The health benefits of fasting

Should You Try Intermittent Fasting?

Recently I have had more and more clients who are interested to hear about regular fasting.

Indeed there is some evidence to show that one to two days of low calorie eating is beneficial for weight control as well as inflammatory markers in the body including cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

In practice though, true low calorie eating is easier said than done, with a true ‘fasting’ day equating to just 500 to 600 calories per day, or two very small meals of an egg, piccolo coffee, white fish and vegetables.

In more cases than not, these low calorie days see a couple of extras slip in and the ideal 500 to 600 calories required to get the benefits of low calorie eating actually becoming 800 to 1,000 calories.

So, if you do think a day or two each week of low calorie eating could be of benefit to you, make sure you choose non-consecutive, non-exercise days; count your calories closely using an online calorie monitoring program and remember that the positive results relate most closely to blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure as opposed to rapid weight loss.

Article by Susie Burrell, APD

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