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I am certainly not a fasting expert. But, pushy Broad that I am, let me jump right in and give you my opinion. This opinion is based on what I have read, much here and elsewhere and I intentionally sought out contradictory materials so I could understand the cons, if there were any.
Intermittent and long-term fasts primarily accomplish two important yet very different things. Long term fasts promote great healing and provides the body the time needed to both consume unnecessary and damaged tissues while also re-building and rejuvenating the body's components. This is why these fasts offer temporary or permanent reprieve from so many symptoms of disease and in some cases the diseases themselves. This is the equivalent of having your car's transmission rebuilt.
Many of those advocating this position are physicians. Generally speaking, people don't seek medical advice when they are perfectly healthy so it is no wonder that those advocating the "therapeutic benefits" of fasting adhere so tightly to the benefits of long term fasts. This is what they see and this is what they know because their patients are ill and seeking either a cure or relief.
Intermittent fasting, or repeated short-term fasting, is more like maintaining your car. If you don't change the oil (intermittent fasting) you will have to replace the valves, camshaft, etc. (long term fasting). From the materials I find, it appears that conventional medical studies noticed the health benefits attributed to people engaged in short term fasting for religious purposes. As the natural health movement was resurrected in status, intermittent fasting as a lifestyle became more prominent and those interested in longevity and healthy aging started paying attention. For many years it has been well document through animal and more recently human studies that calorie restricted diets are the only known method of slowing down the aging process. More recently, those looking at calorie restriction are also looking at intermittent fasting as a means to accomplish the same thing.
These "experts" in intermittent fasting do not pursue the same goal nor do they have the same patients as physicians who treat the chronically ill and diseased.
Both forms of fasting can stand alone on their individual good measure. I just wished I had learned this in my 20s when I believe it would have added many years to my life and helped me avoid some of the health problems I am slowly leaving behind.
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