that it requires you to go to bed with an empty stomach every other day, which can be tough for most peopleat least initially.However, according to Dr. Krista Varady, author of The Every-Other-Day Diet: The Diet That Lets You Eat All You Want (Half the Time) and Keep the Weight Off, the alternate-day fasting schedule does have a much higher compliance rate than many other fasting schedules. In the end, the best fasting schedule is the one that you will comply with. If youre constantly cheating, it wont work.Dr. Varadys research shows that alternate-day fasting, where you consume about 500 calories on fasting days and can eat whatever you want on non-fasting days, works equally well for weight loss as complete fasting, and its a lot easier to maintain this type of modified fasting regimen.In her study, which was recently completed, participants ate their low-calorie fasting day meal either for lunch or dinner. Splitting the 500 calorie meal up into multiple smaller meals throughout the day was not as successful as eating just one meal, once a day. The main problem relates to compliance. If youre truly eating just 500 calories in a day, you will lose weight. But when eating tiny amounts of food multiple times a day, youre far more inclined to want more, so the cheat rate dramatically increases.How Intermittent Fasting Can Help You Live Healthier, Longer By Dr Mercola, www.mercola.com | June 16, 2014Last Updated: June 16, 2014 2:19 pm Feedback(Shutterstock*)You may also likeAn Overview of Intermittent Fasting for Fat LossIntermittent Fasting Is It for You?Intermittent Fasting InfographicHow Alternate-Day Fasting Can Help You Achieve Your Weight Loss GoalsFasting Reduces Cholesterol Levels in Prediabetic People Over Extended Period of Time, New Research FindsMore in Fitness & NutritionHealthy Foods for Growing TeensHomemade Cashew Milk Recipe6 Ways to Improve FertilityIn the featured documentary, Eat, Fast, and Live Longer, British author and journalist Dr. Michael Mosley documents his journey as he decides to try fasting, to see if it might improve his health.At the outset, his blood work revealed he was borderline diabetic and his cholesterol was high, which his doctor wanted to treat with medication.Concerned by this diagnosisespecially as he considers himself somewhat of an expert on conventional health strategiesDr. Mosley sets out to investigate his alternatives.I have always been interested in self-experimentation as a research device because so many of the most important discoveries came from scientists and doctors who used themselves as test subjects, he says, but I had never before performed a series of trials on my own health. His journey takes him across the United States, where he meets with both long-lived, healthy folk, and health and longevity experts, to learn the secrets of their success.Your Body Was Built for Periodic Cycles of Feast and FamineFasting, it turns out, has a number of health benefits that most people seek: from improved cardiovascular health and reduced cancer risk, to gene repair and longevity.In short, he discovers that part of what appears to be driving the disease process is the fact that were eating too frequently. When youre in