Do you remember when milk, cheese and eggs were all considered healthy, by
the general population and by medical and nutritional experts as well? And do you
equally recall when all that changed, and they were no longer considered to be
beneficial, and might even be harmful to our health? And then it shifted amongst the
various angels-turned-culprits to where milk was acceptable, but only in certain
varieties and moderation, eggs needed to grass-fed and organic, etc. Well we’re
starting to experience this same phenomenon with another health craze/trend, which is
intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting is really any form of eating which includes longer periods
between meals or snacks than might normally be done. Research has for years shown
that mice and rats fed on low calorie diets and who endured long periods without
eating tended to live longer statistically than mice and rats in the control groups which
ate normally. So this simple process promised a new, easy form of weight loss and
diabetes prevention and/or treatment for humans in an accessible way and quickly
sprouted into smartphone apps to track one’s intermittent fasting, analyze which actual
hours of fasting are best for different age groups and genders, and remind you when to
eat and when to fast.
Recently, lifestyle and health news articles are appearing, highlighting the
dangers intermittent fasting - or fasting of any sort - can have on one’s heart and other
related health issues. So. What is there to do? Are we back to the days of dairy
products being health darlings or demons? Perhaps we can skip ahead to the days
where some milks, cheeses, and/or eggs are acceptable. In that case, choosing to eat
later in the morning than usual, skip lunch, and have an early dinner might be ideal. In
fact, there are many cultures that do this, some reversing the process to barely eat at
all in the morning, enjoy a large lunch, and just nibble on fruit in the evening or skip
dinner altogether.
So while we wait for the next phase in intermittent fasting to evolve or perhaps
unravel or cure all ills, we can predict a pattern of engaging it in moderately -
intermittently.
References:
1. The Health-Promoting Effects and the Mechanism of Intermittent Fasting. Journal
of Diabetes Research (March, 2023). Simin Liu, Weixi Wan, Ming Huang, Xiang
Li, Zixian Xie, Shang Wang, and Yu Cai.
2. 8-Hour Intermittent Fasting Tied to 90% Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Death, Early
Data Hint. American Heart Association (March, 2024)
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