Fasting sometimes is good: not only helps you lose weight but to stay more healthy.

Hungry and long-lived.
A group led by gerontologist Valter Longo of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, tested the effects of short periods of fasting in animals and humans.
Already a lot of research in the past years have shown that the so-called caloric restriction, that is a very strict diet, make it more long-lived.
The effect has been observed in many animal species, from worms to mammals, dogs and even monkeys (although with less clear results).
For men, there are still no conclusive data on the effectiveness of a restricted diet (based on the assumption of no more than 1,200 calories a day) not only to ward off certain diseases related to overeating, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer, but also to lengthen the life span.
It is, however, almost starvation diets, which for most people becomes impossible to follow for years.
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Go to gallery (11 photos) A diet mice four days per month.
The new study, published in Cell Metabolism, has tried to verify the effectiveness of the less severe forms of diet, for example the temporary fasting, obtaining the same effect.
The first tests were done on mice: for two periods of four days each month a group of animals was kept on low-calorie diet, and for the rest of the free time to eat as much as he wanted.
Compared to the comrades not subjected to this form of short diet, the mice who fasted lived an average of three months longer, a period of time not negligible compared to the average life of a mouse, or about three years.
In addition, several other parameters related to metabolism and health are best results, the lower incidence of tumors in a firmer memory in old age.
These animals also showed improved tissue regeneration capacity, for example the liver.
The longest living animals on the planet
Go to gallery (11 photos) Improved Health.
With these results in hand, the researchers then tried to test the effects of this kind of time limited diet also on people.
In this case, 19 volunteers were asked to stay on a diet for five days a month, arriving to consume, including soups, dietary and herbal tea bars, between 700 and a thousand calories, while the rest of the days were free to eat as usual.
Again, compared to non-volunteers on a diet, those five days were really thin have had in the space of just three months a significant improvement in various parameters, by a reduction of glucose in the blood to a reduction in abdominal fat and proteins associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
As in mice, it was also observed an increase in certain types of stem cells in the blood: an increase in the regenerative capacity of the body signal?
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Go to gallery (11 photos) Although it is early to say, according to Longo and several other researchers, these results are encouraging because they suggest a more acceptable and workable way for a diet that enhances the health and - maybe - lengthen life.
Traditional Fasting.
Fasting is not an unknown practice.
It is contemplated, in various forms and variants, in all the major religions and traditions.
In the Catholic tradition, the most important fasts, the slender Friday abstinence from meat and wine, and in any case from any power too rich, is considered one means of purification.
In Jewish tradition, too, there are several days of fasting, averaging nearly one a month in which it is required not to eat (or drink) from sunset to sunset.
For the period of Ramadan, which this year began on June 18, Muslims are asked to not eat from sunrise to sunset.
Hunger: an ugly beast!
Go to gallery (14 photos) Nell 'peasant Italy until after World War I, as opposed to today eat their fill was reserved for the few occasions: Christmas, Easter, Carnival, weddings and sometimes even funerals.
The rule was thrift and, for the poorest farmers, the real hunger.
Mode.
In recent times, several fad diets that have emerged are based precisely on the principle of fasting, for example, the fast diet (fast means "fast" in English): you eat normally for five days and very little for the other two.
And many doctors recommend a day without food or almost a week to maintain a healthy weight.
Many others, however, warn: a light day following a surplus is certainly not bad, but for "the most extensive testing" it is good to rely on doctors.

From Focus