Intermittent fasting is a trend in the health and wellness space right now. For those that haven’t tried it or who may not be aware entirely of what it is, intermittent fasting involves brief periods of not eating. As a lifestyle strategy, it’s been successful among Hollywood celebrities to professional athletes at keeping them slim and engaged with their workouts. Sometimes shortened to IF, intermittent fasting can actually be enhanced through the use of an infrared sauna – here’s how.
Saunas and intermittent fasting are both health and wellness strategies that focus on looking better, feeling better, and strengthening the body’s natural systems. IF can be done two ways. Firstly, there’s time-restricted feeding which is a philosophy believing the body has 3 digestive cycles in a day, each given an 8-hour interval. The first cycle is considered ‘detoxification’ which promotes weight loss, increases energy, and gets rid of waste. Employing a sauna in this part of your intermittent fasting, significant boosts in energy and detoxification have been reported by some.
The second cycle is the ‘appropriation’ cycle and this is when one who practices intermittent fasting will consume their calories. Digestion is at an all-time high here and this is when you want to get the majority of your eating out of the way. Then, the third cycle is ‘assimilation’ which is when your body is absorbing the nutrients which were consumed earlier in the day. Time-restricted feeding is the most common intermittent fasting method. According to participants of time-restricted IF, they argue it’s best to consume calories between 12 pm and 8 pm.
Another method of fasting is ‘whole-day fasting’. This is much less common and requires a complete 24-hour period where no eating takes place followed by a 24-hour period of regular eating.
Although sauna use is not always common with time-restricted feeding and whole day fasting, the difference it can make is huge. That said, in any sort of fasting and sauna situation, you want to ensure you’re eating healthy and drinking enough water. You may be at a dehydration risk so always ensure you’re drinking water before, during, and after to keep yourself on point.
Intermittent fasting only works when you consume no more than your recommended daily calories. Consume any more during your eating time window and there’s no point to fasting. Therefore, any fasting you do should be a compliment to ongoing weight management and detoxification programs. For optimum results through infrared sauna heat therapy, this cannot operate independently of other factors. All should be combined into a single program.
Sweating in a sauna, combined with time-restricted fasting, will promote weight loss, improve mental acuity, and potentially reduce the symptoms or likelihood of developing certain chronic conditions. If you are working with a dietician or personal trainer for your intermittent fasting, discuss with them your desire to incorporate a sauna into your program. Many are surprised at how much more weight they can lose and the positive impact an infrared sauna can have on them, even after only a single session.
Buy your infrared sauna, steam room, or traditional Finnish sauna today from Steam Sauna. Combine it with intermittent fasting and sustain yourself on a healthy, active lifestyle.