Whether you’re looking into intermittent fasting for women over 40, or have just found out there’s a way to upgrade your food lifestyle by fasting in set windows, one thing is for sure: intermittent fasting is one of the most popular ways to keep your health in check. Or is it?
There are long-term effects of intermittent fasting on the metabolism, and many of us who indulge in that kind of lifestyle are often blinded by the possibility to lose weight fast while feeling more focused on a daily basis.
When done improperly, intermittent fasting can cause health problems – whether you’re an 18-year-old male, a 30-year-old sports junkie, or a woman over 40.
In this guide, I will tell you about the dangerous side effects of intermittent fasting, backed by stats and studies, and let you know about the benefits of intermittent fasting too – for indeed, there are a few benefits that really cannot be overlooked.
Dangerous Intermittent Fasting Side Effects: All You Need to Know
Intermittent Fasting, or IT, has become very popular in recent times as a way to lose weight. Intermittent fasting is not really a diet but more of a change in lifestyle. The idea is to eat your meals within a restricted time period of the day while fasting for the remainder of the day.
There are different methods, such as 16:8, 20:4, or the Eat Stop and Eat method (eat regularly for a few days and then fast for 24 hours). The most popular method involves eating freely, without calorie restraint, and then fasting.
Each method might optimize your weight loss results but did you know, intermittent fasting has dangerous side effects? While promoted as a great lifestyle, Intermittent Fasting can be potentially dangerous for your health and mind. Here are the side effects that no one talks about.
Intermittent Fasting Dangerous Side Effect #1: Counterproductive
As we mentioned earlier, intermittent fasting emphasizes eating your meals within a certain time frame. But, intermittent fasting doesn’t replace calorie control or eating healthy.
Most people feel hunger pangs and go through intense cravings. This is normal in the first few days, but it can lead to overeating during “eating periods,” and eventually cause weight gain.
A common misunderstanding and mistake is that people overeat to compensate for the times that they need to fast.
For example, a friend of mine that started on her weight loss journey, began to eat high-calorie and high-fat meals during her eating period, so that it would make fasting for 16 hours easier for her.
Overeating or binge eating is an eating disorder. Anyone with an eating disorder or a history of eating disorders might not be the right candidate for Intermittent Fasting. In order for any dietary lifestyle to be successful, it’s important that our relationship with food is healthy.
Most people lose interest in eating while following the IT lifestyle.
Why?
Well, we often relate eating to socializing.
If we need to eat during a restrictive time, following a certain caloric intake, it takes the fun out of eating. This can encourage the development of eating disorders and an unhealthy perspective of food.
Dangers of Intermittent Fasting: Calorie Control is Vital
One thing that often goes overlooked while following a fasting lifestyle, is calorie control.
One of the dangerous side effects of intermittent fasting, whether you’re a female over 40 or a 20-year-old, is that you lose sight of calorie control – of how much you need to eat when you are not fasting.
As a result, people often overeat or go rogue during their eating periods. There is a certain way to eat and an effective way to break your fast while following Intermittent Fasting.
But first, how much should you eat? How many calories should you eat?
First, calculate the number of calories you need to lose weight to reach your goal. Keep in mind, like any diet, the idea is to have a calorie deficit while losing weight.
The recommended calorie intake differs from person to person by way of weight, lifestyle (active or sedentary), and ultimate weight loss goal.
Keep your goals practical and make sure that along with calorie control, you incorporate exercise to maintain your muscles because Intermittent fasting can potentially cause muscle loss.
Does that mean you should eat more protein?
Incorporating protein into your diet, over a longer eating time interval will aid in supporting muscle maintenance. But diet alone won’t help. Exercise is an important factor to add to your IT lifestyle.
Muscle maintenance comes from both diet and exercise. So make sure to set a longer interval for eating when it comes to muscle health. Incorporating protein over the course of the whole day, as opposed to a meal works more effectively.
Note: Combining restrictive diets like Keto and IT might not be a great fit for everyone. Consult your doctor before beginning any sort of diet. High fat, high protein, no sugar, etc…these types of restrictions coupled with fasting might strain your kidneys and liver.
Finally, restrictive eating can also lead to nutrient deficiency. How? The importance of a balanced diet cannot be stressed enough. Keep a tab on what you eat by logging your food in a diary, or paying close attention to the macros and micro-nutrients in your meals.
