Intermittent fasting is a practice that many people resort to to seek to lose extra pounds. However, it causes non-fat weight loss, which is a health risk.
Although the goal of this method is to lose fat, what it promotes is the loss of mass that does not contain fat. In addition, it has been shown to cause poor performance in daily activities.
With intermittent fasting, what you do is restrict your food intake for a number of hours a day. In concrete terms, you only eat food every eight hours, that is, you don’t have breakfast.
In an interview with Últimas Noticias, Juan Pablo Vásquez, nutritionist at the Valle Arriba Athletic Club Medical Service, in Caracas, explained that the risks, in the short, medium and long term, imply, within the lean mass, the loss of “a subset which is very important, as are the muscles, which are lost quickly”.
“The weight that is lost is not from fat, in fact the proportion of fat is less than that lost with traditional diets, in which food is distributed throughout the day and fewer calories are simply given than the person he needs to use his reserves”, he stressed.
And he added that “one of the risks is that you lose what you don’t want to lose, which is lean mass or fat-free mass, and fat mass, or fat, is lost to a lesser extent,” he emphasized.
In addition, he pointed out that those people who do not eat breakfast show lower school, work, and sports performance, among others.
lack of habits
For those people whose purpose is not to lose weight, but prioritize their work dynamics, Vásquez said that each person must determine if their job is the best fit.
He noted that “if the job does not allow you to meet the time to eat, the recommendation is to change jobs. Beyond a social issue is a lack of habits. For many it is comfortable, those who do not have the habit of eating breakfast, but the healthy thing is to have three main meals a day and one or two snacks if necessary, ”he added.
Likewise, the nutritionist expressed on Instagram, in his @jpdietfit account, that people who skip breakfast do not necessarily have to feel bad.
Simply, what those who practice intermittent fasting are giving continuity to something they were already doing.
“A common fault of Venezuelans is that they have a very bad breakfast or do not have breakfast, it can be as simple as a coffee. They do not necessarily feel bad, what happens is that they are not eating in the best way, that is why the recommendation is at least three meals a day, ”he stated.
He reiterated that focusing on intermittent fasting as a goal to lose weight can serve to see fewer kilos on a scale, but by not doing a body assessment, they ignore what they are really losing, because they are keeping what they really should lose.
nothing replaces food
Regarding the so-called alternatives such as snacks or quick alternatives to adjust food to daily dynamics, Vásquez pointed out that people must eat with intention. If the idea is to be healthy and eat well, “you don’t have to wait to be hungry to see what you’re going to eat.”
“Good nutrition begins with what is acquired to consume. Eating to get by and for it to become a habit is terrible, ”he asserted.
These types of products, snacks, can constitute a snack and although they are healthy, they cannot replace a main meal. No matter how integral or healthy its composition is, it is not a meal with enough vegetables, fruits, and if it has a protein intake, it is probably insufficient.
“Eating is very easy. A common excuse given for not eating fruit is that there is no time. It must be understood that the saying that we are what we eat is true, if what you eat is wrong, probably the person is too, ”he added.
Although intake every eight hours is common, there are also strategies of 12, 16 and up to 20 hours a day.
Importance of the 3 meals
Specifically in the diet for Venezuelans, in a weighted way, the daily intake is in the order of 2,300 calories.
In this sense, as a weight loss plan, intermittent fasting has not been shown to have advantages over other low-calorie diets.
Therefore, the nutritionist Juan Pablo Vásquez emphasizes that at least three main meals must be eaten by a person per day, of which two of these meals must have vegetables, and in all the main meals, of the at least three daily, there should be fruit, protein or dairy, and some carbohydrate, that is, Vásquez emphasizes, it is not only the quantity, but the variety of what is consumed, because food is a vehicle for nutrients and the more varied the diet, the greater It is the amount of nutrients that the body ingests.
