(NaturalHealth365)  If you’ve ever looked into an ideal weight loss diet, you’ve probably come across research about fasting.  Though it’s been around for centuries, more recent studies about fasting have caused it to become a major trend – just ask anyone who’s tried intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, or alternate day fasting.

So, you might wonder how alternate day fasting and intermittent fasting compare to each other.  You may also wonder how eating every other day could actually be healthy for you!

Well, a new meta-analysis in Obesity ranked alternate day fasting as the most effective method for weight loss compared to other intermittent fasting approaches and traditional calorie restriction.  With high compliance rates and comparable results, this research highlights its promise for sustainable weight loss strategies.  Previous research published in the journal Cell Metabolism also confirmed these findings and found this type of fast effective, especially for people who either can’t tolerate or shouldn’t follow a calorie restriction diet plan.

Alternate day fasting can help you lose belly fat and boost health, research suggests

Alternate day fasting is pretty much exactly how it sounds: on this fat loss diet plan, you eat every other day (as a comparison, intermittent fasting is more of a general term that can describe various types of fasting routines, including time-restricted eating where you only eat within a certain window of time – every day).

Understandably, alternate day fasting can be seen as a bit of an extreme approach to eating.  One interesting feature of this fast is that on eating days, you can eat unrestricted amounts of food.  This poses an interesting question for a lot of doctors and researchers.

Research has shown that calorie restriction can help you lose weight and even increase your lifespan.  However, indefinitely restricting calories can be unsustainable for many people, and research has shown that continuous calorie restriction can lead to serious issues like malnutrition and decreased immune function.

Could something like alternate day fasting be a good alternative?

In the study published in Cell Metabolism, a team of researchers randomly assigned 60 participants into two groups: one group could simply continue eating as usual.  The other group practiced alternate day fasting, which would alternate between 36 hours of absolutely no food or calorie intake followed by 12 hours of unlimited eating.

After just four weeks (and careful monitoring from the researchers to ensure that the fasting group participants went the full 36-hour periods without any calories), the study yielded some impressive results among the people who fasted:

• Decreased markers of inflammation and age-associated disease
• Increased and sustained levels of ketone bodies, even on non-fasting days; the body produces ketones for energy in the absence of carbohydrates and calories – linked with a variety of health benefits
• Decreased cholesterol levels
• Decreased level of a certain hormone called triiodothyronine (low triiodothyronine levels have been linked to longevity)
• Decreased belly fat – which is strongly linked with heart disease

Interestingly, even though the alternate day fasting group could eat an unlimited amount of food within their 12 hour feeding windows, they ate about 35% fewer calories on average anyway.

The researchers conclude that their data “supports [alternate day fasting] safety” and suggest that this type of fat loss diet plan could “eventually become a clinically relevant intervention.”

Should you implement fasting into your fat-loss diet plan? Here are some things to know

If you’re currently being medically supervised or have a health condition, you should talk to your doctor before trying fasting for yourself.  Even if you’ve tried intermittent fasting before and are generally healthy, it’s still a good idea to check with an experienced physician before trying a more “extreme” type of fast, such as alternate day fasting or prolonged fasts lasting 2+ days.

And let’s be clear: the message of these exciting studies on fasting isn’t that you should feel free to eat just junk food as long as it’s within your allotted feeding window!

You can enjoy some treats if you want, but be sure to make the bulk of your diet full of healthy (organic) proteins, complex carbs, veggies, and fats – no matter when you eat.

Sources for this article include:

NIH.gov
Cell.com
Harvard.edu