Tweaking the Metabolism by not Eating

Obesity is a global phenomenon and according to research excessive weight has been the reason behind more than 3 million deaths worldwide. Being overweight makes one prone to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension etc. And this is rising all around the globe and no one has been able to reverse the epidemic of obesity.

Over the years many different diet and exercise plans have been devised. Some of the techniques are utterly rigorous in terms of exercises and the others in terms of diet. Everyday millions of people try out some form of diet or the other and different exercise regime to get that perfect shape.

Different variations of the traditional exercise have been devised after research to tackle the weight menace. Age old Yoga exercises too have undergone some kind of transformation like suspended yoga, or anti gravity yoga etc to achieve the desired result. Some get positive results while others don’t.

The whole process of losing weight depends on a person’s metabolism. There are three types of metabolic body types, the ectomorph, the mesomorph and the endomorph. Recently researchers in MIT have discovered that fasting for 24 hours flips a metabolic switch, causing the gut to enhance the intestinal stem cells. The intestinal stem cells are responsible for powering the intestine and as we age it slows down. This has been experimented on mice. It was found that fasting for a day caused the intestinal cell regenerate to double. This method is yet to be tested on humans. Though staying for 24 hours could make us both hungry and angry but could definitely speed up our metabolism.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena

 Content: http://bigthink.com/news/mit-study-24-hour-fasting-regenerates-stem-cells-doubles-metabolism