Intermittent fasting can be suitable for everyone, whether you are vegan or vegetarian or even if you eat meat. There are a lot of benefits to intermitted fasting.
We recommend that vegetarians consider going on a 16/8 hour intermittent fast; this is the same intermittent fasting we recommend for everyone, whether they are a vegetarian or not. The 16/8 intermittent fast means that you fast 16 hours per day and eat during a window of 8 hours per day. We find that most people can stay on this kind of fasting schedule.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting Diet For Vegetarians (And Everyone Else)
We recommend the 16/8 intermittent fasting plan for vegetarians and everyone else. This is an excellent fasting plan because it means that you still have a window of time to eat, yet there are hours which you will not be eating.
Here is what the 16/8 Intermittent Fasting plan means:
- 16 Hours Limited Food And Calorie Beverages – For 16 hours, you will limit your food and calorie beverages. This means that for 16 hours during the day, you will not eat any food, but you will drink water and low-calorie beverages like plain coffee or tea.
- 8 Hours Eat Normally – You will typically eat for eight hours of the day—eating a typical vegetarian meal you usually eat.
We recommend the 16/8 intermittent Fasting Plan as we find it is the most manageable plan for most people to follow and to see success.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting Tips
For some people, not eating for 16 hours can seem daunting. But you can do a few things to ensure that you can follow and stay within the window. Here are a few things you can do:
- Choose 16 Hours That Include Seeping – We all need to sleep, so choose a 16-hour window that includes your sleeping time. I usually fast from about 6:30 pm, so I will not eat anything after 7 pm. Then I do not eat or drink anything except water until 10:30 am the next day. Usually, for me, that meal is a protein shake.
- 8 Hours Eating – If you have an 8-hour window, your eating could be from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm. Here are some other options of windows of eating for 8 hours that may work for you:
- 9 am to 5 pm
- 10 am to 6 pm
- 10:30 am to 6:30 pm
- 11 am to 7 pm
- Noon to 8 pm
You can choose which window of time works for you. Most people will be eating two meals during this time frame. For me, I do the following:
- Drink Protein Shake – I drink a protein shake to break the fast. This helps me with my hunger.
- Eat Lunch– I eat a typical lunch.
- Eat Dinner – I eat a regular dinner.
Sometimes I will have some snacks, but I will have those within the window of the eating time.
As you can see from this schedule, the main point is that you limit your eating to a specific time frame each day.
Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting
Studies have shown that intermittent fasting is suitable for most people. If you are unsure if intermittent fasting is proper for you, we suggest you speak with your healthcare professionals.
Research has shown that many health benefits can occur in your body and brain with intermittent fasting. According to John Hopkins University, Intermittent fasting can help as follows:
- Thinking And Memory – In animal studies, intermittent fasting can help boost animal memory and verbal memory. So other words, intermittent fasting can improve your brain and brain functions.
- Heart Health – Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve blood pressure, resting heart rate, and other related heart-related medical measurements. This makes sense because when you are fasting, you are giving your body a rest and your heart a rest.
- Physical Health – It was shown that those who fasted for 16 hours were able to maintain their muscle mass while at the same time getting rid of fat. In other words, those who fast for 16 hours have better muscle mass than those who do not.
- Diabetes And Obesity – Intermediate fasting was shown to help prevent obesity while at the same time helping with diabetes.
- Tissue Health – Studies also show that those who practice intermittent fasting have healthier tissue. In other words, if they had surgery, they could recover more quickly than others.
Of course, you can still practice intermittent fasting and suffer from heart disease or diabetes, or other elements. Intermediate fasting is not a medical miracle or does not ensure you will not have some diseases. But intermittent fasting has been shown to help your overall health.
One of the things that we like about intermittent fasting is that it is relatively easy. It is pretty easy because once you get used to eating 2 1/2 meals a day, it is pretty easy to stay on the program.
I have found that my hunger has disappeared, and I am not as hungry as I once was. Also, I have had to psychologically get away from the fact that I am not having breakfast. For me, it was more the psychological aspects than the hunger aspects.
If you are looking for a way to eat healthier and be healthier, we recommend intermittent fasting.
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