Most of the time when you tell other people who aren’t familiar with it that you’re fasting, they’ll look horrified and immediately try to talk you out of it. Starvation is not safe, they’ll say. Your metabolism will slow down. It’s best to eat six small meals a day.
To which we respond: It isn’t starvation; it’s fasting. Starvation means you don’t have a choice, whereas fasting means you do.
Here’s how Dr Jason Fung, a nephrologist and world-leading expert in fasting (read more about him on page 84), puts it: ‘Fasting and starving live on opposite sides of the world. It is the difference between recreational running and running because a lion is chasing you.’ And, unlike running from a lion, fasting is perfectly safe.
People have been fasting for thousands of years. Quite apart from fasting for differing lengths of time for religious, spiritual or health reasons (which we’ve done for aeons), every single one of us fasts every night while we sleep. Second, it doesn’t slow your metabolism – in fact, it does exactly the opposite: it speeds up your metabolism. And, possibly the biggest benefit of all, fasting gives your body time to recalibrate
