Fasting has been regarded as a useful way of losing weight, improving immunity and boosting brain functions since a long time. However, still doctors don’t encourage people to use this method of improving health because such extreme dieting might bring with it serious side effects.
Now, scientists are saying that they have created a special five-day diet plan, which although mimics fasting is safe. It’s a “once a month” diet that promises to offer great results.
The study introducing us to this new diet plan was published in the journal Cell Metabolism recently and has been funded by NIA or the National Institute of Aging. During the study, participants were made to fast intermittently for three months; later it was found that each of them experienced reduction in risk factors for a range of health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and aging.
It’s true that the diet was tried on only 19 participants, but the results are so amazing that the researcher who played the key role in developing the regimen is now planning to get the diet approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) so that doctors and nutritionists can recommend it to patients.
According to Valter D. Longo, one of the coauthors of the study, fasting is a way of rebooting an individual’s body by eliminating damaged cells and stimulating production of new ones. He added that fasting reprograms our body to slow down the aging process and also enables an overall rejuvenation. D. Longo thinks that fasting can never be compared with any typical diet as an individual doesn’t need to stay on it.
This new study actually talks about a diet which is not exactly fasting it’s a “Fasting Mimicking Diet”. To follow the diet, you will have to eat normally for 25 days of a month, and during the remaining five days, you will have to eat as suggested by the researchers.
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On day 1, your diet should contain 1090 calories with 56% fat, and 34% carbohydrates. For the remaining four days, you will have to consume 725 calories per day, with 9% protein, 44% fat, and 47% carbohydrate.
The participants were made to complete three cycles of this five-day diet during a period of three months. Upon completing of those three cycles, all participants were found to have decreased the risk for several diseases; no major side effect was observed.
