WE’RE all so impatient these days. Whatever we want, we want it immediately. It’s even the same with our health. Minimum effort, fast results.
Fasting (see what I did there?) is nothing new. Religious communities have done it for millennia as a way of getting closer to God. And though the practice has become less widespread, devout Muslims still fast in daylight hours during the month of Ramadan.
However, recent research has indicated that severely restricting food intake over a short period of time is not just good for the soul; the health benefits can be significant too, ranging from weight-loss to extended lifespan and a dramatically reduced risk of things like cancer and heart disease.
It sounds like the magic formula: eat what you like one day, cut back your food intake to just 500 calories the next (600 for men). Alternatively, take the 5:2 option. That’s eat like a pig for five days and do the same severely limited thing for two. How hard can it be?
Most studies into intermittent fasting have so far been carried out on mice, but two guinea pigs from the Spectrum team have given it a go. “It was hell on earth,” says one. “My brain was so foggy I couldn’t hold a single thought. I actually felt like my brain was shutting down and couldn’t sleep because I was so hungry. The absolute worst part was how feeble it made my brain. It was just horrible – the worst diet ever. I lost a few pounds. It didn’t stay off.”
The other had a more positive experience. “I like it because there’s no mega-planning, buying special foods, etc,” she says. “While I try to plan my fasting days so I don’t do too much exercise, there’s always an hour’s walk with the dog and often eight miles to and from work on the bike too, but I’ve found that’s manageable.
“The key for me is to have a good supply of celery, carrot sticks and low-fat hummus and just have some through the day when I get the hunger pangs. And lots of water and tea. And a hot chocolate made with skimmed milk at bedtime so I don’t wake ravenous at 4am.” After two weeks, she had lost three pounds.
Natalie Jones, a dietitian based in Glasgow and a spokesman for the British Dietetic Association (BDA), says, “Obviously the ideal is a healthy, balanced diet every day of the week but some people find that very difficult. They might fast on a Friday, then fast on a Monday so they can eat a little bit more at the weekends. If we look at calories consumed over the entire week, that’s what’s important.”
Ideally, she adds, the diet should be done under supervision from a GP or dietician, and there are one or two other provisos. “It may well work, provided it’s done sensibly and provided the two fasting days are taken separately and not together,” she says. “Also, people must be careful it doesn’t cause overeating. Some can have a bit of a starve-binge cycle, so if they eat much less one day they overcompensate the next. In those situations it wouldn’t be a good idea. But for others, it shouldn’t do any harm.
“Also, I would be concerned that people weren’t exercising on their fasting days. If someone was having maybe 600 or 700 calories in a day, they wouldn’t be able to train properly or exercise safely on that.”
One of our guinea pigs echoes this. “The worst part is that you can’t exercise because you’re so weak and exhausted. I suspect it might be easier for men than for women. I’ve been reading about intermittent fasting and research shows that women’s bodies don’t respond well to it. We’re made to hold on to our fat in hungry times.”
Have a plan in place for what you’re going to eat on fasting days, advises Jones. “And, for example, if someone is losing weight on a 1,500-calorie plan and they know that on the weekend they might be having an extra 200 or 300 calories each day, just cut back by that amount rather than going to the extreme of fasting.”
She adds, “Any studies that are based on animals have to be taken with caution, and until they’re tested on human populations we can’t really depend on it.”
As to the other health benefits – longer life and reduced risk of cancer – she says, “What is interesting is that if it causes overall weight-loss in the months and years that follow, that would have an effect in terms of heart disease and cancer, because those diseases are related to being overweight.
“Whether it is sustainable, though, is down to the individual, and that’s the case with any diet, whether it’s something like Weight Watchers or Scottish Slimmers or a plan through a dietician or a regime like this. If someone can stick to it long-term, that’s the key.” n