Diet trends - a simple guide to intermittent fasting

Another year, another stream of diet trends and eating habits for those watching their weight or trying to make those gains.

Last year, apple cider vinegar, with its apparent weight loss benefits, won the award for the most searched diet related query on our favourite search engine Google. Meanwhile, superfoods have been a buzz word for several years, despite many criticising it for being marketing term used by large corporations.

Now, a new eating habit is sweeping across the nation. Intermittent fasting, that encourages people to count time, not calories, is beginning to make its way into the mainstream. To ensure you know your 16/8’s from your 5:2’s from your start-stop-start’s, we thought we’d bring you a beginner’s guide to intermittent fasting diets.

There are many different types of intermittent fasting diets that can involve stopping eating for several hours or even a whole day before having a meal again. The 16/8 sees users fast for 16 hours of the day and eating during, you guessed it, the remaining eight hours. Meanwhile, 5:2, involves spending two whole days eating just 500-600 calories.

Similarly, eat-stop-eat, involves fasting completely for once, or even twice a week, but what are the supposed health benefits to the diet?

Well, all three types offer supposed fat-burning benefits and allow people to eat just as many calories as they normally would, without gaining weight. In fact, some research has even shown a four percent reduction in weight over a 14-week period, unbelievable, right!

It can also be beneficial to gym goers looking to tone up, too. Yes, shredding fat by fasting will ensure you’ll shave off your blubber and leave you looking leaner, perfect for those post-workout Instagram pictures.