Reap the Benefits of Fasting Without Giving Up Food

January 12, 2026

Close-up of a woman’s hands holding a bowl of muesli with milk, blueberries, and strawberries in a modern kitchen

Doctors and dietitians commonly recommend nutrient-rich, whole-food diets for long-term health. But short-term eating plans like the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) are gaining attention for their potential health benefits.

“The fasting mimicking diet works best when combined with healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean, DASH and other whole food plant-based diets,” says Kristi Artz, MD, a board-certified lifestyle and emergency medicine physician and Vice President of University Hospitals Connor Whole Health. “Combining high quality eating patterns with healthy lifestyle factors creates powerful synergy, maximizing the benefits of FMD cycles.”

What Is the Fasting Mimicking Diet?

FMD is a low-calorie, low-protein diet. As the name suggests, it’s designed to mimic the effects of fasting. But unlike a typical fasting diet, you don’t stop eating altogether. FMD significantly restricts calories, so it’s not meant to be an everyday eating plan. It should only be done in short cycles – typically about five days a month over the course of a few months.

“With the fasting mimicking diet, patients consume specific macro- and micronutrients,” says Dr. Artz. “This nutritional support allows the body to enter into a fasting state, while minimizing the potential for muscle breakdown during the ‘fasting’ period.”

How Does It Work?

The combination of nutrients in the diet and the low-calorie intake trick your body into thinking you’re fasting. Depending on the day of the diet, the nutrient ratio may vary slightly. The typical breakdown is approximately:

10% lean proteins (like beans and tofu).
45% complex carbohydrates (like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, pulses, nuts and seeds).
45% healthy fats (like olive oil and avocado).

Your healthcare provider or dietitian can help you understand your calorie needs and create a safe and healthy eating plan for doing FMD. It’s also recommended you drink at least 70 ounces of water each day.

When an FMD cycle ends, you’ll start adding more simple whole-plant foods, like fruits, vegetables and whole grains back into your daily diet.

“The nutrients included in the fasting mimicking diet allow the body to down-regulate certain nutrient-sensing pathways,” says Dr. Artz. By quieting these signals and telling the body that food is limited, the diet triggers a response that may help lower inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity.

“Fasting is a powerful signal to the body to perform autophagy, or cellular cleanup,” she says. “The process of autophagy can help identify and eliminate cells that are aged or damaged and may be triggering inflammation in the body.”

“It’s common and normal for people to have less of an appetite for several days, or even weeks, after an FMD cycle because of changes to the digestive system,” says Dr. Artz.

Potential Benefits

Some studies have shown promising results suggesting FMD may help with weight management, metabolic health and lower risk of some chronic diseases. Researchers continue to study FMD’s effects on Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes and heart health. Because FMD appears to speed up autophagy, it has also become popular among people looking to enhance cellular health and optimize healthy aging.

Still, more research is needed to better understand how safe, effective and beneficial it may be to fast or significantly reduce your daily calorie intake with a diet like FMD.

Dr. Artz says that one of FMD’s biggest benefits is that it can help you become more mindful of hunger cues and everyday eating habits, like what and how much you eat. “For a variety of reasons, many people have lost awareness of their hunger cues and often eat out of habit, even if they’re not truly hungry,” she says. “Medically supervised cycles of FMD provide an opportunity for people to reacclimate to true hunger signals and rebuild healthy dietary habits.”

Potential benefits of the fasting mimicking diet may include:

Autophagy (cellular cleanup)
Improved insulin-sensitivity and metabolic health
Less inflammation
Lower risk of chronic disease
Weight loss and management, including reduction in central adiposity (excess weight around the midsection)

Is the Fasting Mimicking Diet Safe?

“The fasting mimicking diet is generally considered safe,” says Dr. Artz, “however, medical supervision is recommended if someone is taking medication for chronic conditions or is unsure if it’s right for them.”

Additionally, this diet is not recommended for people who are:

Pregnant or breastfeeding
Underweight
Managing an eating disorder (or have a history of disordered eating)
Living with an advanced medical condition, like advanced liver or kidney disease

If you’re interested in trying FMD, a lifestyle medicine physician or registered dietitian can help you get started. There are also commercially available programs that offer prepackaged FMD meal kits that are delivered to your home. They make following the diet easy, but they can be costly.

Be sure to talk to your healthcare provider before starting any new diet. “It’s always best to seek medical advice if this is the first time you’re considering the FMD or if you’re currently being treated for chronic conditions,” says Dr. Artz. “This will ensure the process is safe and effective for you.”