By focusing on calories alone, you’re depriving your body of vitamins and nutrients needed to function. Shift your focus and learn to balance your diet. Consult a nutritionist to maintain a healthy diet.
Dangers of Intermittent Fasting: Break Your Fast Correctly
While fasting, you may not consume any calories or nutrients, but once you break your fast, understanding your macronutrient needs can help you make more informed food choices.
A macronutrient calculator can help you determine the optimal amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to consume during your eating window.
While breaking your fast, whether you call it breakfast or lunch (depending on the time you begin to eat), it’s important to have the right meals otherwise you can potentially sabotage your results.
One thing to avoid absolutely during intermittent fasting is, according to Dr. Amy Shah, to avoid eating high sugars or heavy-carb meals because it will cause an increase in insulin levels, making you feel hungrier!
Pro-Tip: Plan your meals ahead of time to prevent these counterproductive side effects, especially weight gain. Make sure you control your calories and keep a diary of what you intake. Doing this will help you understand what food combinations are helping you and where you can make changes in order to feel full. You’ll also be able to monitor your calorie deficit daily and track your progress. Download an app that tracks when you should begin and end your fast. It’ll be one less thing to worry about!
Intermittent Fasting Dangerous Side Effect #2: Headaches, Mood Swings, and Sleep Disturbance
When first starting Intermittent Fasting, you’ll notice that one of the side effects is an intense fasting headache, usually in the frontal region of your brain.
For most people, once your body achieves homeostasis, or normalizes with your fasting routine, the headache will subside.
Keep in mind, the longer you fast, the longer the headache will last. When following the Eat, Stop and Eat Method, this is common. Fasting for longer than 24 hours is not recommended.
Headaches also occur due to low blood sugar, and caffeine withdrawal. If you suffer from migraines, Intermittent Fasting can trigger them without a doubt! Adjust your fasting methods to prevent this from happening.
Along with the headaches and probable mood swings, you might find it difficult to concentrate and feel lethargic.
This will lead to less physical activity and in turn lead to muscle loss, as we mentioned earlier. Is it me or can you hear “The Circle of Life,” playing in the background in your mind, from the Lion King?
Note: You’re allowed to drink coffee and tea during your fast but you're not allowed any sugar or milk.
Another reason for the headaches is dehydration. While you fast you are allowed to drink water. Even though you shouldn’t be eating, you need to make sure you remain hydrated. Plus, we sometimes mistake thirst for hunger.
So the next time you feel like snacking, try a glass of water first. Who knows, maybe you were just thirsty!
Pro-Tip: If you want a bit of flavor, you can add a squeeze of lemon but don’t go overboard, otherwise, you’ll break your fast prematurely. Make sure you eat and don’t just hydrate to cut calories! Too much hydration causes a drop in your sodium levels, which will cause…you got it, a headache. It’s the circle of life, I’m telling you!
Dangerous Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting: Blood Sugar and Cortisol Levels
Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can occur during fasting, causing irritability, headaches even some mood swings. Although this can change once your body is acclimated to a fasting schedule, many people relate energy and productivity to eating.
Therefore, people also tend to feel loneliness during Intermittent Fasting because of their restrictive eating times, making it difficult to attend events and parties.
Pro-Tip: If you want to have drinks or meet for coffee, you can! Opt for black tea, black coffee, or sparkling water (with lemon for flavor). Try a low-calorie snack like cucumbers!
The IT lifestyle can also cause disturbed sleep cycles. Fasting causes your body’s cortisol levels to increase. Cortisol is your body’s natural stress hormone.
An increase in cortisol and insulin causes a decrease in REM sleep or deep sleep. Lack of sleep causes irritability and can lead to health problems. It’s never-ending! “In the Circle… the circle of liiiifeeeeeeee.”
According to Chris Kesser, people with blood sugar imbalances should avoid this type of lifestyle. His patients which follow a paleo diet, or a low-carb diet, still have blood sugar issues due to cortisol dysregulation.
When these patients try intermittent fasting, their blood sugar levels always increase! Increased blood sugars open up a door to a variety of problems like diabetes.
Pro-tip: Try to eat every 2-3 hours (in smaller amounts) to battle an uptick in blood sugar levels. When a diabetic, for example, goes for an extended period of time without eating, their bodies release sugar into the bloodstream as a way of preventing it from shutting down. It’s their body’s way of saving itself from starvation. But doing this has an adverse effect, especially on a diabetic. Therefore, eating every few hours keeps these levels in check.
