There have been a number of studies in the past 5 years or so enumerating the benefits of intermittent fasting, and providing quantitative guidance on how to do so effectively and with net physiological benefit.<p>Equating that to anorexia, a psychological disorder whose eating habits are driven in large part through an inaccurate perception of one's own body mass rather than any quantifiable parameter for food intake or target weight, with a relatively high mortality rate... it's comparing apples to mud pies.<p>It's a comparison that can only be made if you, like the author Monica Hesse (whose background is ... in writing columns that inflame people), look at these two things at only the most superficial level of "dieting." Congrats WaPo, BuzzFeed isn't alone - you, too, can publish absolute pap!