Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?
I don't think it's flagworthy but if it lacks quality vote accordingly!
No, its not...intermittent fasting has been a fad in the last few years. There's nothing unusual about it.
> he seems to have done it methodically and observed the outcome...
I'm having trouble crediting something as a methodical study of a diet pattern change that doesn't have any indication of tracking the specific patterns of what is being eaten (or even quantification of total calories) before and after.
Not everyone has heard about it. I found the article very interesting even though I'm not going to try it out.
That's not the same thing as "unusual".
Isn't it good enough just to help people?
If we help people lose weight in any way, we're going to save the country a lot of money in healthcare costs that could be spent elsewhere. Put another way, if the US finds a way to lose weight effectively, the results will have a strong positive impact on a variety of other services that the government provides that will be able to help more people with more available funding.
The obesity epidemic has been recognized as a money making opportunity by major industries long before HN existed.
If you're in the UK, you can still watch the programme on iPlayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-201220...
Here's the accompanying article from August 2012: The power of intermittent fasting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549
The title isn't the content. The whole article is a lead-in to a call to action in the the last 7 paragraphs which can be summarized as "you should choose one day a week and not eat on that day (it doesn't have to be Monday, though)".
> Also, intermittent fasting I fairly well researched and known for its benefits
[citation needed]
> Whatever your weight loss goals, I can highly recommend giving intermittent fasting a try.
Never does the author say that intermittent fasting should be followed by everyone.