Intermittent Fasting (or Time-restricted Eating) My Story

7 years later, I still do intermittent fasting.

It was a bright summer’s afternoon in the sun-drenched south of France when I found out that the operation to save my left eye had failed and that I was going to need yet another operation to replace my eye with an artificial one. Despite the blazing sunshine and the blistering heat, my day went cold and dark.

This was the third 2-hour long operation in a short time, and my body had still not recuperated from being saturated with anaesthetic toxins during the last operation.

I decided that something would have to be done. Despite being a medical doctor myself, I made up my mind not to leave everything in the hands of the medical profession. If I was going to be in top form by the time I had the next operation, I was going to have to take myself in hand.

I wanted to be as fit as possible. I already run five days out of seven for 30 minutes at a time, on a treadmill. I figured that was enough, all I needed to add was some stretches and some weights. I used mindfulness meditation to mentally prepare for the previous operations, and I intended to do that again. The only area that needed work was my eating habits. I wanted to make sure that I got rid of the post-operative toxins and fill my stores of essential nutrients before it was time for the next operation.

I went online and did some research about the current thinking about healthy eating. Not much had changed since I last researched the subject, several years ago, except for the new kid on the block: intermittent fasting. Not such a new kid in reality, as many supporters of this way of eating assured me, fasting has been around for as long as man has been around.

What is intermittent fasting? Some sort of diet? Apparently not. More accurately, it could be called time-restricted eating. For a set amount of hours every day, you fast. In other words, you eat nothing and drink only water and black coffee/tea. The rest of the day, you can eat what you want, within reason. The fasting part of the day can last anything from 12 to 23 hours. For example, if you fast for 16 hours, that leaves you 8 hours to eat what your body needs.

I wondered what all the fuss was about. Was it worth changing my eating habits this dramatically? Coping with change is something I have become exceptionally good at, operation after operation, so changing the way I eat would not be a problem. I did some more research. I discovered three potential benefits of intermittent fasting that I found particularly motivating:

· Weight management and an improvement in all diseases that are caused/worsened by obesity (ref 1: Johnstone A. Fasting for weight loss: an effective strategy or latest dieting trend? Int J Obes (Lond). 2015 May;39(5):727-33)

· Its anti-ageing effect, including a possible reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as an improvement in symptoms. (ref 2: Bredesen DE. Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program. Aging (Albany NY). 2014 Sep 27; 6:707-717)

· A possible reduction in insulin resistance, lowering the Risk of type 2 diabetes. It may even be possible to reverse type 2 diabetes with intermittent fasting. (ref 3: Intermittent fasting vs daily calorie restriction for type 2 diabetes prevention: a review of human findings -Adrienne R. Barnosky, Kristin K. Hoddy, Terry G. Unterman, Krista A. Varady)

Convinced now that it was worth looking into further, I read books, articles and blog posts and watched videos like the one below. I joined several Facebook groups (see below.)

I did not need to lose weight; my BMI was in the normal range even though I was about 5kg heavier than I was in my twenties. I wouldn’t mind losing some of that, but since I hit fifty, it has been extremely difficult to lose weight and impossible to keep it off over time.

What interested me most was the concept of autophagy. Autophagy literally means to “eat oneself,” and refers to the body’s ability to detect and destroy old and damaged cells. In 2016, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his pioneering research about how cells recycle their content. When we fast, cells break down nonessential and damaged components, as well as viruses and bacteria, and reuse them for energy. This is the process that we think goes wrong in cancer, infectious diseases, immunological diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. Disruptions in autophagy possibly also cause us to age faster.

Well, that made me sit up and take notice. I had a lot of damaged cells that needed removing, and I wanted the new ones to be as strong and resistant against infection and inflammation as possible. The possibility of slowing down the ageing process appealed to me too. And if I lost a few kilos in the process, why not? I promptly grabbed the bull by the horns and started intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting worked for me. Two months ago, I had my left eye removed and so far, contrary to the previous operations, it looks as if the operation has been a huge success. During the winter, I did not have a single cough or cold, not even after long-haul flights. Usually, I get one bug after another from the begging of autumn to the end of spring. None of the usual allergies, like hayfever, either. I am now the same weight as I was when I was 18. At one point, my BMI went below 20, which was easily remedied by eating more during the non-fasting period of the day. I have loads more energy, so much so that I have to be careful not to overdo things after my operation.

Will it work for you too? I don’t know. Changing your eating habits this significantly takes a fair amount of courage. To help you make this change or any other lifestyle change that you want to make, I have created the Introduction to Intermittent Fasting retreat here in the south of France. In the rest of this series, I will tell you more about intermittent fasting and how I went about it. More about my story.

