All posts tagged: Intermittent

The Actual Benefits of Intermittent Fasting, According to Experts

The Actual Benefits of Intermittent Fasting, According to Experts

Published by Jenni Sidey

Every couple of years, like the very clockwork it depends on, intermittent fasting resurfaces as a dietary trend. “It’s really interesting that it has held this kind of unusual fascination as a trend for so many years, as it isn’t anything new from a clinical nutrition perspective,” says Stacie Stephenson, DC, CNS, board member of the American Nutrition Association. To be fair, though, intermittent fasting is one of the more beneficial and universally useful nutrition strategies out there—just not for the reason most people think. “Do I consider intermittent fasting a weight loss diet? No, I don’t,” Dr. Stephenson says. “But I think it’s a really great tool.” A tool for what, then, you might ask? Here’s everything you need to know. What is intermittent fasting? “Intermittent fasting is as simple as not eating for half the day,” says Dr. Stephenson. “For 12–14 hours of your day, you’re not consuming anything other than water. That is as simple as it is.” Basically, with intermittent fasting, half or more of your day is spent in a …

Does intermittent fasting live up to the hype? It works on mice – but does it work for us?

Does intermittent fasting live up to the hype? It works on mice – but does it work for us?

Published by Sam Flores

In 2013, a British journalist and a doctor introduced an obscure dietary protocol to the wider culture. The idea was simple: two days a week, eat almost nothing – fewer than 600 calories. The rest of the time, eat normally. The writers, Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, claimed “The Fast Diet” could help you shed fat, reverse Type 2 diabetes and stave off age-related diseases of mind and body. Early studies had shown it had outsize benefits in lab mice, and scientists were enthusiastic about its prospects for humans. This simple intermittent fast (today referred as a 5:2 diet) was not the first of its kind to go mainstream, but it became an international sensation. Today there are dozens more variations, with books, apps, wearables and supplements to support them. And they’re very popular: The International Food Information Council, a nonprofit tied to the food industry, surveyed 3,000 American adults and found that 13 per cent have experimented with intermittent fasting in 2024. All intermittent fasts alternate periods when you’re allowed to eat with …

Intermittent fasting probably doesn’t help with weight loss

Intermittent fasting probably doesn’t help with weight loss

Published by skeptic

There may be no need to go hungry – intermittent fasting doesn’t cause weight loss anyway Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images Intermittent fasting appears to be no more effective for weight loss than doing nothing at all, according to a review of studies involving people who were overweight or had obesity. The diet has become a popular weight-loss strategy in recent years and involves alternating between periods of fasting and normal eating. This can include eating only during a set window each day, such as the 16:8 diet, where you fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8-hour period; or eating normally on some days and very little on others, like the 5:2 diet, where you eat as normal on five days a week and restrict calories on the other two. The idea is that limiting when people can eat reduces their overall calorie intake, but one randomised-controlled trial found it is no better for weight loss than calorie counting. To learn more, Luis Garegnani at the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires in Argentina and …

Cardiologists Tell Us What You Really Need to Know About Intermittent Fasting and Heart Health

Cardiologists Tell Us What You Really Need to Know About Intermittent Fasting and Heart Health

Published by Jenni Sidey

New research on intermittent fasting made splashy headlines last week. The abstract, presented at an American Heart Association conference, found that intermittent fasting—specifically, the restriction of food consumption to an 8-hour period each day—was associated with a 91% increase in risk of cardiovascular death. (Insert needle-scratch.) This is shocking intel, not just because the statistic is so staggering, but because it flies in the face of what we’ve previously known to be true about the benefits of intermittent fasting, which would suggest it has the opposite impact on heart health. The practice, in fact, is supposed to be good for your heart. However, experts say that prior research shouldn’t necessarily be discarded in favor of these new findings and that you don’t need to panic if you get your calories within a restricted window of time each day. Here, they unpack everything we know to date on intermittent fasting’s impact on heart health. What is intermittent fasting? Generally speaking, intermittent fasting is a dietary approach where you are in a fasted state for some period …