Fasting for a longer life

Intermittent fasting is one of the latest longevity trends doing the rounds. It’s not particularly new or revolutionary; in fact, Muslims and Hindus have for centuries, practised fasting. 

Muslims observe a period of a month of fasting, typically from dawn to dusk, while Hindus of a certain sect eat only vegetables for a month. Their reasons are varied, but most agree that there are holistic health benefits to abstaining from food for an extended period. 

Fast and live 
In the 1930s, an experiment done on rats revealed that those on calorie-restricted diets live longer. Some even point to the fact that during the American Great Depression (when food, amongst other things, was scarce), the US life expectancy actually went up by six percent. 

While we’re not mice, the model has been built on since then, taking humans into consideration with some good results. To test the theory, a few years ago, UK doctor, Michael Mosley made the documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer. In it he explored the idea of cutting calories through intermittent fasting in pursuit of a longer life. 

Over a few days Mosley alternated between severely restricting his calories and outright abstaining. 

At the end of his experiment, he had drastically reduced his risk for a range of age-related diseases. Proof enough? There’s more. Researchers have glommed onto the role that diet and nutrition plays in curbing illness and sickness – and thus, extending our lives and the data looks promising. 

So, what does this mean for you? 

• It’s about one or two days “on” and the next day or so “off”. 
• Other versions work on fasting for stretches from 10 hours and up. 
• For most regular dieters, the difficulty is abstaining from your favourite things.
• With IF, you only know that abstaining today means treating yourself tomorrow, and by then you probably won’t feel like bingeing anyway! In other words, your reward is not a whole month away when you’ve dropped 10 kilos or reached your goal. 

Ah yes, the weight loss wonder. IF has enjoyed a lot of hype thanks to its weight loss “powers.” Pretoria-based GP, Dr Arien van der Merwe explains that it takes about six to eight hours for your body to burn the carbohydrates stored as glycogen. After that your body starts burning fat as its primary source of fuel. This means that if you eat your last meal at around seven in the evening, sleep for about eight hours and then only eat again at eleven the next morning, you’re turning your natural metabolic processes into a "fat burning machine".

And with obesity being one of the most significant risk factors for premature ageing, disease and death – IF takes you a step closer to living longer. Dr van der Merwe says that IF helps your body burn fat, and gives it a necessary break to recover, rebalance and restore. The break from food helps you avoid the accumulation of free-radicals in the cells associated with disease and ageing.  

Go for it? 
First, check with your doctor. IF takes some getting used to and you’ll want to explore the option that works best for you, whether it’s starting with a fasting interval of 10 hours or 12. Other offshoots are the 5:2 (eat normally for five days, fast for two), and other variations.

Just some of IF’s health-based claims to fame include: 

• It lowers blood sugar and allows the body to start burning fat as a source for fuel. It improves the insulin sensitivity of cell receptors because it prevents insulin and glucose spikes after high carbohydrate meals. 
• IF can prevent Type 2 diabetes and even reverse it entirely, says Dr van der Merwe. 
• An increase in growth hormone, better sleeping patterns, less inflammation in the body and protection from heart disease and cancer.