’t noticed any significant

difference in outcomes between men and women.

If anything, he says, ‘Women tend to do better –

men, it seems, are sometimes just big babies.’

Despite its potential benefits for

autoimmunity and chronic disease, Dr Amy

Myers, a globally renowned leader in functional

medicine, warns that IF isn’t for everyone. In her

Intermittent fasting

has become a very

popular method for

losing weight and

improving health. But

if you’re a woman,

proceed with caution:

it could also trigger a

hormonal imbalance.

WHEN YOU

START...

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