Can the Viral Sardine Fast Help You Lose Weight? One Grandmother Used It To Drop 5 Sizes
It can even help balance your blood sugar levels, curb cravings and make energy skyrocket!
Ready to hear about a wild trend helping everyone from famous doctors to Florida grandmas get leaner, stronger and mega-energized? Then let’s talk about sardine fasts. Before you say “eww” consider this: Retiree Patti Bodner, 67, tells us a sardine fast was her secret to dropping five pant sizes, reversing her diabetes and saving $1,000 a month on meds. Then there’s Harvard-trained researcher Nick Norwitz, MD, PhD, who ate 1,000 sardines in 30 days; his YouTube post about the fat-melting and stamina-boosting results is currently breaking the internet. Keep reading to learn how you can use the $1, high-protein fish to reach your weight-loss goals.
Why the sardine fast went viral
Dr. Norwitz heard about the sardine fast trend (which often involves eating nothing but sardines for 48 to 72 hours) from fellow nutrition expert and University of South Florida researcher Dominic D’Agostino, PhD. Dr. Norwitz figured sardines are like “nature’s protein bar and a multivitamin in one,” and he wanted to see what would happen if he did it for a full month.
During the experiment, his diet consisted almost entirely of sardines in olive oil, with only an occasional zero-carb non-sardine dinner if he was eating with others. Already really fit when he started, “I lost six pounds in just the first week without a loss in strength or power, and drifted down to about seven percent body fat,” he reports in his viral video. On top of that, “my energy levels skyrocketed.” He found himself wanting to take the stairs to his apartment—and he lives on the 37th floor!
Woman's World Answers
Dr. Norwitz’s results are impressive, but what about women over 50? Will the oily fish help us too? “Without a doubt,” says Annette Bosworth, MD, a Florida-based internist who has been using sardine fasts to help thousands reclaim their health. Dr. Bosworth, a keto coach, went looking for a way to help people maximize keto results, “and I kept reading about small fish,” she says. “When I first mention sardines, people yell, ‘No!’” But that’s before they realize sardines taste a lot like tuna and can reverse severe metabolic damage and bust previously unbreakable plateaus.
Retired Navy chief Jane Crummett, 61, used Dr. Bosworth’s guidelines and a sardine fast to wake up her lackluster metabolism. Once a size 24, Jane has lost 70 pounds and sports an 8. “My acid reflux was gone, so I no longer had to sleep sitting up. My IBS and plantar fasciitis disappeared. My fatty liver and prediabetes completely reversed. My thyroid meds were cut in half,” she shares. “Really, everything got better.”
How to try the three-day sardine fast
Dr. Bosworth’s guidelines: Eat only sardines in oil for 72 hours. The clock starts when you eat your first bite of the tinned fish. “Eat as many as you like, whenever you like. There are no limits and no hunger,” Dr. Bosworth says. You can pan-fry or air-fry them if you like for crispiness. You can also eat them right from the can.
Eat sardines whenever hunger strikes—there are no no strict meal times. Your body won’t overeat sardines. “If you can’t get past the flavor, you can have some carb-free hot sauce,” Dr. Bosworth says. But beyond that or another carb-free seasoning, you should only consume sardines in oil, salt, water and black coffee. Keep it up for three days. Then have one last can of sardines. “I don’t let you end the fast until you eat your last bite of sardines at the 72nd hour.” After your fast, she recommends sticking to natural, lower-carb fare. As always, get your doctor’s okay to try any new diet.
Why is a sardine fast good for weight loss?
You’re actually eating as many sardines as you want, and they’re a great source of protein, so there’s no hunger, says Dr. Bosworth. Yet you’ll get just-right nutrients to trigger certain health benefits of much stricter fasting, like burning lots of stored fat for fuel and shifting into a metabolic state called autophagy that helps turbocharge metabolism and overall health. Plus, Dr. Norwitz says sardines contain a perfect blend of nutrients—including protein, omega-3 healthy fats and creatine—to optimize fat burning and protect against metabolism-wrecking muscle loss.
Dr. Bosworth says omega-3s deserve a special shout-out. A serving of sardines delivers 2,200 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, which the NIH says is more than twice as much as you get from a typical fish oil pill. In terms of weight loss, omega-3s soothe inflammation, reducing production of inflammatory compounds that inhibit fat burning.
Omega-3s are also really good at stabilizing blood sugar, which can reduce hunger and cravings. Better blood sugar control also reduces production of insulin, a hormone that promotes fat storage and inhibits fat burning. One study in Clinical Nutrition even found that a daily serving of omega-3–rich sardines slashed type 2 diabetes risk for 78 percent of participants. Dr. Bosworth says these are key reasons a sardine fast can jumpstart fat loss when nothing else seems to work.
Patti Bodner, 67, lost 5 pant sizes on a sardine fast
After 25 years of living with diabetes and spending a fortune on medications, Patti was desperate for a solution. When she tried a low-carb keto, everything began to change. “My cravings went away, and the weight just started falling off,” recalls the Florida grandmother and lifelong dieter. But then, like so many women, Patti hit a plateau—and while her diabetes had improved, it hadn’t disappeared. So she dove into Dr. Bosworth’s three-day sardine challenge. “I’d never had a sardine, but I figured they had to be better than insulin,” Patti says. She found them tuna-like and ate them with mustard for 72 hours. “I had no hunger and crazy energy.”
The fast jump-started Patti’s weight loss, and her health turned around. Her A1C finally fell back to normal as she eventually lost five pants sizes. “I was led to believe I had a disease that could only get worse. Now I’m off insulin and five other meds. It saves me $1,000 a month at the pharmacy. I’m also back to my high school weight. This has been a miracle!”
What about mercury in sardines?
Sardines actually have far less mercury than large fish like tuna and swordfish and contain about half the mercury in salmon (which is itself a lower-mercury fish). “The rule is the smaller the fish, the smaller the risk of mercury,” says Dr. Bosworth. “You would need to eat so many sardines to have a mercury risk that it’s not physically possible.”
Not up for a sardine fast? Try adding sardines to your regular diet
Sardines are unrivaled, and there really is no substitute if you want to try the fast. Part of the reason is because people usually don’t go crazy for sardines as they might for, say, bacon. So you eat less overall, which is part of why the approach works so well. You’re giving your system a break from being overloaded as you flood it with sardine super-nutrients.
Speaking of super-nutrients… adding sardines to your regular eating plan can still deliver powerful benefits even if you’re not ready for a full sardine fast. Experts say just two servings of sardines a week can significantly boost your omega-3 levels, support healthy blood sugar and help reduce inflammation in the long term. You can add them to salads, mash them with avocado for a quick lunch or enjoy them on whole-grain crackers. Dr. Bosworth says every little bit helps your body heal and thrive!
A version of this story originally appeared in the June 19, 2023 issue of Woman’s World
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This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.
A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.
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