Does Intermittent Fasting Work for Weight Loss?
Welcome to Ask Doctor Zac, a weekly column from news.com.au. This week Dr Zac Turner looks at whether intermittent fasting works for weight loss.
Question: Hi Dr Zac, I know I’m getting old when each day there is a new thing young people do that makes me confused, and sometimes cross. One of my young co-workers has just started a ‘fasting diet’ and it doesn’t make any sense to me – how can not eating for two days make up for normal eating the other five?
I hate to be that person but, back in my day, our diets didn’t involve starving ourselves, we simply ate meals with less calories. Is a fasting diet actually beneficial to losing weight or is it another sham in the long list of popular diets? – Cheryl, Perth
Answer: Hi Cheryl, Thanks for your question. To put it simply, yes. Intermittent fasting, when done correctly, can be extremely beneficial to losing weight because it trains the body to not store fat. The human body is a lazy machine, it is always trying its best to use the least amount of energy as possible. Intermittent fasting is all about changing our physiology from storing to utilising calories consumed, or in other words, increasing your metabolic rate.
Excerpted from the Herald Sun
