Fasting For Your Health

Some research – mainly still in mice – suggests that skipping food for two days before and one day after chemotherapy amps up the power of the chemo; while other work in mice suggests that fasting after a stroke or spinal cord injury, or before elective surgery may help with recovery.

Still other research is looking at whether breaks in eating can help protect the body as it ages, perhaps as effectively as caloric restriction, a long-term, dramatic cut in calories that is known to extend the lifespan of worms, mice and other animals. The new research examines overweight, couch-potato mice who are fed about 25 percent of their normal diet two- to three-days a week, and their regular diet on other days.

It's not yet clear whether any of this research is applicable to people, but studies are beginning in some of these areas.

Karen's taken some of the research to heart. She writes:

I've tried eating very few calories on 2-3 days a week since I heard one of these researchers talk last month. It's distracting to eat so little, and I had a headache most of every day, but other than that, it was easier than I thought it would be. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it up now that the motivation of writing this story is over.