Martha Getachew had struggled with her weight ever since attaining 40 years old. Her gradual weight gain coupled with insensitive comments from others triggered her.

The mother of two longed for a way to lose weight, finally embarking on intermittent fasting was hope, a method of going without food for a couple of hours each day or eating just one meal in particular days.

Six months ago, Martha limited her food intake to once a day. Working at the beauty salon, she said it was difficult at first to go all day without eating. However, she got accustomed to the lifestyle as the days went by. She started to notice changes in her body after losing four kilogrammes in three months, following through with the habit despite reaching her ideal weight.

The owner of Marti Hair Salon claims her journey was boosted, going up to two days without food occasionally, as she saw improvement in her productivity.

"I've never felt better," she told Fortune.

According to Martha, fasting is not an easy pursuit; it takes discipline but it is all worth it in the end. She has limited herself to strict but quality nutrients, where she, unfortunately, has to spend more budget on food than she would if she was eating three times a day.

"I try not to go near carbohydrates," she said.

Over the years, people have adapted to the lifestyle of going long hours without food. According to research conducted by the National Institute of Health, satiety and hunger can strongly influence mood, learning, memory and cognitive performance.

While fasting, the body shifts from using glucose as its primary energy source to burning fat, according to Zelalem Debebe (MD), an assistant professor at Addis Abeba University in dietetics. However, she questions if people who are engaged in fasting practice it correctly. She said there are some people who fast all day and replace the calories at night.

“That doesn’t do any good,” Zelalem said.

She said that the majority of people that fast are prone to lose weight, but it goes beyond the calorie intake for people with low metabolism, that are likely to gain weight. She recommends people affected by eating disorders, patients with chronic diseases and underweight people keep themselves from fasting.

Fasting has been a practice suited for spiritual people, abstaining from food for hours to as long as days. Some ordain restrictions on animal products with meals consisting of vegan food being appraised for consumption while others are set on strict timing. It has been a way of gaining mastery over the self, subjecting the body to starvation to away from desires.

In the 20th century, as more was known about the nutrition of the human body, a wide array of approaches emerged. Studies have shown that fasting for 12 to 24 hours triggers cells to digest certain structures and proteins in a continual cleanup process.

One of the scientists to expound the idea of fasting is Yoshinori Oshumi, a Japanese cell biologist who won the Nobel prize in 2016 for his research on the mechanism by which cells eliminate worn-out proteins in due course of starvation. According to the research, fasting is connected with blood sugar control, reduced inflammation, weight loss, improved brain function and longevity.

Although Ermias Amelga, a former wall-street banker and businessman had not suffered from weight problems or diseases, he has been known to adopt the mechanism of autophagy. Nine years ago he started researching ways of increasing his life expectancy while sustaining his health.

Ermias had not been one to shy away from unhealthy eating in his earlier days.

“I would devour a whole cake in one sitting,” he said.

He decreased his daily meal intake to only lunch which consists of close to 1800 calories upon the discovery of the need to starve the body in order to replace dead cells. For Ermias, the goal was not to lose weight but develop a clean body that is healthy.

"As food became abundant, people have developed the habit of eating without going hungry and discipline has been lost," Ermias said.

He claims it is possible to increase life span by threefold if the body is subjected to constant starvation, leading to increased energy levels and improved physical performance upon burning fat.