Intermittent fasting does not necessarily entail calorie restriction. However, if low calorie diets work one mechanism is probably autophagy, and intermittent fasting with much more moderate calorie restriction (or without calorie restriction) will also stimulate autophagy. So one could potentially get some of the benefits of calorie restriction while avoiding some of the problems.

All this said, fasting is an extra stressor on the body, I think... something to be aware of.

Autophagy can also be achieved by limiting protein over a certain time window, and some have advocated this as a likely preventative for diseases like Parkinson's and Alzehiemer's, involving "plaques" that are normally cleaned up during authophagy.