Intermittent fasting has been trending for a number of years. It is alternately fasted and fed. The most popular variant is called 16 to 8: People who fast this way do not eat for 16 hours and are then allowed to eat for eight hours. Many see intermittent fasting solely as a good way to lose weight. But it can also have health-promoting effects: it has already been proven that people go hungry at times can lower blood pressure and improve sugar and fat levels in the blood. one in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published study has now shown that type 2 diabetics can significantly reduce or even stop taking their medication following such a fasting regimen.
For the study, 36 type 2 diabetics fasted intermittently for three months. They followed a special form of intermittent fasting with nutritional rules known as “Chinese medical nutrition therapy (CMNT)” from traditional Chinese medicine. Whole grain products and special types of tea, vegetables, spices or fruit are permitted. Another 36 people with type 2 diabetes served as a control group.
The three-month intermittent fasting phase comprised a total of six cycles of 15 days each. For five consecutive days of fasting, participants were allowed to eat 840 kilocalories per day with breakfast between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., lunch between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and dinner between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. In the following ten days, they should follow the dietary guidelines for diabetes in China.
