Fast take on fasting for loss

You know fast food and fast driving are bad for your health. But life in the fast-ing lane? Well, studies show that adopting basic intermittent fasting by restricting your meals to eight or fewer hours a day is associated with reduced inflammation, lower insulin levels and significant weight loss. Other rewards, according to John Hopkins Medicine, include improved memory, lower blood pressure and resting heart rate, and lower glucose levels. Bonus: For folks with prediabetes, intermittent fasting can decrease insulin resistance and blood pressure, even if no weight is lost.

Getting started: During hours you do eat, stick with a Mediterranean diet, loaded with vegetables and fruits, fatty fish like salmon, and healthy fats like olive oil. Avoid ultraprocessed foods, red and processed meats, saturated and trans fats and added sugars and syrups. Then, during the 16 or so hours you are fasting, enjoy water and no-calorie beverages like tea and coffee.

Eat less, move more: A new study of a form of intermittent fasting called alternate-day fasting (ADF), in which you eat just 500-600 calories every other day, reveals a way to double your weight loss: Combine ADF with regular sessions of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise. We’re betting it’s a way to shed more pounds when you are doing the basic 8/16 intermittent fast, too. Five days a week, try interval walking, swimming, and/or taking an aerobics class.

Talk to your doctor to make sure intermittent fasting won’t cause problems with your medications or health issues. Then, give it a try.

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook. com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb. com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.