Fasting

Marrying outside one’s religion is becoming more and more common, with the number of Americans having a spouse of a different faith on a steady rise since 2010. While it’s a great opportunity to learn and bond over something new beyond your lifestyle, some partners might find it challenging to manage the dynamics of interfaith marriage.One thing this Christian wife struggled with in the relationship with her Muslim husband was fasting in the month of Ramadan. During it, he must abstain from eating, drinking, and smoking…

Recent research presented at the American Heart Association’s 2024 sessions found that individuals adhering to an 8-hour time-restricted eating plan had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to those eating over longer periods.Research Highlights:A study of over 20,000 adults found that those who followed an 8-hour time-restricted eating schedule, a type of intermittent fasting, had a 91% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease.People with heart disease or cancer also had an increased…

A new study suggests that sticking to a fasting-style diet can bring with it a range of benefits, including a lower risk of disease and slower cell aging.Known as a fasting-mimicking diet, or FMD, the brief reduction in food aims to replicate the effects of a water-only fast without giving up essential nutrients.This involves consuming a proportion of plant based soups, energy bars, crisps, teas, vitamin and mineral supplements portioned out across five days, providing a diet high in unsaturated fats and low in calories,…

The human body can survive without food for some time before starvation risks causing significant harm to the body.In fact, when done properly and under medical supervision, fasting is thought to offer a range of health benefits to people – but those benefits may not occur in shorter or more intermittent fasts, new research shows.A new study by researchers in Europe and the UK found it took more than three days for all major organs to change protein production in ways that could predict better health in participants…

Ready to revolutionise your approach to health and wellness through the power of Intermittent Fasting? Look no further than FastMinder app, the latest addition to Funn Media's suite of health-focused apps, joining the ranks of favourites like WaterMinder app and Calorie app. Tailored for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch users, FastMinder promises a straightforward and uncluttered fasting tracking experience.Intuitive Fasting Plans for Every LifestyleIn sync with the successful model of WaterMinder and Calorie, FastMinder…

Our immune system offers essential protection to our body, summoning chemical agents and cellular assassins to sites of damage in skirmishes we experience as inflammation.Unfortunately a range of factors can trigger inflammation into going awry, leaving a trail of collatoral damage. Adhering to a high calorie Western diet, for example, is known to risk an inflammatory syndrome that underpins a variety of health conditions.Previous research has shown that fasting can help protect against inflammation, so a team of…

Scientists at Cambridge have found that fasting raises arachidonic acid levels in the blood, inhibiting inflammation and offering insights into the health benefits of fasting and the anti-inflammatory effects of drugs like aspirin on chronic diseases.Scientists at Cambridge may have uncovered a novel mechanism by which fasting can reduce inflammation – a potentially harmful consequence of the immune system’s activity that is at the root of several chronic illnesses.In research published in Cell Reports, the team describes…

Intermittent fasting is an increasingly popular way to attempt to lose weight by forgoing meals. A new review concludes diet restriction might not be enough to shed some body fat, at least not on its own.Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, and Wageningen University in the Netherlands, have summarized the existing knowledge we have about the practice of fasting.A lot of data has been collected over the years, covering multiple aspects of the way that intermittent fasting affects the body. One of the key…

Scientists looking to tackle our ongoing obesity crisis have made an important discovery: Intermittent fasting leads to significant changes both in the gut and the brain, which may open up new options for maintaining a healthy weight.Researchers from China studied 25 volunteers classed as obese over a period of 62 days, during which they took part in an intermittent energy restriction (IER) program – a regime that involves careful control of calorie intake and fasting on some days.Not only did the participants in the…

The traditional approach to weight loss is to count calories and try to reduce the number consumed each day. This is a time-consuming and error-prone process – often with disappointing results.Intermittent fasting – and the popular version known as time-restricted eating – could be a simpler option for people wanting to achieve a healthy weight.But is intermittent fasting any better than calorie counting for losing weight?A new study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, aimed to provide the answer. It showed…