It turns out that from ancient ascetics to modern nutritional scientists, one thing everyone agrees on is the immense benefits of calorie restriction. There are studies that show up to a 50 percent increase in the lifespan of laboratory mice on severely calorie restricted diets. Reducing food intake reduces oxidative burden and damage to DNA, keeping the animals in a biologically shorter state. There are no long-term scientific studies involving long-term calorie restriction in humans, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that shows it does your body a world of good.
If we go back to consider the lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors in the wild, we realize that three meals a day were never a guarantee. You had to go out looking for food and some days you got something to eat, while on others you didn’t. This is why our bodies have become good at storing excess calories as fat to be used for energy when food supplies are low.
It’s no wonder every major religion in the world has advocated some sort of periodic fasting. There are stories of yogis being able to go without food for a few days or weeks, and we now know scientifically that while we can’t survive more than a few days without water, or go without sleep for a week, we can survive without food for as long as a month! Our bodies can do without food for an extended period of time, no matter how desperately snack food companies want us to keep snacking.
As the science of nutrition has improved over the last few decades the many benefits of fasting are becoming more and more apparent. People may prescribe different methods for intermittent fasting ranging from fourteen hours to forty-eight hours, but in reality it doesn’t really matter. If you can manage to skip a meal or two occasionally your body will thank you for it and your long-term health will reflect it.
Health Hack: Continuous Glucose Monitoring
A continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device is a nifty gadget for tracking blood sugar levels through the day and night. Either inserted under the skin of the abdomen or worn attached to the arm, it transmits information to a monitor that displays glucose levels every five to fifteen minutes.
