For some weight loss comes easy, for others it becomes a life goal that somehow they can’t reach, despite all the efforts. However, what if we told you that we have come to know of a new diet that has been breaking the internet and one that would surely help you fit into that little black dress that hangs in your closet.
Well, that’s what the researchers claim to achieve with the latest diet fad on the block called as the Fasting Mimicking diet (FMD).
Designed by researcher Valter Longo, the FMD involves only five days of limited caloric intake every month. Yes, that’s right!
This is what you have to do to follow the FMD
- Restrict your calories five days a month
- Eat normally for the rest of the month
- Repeat this cycle every 3 months or as desired.
"The best preparation is to gradually ease into the five-day plan. It is far easier to eat smaller meals in the run-up and cut out snacking and caffeinated drinks (which also come with high calories) altogether, over a period of days before the regime begins, than to suddenly and extremely change your food intake,” says Valter Logo in an article that appeared on Quartz.
The study observations
For the study, Valter Longo and other researchers at the University of Southern California first tested the “periodic fasting mimicking diet” on mice, followed by a trial on a group of 19 randomized people. There were also 18 participants who ate a normal diet.
The trial group was on a diet half of their usual caloric intake and ate 12% protein, 44% carbohydrates and 44% fat. They followed this low-calorie diet for five days in a row each month for three months. The other times, they ate whatever they wanted.
By the end of the three-month trial, the participants had lower risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and aging compared to the control group and had also lost weight.
“It’s about reprogramming the body so it enters a slower aging mode, but also rejuvenating it through stem cell-based regeneration. It’s not a typical diet because it isn’t something you need to stay on. This is arguably the first non-chronic pre-clinically and clinically tested anti-aging and healthspan-promoting intervention shown to work and to be very feasible as a doctor or dietitian-supervised intervention,” director of the USC Longevity Institute, Valter Longo said in a statement.
Longo’s team of researchers refer to it as a “periodic fasting regime”. The regime requires 100 per cent adherence.
Here's what a sample diet plan looks like
On paper, the first day should be the easiest, with meals containing 1,090 calories (10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbohydrates. That’s more than the four remaining days, which only have 725 calories (9% protein, 44% fat, 47% carb)," a report in Quartz wrote.
Researchers say that the diet not only helps you cut the flab, it also promotes multi-system regeneration, enhances cognitive performance and health span and lowers your risk for cancer and diabetes.
Advisory: While the results of the diet have been well-researched, it always advisable to consult your doctor before adopting a diet that you haven't tried before.
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