Put down the bagel and read this carefully: Skipping breakfast could help you unlock incredible health benefits and live longer. Yes, I'm encouraging you to shatter several dietary rules—never skip meals; eat every two to three hours; breakfast is the most important meal of the day—that you have been taught since day one. This trend is "Intermittent Fasting," a dietary protocol that despite being around for thousands of years is still highly controversial. By moving around your meal times, you activate certain pathways in your body that could help you burn more fat, protect against certain diseases and cancers, and increase your lifespan—all backed by scientific evidence.

Here's what you need to know.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

While Intermittent Fasting (IF) has many variations, the easiest way is to skip breakfast and make lunch your first meal—then, get all the calories you need between lunch and dinner. The goal is not to starve yourself; it's to split your day into longer "fasting" periods and shorter "feeding" periods.

The goal is to split your day into longer "fasting" periods and shorter "feeding" periods.

It's not insane.

We fast every day. From night to morning, we go about 12 hours without a meal. Your first meal breaks this fast, which is why we call it "break-fast" instead of "morning-dinner."

Common objections to IF, however, include: "Isn't that bad for you?" and "Won't you starve?"

First, you won't starve if you skip one meal. Even two entire days of minuscule caloric intake doesn't make much difference. Second, your hunger pangs are habitual—if you eat breakfast every day at 7 a.m., your body releases chemicals every day before 7 a.m. to prepare to digest food. Eventually, those pangs disappear. Third, IF is actually associated with various health benefits.

Why Intermittent Fasting works.

1. It increases your fat loss.

Intermittent Fasting increases fat oxidation, which speeds up your fat loss throughout the day—even during a Netflix marathon. One study found an alternate-day fasting system (fasting every other day) helped slash body fat by 4 percent in 22 days; another study by the University of Chicago found that fasting along with calorie-restriction generated a massive amount of fat loss. Yet another study showed fasting reduced body fat and bad cholesterol, regardless of how much fat was eaten. IF also raises your insulin sensitivity, which enhances your body's ability to 1) handle carbs, and 2) send nutrients to your muscles instead of your ass.

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As for the myth that "your body will eat your muscle," fasting actually increases your growth hormone levels, which stimulates muscle and bone growth. (And again, you're skipping only one meal.) Strangely enough, doing a workout while fasting could lead to more post-workout muscle growth.

2. It reduces certain health risks.

With fasting, the scientific research done during Ramadan—the holy Islamic month where hundreds of millions of people around the world fast from sunrise to sunset—is pretty sweet. A 2009 study found fasting during Ramadan led to a massive decrease in bad cholesterol and a 30 percent increase in good cholesterol. Another study from the UAE showed similar benefits in heart disease risk as well as overall body composition. (And if you're an elite martial artist, four weeks of intense fasting won't slow your karate chop.) Alternate-day fasting even reduces inflammation and symptoms of asthma.

3. It could help you live longer.

Here's where IF research gets wild: Studies suggest it could slow your aging and increase your lifespan.

It starts with something called "Mammalian target of rapamycin," or mTOR. mTOR is a pathway that regulates the growth and survival of your cells—and while it helps you build muscles, mTOR also has "critical involvement in the onset and progression of diabetes, cancer, and aging" and a strong impact on longevity.

Here's where it gets really wild: Fasting actually inhibits mTOR. Do it, and you'll potentially avoid cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmunity. In fact, dietary restriction alone has been shown to increase lifespan for many different species; as for humans, a three-year study conducted at a senior home found alternate-day dieting actually increased the lifespan of the seniors, reduced deaths, and lowered their chances of getting sick.

Fasting also lowers IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which delays aging and protects against cancer, and activates an enzyme called AMPK, which yet again inhibits mTOR and offers extra health benefits.

Put it all together, and you'll see how fasting could be the way to go for more longevity and a better body.

Strangely enough, doing a workout while fasting could lead to more post-workout muscle growth.

How to start.

As for what to eat for IF, basic nutritional rules apply: protein, veggies, and good carbs. During your fast, just drink water, black coffee, or tea; no carbs and no calories. Make sure, however, to eat more in one sitting than before, because you'll have one fewer meal to get your daily calories.

Once you get comfortable, feel free to explore the many other IF methods, including the Warrior Diet and 24-hour fasts (which, I'll tell you, isn't as terrible as you might think). But after six years of doing this, I still find the "16-hour fast/8-hour feed" method one the easiest and least socially awkward. Who wants to skip lunchtime, anyway?

Anthony J. Yeung, CSCS, is a fitness expert and founder of groombuilder.com.

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