This week, health professionals and scientists, among others, will assemble in Geneva for the congress of the European Association for the Study of Obesity.
Obesity is never far from the headlines - astonishingly, a quarter of adults in the UK are now officially very overweight and this percentage seems to be rising inexorably.
A while ago, newspaper headlines screamed that the generation growing up today face a diminished lifespan for the first time in a century. The reason? Simply that we're eating the wrong food, and too much of it.
In our affluent, material-grabbing western world, we seem to have many of our priorities topsy-turvey - and over-consumption is one of the most dangerous trends in modern times.
Yogis have always extolled the benefits of healthy eating, and eating in moderation. Those living in an ashram, or yoga community, typically only have two meals a day, and yoga philosophy extolls the benefits of regular fasting.
The ancient yogis saw Fasting as a form of physical and mental cleansing, or purification. Fasting allows the body to renew and detoxify, they say, and a quick internet trawl will bring up a raft of websites preaching - some of them in a rather off-putting, evangelical way - about the benefits of the practice.
I am also an (inexperienced) fan of fasting - but only for a short time. I'm not sure I would have the nerve or staying power to go for a long time without food. As I write, I am just ending a mini, 24-hour fast. I last ate 22 hours ago almost to the minute - admittedly it was a substantial Sunday lunch, complete with two full courses.
I am hungry, but not unbearably so. Lunch-time is in a couple of hours, and I'll take care to have a snack, rather than a full-blown meal, when I do eat.
Meanwhile, I swear my stomach is a little flatter, and my body feels lighter - and actually this is probably true. There is something rather empowering about not eating for a short period of time, when food in abundance is available.
I am conscious of my tendency to eat too much, or sometimes when I'm not hungry - a common western habit and a tricky one to crawl out of.
So for me, fasting now and again for 24 hours is physically and emotionally healthy - it's a great way of standing back, scrutinising unhelpful habits and reminding myself of the pleasure and necessity of eating good food, in small quantities.
I wonder whether those nutritionists and scientists meeting this week to discuss our growing obesity crisis would agree.
Do you fast regularly? Or have you ever tried it? How has it been for you? I'd love to hear. Please log in and leave a comment.
Lucia Cockcroft, editor
