THE
intermittent fasting promises weight loss, but everything depends on the clock. Many people think they respect a 16/8 schedule, with a limited eating window, while sweet coffees, snacks and scattered “bites” break up digestive rest. The benefits linked to 12, 16, 18 or 24 hours depend on these details.
A Spanish nutritionist and pharmacist, Javier Fernández Ligero, summarizes this principle in a video relayed by Men’s Health Italia. “As most of us already know, intermittent fasting is the restriction of eating windows. By restricting these eating windows, we therefore obtain certain benefits, which depend somewhat on the hours during which we fast. From 12 p.m. the body begins to deplete glycogen as an energy source“, he explains.
THE exact times intermittent fasting
The expert then details what happens when glycogen drops. “Glycogen is the reservoir that muscle tissues have, it is the primary energy reserve. From there, when we have already 14 or 16 hours of fasting, the autophagy process begins.“, he explains. For many, this is the moment when the body begins to “cleanse itself” at the cellular level.
On this basis, Javier Fernández Ligero offers a sort of timetable instructions.
“We always recommend doing at least these 12 hours of fasting every day and, at least on the most inactive days, extending these hours of fasting to 16 hours. I am also in favor of doing, at least one day of the month, an 18-hour fast which, for example, can be interesting after a free dinner the day before. In this way, we can modulate this whole process at the inflammatory level.” specifies Javier Fernández Ligero.
Snacking: the mistake of intermittent fasting
Above all, he points to a routine error. “It’s a process that most people don’t realize, because we spend the day nibbling, snacking, and basically we’ve been taught for many years that we need to eat five or six times a day. But this is a mistake, because we do not allow the digestive tract to retrain and repair the inflamed areas and so it is common to see in people that we follow chronic inflammation, usually low grade…”he observes. In practice, many break their fast without seeing it.
Intermittent fasting: when to switch to 24 hours
For people who have more marked inflammation, the nutritionist describes an additional level. “In these cases, it would be recommended every three or four months to carry out a slightly more in-depth fast of 24 hours to lower all the markers at the inflammatory level, where we would greatly amplify the process of autophagy and recycling at the cellular level of metabolism and, in this way, be able to modulate everything as best as possible.he adds.
This type of protocol requires medical advice, especially in cases of chronic illness, pregnancy or eating disorders.