Believe it or not, the gimmick diet has legs—for everything from weight loss to longevity
Benedict Cumberbatch is doing it. So is Jimmy Kimmel. But unlike most celebrity-sanctioned diets, there’s actually some compelling science to support its purported benefits. It’s sometimes called the 5-2 diet—meaning five days of normal eating followed by two days of severe calorie restriction—though it’s more commonly referred to as intermittent fasting. No matter what you call it, avoiding food for hours or even days at a time appears to be more popular than ever.
