[ti:New Diet Trend in America: Intermittent Fasting] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.28]The latest diet trend in America is also an ancient human activity. [00:08.92]The activity is fasting, or not eating food for a set amount of time. [00:17.48]Social media apps and Facebook groups are appearing for people [00:23.64]who do "intermittent fasting," or fasting on a part-time basis. [00:30.36]Like other diets, intermittent fasting helps you lose weight by setting limits on eating. [00:38.32]But instead of limiting what you eat, it limits when you eat. [00:44.12]One of the more popular approaches to intermittent fasting is called "time-restricted feeding." [00:53.12]It is not as difficult as some of the other approaches, [00:59.20]since the fasting period can include the time you are sleeping. [01:05.64]The basic idea of time-restricted feeding is to limit eating to an eight-hour period. [01:14.44]You then fast during the day's other 16 hours. [01:20.48]Many people make the eating period shorter or longer. [01:25.72]Some eat just one meal a day. [01:29.60]In other approaches, people fast several days during a week. [01:35.60]On fasting days, some people may permit themselves around 600 calories. [01:43.72]Whatever the approach, people are not supposed to overeat when they stop fasting. [01:51.72]Melissa Breaux Bankston is a Crossfit instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana. [02:00.76]She tried intermittent fasting as a way to reduce her snacking. [02:06.60]"I wanted to limit the amount of time that I was eating," she said. [02:12.36]Studies on the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting [02:18.40]are still limited, including for its effectiveness with weight loss. [02:25.24]For now, limited research suggests it may not be any better for weight loss [02:32.64]than reducing calorie intake over the long term. [02:36.72]"It's really another way of fooling your body into eating less calories," said Krista Varady, [02:45.36]who studies intermittent fasting at the University of Illinois at Chicago. [02:53.04]Courtney Peterson, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, also studies intermittent fasting. [03:03.56]She suggested the benefits of intermittent fasting are not as great as some might suggest. [03:12.20]"Unfortunately, intermittent fasting gets a little hyped," she said. [03:18.88]Some health experts say intermittent fasting might be too difficult for many people. [03:27.48]They point to a study of 100 people where those placed in a fasting group [03:34.16]lost about the same amount of weight as those on diets that restricted calories. [03:41.88]The fasting group had a dropout rate of 38 percent, [03:47.80]compared with 29 percent for the caloric-restriction diet group. [03:53.96]But intermittent fasting may be easier for people [03:58.96]who already skip meals when they are too busy, said Varady. [04:04.56]People interested in intermittent fasting should talk to their doctor before trying it. [04:12.32]Health experts do not recommend intermittent fasting for children, [04:18.16]people on some medications and people with a history of eating disorders. [04:25.28]I'm John Russell. [04:26.80]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM