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Home » Lose Weight Quickly » Metabolic switching may be the key to weight loss and good health – Firstpost

Now that 2020 has arrived and youre done with partying and binge-eating, were sure youre thinking of the best way to lose the holiday weight. You might also have made a New Year's resolution to get fitter and maintain better diet practices. If you have, then suggestions made by a recent study may be of great interest to you.

The study, done by neuroscientist Mark Mattson, and published inThe New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that triggering the metabolic switch in the body through intermittent fasting, frequently and for longer durations, can benefit your health in many ways - starting with shedding the extra kilos.

Metabolic switching is one of the key factors behind evolution, Mattson claims. Individuals who thrived despite long durations of food scarcity that is, their brain and body function improved when they fasted were more successful at surviving. During a period of food scarcity or fasting, the metabolism of the body switches: the cells break down the easily accessible stores of sugar or glucose and fat to get fuel.

If paired with exercise or physical activity, this metabolic switching results in the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and fatty acids from adipose cells. Whats more, it also triggers autophagy, which is the bodys way of flushing out damaged cells which can be replaced by newer and healthier ones. This replacement happens when the period of fasting is over and the body goes through a recovery period by eating, resting and sleeping.

Sounds familiar? Intermittent fasting, a type of diet where the body is put in fasting mode for a particular period and then in recovery mode for a fixed duration, depends exclusively on triggering the metabolic switch.

Also read:12 diets India tried in 2019

The way metabolic switching works is very simple, but if you have a sedentary lifestyle then the switch can never be triggered, no matter how long you fast for. The period of fasting has to be paired with physical exercise or activity so that your metabolism actually switches and starts to break down the stored fats and glucose in the body.

The benefits you can reap from metabolic switching are many, and not limited to weight loss. Mattson claims that apart from regulating blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, metabolic switching also suppresses inflammation, reduces the resting heart rate, builds resistance to stress and improves brain health (especially memory and cognitive function). So giving intermittent fasting a try might just be what you need to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The biggest issue people face when going on an intermittent fasting diet is dealing with the hunger pangs. Intermittent fasting can be done in two ways: first, you have a daily time-restricted feeding type, where you eat for 6-8 hours in a day and fast for the remaining period. Second, the 5:2 type involves eating a normally for five days and tiny meals on the remaining two days in the week.

Admittedly both can be difficult to adapt to, especially if you are used to eating three meals a day interspersed with snacks and junk food. Here are some things you should keep in mind before you start an intermittent fasting diet to trigger metabolic switching properly:

Also read:Hangry is now a commonly-used term is it real? What does it actually mean?

For more on this topic, please read our articles onHow to lose weight fast, and safely.

Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, Indias first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health.

Updated Date: Jan 04, 2020 21:08:55 IST

Tags : Better Metabolism, How To Do Intermittent Fasting, How To Increase Your Metabolism, Intermittent Fasting, Intermittent Fasting Method, Lose Weight, Metabolic Switching, NewsTracker, Weight Loss

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Metabolic switching may be the key to weight loss and good health - Firstpost

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Home » Lose Weight Quickly » Metabolic switching may be the key to weight loss and good health – Firstpost