It’s a popular belief that skipping a meal is unhealthy. Eating enough and having a balanced diet is one of the most important factors to health. Many people believe that skipping meals leads to inadequate nutrition and an altered metabolism. However, recently there is news about the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is one of the diets that cycle between a period of fasting and non-fasting, finding a way to take in enough food while restricting calories. Skipping meals would not hurt a person’s health, but rather contribute to a healthier life.

The basic concept is to stop eating periodically to give the digestive system a rest. The organs supplement energy and purify themselves during this resting period. Through intermittent fasting, the longevity gene “sirtuin” is activated and reduced to a IGF-1 hormone so that a body can start to cure itself as it stops working hard to digest. The process of aging and disease prevention can be delayed through giving the body rest.

Intermittent fasting is not hard if one can overcome the initial pangs of hunger. To the busy businessmen or students, intermittent fasting may be a better option than exercising or taking diet pills because they may take too much time or cost too much money.

The most important thing to remember while intermittent fasting is to eat food regularly. Intermittent fasting does not mean to stop eating, but to reduce the number of meals. There are two recommended ways to do this. First is 16:8 proportion: it means fasting for 16 hours, and then eating the next 8 hours. The second one is 5:2: eating during a 5 day period and resting for a 2 day period.

Personally, I recommend intermittent fasting because it is beneficial not only for diet purposes, but for the overall health of the body. Many people, such as Hollywood star Hugh Jackman, participate in intermittent fasting. It is a growing method professed by many books such as Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon and Quantum Eating by Tonya Zavasta.