Readers Digest Australia Sampler 2022

READER’S DIGEST decided to try an 18:6 plan, which in- volves carving out a six-hour window – say, from noon until 6pm – when he could eat whatever he wanted and then going the next 18 hours with no food (but unlimited water, coffee, tea and other noncaloric beverag- es). Two-and-a-half years later and 11 kilograms lighter (give or take a few, thanks to the pandemic), Jerico hasn’t looked back. “I like it a lot,” he says. “It has made me realise that our appetite is more tied to seeing food than needing it. I do miss breakfast food, though. In fact, I regularly have breakfast for dinner.” No one would say that intermit- tent fasting is easy, but it has many advantages. There’s no counting kilojoules, resisting snacks, cutting out food groups or various challenges that come with other types of dieting. Instead of focusing on what you eat as dieters do on Paleo (no processed foods, grains or sugar), Atkins (low carbs), Whole30 (no sugar, alcohol, grain, dairy, legumes), and other re- gimes, IF puts the emphasis on when you eat. “Rather than saying ‘Just eat less,’ we tell them not to eat after 6pm,” says Elisabetta Politi, a dietitian and the nutrition director for the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in North Carolina. “For those who have the discipline, it works.” No matter how long your fast- ing period, the metabolic impact on your body is similar. Typically, when we eat, our bodies break down the carbohydrates from the food and turn them into a form of sugar known as glucose, one of the body’s preferred fuels. Unused glucose is stored for later use in your liver. So if you are eating three meals a day, your body always has energy on hand as well as a reserve it can tap. But when you’re fasting, your body doesn’t have a steady stream of food to turn into energy. That means it has to tap its reserves. After about eight hours, it depletes the stored glucose and needs another source of energy. This is when the body begins burning fat for fuel, explains Mark P. Mattson, adjunct professor of neuro­ science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This, combined Intermittent fasting might ward off neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES 20 May 2022