What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting.

There are several different intermittent fasting methods, all of which split the day or week into eating periods and fasting periods.

Most people already "fast" every day, while they sleep. Intermittent fasting can be as simple as extending that fast a little longer.

You can do this by skipping breakfast, eating your first meal at noon and your last meal at 8 pm.

Then you're technically fasting for 16 hours every day, and restricting your eating to an 8-hour eating window. This is the most popular form of intermittent fasting, known as the 16/8 method.

Despite what you may think, intermittent fasting is actually fairly easy to do. Many people report feeling better and having more energy during a fast.

Hunger is usually not that big of an issue, although it can be a problem in the beginning, while your body is getting used to not eating for extended periods of time.

No food is allowed during the fasting period, but you can drink water, coffee, tea and other non-caloric beverages.

Some forms of intermittent fasting allow small amounts of low-calorie foods during the fasting period.

This was taken from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-intermittent-fasting#section1