Silicon Valley 'biohackers' fast their way to longer, better lives

Breakfast on Wednesday morning is engineer Paul Benigeri's favorite meal of the week. Why? "I haven't eaten in 60 hours," Benigeri says in a sunlit café in San Francisco, after clearing through a frittata with no spinach and extra goat cheese.

Benigeri and his coworkers at Nootrobox, a subscription service for "smart drugs," or cognition-enhancing supplements, are part of a Bay Area group of biohacking enthusiasts called WeFast. The club believes that intermittent fasting promotes longevity, increases focus and productivity, and leads to a healthier diet.

The first rule of WeFast is, you eat as soon as your food hits the table. 

The group meets every Wednesday morning at an Italian counter-service restaurant. By the time they sit down to break the fast, most members of the group, which formed in 2015, haven't eaten in about 36 hours. 

Intermittent fasting is a nascent Silicon Valley fad in which people go without food for anywhere from 14 hours to several days. It's increasingly popular among start-up workers. 

While it may sound like torture, these young entrepreneurs may actually be onto something with intermittent fasting

Studies in mice suggest that temporarily abstaining from food may increase life span.