BREAKING THE FAST
Are any of the fasting fads worth the tummy rumbles?
Whether it’s at-home eyebrow threading or a fresh set of tea towels in the post, we’ve grown accustomed to having what we want, when we want it. But the meteoric rise of fasting, in its various guises, proves that we’re still capable of exercising delayed gratification when it comes to food. By restricting you to various ‘eating windows’, it forces you to forgo those 11pm digestives mid-the Crown, which amounts to a sizeable reduction in overall calorie intake. Far from a new concept, fasting is arguably the original ‘diet’ (the practice gets a fair few nods in the Old Testament, after all), but its popularity has swelled in recent years. Now, everyone from your PT to Carol in accounts is singing its praises for health, performance or fat-reducing benefits.
But with infinite iterations, not to mention the handbooks, cookbooks and e-books purporting to help you transform hunger pains into fitness gains – along with the shots and supplements designed to lubricate the transition – cutting through the noise can feel harder than watching someone eat a burger on a 500-calorie day. Can a liquefied lunch really reverse cell ageing? Will stuffing in a day’s worth of sustenance at dinner help you soar through your strength session tomorrow? And is alternating between feast and famine really any better than eating a balanced, varied diet in sensible portions at regular times? We consulted the experts to help you discern the genuinely beneficial from the frankly bizarre.