Page 67 - Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon PDF Program

The interesting part was that in earlier research the exact same group of scientists
found that when people were dieting for prolonged periods of time, they found the
exact opposite results. They discovered that prolonged dieting did cause a slight
decrease in cognitive function.
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So while long-term self-deprivation may result in a lower ability to concentrate, it
seems that short-term fasting doesn’t have this effect. This leads researchers to
suggest that the effect of long-term dieting on cognition may be more psychological
than it is physiological.

Basically, when you are dieting for a prolonged period of time you perform worse
because you tend to be grumpy and miserable or because you are unsatisfied with
your body. Whatever the reason, the research illustrates that short-term fasting,
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especially the method described in this book, doesn’t produce this effect.

Not only has research shown that short-term fasting doesn’t impair cognitive function,
but it also suggests that long-term calorie restriction may improve memory in older
populations.

When researchers put a group of 50 women with an average age 60.5 on a calorie

reduced diet for three months they found that the women had significantly improved
scores on verbal memory tests. So not only does fasting not impair your memory
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function, it may even improve your memory in the long run. And, as we discuss in
later chapters, new research on fasting is currently uncovering a brain-protecting

mechanism that is turned on by fasting (see the chapter on Cellular Cleansing).

Yet another myth about fasting has proven false.

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