From Chapter 1, Dr. Jason Fung acknowledges that the mere suggestion of fasting sounds crazy to most people. Starvation?That’s your recommendation?? In the opening pages to The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting, Fung argues that starvation and fasting are two entirely different things. While starvation is involuntary and typically due to a lack of food, fasting is a choice to abstain from eating for a period of time.

Though humans have historically fasted for religious reasons, Fung argues that living in a constant state of feast, feast, feast (with no famine) has wreaked havoc on our health and that a return to periodic fasting may offer the solution.

Though there are countless diets out there with complicated rules and restrictions, fasting is simple and straightforward. As opposed to most diets that have a laundry list of things to do, fasting is about what not to do. The authors explain that this is part of the beautiful simplicity of a fasting regimen. You need not fuss over food lists, measuring portion sizes, cooking and clean up, packing special meals, and other tedious tasks that often go along with dieting. Rather, all you have to do is abstain. Furthermore, fasting regimens can be as flexible as necessary. Fung emphasizes many times over that there is no single right way to fast and that a person should experiment to see what works best for them.

Throughout the pages of The Complete Guide to Fasting, Fung presents multiple fasting schedules, some lasting a matter of hours, others days. This is where the term intermittent fasting comes into play. Simply put, intermittent fasting is the practice of alternating periods of eating with periods of fasting.

Fung emphasizes there is no one-size-fits-all regimen. Someone used to grazing throughout the day may simply wish to begin a 12-hour intermittent fast, in which there is a 12-hour window for eating followed by a 12-hour period of fasting. A person could extend such a fast slightly by limiting food intake to an 8- or 4-hour window and a lengthier period of not eating. Beyond this, there are various methods for introducing 24-hour and even more extended fasting periods. The possibilities are unlimited and can be tailored to meet an individual’s preferences and needs.

But why, aside from perhaps religious reasons, would a person actually want to fast? Is there truly some sort of advantage offered by fasting that simple calorie cutting can’t match? And (hello, elephant in the room!) what about that old enemy to any weight loss plan, HUNGER? Stay tuned as we take a closer look at The Complete Guide to Fasting, June’s Diet of the Month!