“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory” - Albert Schweitzer
Attaining and maintaining an optimum weight is best achieved by adopting a health-promoting diet of whole plant foods, free of added salt, oil, and sugar. Water-only fasting can be a powerful instrument to jump-start a healthy weight loss program by resetting the appetite to enjoy whole natural foods.
There are a growing number of recent publications on intermittent fasting (IF), generally lasting 16 to 48 hours, and calorie restriction (CR). Periodic fasting (PF), recently defined as lasting from 2 to as many as 21 or more days, is less studied in humans, especially for periods longer than 4 days.
For many people, following a whole-food, plant-based diet is the key to maintaining optimum weight and health. However, for some of us, strictly adhering to a health-promoting diet as well as engaging in a regular exercise program is not enough to keep us where we want to be weight wise. We just like eating too much; or perhaps we have extremely efficient digestive systems; or our internal calorie counters are a bit off.