The 5 benefits of fasting (for your body and your mind)

Eating well is a fundamental aspect of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, in a world in which processed foods take up almost everything, and in which our eating habits are conditioned by the marketing campaigns of the food industry, the question is not only what to eat, but also when not do it.

And it is that although we do not realize it, many times we eat despite not needing it, and we even turn this into a habit, a pattern of behavior that we assume as normal and natural... despite not being.

In the following lines we will see what are the main benefits of fasting, and why it is advisable to do some form of fasting with certain periodicity.

• Related article: "Psychology and Nutrition: the importance of emotional eating"

The benefits of fasting

Fasting has been a habit carried out for centuries by a wide variety of cultures and for different reasons, but recently it has been discovered that in addition to its cultural value, if done in the right way, it can become an ally to live in a more healthy.

Here we will see some of the advantages of fasting, although it must be clear that some of them depend on the duration of this. Evidently this activity should go hand in hand with good hydration and a follow-up of the general state of health so that it is not counterproductive or harmful, as we will see. At least in the first few times that fasting is tried, it is advisable to have professional advice, something easy to achieve.

With that said, let's see what the most prominent benefits of fasting are.

1. Helps burn fat naturally

The fat that we have distributed throughout the body is fundamentally a great store of energy. For this reason, these fat deposits are only consumed by the body when what is available in other parts of the body has already been consumed.

That is why fasting is a context very useful to burn a good part of that accumulated fat, something that is not achieved by doing intense exercise sessions of less than 60 minutes, which is what is usually done when going to the gym.

2. Lowers the probability of inflammatory processes

Controlled fasting has been shown to lower the probability of inflammatory processes being generated, and also acts as a protective factor against certain cardiovascular diseases. This may be because it favors the elimination of toxins accumulated in the body.

3. Contributes to weight loss while maintaining muscles

Many people believe that stopping eating high-calorie foods and replacing them with others is enough to lose weight, but In many cases this only serves to lose mass in general, and especially muscle, since there is a lack of raw material with which keep it.

Instead, fasting is beneficial in making fat levels drop at a faster rate. that the muscles, provided that before and after this a healthy diet is followed and it is carried out exercise.

4. Slows down biological aging processes

Caloric restriction managed through controlled fasting slows down the processes associated with aging, and increased production of "youth protein", SIRT3, seems to be involved in it.

5. It is a good psychological turning point

Fasting gives the opportunity to embrace new eating habits after its completion, something that can be complicated if you go with the inertia of doing what we have always been doing at lunchtime something.

In other words, fasting represents a turning point that predisposes us to commit to new, healthier habits.

• You may be interested: "Psychological well-being: 15 habits to achieve it"

Bibliographic references:

• Aksungar, F.B., Topkaya, A.E., Akyildiz M. (2007). Interleukin-6, C-reactive protein and biochemical parameters during prolonged intermittent fasting. 51(1). pp. 88 - 95.
• Wegman, M.P., Guo, M.H., Bennion D.M., Shankar, M.N., Chrzanowski, S.M., Goldberg, L.A. et. to the. (2015). Practicality of intermittent fasting in humans and its effect on oxidative stress and genes related to aging and metabolism. 18(2). pp. 162 - 172.