What Is The 16: 8 Diet?
Author: Maryam Ayres
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
The 16: 8 diet is so named because it consists of 16 hours of fasting a day and 8 hours of optional meals
A new study published in the journal Nutrition and Healthy Aging examines the effects of a 16: 8 diet in overweight adults. It is so called because it consists of 16 hours of fasting a day and 8 hours of optional meals.
It has been found that our body cannot process food in just a few hours and as a result converts it into fat. The principle of nutrition that the diet offers is to eat only at intervals of eight hours. It is recommended that this be done between 10 am and 6 pm.
During the rest of the time, only water or low-calorie drinks can be consumed.
To study the effect of the diet in detail, Dr. Christa Varadi, a researcher in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her team observed 23 volunteers over the age of 45 who were overweight for 12 weeks.
Their findings show that, on average, participants consumed about 350 fewer calories, lost about 3% of their body weight, and their blood pressure dropped.
Another advantage of the diet is that it does not starve . In those 8 hours, we can eat whatever we want. But experts still advise food to be healthier. Moreover, we do not have to be on a diet all the time. It is enough to observe it only a few days a week.
Although with this diet, weight loss is slower, we are much less likely to give it up quickly, as we are not limited in food choices, as with most popular diets.
"When it comes to losing weight, people need to find what works for them, because even minimal success can lead to improvements in metabolism, " says Dr. Varadi.