I was interested to see this new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which found that an alternate day fasting technique helped people lose weight and improve their cholesterol profiles.
I've talked about the pros and cons of modified fasting for weight loss before and in the last year I've been experimenting with this technique for some of my nutrition counseling clients. This study confirms my own observation: For some people, eating very little some of the time is easier than eating a little less all of the time.
In this particular study, the participants ate whatever they wanted every other day. On the days in between, they ate a single mid-day meal which provided about 25% of their normal calorie needs. At the end of eight weeks, the participants had lost about ten pounds a piece, lowered their body fat by about 6%, and also lowered their total and bad cholesterol.
Is fasting easier than dieting?
Here's what's especially interesting to me: The subjects were able to stick to the diet just as well when they were on their own as they were when their fast-day meals were provided as part of the study.
What do you think? Would it be easier for you to cut way back on calories every second day if you knew you could basically eat what you wanted the next day? It seems to be an effective way for overweight people to drop a significant amount of weight.
Modified fasting could also be adapted as a long-term maintenance strategy as well. You might find, for example, that you can avoid regaining the weight by fasting one day a week and eating ad libitum the rest of the days.
Your thoughts?
source: blog.nutritiondata
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