Fasting and Metabolic Health
fasting.com is an evidence-based reference on fasting and metabolic health. It covers four areas: the fasting-mimicking diet, fasting basics, intermittent fasting, and water-only fasting. Every page cites the research behind its claims by name and flags who should talk to a clinician before fasting.
Fasting methods
Four areas are covered here, each with its own guide and its own citations.
Fasting-mimicking diet
A low-calorie, low-protein eating pattern designed to produce some of the metabolic effects of fasting while still eating.
Fasting basics
What fasting is, what changes in the body, and what the cited research does and does not show about common claims such as autophagy, gut health, and detox.
Intermittent fasting
Daily and weekly eating-window schedules, such as 16:8 and 5:2, and what the cited research says about starting and sustaining them.
- 16:8 Intermittent Fasting: What to Know
- 24-Hour Fasting: What the Evidence Shows
- The 5:2 Diet: What the Trials Actually Show
- Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF): The Evidence
- Does Intermittent Fasting Trigger Autophagy?
- Intermittent Fasting, Exercise and Muscle Loss
- How to Start Intermittent Fasting
- Hunger During Intermittent Fasting
- Intermittent Fasting for Women: The Evidence
- Meal Frequency: Grazing, Gorging, Skipping
- OMAD (One Meal a Day): What to Know
- What Breaks a Fast (and What Doesn't)
Water-only fasting
Longer fasts using only water, including what the research shows on safety and results, and how to break a fast safely afterward.
How We Source These Pages
Every page on this site is built from published research, cited by name, with a visible "Last reviewed" date so you can see how current it is. "Last reviewed" means editorial review by the fasting.com team, not a medical review; no page here is a substitute for talking to a clinician about your own situation.