{"id":57,"date":"2016-03-07T16:23:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/Medwell_blog\/?p=57"},"modified":"2017-10-25T16:26:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T16:26:02","slug":"is-fasting-actually-healthy-what-science-has-to-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/Medwell_blog\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Is Fasting Actually Healthy? What Science Has To Say."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"We’re currently in the season of Lent, a practice in the Christian tradition that includes periods of abstinence and the denial of many foods and beverages.<\/p>\n

Fasting isn’t limited to the Christian tradition. Other examples include Ramadan (a month of fasting), and the Greek Orthodox tradition in which the faithful sometimes give up not only meat but also dairy products, fish, wine, and the use of oil in cooking. And the\u00a0Daniel Fast<\/a>\u00a0is another religious-based fast that includes a 10- or 21-day avoidance of foods declared unclean in the Book of Daniel.<\/p>\n

Research suggests that fasting is healthy when part of a spiritual, emotional, or physical cleansing \u2014 not a hard-core diet plan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, fasting isn’t just associated with religion these days. Many popular diets now include a component of intermittent fasting. Coldplay’s Chris Martin, for example, recently\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that he follows the “6:1 diet,” in which he doesn’t eat at all one day a week.<\/p>\n

But what does the science actually say about the benefits of fasting? Let’s take a look at when it can promote health \u2014 and when it only hurts.<\/p>\n

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Is Fasting Good for You? The Pros and Cons<\/h3>\n

The notion that the absence of eating might be healthy may seem counterintuitive at first, given that food contains nutrients, and you need them to survive. On the other hand, with\u00a069 percent<\/a>\u00a0of Americans overweight or obese, it certainly seems that many of us could stand to rein it in a bit.<\/p>\n

Still, the question of whether fasting is actually good for you isn’t settled yet, and there are supporting studies on both sides.<\/p>\n

And, interestingly, the answer to whether fasting is healthy or not depends on more than just the number of calories you consume or when you eat. It turns out that the\u00a0context<\/em>in which you fast also has a big impact on the outcome.<\/p>\n

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Calorie Restriction<\/h3>\n

It looks like Benjamin Franklin was correct when he stated: \u201cTo lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.\u201d Research suggests that cutting calories overall can mimic the effect of healthy antioxidants to decrease\u00a0age-related deterioration<\/a>in your body and brain.<\/p>\n

In other words, one of the strongest\u00a0indicators of longevity<\/a>\u00a0is not just what you eat but how much of it you eat. Those who eat smaller tend to live longer.<\/p>\n

However, if you take this to an extreme, go cold turkey, and severely clamp down on calories, your body can interpret the situation as a stressor. In onestudy<\/a>, experimental animals put on a two-week fast showed spikes in their stress hormones along with decreases in their cardiac muscle volume and output. That form of caloric restriction was terribly unhealthy.<\/p>\n

Likewise in humans, fasting for a full two days led to symptoms of\u00a0insulin resistance<\/a>and, as you might predict from this result, induced\u00a0diabetes<\/a>\u00a0in some cases. Along with increased stress hormones and insulin resistance, your systems can go into what is commonly called \u201cstarvation mode,” in which your\u00a0metabolism slows down<\/a>\u00a0(you\u2019re burning fewer calories). Even worse, your body can hold on to the fat it does have, essentially frustrating the very point of the fast in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Intermittent Fasting<\/h3>\n

Intermittent fasting refers to a diet that involves periods of fasting and nonfasting, as opposed to overall calorie restriction.<\/p>\n

Research suggests that intermittent fasting can be healthy for your body and weight. In a study of religious fasts, such as Ramadan, Lent and the Daniel Fast,\u00a0researchers<\/a>\u00a0found that those who engaged in voluntary, controlled restriction in this context didn’t tend to suffer the metabolic ill effects.<\/p>\n

Here’s what other research on these practices found:<\/p>\n