Intermittent fasting (IF) may have started as a fitness trend for weight loss, but today it's a go-to lifestyle choice for many. 

Practicing intermittent fasting has been linked with health benefits such as lowering blood sugar and insulin, preventing heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Research also suggests intermittent fasting can have a possible therapeutic effect on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

There’s much to love about IF, from increased energy to mental clarity, but going without your favorite foods or ignoring hunger pangs can be a tough challenge! If you're considering trying out intermittent fasting for yourself, don't forget to get answers to essential questions such as:

• What is intermittent fasting?
• What are the different types of intermittent fasting?
• How does fasting affect your digestive system?
• Should you take probiotic supplements while fasting?
• Will taking probiotic supplements break a fast?

Let's go ahead and find some answers!

Accidentally missing a meal or two, especially with a deadline approaching or when you're feeling stressed or sick, is not uncommon. Not wanting to eat during sickness is your body's natural response to conserve energy and heal itself.

Intermittent fasting follows a deliberate schedule of alternating fasting and eating periods. The practice of intermittent fasting is associated with cell repair, low insulin levels, which leads to fat burning rather than fat storage, increased human growth hormones (HGH), reduced inflammation, and healthy gene expression.

When you eat three meals a day as well as snacks, your body has a constant source of ready carbohydrates. Intermittent fasting works by increasing the time you go without a ready energy source and utilizing stored resources such as fat.

Your digestive process is energy-intensive, and voluntarily avoiding food intake for scheduled periods gives your body a break from digestion. Intermittent fasting helps increase the level of human growth hormones (HGH), allowing the body to focus on repairing damaged cells, combating oxidative stress and having a healthy gene expression.

Will intermittent fasting cause malnourishment?

The risk of malnutrition is ever present if you aren't mindful of how you approach and practice intermittent fasting. Skimping on nutrient dense foods during the eating window can cause you to falter and affect your health adversely.

How does intermittent fasting work?

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Intermittent fasting helps stabilize your circadian rhythm, which supports metabolic health.

Dr. Andrew Huberman, in his podcast, Effects of Fasting and Time Restricted Feeding on Fat loss & Health, states that "it is very important that the feeding window fall during the more active phase of one's day. . . that's typically in the early part of the day or the later part of the day, but not at night. . . eating during the nocturnal phase of the 24-hour cycle is very detrimental to one's health. In fact, when we eat we can either enhance our health or can diminish our health.” Typically, you should eat your last meal at least 3 hours before going to bed.

Is Intermittent fasting good for your digestive system?

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What are the different ways of intermittent fasting (IF)?

The ease and flexibility of adopting IF into your life versus a calorie-restrictive diet are one of the main attractions of this health trend. There are several ways to practice intermittent fasting, such as:

• Everyday time-restricted eating (18:6) - An eighteen-hour fasting period led by a six-hour eating period.
• Alternate day fasting.
• 5:2 week - Fasting for two days a week.
• B2 regimen (14- 10) - Only two meals a day between the ten-hour eating period.
• Intermittent VLCD Therapy - A variable fasting method that can range from a day a week to a five-day fasting period every five weeks.

Will taking supplements break a fast?

Fasting not only restricts calories but also restricts the intake of nutrients. Understanding which supplements and probiotics can support your nutritional and gut needs is essential and can help you maintain your fast.

A thumb rule to remember while fasting is to consume no or negligible calories. So, if your supplements are calorie-dense, they'll most likely break a fast.

Commonly consumed supplements such as most probiotics (supplement form), water-soluble vitamins (whole foods, vitamin C, folic acid), fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamin D), collagen, or sugar-free electrolytes will not break a fast.

What will break a fast?

Taking gummy vitamins, sugary electrolytes, calorie-rich probiotic drinks such as Kombucha, bone broth, digestible carbohydrates mixed in with prebiotics, and protein powder break your fast as they contain small amounts of carbohydrates as filler.

Taking branched amino acids (BCAAs) such as leucine can break a fast, as they've been shown to produce an insulin response that can stop autophagy.

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Should you take prebiotics and probiotics while fasting?

Supplementing with prebiotics (indigestible fiber such as inulin) and probiotics (helpful live bacteria such as Pediococcus acidilactici) during your fast can support your gut in maintaining a healthy microbiome.

By-products such as bacteriocin Pediocin A that result from indigestible fiber fermentation can support the growth of good bacteria in your gut. Bacteriocins prevent the development of pathogens, which helps prevent inflammation and maintains a healthy gut lining.

When to take probiotics while intermittent fasting?

Some bacterial strains' survival depends on the type of meal you're having. The bacterial survival rate can be higher when taken with meals or 30 mins before a meal versus when taken with only water, juice, or soda on an empty stomach.

According to this study, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, when taken with carbohydrates, survived for up to 90 mins in a simulated acidic gastric environment. L. rhamnosus GG depends on its ability to break down sugars (glucose) to ensure its survival through an acidic environment. Similar protective effects of glucose were found on other lactobacillus strains as well.

Another study suggests using probiotics such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium longum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii with meals containing fat to enhance their survival through the gut.

Over 100 million Americans have prediabetes or diabetes. Lifestyle choices such as a poor diet or lack of physical activity can increase the risk of having higher than normal blood glucose levels.

Prediabetes means having a high fasting plasma glucose level, not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, but which can turn into type 2 diabetes without intervention.

This study of 9 and 11 randomized, controlled trials with prediabetes and diabetes patients found that lifestyle interventions decreased the risk of diabetes from the end of the intervention to up to 10 years after it.

Patients in the lifestyle intervention group showed significant results in weight loss and an increase in physical activity than the placebo group.

Some studies have found intermittent fasting effective in blood glucose control and better insulin response. This study found probiotics to improve glucose metabolism to some degree.

If you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, please consult a health professional before beginning intermittent fasting.