Intermittent fasting can provide many important health benefits, from improving your insulin/leptin sensitivity to helping your body more effectively burn fat for fuel. It’s one of the most effective ways I’ve found to shed excess weight for these two reasons.

That notion is held up by recent research published in the journal Cell Metabolism,¹ in which researchers concluded that time-restricted eating not only prevented but also reversed obesity and related metabolic dysfunction.

Even more remarkably, this was true even when the diet was less than ideal. Time-restricted eating is my personal favorite of the many intermittent fasting schedules available.

I believe it can be very helpful for those in need of shedding a few extra pounds and/or who have insulin and leptin resistance—which is the majority of the American population.

The reason so many struggle with their weight (aside from eating processed foods that have been grossly altered from their natural state) is because they’re in continuous feast mode and rarely ever go without a meal.

As a result, their bodies have adapted to burning sugar as its primary fuel, which down-regulates the enzymes that utilize and burn stored fat. Fasting is an excellent way to “reboot” your metabolism so your body can start burning fat as its primary fuel, which will help you shed your unwanted fat stores.

Once your insulin resistance improves and you are normal weight you can start eating more frequently, as by then you will have reestablished your body’s ability to burn fat for fuel—that’s the key to sustained weight management.