We all keep on falling for fad diets; unless you are one of those blessed people who eat like a horse and it does not lead to a single pound or gram of extra weight. It normally takes quite a while for bad habits to show up on our waistlines or result in the dreaded muffin top. But when it comes to ridding ourselves of those kilograms, we want to do it fast; hence the search for fad diets or the latest semi-miracle cure that can turn podgy man or woman into Superwoman/man. The list of faddy diets is long, the Atkins – basically no carbs; the Ketogenic diet – very low carbs as well; the Paleo diet – become a Neanderthal, basically caveman without the bashing in of heads; the Mediterranean diet – lots of veg, fruit and fish and a tiny meat portion, to name but a few. The latest diet to hit all shores is fasting. It does not mean you have to live like a monk; there are various ways of tackling fasting or intermittent fasting. In the United Kingdom the 5:2 diet where you eat normally for five days and severely restrict calories for the other two days, has become very popular. Other versions of the fasting diet suggest restricting eating to a small window in the day. Intermittent fasting is not only aimed at shrining waistlines; the idea is to manage disease associated with being overweight such as Type 2 diabetes and heart problems with fasting and some medical research has even suggested fasting could help with the symptoms of Alzheimer's. So, is this just another diet that will land on the pile of fads? Andreas Michalson writes in the Wall Street Journal that science backs up the claims of the fasting diets. – Linda van Tilburg

The fasting cure is no fad

By Andreas Michalsen

(The Wall Street Journal) – Fasting is one of the biggest weight-loss trends to arise in recent years. Endorsed by A-list celebrities and the subject of a spate of best-selling books, it was the eighth most-Googled diet in America in 2018.

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