For my Intermittent Fasting Retreat Guests

What you need to know about Intermittent Fasting:

Intermittent Fasting: Everything You Need to Know Before You Start

Intermittent Fasting Mindful Eating

Intermittent Fasting What to Eat and What to Avoid

Intermittent Fasting Weight Loss Affirmations

Intermittent Fasting Writing Meditation for Intermittent Fasters

Intermittent Fasting Why it isn’t working and what to do about it

Intermittent Fasting Different Options

Disclaimer: While intermittent fasting has many potential and some evidence-based research-backed benefits, it remains a controversial way of eating. Before you make any changes in your eating habits, discuss your plans with your doctor, especially if you are on medication. Some of the people who should NOT fast include those who are underweight, have eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia, are pregnant or breastfeeding, and people under the age of 18.

Books:

The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore, Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle by Gin Stephens, The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spenser and Intermittent Fasting — lose weight, burn fat and heal your body by Nicholas Ty

Facebook Groups:

The Intermittent Fasting Support Group for Women, One Meal a Day IF Lifestyle, Intermittent Fasting UK and Delay, don’t Deny Intermittent Fasting Support

Research

Key Findings from Major Studies

I think it is important to keep an eye on reseach as new studies are published. It is becoming clear that intermittent fasting is promising for weight management and possibly cardiometabolic health, but it is not a magic bullet, may not suit everyone, and more long-term safety data are needed. Those considering IF should consult healthcare professionals to assess risks and find the most appropriate plan for their individual context.

A significant number of studies and systematic reviews have investigated intermittent fasting (IF) in recent years, exploring its effects on weight loss, metabolism, and broader health outcomes.

Weight Loss and Cardiometabolic Health
- Multiple large reviews and meta-analyses of clinical trials (including one covering 99 trials with 6,500+ people) found that intermittent fasting is, overall, about as effective as traditional calorie-restricted diets for weight loss and for improving blood pressure, cholesterol, and other cardiometabolic markers. Among the different strategies, alternate-day fasting (fasting every other day) stands out as modestly more effective for short-term weight loss than simple calorie counting.
- Clinical studies report 3–8% reductions in body weight after 3–24 weeks on intermittent fasting regimens, typically paralleling the results seen with other dietary restrictions.
Health Risks and Benefits
- Intermittent fasting reduces insulin resistance, improves certain cardiovascular risk factors, can decrease inflammation, and may have other health benefits such as improving markers for aging and immunity. Effects on insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism are present but sometimes modest and not always clinically significant.
- Some studies suggest that benefits seen in animal models (like longevity and disease prevention) have not always translated as strongly to human studies, and the broad health outcome data is sometimes inconsistent.
- There are also some cautionary findings. For example, one article noted that people adopting an extreme 8-hour eating window had a higher risk of cardiovascular death, highlighting that not all forms of fasting may be safe or advisable for everyone.
Comparisons and Individualisation
- All major types of intermittent fasting (alternate-day, time-restricted, and 5:2 whole-day fasting) have been studied. While they generally perform similarly over the long term, alternate-day fasting may offer the greatest short-term benefit for select groups.
- Many reviews emphasize that IF is not appropriate for all populations (including children, pregnant or breastfeeding people, and those with eating disorders or low body weight).
- The effectiveness and suitability of IF can vary by individual—age, sex, health status, and lifestyle all play important roles in how someone responds to any dietary pattern.
Evidence Gaps
- Most clinical trials on intermittent fasting are short-term, often less than 24 weeks, and there is a need for more robust long-term studies to verify sustained health benefits and potential risks.

Summary Table: Core Findings from Key Studies

Study Type	Main Focus	Findings
Systematic review (99 trials)	Weight loss & cardiometabolic health	IF ≈ calorie restriction for weight loss; alternate-day fasting modestly superior short-term
Metabolic studies	Weight loss	3–8% weight reduction over 3–24 weeks
Animal vs Human studies	Healthspan & inflammation	More pronounced benefits in animals; human benefits are smaller and sometimes inconsistent
Cardiometabolic markers	Insulin, cholesterol, etc.	IF can lower insulin resistance, improve some cardiovascular risk factors
Risk assessment	Adverse effects	Extreme time restriction may increase CVD risk in some populations

Sources

Dr Margaretha Montagu is a recycled medical doctor, a rogue writer of self-help books and presenter of life changes retreats. She lives on a small farm in the not-always sun-blessed south of France with five opinionated horses and all her books are horse-inspired, subtly French-flavoured and life-enriching. She shares her somewhat outlandish ideas with you on her blog.