Share This Article
You may have heard of intermittent fasting, the Mediterranean diet or even the raw food movement, but there’s a new(ish) trend doing the rounds on social media that sounds… well, a little fishy.
The so-called “sardine fasting” or “sardine diet” is a form of ketogenic diet, and is designed to move away from carbohydrates and towards high-fat alternatives.
According to American physician and internet personality Dr Annette Bosworth – also known as “Dr Boz” – who popularised the trend in 2023, it’s “a short-term dietary strategy designed to reset your metabolism by focusing on sardines as a nutrient-dense, low-carb food.”
But is it as healthy as it’s claimed to be? Yahoo UK spoke to GP Dr Babak Ashrafi of Superdrug Online Doctor to find out more.
What is “sardine fasting”?
Sardine fasting is where you eat nothing but sardines for a period of time. Although there’s no set amount of time outlined in the “rules”, when it reached peak popularity two years ago, many people were taking it on as a three-day challenge.
“The thought behind a sardine fast gained traction in low-carb and ketogenic diet communities as a ‘reset’ or metabolic experiment to support short-term metabolic goals,” Dr Ashrafi, explains.
However, he warns that restrictive diets are not recommended and should not be undertaken.
