Last week we hosted a seminar at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc on Intermittent Fasting (IF). And while all in attendance said they weren't familiar with IF it quickly became apparent that they not only had an idea about IF they were all practicing it already.Since IF means to go brief periods without eating and none of the people attending are in the habit of eating through the night they all practiced IF until morning when they would break 'fast.In addition to not eating breakfast there are a variety of different IF protocols which are usually defined by two numbers separated by a slash. For example a protocol might look like 16/8 and refers to 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating. So you could see anything such as 12/12, 20/4 or a full day of fasting which would be a 24/0.And in terms of the number of days per week someone would fast this ranges as well from one day per week to two days per week, alternate days or everyday for part of the day. Depending on which protocol they follow you may hear terms such as the 'Warrior Diet', 'LeanGains' and 'Eat-Stop-Eat' to describe when to eat and when to fast.Benefits of IFSo why would someone become an IFer?Well the proposed benefits include reduced bodyweight, reduced bodyfat, increased longevity, reduced chance of certain disease and improved neural function. And these are interesting claims which will draw the attention of almost everyone looking to shed a few pounds and improve their health.But the reality is there is not a lot of research out there to support these claims. And the studies that do exist tend to be done with animals. For example, when it comes to looking at mice completing a water maze task, the mice experiencing an IF...