Intermittent Fasting: Shortcut to Longevity and Weight Loss?

 Photo: Martin Sharman

Years ago I wrote a post about intermittent fasting.  It sounded like an intriguing but no-way-in-hell-am-I-ever-gonna try it approach to tweaking one's calorie consumption, improving health, and perhaps even increasing longevity.

Sort of like the idea of trying to turn myself into a brown-fat packin', calorie-incinerating superhuman by bathing in ice water: The results sound fun, but: Ain't gonna happen!

I like to eat every day! And I complain about how cold the water is in freakin' Hawaii, of all places. No matter how miraculous some body-hacking shortcuts claim to be, they have little appeal to me if they involve more than a trivial amount of discomfort.

But then I kept reading more about the shorter, easier versions of Intermittent Fasting.  The notion that if one restricts daily eating to a shorter window, say of 8 hours, that it could lead to beneficial changes like weight loss, "fat-adaptation," and even lower the risk of Alzheimers.

The "16-8" program worked for Hugh Jackman apparently:

(Please don't sue me, 20th Century Fox!
CC search said "labelled for reuse" but I'm skeptical).

Could it also work for Crabby McSlacker?

Well, I did some experimenting for a number of weeks and thought it might be time to share the shocking results!