Can you match the following authors, Benjamin Franklin, Plutarch (an ancient Greek moralist) and Paracelsus (one of the fathers of Western medicine), with their quotes about fasting?
- Fasting is the greatest remedy — the physician within.
- The best of all medicines is resting and fasting.
- Instead of using medicine, better fast today.
Answers: (1) Paracelsus, (2) Franklin, and (3) Plutarch.
Now we’re not recommending long-term fasting (that taxes every bodily system). But we agree with a recent study published in JAMA Oncology that reveals fasting for 13 hours between your last meal of today and your first meal of tomorrow is a great health booster.
Researchers evaluated 12 years of data on 2,413 women with early-stage breast cancer (and without diabetes). They found fasting for 13 hours a night was associated with reduced recurrence of breast cancer (36 percent!), led to significantly lower hemoglobin A1C values (a three-month average of your blood glucose levels) and longer sleep times.
Lower A1Cs and longer nightly sleep patterns also help protect you from pre- and type 2 diabetes, other cancers, cognitive problems and mood disorders.
So, here’s a health tip that recommends more time in the sack! If you eat dinner at 7pm — eat breakfast at 8 am. And if that doesn’t work with getting the kids breakfast or heading to the office, then schedule an earlier dinnertime. Whether you have early-stage breast cancer, prediabetes, or are chronically sleep deprived, this will make you healthier, happier and wiser.
Medically reviewed in July 2018.
