Fasting For A Long, Healthy Life

Fasting is commonly practiced by people for religious or spiritual reasons and by those who are desperate to lose weight. But it has been alleged that fasting is a bad way to lose weight because we lose the stimulatory effect of eating, which encourages our metabolism to burn more calories, when we go without food. 

It’s alleged that when we fast our bodies think we are facing starvation and shut down our metabolism, preventing or at least slowing down the weight loss we are aiming to achieve. 

This is why we are often told that we should not skip breakfast if we are trying to lose weight – it is, after all the meal that ‘breaks’ the ‘fast’ of sleep. In addition, it is said that we should eat regular, small meals to keep our metabolic fire stoked up, burning up those calories, because eating itself burns calories. 

But research is increasingly coming out, which seems to show the opposite – that fasting can be an ideal way to lose weight.

The bad news is that restricting calorie consumption is the only method that’s been proven to extend  a life – at least in animals.  For some years now there has been a small group of people called CHRONies (Calorie Restricters on Optimal Nutrition) who seem also to bear witness to this. They are a group of biologically very fit (low cholesterol and low blood sugar), very lean people who achieve this goal by severely restricting the number of calories they eat every day. They also obtain those calories from the most nutritious sources. They look incredibly fit and young for their years – so why is this group very small? Probably because few of us have the willpower to sustain such long-term self-discipline, and most of us enjoy food way too much, for cultural as well as culinary reasons.

But the good news is that there is evidence that fasting for no more than two days a week may lead not only to weight loss but improvements in other measures of health such as cholesterol and fasting blood sugar levels, body mass index, and other metrics, as well. 

And for once, it’s not too good to be true…

Intermittent fasting

Known also as the Fast Diet or the ‘5:2 plan’ devised by British physician, Dr.Michael Mosley, intermittent fasting is causing a stir in nutritional, antiaging and weight-loss circles.  Intermittent fasting involves severely restricting calorie intake on ‘fast’ days to a quarter of a person's normal intake i.e. about 500 calories a day for women and 600 for men.  These calories should be spread out – ideally with at least 12 hours between – to give that all-important fasting period.