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Is alternate day fasting good for your health?
By Siobhan Harris
Medically Reviewed by Dr Rob Hicks
Fasting doesn't seem like fun. It conjures up images of supermodels
who exist on salad and diet drinks just to keep their size zero figures
or maybe those drastic dieters who leave it to the last minute and
need to lose half a stone before a wedding in a week's time!
It seems pretty extreme and there's always the suspicion you'll just
put the weight back on when you stop, that's if you have the willpower to start in the first place!
The buzz at the moment though is over alternate day fasting or intermittent fasting. There's some evidence that short periods of fasting
could not only be a way to lose weight but also be potentially good
for your health.
The latest discussion about fasting has been provoked by a BBC Two
Horizon documentary presented by Dr Michael Mosley.
He looked into the science, met the experts and tried it for himself.
The upshot of the programme was he lost weight and apparently became healthier.
Do you lose weight fasting?
The simple answer is yes. It may not be the most practical - or safest diet, some people use fasting as a way to lose weight or to cleanse the
body of toxins, although experts say our bodies are perfectly
equipped with organs that already do the job.
When you fast, your body is forced to dip into energy stores to get the
fuel it needs to keep going, so you will definitely lose weight.
The big question is how long you will keep that weight off. Because
food was often scarce for our ancestors, our bodies have been genetically programmed to combat the effects of fasting.
When you eat less food, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy. Then, when you go back to your usual diet, your lowered metabolism may cause you to store more energy, meaning that you will