When you don’t eat any food for a set period of time each day, you do your body and your brain a whole lot of good. It makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. For most of history, people weren’t eating three square meals a day, plus grazing on snacks. Instead, humans evolved in situations where there wasn’t much food, and they learned to thrive when fasting.[1] Nowadays, we don’t have to hunt for food (although hunting for your own meat isn’t a bad idea!). Rather, we spend most of our days in front of computers, and we eat whenever we want — even though our bodies aren’t adapted to this behavior.
Switching to an intermittent fasting diet expands your limits and boosts your performance in a number of ways. Here are some of the powerful benefits of intermittent fasting:
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Boosts weight loss
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Increases energy
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Promotes cellular repair and autophagy (when your body consumes defective tissue in order to produce new parts)
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Reduces insulin resistance and protects against type 2 diabetes
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Lowers bad cholesterol
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Promotes longevity
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Protects against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
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Improves memory and boosts brain function
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Makes cells more resilient
There is a ton of hype surrounding the ketogenic diet. Some researchers swear that it is the best diet for most people to be on, while others think it is just another fad diet. To some degree, both sides of the spectrum are right. There isn’t one perfect diet for everyone or every condition, regardless of how many people “believe” in it. The ketogenic diet is no exception to this rule. However, the ketogenic diet also has plenty of solid research backing up its benefits. In fact, it has been found to be better than most diets at helping people with:
- Epilepsy
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Type 1 Diabetes
- High Blood Pressure
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Chronic Inflammation
- High Blood Sugar Levels
- Obesity
- Heart Disease
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
- Fatty Liver Disease
- Cancer
- Migraines
Even if you are not at risk from any of these conditions, the ketogenic diet can be helpful for you too. Some of the benefits that most people experience are:
- Better brain function
- A decrease in inflammation
- An increase in energy
- Improved body composition
As you can see, the ketogenic diet has a wide array of benefits, but is it any better than other diets?
The main advantages of a plant-based diet seem to be more related to the foods you’re eating lots of (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts) rather than those you’re eating less of (meat).
“When you base your meals on plant foods, you’re packing your diet with the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats that most Americans don’t get enough of,” says Sharon Palmer, R.D.N., editor of Environmental Nutrition. Plant-based diets are also full of phytochemicals, compounds that help keep many of your body’s systems running smoothly. For instance, the anthocyanins in berries help protect vision; carotenoids in carrots and cantaloupe, and the isothiocyanates in brussels sprouts neutralize the free radicals that cause cell damage; and flavonoids in apples help control inflammation.
This Diet may help Prevent or Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease shedding pounds is the primary goal of most diet plans, especially when it comes to fad detoxes and cleanses. But not everyone on a diet is looking to lose weight. Different diets can achieve different results. And if you’re hoping to improve your brain health and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, you may consider trying the MIND diet, which has been linked with slower cognitive decline.
Alzheimer’s disease — a progressive and devastating neurodegenerative disease causing memory loss and confusion — affects more than 5 million Americans and is the most common form of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. (1) Although there is no research linking the MIND diet with reversing Alzheimer’s, there’s plenty of evidence supporting the connection between this dietary approach and preventing the disease.
