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Fasting-Like Diet Could Be Good For You, Study Finds

Diet Fasting

A new diet that mimics fasting a willing act of abstinence or reduction from certain or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time is a safe and effective way to lose weight, according to a new study.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, was published in the journal Cell Metabolism. The diet, named the “Fasting Mimicking Diet,” was developed by scientists and conducted in three stages: yeast, mice, and people, the LA Times reported.

USC researcher, Valter Longo, led the study in an effort to discover a way to enjoy the benefits of fasting without the pain. The goal was to see if people who ate normally could “fool the system into thinking it was starving,” part of the month.

We wanted to know, what if you let people eat normally, but then once every few weeks you fool the system into thinking it was starving?

Longo’s team organized a random clinical trial of 38 healthy subjects in age from 18-70. Half of the group served as the control group that ate normally, and the other half participated in three monthly cycles of a five-day-long fast-mimicking diet.

Their food was low in carbs and proteins and high in healthy fat and included nut bars, chips, and powdered soups. The first day consisted of around 1,900 calories and about 725 calories the remaining days of the fast.

The results from the control group on the special diet showed signs of drops in their blood glucose levels and in “factors associated with cancer and cardiovascular risk.”

But U.S. News reports that fasting isn’t always good for you, as intermittent fasting as part of your diet could throw your body into starvation mode and burn muscle for fuel. This will also lower your metabolism rate, which is “not helpful in the long run,” according to Liz Applegate, a nutrition scientist at the University of California-Davis.

As little as 24 hours of fasting can lower a person’s basal metabolic rate. Well, that’s not helpful in the long run.

Longo warns that people should not experiment with fasting without medical supervision.

In another study reported here at Immortal News, it was proven that people who chose their own diet plan are more likely to fail than those who are assigned a diet plan. In any case, you should always consult your doctor before starting this or any other diet.

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