Intermittent Fasting and Inflammation

Intermittent fasting, the eating pattern that narrows your eating hours and alternates between eating and fasting periods, is known to have many health benefits, including improving effects on chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, asthma, heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer.

The common thing here is that all of these conditions are inflammatory-related diseases. So you might be asking, “Is intermittent fasting good for inflammation?”

Intermittent fasting is the simplest yet most effective thing you can do to help your body get rid of inflammation! In this article, you’ll find out how to reduce inflammation in the body quickly with intermittent fasting.

What is inflammation?

Inflammation is a natural process used by your body to fight infections. It helps you get rid of harmful agents like viruses, bacteria, or toxic substances.

But if the inflammation happens constantly and becomes chronic, your body triggers the immune cells even when there’s no injury or infection, and they in turn attack the healthy cells. This is when you begin to have health problems like:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases
• Asthma
• Cancer
• IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome)
• Heart diseases
• Type 2 diabetes
• Skin problems (e.g. psoriasis, eczema, rosacea)
• Allergies

Does intermittent fasting help reduce inflammation?

Intermittent fasting is a highly anti-inflammatory diet. Recent research shows that eating less in a narrower window of the day, preferably during the daytime, reduces inflammation levels in the body. (1)

Doing intermittent fasting is also beneficial for raising the levels of galectin-3, a protein that reduces insulin resistance and inflammation. (2)

Another contributory factor to intermittent fasting’s effect on inflammation is its autophagy effect. The more you fast, the more your body enters autophagy and clears out the old, damaged, and inflamed components in your body. (3)

So if you’re suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions such as Alzheimer’s, IBS, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, etc., intermittent fasting may have a reversing effect. (4)

Which intermittent fasting plan is best for reducing inflammation?

When it comes to choosing an intermittent fasting plan, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The best plan for you is the one you can stick to over a long period. So it’s a good idea not to choose a very restrictive plan but to start with a more straightforward plan like 12/12 or 14/10.

After you get used to this eating pattern, you can switch to plans with longer fasting hours like 16/8, 18/6 or the 20/4 plan (warrior diet). The best plan is the one that best suits your body and needs.

To sum up

Intermittent fasting is a good way to reduce inflammation in your body, whether or not you have a chronic disease. Fasting Kompanion will help you find the most sustainable plan.