Fad diets usually promise impressive results over short periods of time, which is why they’re so popular no matter how many warnings health experts issue concerning them. The downsides are that the results don’t stand the test of time and, secondly, that they imply restrictions many of us find it hard to live by. The Feast or Famine Diet, also known as the Alternate-Day Diet, claims to solve all of these problems, Marie Claire informs.

The secret behind this diet is that it does not come with too strict limitations – at least, not all the time. Whereas most diets have slimmers constantly eating tiny portions or abstaining from things they like, Feast or Famine only does so on alternate days. This means that the dieter has to eat about 20 to 40 percent of the normal intake of food on some days, while, on others, they can have whatever they want, as long as it’s healthy, regardless of calorie count and amounts.

Apparently, the Alternate-Day Diet is a deviation from the classic low-calorie regime that very few have the strength and will to follow through, yet with the same benefits, in that a very low calorie intake on some days is enough to compensate for the others, its supporters say. Admittedly, this also manages to stimulate the SIRT1 gene, which burns body fat, so, even if the calorie intake is larger on some days, it will not go straight to the hips, thighs and belly, as it usually happens.

“The Alternate-Day Diet, or Longevity Diet, allows you to eat whatever you want one day, but on the next you cut your normal consumption by at least 50 per cent. As well as making the diet easier to stick to psychologically, advocates say it speeds weight loss and may increase longevity. There are also claims that it eases asthma symptoms, reduces blood pressure and helps protect against heart disease and breast cancer.” Marie Claire writes of the diet, which, surprisingly, has been around for quite some time, but is just now starting to generate more attention – and followers as well.

“Krista Varady, assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois, Chicago, has conducted a 10-week trial on 16 overweight patients who ate 20 per cent of their normal intake one day, and a regular healthy diet the next. Each lost between 10lb and 30lb, more than expected. ‘It takes about two weeks to adjust to the diet and, after that, people don't feel hungry on the fast days,’ says Varady.” the women’s mag further explains.

Of course, health experts are none too happy with the recently more popular diet, and that’s mostly because it too encourages the dieter to deprive the organism of essential nutrients. In the long run, that is never a healthy approach to weight loss, they say.