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Easier to practice than long fasting, the “intermittent” version appeals to some looking for a reset of the body. Manual.
In a context of reviewing their lifestyle and striving for better health, some try intermittent fasting. While the usefulness and benefits remain disputed within the scientific community, culinary asceticism has never been more attractive, especially its “intermittent” version. “It is part of the therapeutic arsenal of a healthy lifestyle, like diet and physical activity,” believes Sarah Merran (1), general practitioner specializing in nutritional and functional medicine. His interest? Put the digestive system at rest, says the doctor, and “allow the body to ‘recycle’ itself, to recover to destock, which it cannot do if we rule regularly”. According to the doctor, intermittent fasting also allows high-level athletes to improve their performance.
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Unlike the classic fast, which involves at least three consecutive days without ingesting solid food, the intermittent option consists of not eating anything during a defined time interval. Less scary, less restrictive. There are many variations: fasting every day, one day a week, the “5:2 diet” (five days of a balanced diet and two days of calorie restriction), or even “night”, that is, 16 hours without eat This last alternative is the most accessible (between dinner and breakfast, we already have an average of 8 to 10 hours). How to do it? Manual.
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A quick 16 hours
This method involves either eating dinner very early and not eating again until lunch the next day, or not eating dinner and eating again at breakfast. “It is important not to experience it as a frustration, but to keep the goal of well-being in mind. It is better to avoid saying to yourself “I skipped a meal”, but rather see how your digestive system rests “, emphasizes Dr. Sarah Merran. Those for whom it is impossible to do without an evening meal can have a very light and rather plant-based dinner, favoring vegetables over fruits, which are lower in calories and easier to digest.
It’s best to avoid saying to yourself “I’ve had a meal”, but rather see how your digestive system is resting.
Sarah Merran, general practitioner
If you do not ingest anything solid, it is essential to hydrate yourself by consuming liquid throughout the fast. On the menu, no exciting drinks, but water, broths, infusions, based on milk thistle to stimulate your liver for example, explains Sarah Merran. “You can also use the cooking broth from your vegetables, which have been well washed and peeled first. We season it with fresh herbs with digestive properties such as timon, antiseptic with sage, or digestive with anise,” advises Éléonore Guérard, fasting specialist and creator of the Sources fasting and detoxification sessions.
Once or twice a week
For breakfast, of course, you have to give up scrambled eggs with feta and instead opt for an infusion, a painful instruction for some. Hence the interest to take care of the moment and make it attractive. “You can enhance the infusion with pressed fruit (with orange slices), small pieces of turmeric or ginger, sage or rosemary,” mentions Éléonore Guérard. The latter we recommend sugar all with honey or coconut sugar, which has a very low glycemic index. When you resume eating at lunch, Sarah Merran recommends listening to your body and its desires, eating little if the feeling of hunger is not significant and, of course, avoiding meals that are too heavy, too fat.
What about the regularity of intermittent fasting? You can practice once or twice a week, and indulge in the weekend if practicing seems simpler. You can also get annoyed after a few days of excess. If some people panic at the idea of not eating for 16 hours, Dr. Sarah Merran reassures and reminds us that “the body has reserves to last on average 40 days”.
(1) Sarah Merran is the co-author with Thierry Thomas of My fasting bible, the complete essential guide to a risk-free practice (Ed. Leduc.s) to be published in February, 456 p., €20.
*Originally written in January 2020, this article has been updated.