Intermittent fasting seen from psychology.

Intermittent fasting consists of alternating food intake with periods of fasting. It is a practice that can be done in different ways and that in recent years has been gaining a lot of prominence.. If you search on Google for “intermittent fasting” pages appear with advice to get started in this practice., others that talk about the many benefits, and of course, others that sell it as a method to lose weight.

I have no training to be able to give an opinion on the benefits it has for people's physical health., so I'm not going to go into that topic.. But I would like us to be able to assess the consequences or dangers it can have for mental health..

The first thing I would like to comment is that fasting has become fashionable, and when something becomes fashionable, loses its essence. In this case, Fasting must be prescribed by professionals and can be beneficial for a certain population, but if we make it fashionable it is accessible to everyone, everyone wants to do it and they forget the aspects to take into account, individual differences, contraindications… In addition, How we live in a fatphobic and weight-centric society, fashion moves to another “diet” to lose weight, to tone or for an aesthetic purpose as such.

Besides, although there are professionals who make an assessment, I believe that this assessment should not only consider aspects of physical health., but it must include the mental, and this is something that rarely happens (unfortunately). In order to obtain the benefits that are talked about so much, We will have to see if there is no contraindication at the mental health level, because if I find benefits for my physical health but I develop a mental illness, is there really health? Fasting can be used as a more restrictive diet, and this is always a risk factor for suffering from an eating disorder. (TCA). It is common to find in consultation people who have been suffering from an eating disorder for a long time and neither they nor those around them are aware of it., so they minimize their symptoms, If a professional is not trained in eating disorders, they may find it very difficult to differentiate those behaviors that a person may have that bring them closer to suffering from an eating disorder.. If not detected, but they are, and fasting is recommended, This can act as a precipitating factor to develop the disease. That's why I find it so imprudent that a practice that could be so dangerous is recommended so openly..

Another important aspect to take into account is the rigidity. In this case, Intermittent fasting can be done in different formats (12/12, 16/8, 24 horas…). Having to adapt to certain hours, leads us to disconnect from our hunger and satiety signals. What happens if I am missing 2 hours and I start to feel hungry? (I teach my body to ignore the hunger signal) During that time my brain is going to try to send me in different ways., señales para que ingiera alimento, hence, the moment you have permission to eat, You may be able to eat more uncontrollably or eat more than you would have otherwise (I don't pay attention to my satiety signal), or even that you can binge. Hunger and satiety are regulatory mechanisms that our body uses, if I disconnect from them (something that happens in most restrictive diets), my relationship with food may be altered.

Consequences are also observed at the social level, having to give up plans or modify my life to adapt to the guidelines of intermittent fasting. And again here I talk about rigidity, If something is healthy, it must always be based on flexibility..

These are just some of the drawbacks that intermittent fasting can have., whether a person decides to start it on their own, as if a professional recommends it without evaluating psychological aspects related to the relationship with your body, with food, dietary history, predisposing factors for an eating disorder… If you want to make changes to your diet, always try to look for professionals who take your mental health into account., because there is no health without mental health.We are at your disposal if you want to do it in a conscious and healthy way!!

Article written by our psychologist Berta.