FASTING - Is it good for health?
Intentionally skipping or delaying meals, known as fasting, is an unusual practice for many people, but it’s gaining popularity as a way to prevent disease and maintain a healthy body weight. Proponents of intermittent fasting believe it’s better for your health to constrain your eating to just a portion of the day, allowing your body to go stretches of 12 hours or more without food. Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but a method of scheduling your meals to optimize how your body uses nutrients. This pattern of eating doesn’t change the total number of calories you consume each day, but alters the frequency with which you eat these calories. Maxine Barish-Wreden, M.D. opens new window , a complementary and integrative medicine physician with the Sutter Medical Foundation Opens new window , says doctors and researchers are realizing that our current eating patterns are contributing to the health epidemics of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. She says intermittent fastin