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Ask Gerda: Is Intermittent Fasting Evidence-Based?

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Ask Gerda: Is Intermittent Fasting Evidence-Based?

Ask Gerda: Is Intermittent Fasting Evidence-Based?

Supported by Science

Supported by Science

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There’s sound science and published research supporting this concept.

Ask Gerda: Is Intermittent Fasting Evidence-Based?

Ask Gerda: Is Intermittent
Fasting Evidence-Based?

Gerda Endemann

Gerda Endemann, our senior director of science and research, has a BS in nutrition from UC Berkeley, a PhD in nutritional biochemistry from MIT, and a passion for cherry-picking from our wellness shop. She spends a lot of her time interpreting research—established and emerging. You’ll find some of her deep dives into health conditions in our growing library of articles called goop PhD. You can send your own questions for Gerda to editorial@goop.com.

Dear goop, I hear a lot about fasting and am wondering if it’s worth trying? If it is, how should I get started? —Lisa

Hi, Lisa. Happily, one of the reasons you’re hearing about fasting is that some promising results have been reported from research on several different fasting regimens. Fasting might mean not eating or drinking during daylight hours, such as practiced during Ramadan, or it could mean that the only thing to pass your lips 24/7 is water. I was a teenager when my mother returned home from a fasting retreat looking skeletal. Whether the regimen was ten days of water only (as I recall) or thirty days of grapefruit juice (as my sister recalls), it was excessive.

If you’d like to incorporate fasting into your wellness practice, consult your doctor. Food-restricting regimens are not recommended if you are underweight or experiencing disordered eating.

What’s popular now is intermittent fasting—characterized by periods of time when you eat little to no food, alternating with periods of time when you eat normally. The 5:2 regimen involves eating normally five days per week and eating one quarter of your normal amount on two (nonconsecutive) days. With a time-restricted regimen, eating is limited to certain hours, for example between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.

Clinical research indicates that intermittent fasting may have significant benefits for healthy blood sugar and metabolism. And that giving the body a rest from eating during evening hours may be more effective in this regard than a typical try-to-cut-out-calories regimen.

The takeaway is that it may be helpful to eat freely in the morning and midday, and then to take a long break from eating. This will give the body a rest from the spikes and dips in blood sugar that follow meals. It will encourage the body to burn fat and produce ketone bodies, ideal brain foods.

FASTING PROGRAMS

If you’re interested in exploring a fasting option, goop’s wellness product development team has come up with a beautifully simple kit to guide you through seven days of intermittent fasting. This program does not involve calorie restriction. The G.Tox 7-Day Reset Kit provides a custom grain-free cereal blend, plant-based protein powder, supplements, whole food recipes, and instructions. The intention is that meals will be eaten within an eight- to ten-hour daily window. Our food director, Caitlin O’Malley, has contributed amazing recipes for smoothies, savory and sweet cereal toppings, and whole-foods meals. Following Ayurvedic principles, it’s recommended to eat your largest meal midday.


  1. goop Wellness G.TOX 7-DAY RESET KIT

    goop Wellness
    G.TOX 7-DAY RESET KIT
    goop, $195

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The ProLon Diet is an alternative approach—a fasting-mimicking diet that has no restrictions on when you eat. Based on research from Valter Longo, PhD, and the University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute, the ProLon Diet comes with boxes filled with everything you’ll need for the five-day fast. Using this diet for five days once a month for three months has been shown to result in some of the beneficial metabolic effects of fasting. The foods, plant-based soups, teas, and supplements provide 750 to 1,100 calories per day, or about one half of a typical day’s intake, and can be eaten throughout the day as desired.


  1. L-Nutra (Prolon) THE PROLON DIET goop, $249

    L-Nutra (Prolon)
    THE PROLON DIET
    goop, $249

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  1. For further help understanding and implementing intermittent fasting, I recommend the book Intuitive Fasting by Will Cole, DC, DNM, IFMCP. He offers clear step-by-step suggestions for intermittent fasting, learning to eat intuitively, and bringing metabolism and energy levels into balance.


  2. Penguin Random House INTUITIVE FASTING

    Penguin Random House
    INTUITIVE FASTING
    goop, $28

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SUPPLEMENTS, ELECTROLYTES, AND
MORE TO SUPPORT A FASTING PERIOD

The basics for any fasting program are clean water and electrolytes. The Hydros Pitcher comes with a coconut-shell carbon filter. Cure Hydration makes an electrolyte mix with coconut water powder and pink salt. It’s nice to have teas and herbal coffee on hand, and a clean multivitamin, too.


  1. Equitea COMFORT HERBAL CHAI BLEND goop, $14

    Equitea
    COMFORT HERBAL CHAI BLEND
    goop, $14

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  2. Hydros 64 OZ PITCHER goop, $32

    Hydros
    64 OZ PITCHER
    goop, $32

    SHOP NOW


  3. House of Waris Botanicals SWEET CLARITY goop, $28

    House of Waris Botanicals
    SWEET CLARITY
    goop, $28

    SHOP NOW


  4. goop Wellness THE MOTHER LOAD goop, $90/$75 with subscription

    goop Wellness
    THE MOTHER LOAD
    goop, $90/$75 with subscription

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  5. Cure Hydration MAIN SQUEEZE LEMON DAILY ELECTROLYTE MIX goop, $25

    Cure Hydration
    MAIN SQUEEZE LEMON DAILY
    ELECTROLYTE MIX

    goop, $25

    SHOP NOW


  6. Wooden Spoon Herbs HERBAL COFFEE goop, $38

    Wooden Spoon Herbs
    HERBAL COFFEE
    goop, $38

    SHOP NOW


  7. Vejo POD BASED BLENDER SYSTEM goop, $130

    Vejo
    POD BASED BLENDER SYSTEM
    goop, $130

    SHOP NOW


  8. Bennd Yoga SINGLE HARDA AYURVEDIC YOGA MAT goop, $170

    Bennd Yoga
    SAPPAN WOOD AYURVEDIC PRANAYAMA PILLOW
    goop, $140

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  9. Bennd Yoga
    SINGLE HARDA
    AYURVEDIC YOGA MAT

    goop, $170

    SHOP NOW

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. To the extent that this article features the advice of physicians or medical practitioners, the views expressed are the views of the cited expert and do not necessarily represent the views of goop.

   

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