Instead of counting calories, just look at the clock: interval fasting has been booming in Germany for several years. This weight loss method is not about what you eat, but when you eat.
Anna Engler likes to grab eggs and bacon when brunching. There can be ten strips of bacon. “I am an absolute connoisseur,” says the 32-year-old from Berlin. She doesn’t do without any of her favorite foods and is still losing weight. 14 kilos since February. Her method: interval fasting.
“You don’t have to count calories, you have to count hours”
Instead of not eating for several days as with classic therapeutic fasting, interval fasting is paused in between. “You don’t have to count calories, you have to count hours. Instead of ‘eat half’ the rule is: ‘eat half the time!'” Says author and doctor Eckart von Hirschhausen in a nutshell. He lost ten kilos.
Intermittent fasting, also called intermittent fasting, has been booming for years. Fasters report their successes on a number of internet blogs. In Facebook groups, tens of thousands of members exchange tips and tricks and motivate themselves with before and after pictures. According to experts, the method corresponds to the nature of humans: after all, hunters and gatherers were not able to have three meals a day.
Waiving the waiver is one of the most important reasons for the boom, says the Berlin naturopath Andreas Michalsen. “It is not a real diet, just a time shift of food, otherwise there are no regulations,” says the Charité professor and chief physician at the Immanuel Hospital, where around 1,500 fasters are cared for each year – both fasting therapists who work several days in a row eat nothing, as well as interval fasters.
The 8:16 method is one of the most popular
Anna Engler fasts according to the 8:16 method: Eat eight hours a day, the remaining 16 hours are only calorie-free drinks such as tea or water. Black coffee is also allowed. She refrains from breakfast. “I always hated that anyway and always felt tired afterwards,” she says.
Brunch with friends should be possible. She plans her meal time flexibly. If a dinner lasts into the night, the first meal on the following day is only available in the afternoon. She only fasts four days a week. Otherwise, the studied industrial engineer eats without looking at the clock. The 8:16 method is one of the most popular.
Others fast using the 5: 2 method. They eat normally five days a week and only consume up to 500 kilocalories on the other two days. Interval fasting is considered more difficult: eating a day, giving up a day.
Cell regeneration is also stimulated
Annette Schürmann from the German Institute for Nutritional Research Potsdam-Rehbrücke explains why the pounds are waning. She has been researching mice for years. Their metabolism is less complex, but similar to that of humans. “Mice that eat all the time only burn carbohydrates.” A fasting period ensures that the body switches from carbohydrate to fat metabolism.
“This means that it really burns fats and reduces the love handles,” says Schürmann. In addition, not so many toxic intermediates accumulated in the liver. Mice were again sensitive to the hormone insulin, which could prevent diabetes 2.
Cell regeneration is also said to be stimulated. “When we fast, we give the body time to turn on its repair mode in the cells and genes,” says Michalsen, referring to autophagy, a process of garbage disposal in body cells. “There is an incredible wealth of extremely impressive research on animals.” Studies indicated a protective effect against dementia, strokes, heart attacks and cancer.
Food society criticizes interval fasting
It is not known whether this is also the case with humans. “The large human studies are missing. But the fact that turning the clock does something is proven,” says the doctor. He recommends patients to try interval fasting for themselves and to find a suitable rhythm. He is in contact with about 500 patients a year who practice this. “90 percent think it’s great. You lose weight. Your blood pressure improves. Ten percent doesn’t do you any good. I tell this patient: Please leave it,” says Michalsen, who is also fasting in the interval.
In contrast, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) does not consider interval fasting to be suitable for regulating weight in the long term. There were no concrete recommendations on the choice of food, according to the reasoning. “I don’t think interval fasting is categorically bad,” replies Schürmann. She recommends a compromise: “Of course, you should stick to the guidelines of the DGE during the meal phases and consume enough carbohydrates, protein and little fat, lots of fruits and vegetables.”
Intermittent fasting is compatible with everyday life
Anna Englerin the canteen of her workplace: The 32-year-old managed to lose 14 kilos within six months through so-called “interval fasting”. (Source: Arne Immanuel Bänsch / dpa)
For Anna Engler, interval fasting is the best way. “I don’t have a yo-yo effect like dieting,” she says. “I feel a lot fitter and more agile.” She went jogging again and did yoga, which used to disturb her stomach. Her goal is to get back to 68 kilos and wear size 38. “Only six kilos are missing,” said the 1.68-meter woman. When she reaches the goal, she wants to fast one or two days a week to keep the weight off.
Will interval fasting supplant therapeutic fasting? “Both approaches are complementary,” says Françoise Wilhelmi de Toledo from the board of the Medical Association for Fasting & Nutrition (ÄGHE). Her colleague Michalsen believes that therapeutic fasting is a challenge and requires preparation and support. In contrast, interval fasting is “highly compatible with everyday life”.
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