The healthiest fast is night fasting. It is recommended for everyone and has a low emotional impact. An expert explains how to practice it
“This is healthy fasting that everyone should practice,” says the nutritionist Julia Farréreferring to overnight fasting. Before going into detail, it is important to differentiate this type of fasting from the so-called “intermittent” one. “Nocturnal fasting is the period in which we do not eat, taking advantage of the night’s rest”, explains the expert. “It’s not about skipping meals: is the time between the end of dinner and breakfast. Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, refers to a practice that consists of spending time at least 13 hours without eating and can be implemented at any time of the day”. And he adds: “You can fast for no more than 24 hours”. However, the biggest difference is that overnight fasting has no contraindicationswhile intermittent fasting – which is usually between 13 and 16 hours – is not suitable for everyone.
View more
On this occasion, we will talk about the first type of fasting, that recommendable to everyonewithout distinction. We’ll do it with the help of Farré, who recently attended an event organized by Nike whose goal was to reaffirm the importance of taking care of yourself in a way holisticwhich has a lot to do with rest and nutrition.
Below, Júlia Farré explains why night fasting is a practice that we should all follow. Even if it involves some difficulties.
The benefits of overnight fasting
Already years ago, the Spanish actress and model Elsa Pataky, star of episodes 6,7 and 8 of the saga of Fast & Furiousrevealed that her best beauty trick consisted of have an early dinner, around six in the evening. Of course, with the current pace of life, it can be almost impossible to sit down at the table at that hour, but try to anticipate dinner time it is right and necessary, because in this way, underlines the nutritionist, the night fasting that the body needs is respected. “While we sleep, the body performs several functions, such as cell regeneration,” she explains. “In children, for example, growth occurs while they sleep. In order for these functions to be performed correctly, the digestive system must be at rest, not involved in digestion. That is why the ideal overnight fast is 12 hours, at all ages. It is not a forced fast, and one can easily observe it if one has an early dinner”.
Focus on emotional well-being
The fact that going 12 hours without eating food is healthy does not mean that you have to do it at all costs, especially if it affects the emotional level and causes discomfort, irritability or a bad mood. “For some people it will be easy, for others not so. However, this practice shouldn’t have a negative impact on an emotional level. For example, if we suffer from food anxiety or are prone to late-night binge eating, the issue to focus on is not the 12-hour fast: we need to work on our relationship with foodtrying to understand the causes of this eating disorder”, warns the expert.
Some tips to get you started
Bringing dinner time forward in order to reach 12 hours of fasting is not always easy, but there are some useful tips you can follow:
- If it is not possible to anticipate dinner, Farré recommends delay breakfast: “After waking up, we can drink a coffee, tea or herbal tea, clearly without milk or sugar, and eat afterwards”.
- Practicing the so-called “batch cooking”, o “series kitchen”, a method of organizing meals that involves cook once a week, preparing in a single moment, such as the weekend, for example, everything you need for the following days, then storing the food in the fridge or freezer. “This way, you have several staples available, such as rice, quinoa and roasted vegetables, which allows you to reduce the time it takes to prepare dinner”, says the nutritionist.
- If eating an early dinner leads to feeling hungry before bed, Farré recommends bring forward the time to go to bed or to have a hot drinklike a sugar-free infusion, which does not alter or break the fast.
Read also:
This article was originally published on Vogue Spain.
