Does periodic fasting work?

There are several popular periodic fasts out there:

• The 5-2 fast (fasting two days each week).

• The 3 days a week fast.

• The 1 day every two weeks fast.

• The 1 day a week fast.

• The every other day fast.

With these fasts, most people feel miserable. What happens is they don’t give their body enough time to adapt. It takes 3-7 days for your body to adapt to fat burning (running on ketones). If you don’t put in this about of time with intermittent fasting, you will constantly feel miserable. You may experience hypoglycemia (low blood sugars) if you fast sporadically.

This is not good for your body—your brain will suffer, and you’ll get grouchy. Instead of periodic fasting, you want to do intermittent fasting on a daily basis. Consistent intermittent fasting will help you burn fat and improve your cognition and mood.