Eat Well – The Fasting Peril

EWhat if the key to our health was in an empty plate? While the links between junk food, excess food and reduced life expectancy are clearly established, some take a radically opposite path and opt for fasting. The principle is simple: stop eating for a few hours a day, a few days a week – this is called intermittent fasting – or even two weeks in a row. The idea is really nothing new. With Yom Kippur, Lent, Ramadan, all religions include a period of fasting in the year. But not all French people who regularly wear belts have such spiritual aims. “Their motivation, often unacknowledged, is weight loss,” reports Mouna Hanachi, head of the nutrition department c…

illustrations: Tartres for “Le Point”