Something about the way Americans eat isn’t working – and hasn’t been for a long time. The number of obese Americans is now greater than the number who are merely overweight, according to government figures released last month. It’s as if once we taste food, we can’t stop until we’ve gorged ourselves. Taking that inclination into account, some people are adopting an unusual solution to overeating. Rather than battling temptation in grocery stores, restaurants and their own kitchens, they simply don’t eat. At least not at certain times of the day or specific days of the week. Called intermittent fasting, this rather stark approach to weight control appears to be supported by science, not to mention various religious and cultural practices around the globe.
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“There is something kind of magical about starvation,” says Dr. Marc Hellerstein, a professor of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition at UC Berkeley, who studies fasting.
Adds Mark P. Mattson, chief of the laboratory of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging: “In normal health subjects, moderate fasting – maybe one day a week or cutting back on calories a couple of days a week – will have health benefits for most anybody.” Mattson is among the leading researchers on the effects of calorie restriction and the brain.
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“We’re brilliant at this,” Hellerstein says, referring to humans’ physical reaction to not eating. “We’re not good at responding to too many calories, but we’re very good at responding to fasting...
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Hat tip: Yasmin N.
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