While every diet has its critics, perhaps no diet is as scrutinized as the fasting diet. While the rules vary depending on the type of fasting diet you follow, it usually involves fasting for a few days a week, and then eating whatever you want for the remaining days of the week.
For some die-hard fasting diet fans, like Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, the authors of The Fast Diet, no other diet is comparable.
According to their research, the fasting diet is a natural way for us to eat and live—and it mimics the environment in which humans were created, when food was sparse and fasting (although not necessarily on purpose) was commonplace. That’s one of the reasons they believe that the fasting diet is natural, and that there are many benefits of fasting.
They’re not the only proponents of the fasting diet. Many studies have found there to be benefits of fasting, in particular imminent fasting, including a lower risk of diabetes and improved cholesterol levels in animal studies (studies have not shown the same benefits of fasting in human studies).
MORE: The Benefits of the Fasting Diet
And the fasting diet has its share of celebrity fans too, including Hugh Jackman, who recently bulked up for his role in The Wolverine, using a fasting diet. For Hugh Jackman, following a celebrity diet is nothing new. In the past year alone, he’s played a variety of roles that required him to lose or gain weight—including as the tragic hero in Les Misérables and now as a superhero in The Wolverine.
To truly play the part, Hugh Jackman told sources that following a strict celebrity diet, such as the fasting diet, was necessary. “It’s (an) important theme in the character and the story, the control versus chaos, and having that very lean, muscular body with veins (was necessary),” he said.
Using the benefits of fasting, he was able to bulk up and eat large amounts of food certain days of the week, which his body would then use as reserve fuel on the days he wasn’t eating.
If you’ve seen his new movie, it looks like the benefits of the fasting diet definitely paid off.