Intermittent Fasting Dangerous Side Effect #3: Digestive Problems
Common digestive problems experienced by those following Intermittent Fasting include diarrhea, constipation, and bloating. While these are usually felt in the beginning phase of fasting, these effects can be prolonged by horrible eating habits.
Two factors play an important role: hydration and fiber. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to remain hydrated. Water helps your body digest food earlier to absorb nutrients but it also makes your stools softer (prevent constipation).
Fiber aids in digestion in similar ways by softening the stools but more importantly, depending on your meals, it helps you feel full.
Fiber aids the bacteria in your gut to stay healthy which encourages inflammation to remain low. By providing bulk to your stool (because fiber doesn’t change much during digestion) fiber prevents constipation and diarrhea.
Note: If you have diarrhea, do not eat a high-fiber meal! That will only make it worse! Try a dry piece of bread for binding.
Acidity is another common problem during IT. Remember to not drink coffee on an empty stomach. While coffee aids in increasing your metabolism (black coffee), it’s recommended not to drink it while fasting. Instead, opt for a weak tea or lemon water.
Breaking your fast with an indulgent meal can cause similar problems. Opt for something light at first like soup. Acidity leads to a multitude of problems, including the wear and tear of enamel!
Incorporating probiotics into your diet can aid in digestion, prevent acidity and maintain gut health. Remember, gut health keeps inflammation at bay.
Intermittent Fasting Dangerous Side Effect #4: Women’s Fertility
Women and men react differently to Intermittent Fasting. Fasting affects women’s hormones much differently than men’s during the course of a month.
Note: Women who are pregnant should not follow this fasting lifestyle or any sort of restrictive diet.
Dangerous Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting: Menstrual Cycle
A week before a woman’s menstrual cycle, her estrogen levels decrease if the egg is not fertilized. This causes stress on her body which then leads to an increase in cortisol levels (this alone is a bad reason to fast, you know why).
With this added stress on the body, the first few days of her period also result in a lot of blood loss. Therefore, it’s recommended for the severity of blood loss to lessen before safely resuming fasting if necessary.
Intermittent fasting for women, especially those with irregular menstrual cycles, isn’t a one size fits all approach. According to Dr. Kumaran, if you experience irregular menstrual cycles, first consult a doctor to find out the cause. Do not start intermittent fasting until you know!
Dangerous Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting: Fertility
A woman’s hormones are more sensitive to restrictive diets and according to studies, Dr. Kumaran mentions that Intermittent Fasting can cause fertility problems due to the effect of fasting on estrogen levels.
Kisspeptin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus and is responsible for the eventual production of LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone). Kisspeptin plays a critical role in the regulation of the reproductive system by triggering the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn stimulates the secretion of LH and FSH from the pituitary gland. These hormones are essential for the development and function of the ovaries and testes, ultimately influencing fertility. While exploring topics like hormonal regulation, it’s worth noting how diverse interests, such as browsing the best candle shops in London, can provide a calming balance to the scientific rigor of such studies.
These two hormones are responsible for the production of estrogen and testosterone. IT causes a drop in kisspeptin production, according to some studies. This can cause infertility or stop a woman’s menstrual cycle!
Because women have higher levels of kisspeptin in comparison to men, Intermittent Fasting has more potential negative effects on women.
Dangerous Intermittent Fasting Side Effects: All You Need to Know
We’re not here to bash the Intermittent Fasting lifestyle but instead to educate and inform you that there are two sides to everything.
It’s better to be aware of the potential and maybe dangerous side effects of intermittent fasting. As they say, ‘Better safe than sorry’!
While there are negatives to the restrictive diet, there are a few benefits to consider as well.
- Encourages Weight Loss– if we snack less, insulin levels remain steady, encouraging our bodies to use stored fat as energy
- Lowers Inflammation related to Obesity–lowers the risks of Alzheimer’s, Parkison’s, Heart Disease, and maybe even cancer!
- Improves Heart Health (blood pressure and resting heart rate)
- Cell Repair (regeneration)
- Encourages Habits of Effective Eating Through Balanced Meals
Everything has two sides to it, just like a story, a game, and life! It’s always better to weigh (no pun intended) the pros and the cons before trying anything, especially a lifestyle change like Intermittent Fasting.
If you’re interested in the IF lifestyle, then be sure to check out the Introductory Guide to Intermittent Fasting. Before making any life changes, be sure to consult your doctor and ask questions!