Dr.Dixit's Intermittent fasting & diet

Dr Jagannath Dixit’s brainchild ‘The Dixit diet’ plan where a person eats two meals a day was originally conceived by Dr Shrikant Jichkar. And, after his death, it was propagated by Dr Jagannath Dixit. What exactly is Dixit diet? It is mostly known as the two meal a day diet. The diet strategy is laid on the belief that an individual is truly hungry only twice a day. It goes like: Identify the time of the day when you are most hungry. Set up meal timings.Add natural Protein in your meal. Protein helps us to develop and improve body structure.Also, you can add low glycemic index food which makes our stomach full throughout the day.

Diet plan chart: Eat twice in a day its 2 meal a day diet plan, In between two meals,Drink water, Home-made buttermilk, Green or black tea (without sugar), Coconut water,One tomato. According to Dr Dixit’s diet pattern: You are supposed to eat only 2 meals a day.Eat or drink, absolutely nothing between those two meals except coconut water, buttermilk, green tea and water. He believes that a meal should be consumed only when you are ‘very hungry’. Your meal should be low on carbohydrates and high on protein.Now, looking at this, From Ayurveda’s point of view in the traditional times, we ate only one / two meals a day. In fact in many ayurvedic texts, the ideal number of meals is described as two. Connected to these two meals and the water we drink, we are also advised to have 2-3 bowel movements per day and 6 urine movements.

However, in modern times this has been stretched to 3 meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner with sometimes 2 – 3 small meals or snacks between these meals. Also, little emphasis is paid on the number of bowel and urine movements we pass,which is related to nutrient absorption , unblocked channels and free movement of wastes outside of the body. Hence we may be overloading our body with food at the unhealthy eating timing this leads to aggravated build up in the body and weakening digestive fire which thus lead us to weight gain and diseases.

Also, having a high protein diet helps our body burn more fat and provide our muscles with the much needed food. Dr. Dixit plan consists of two parts. Eat only twice within 55 minutes.Except that you can take water, green tea, dilute buttermilk. Best is to take only water. Walk 4.5 km every day in 45 minutes or less. I followed this plan since April 2018. I lost about 14 kg weight in five month period, and reduced my diabetes considerably. Even then I reduced intake of carbs such as cereals, and added eggs, almond, walnut, groundnut to my diet. I eat plenty of salad and vegetables. No sweets or junk food. Following this my blood sugar came to normal level. I stopped my diabetes medicines totally Since January 2019.

What is Intermittent fasting? Let’s begin with what intermittent fasting (IF) is not. It's not about starving yourself. You can still drink low-calorie liquids such as coffee or tea. Water is definitely my favorite choice of beverage with zero calories.Intermittent fasting can range anywhere from 10 to 18 hours before consuming any food. Don't worry, starvation mode doesn't start until you have fasted for about three days. Fasting for more than ten hours is extremely challenging if you're used to eating breakfast in the morning.

You might argue skipping breakfast is unhealthy because you believe that it's the most important meal of the day. The word "breakfast" literally means to break the fasting period of the prior night. But it doesn't have to be necessarily in the morning as you're free to choose when to break your fast. You're usually hungry in the morning because you have conditioned your brain for years to expect food after you wake up. Breakfast is more of a cultural artifact than a survival necessity. You should eat when you truly feel hungry, not depicted by social norm.

Why You Should Try Intermittent Fasting? You can think of intermittent fasting as a way to detox the body. When you don't eat food for a long time (10 to 18 hours), you're giving your digestive system a break and time for recovery. It's equal to letting your body rest and recover after a workout. During the fasting period, your body still has to look for energy to metabolize for its various bodily functions. The most readily available energy source is glycogen stored in the liver and fat storage in the body.

When you fast, you're essentially training your body to burn on fat. The more adapted your body becomes at utilizing fat, the easier it's for you to lose fat, especially if you're on a ketogenic diet (high fat, adequate protein, and low carb diet). After your mid-twenties, you stop producing human growth hormones. However, intermittent fasting promotes human growth hormone production. By having more growth hormones in the body, you can:

Burn body fat to maintain lean body mass. Build muscle by muscle recovery and repair.Slow down the aging process. Stimulate nail and healthy hair growth. Improve bone strength.In addition, intermittent fasting can also: Reduce inflammation and damages from free radicals.Regulate ghrelin level, the hunger hormone in the body.Prevent cancer and chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes because it normalizes insulin sensitivity.Improve immune function.

How You Can Get Started: The best time to try intermittent fasting is on your day off.Prepare by having a huge meal for dinner the night before will help you feel satiated longer after you wake up. It will also help you sleep better at night with “food coma” if you eat plenty of healthy (complex and low GI) carbohydrates.By completing dinner at 8 PM and not eating until 12 PM the next day results in 16 hours of fasting. Not to mention you will be sleeping most of that time. If the idea of skipping breakfast in the morning is daunting to you, I understand. I had the same feeling when I first heard of it, but everything starts with small steps.First, try delaying your breakfast one hour later than usual to slowly train your brain and stomach to not expect food in the morning. Make steady progress over time as you aim to not eat before 12 PM the next day to reach the 16-hour mark. Cheers!