Among the diets to lose weight, intermittent fasting appears on the lips of celebrities from Argentina, such as Graciela Alfano and Mariano Martínez, and even Hollywood stars such as Jennifer Aniston, who declared themselves adherents of this custom in their daily lives.
Laura Malvina, 63, lives in the San Martín district of Buenos Aires and has been intermittent fasting for three months, six days a week.
“I met him looking for a diet that suits me. I always dieted and had problems with being overweight, I heard about it and looked it up on the internet”told Télam Laura, who carries out this practice “intuitively” and watching videos on YouTube, without the accompaniment of a nutritionist.
His routine includes going 20 hours without eating, he has a “window” four hours for breakfast and lunch, and then only drink liquids such as infusions and juices, but for some “special event” like a birthday “He leaves her”as detailed.
“I don’t miss my previous way of eating. Not only do I see results in my weight, but I also notice a nice feeling in my body, like I connected with spirituality. In religions there is a lot of talk about fasting and now I understand why”expressed the woman who claims to have managed to lose weight slowly and steadily.
warnings
But in front of the people who defend intermittent fasting to lose weight, nutritionists who discourage the practice and the World Health Organization (WHO) stand up, which does not include it among its recommendations to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases.
“Intermittent fasting is a form of food and food restriction. There are fasts of 12 hours, 16 and up to 24. Also with alternate days of fasting and intake on demand”Silvina Tasat, a graduate in nutrition and head member of the Food, Nutrition and Health Forum (Fanus), explained to Télam.
The specialist recalled that fasts exist “Since time immemorial, they have to do with spirituality and religion”but stated: “They have nothing to do with weight loss”.
In addition, he specified that fasting for 24 hours “is not easy to sustain” because food is the “fuel” of our body.
“We physiologically fast every night when sleeping”said Tasat about the hours in which the body processes what is ingested during the day, and stressed that for this reason “Breakfast is breaking the fast”.
The problem with this type of eating is that if there is an eating disorder, it can “exacerbate” it and become “a dangerous practice” that does not create healthy eating habits.
For Tasat, “There is no scientific evidence that people who do it have significantly greater weight loss than with any traditional hypocaloric eating plan and particular experiences cannot be extrapolated to the general population”.
According to data from the Association for the Fight against Bulimia and Anorexia (Aluba), almost 15% of the Argentine population has an eating disorder.
Along the same lines, Analía Yamaguchi, clinical physician specializing in nutrition and secretary of the Argentine Nutrition Society (SAN), explained that “these fad diets to lose weight can exacerbate eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia, or lead to Binge”.
“These are diets that are not sustained over time and patients do not lose more weight than with a diet where you teach the person to have a healthy diet”told Télam and remarked that any food plan must respect four laws: quantity, quality, harmony and adequacy.
On the other hand, Yamaguchi indicated that diets such as intermittent fasting lead the person to become malnourished and when they lose many kilos “at once” they not only lose fat but also muscle, which causes the body to remove proteins from the digestive tract or bone, generating osteoporosis.
October 16 marks World Food Day 2022, to make people aware of the world’s food problems.
Source: Telam
They warn that intermittent fasting can cause eating disorders