Issue #70
The Weight Loss Slimmer ™ is made possible by Weight Loss
International ™
Fasting
Fasting is one popular method of losing weight. It works like this:
when you eat food, you seem to put on weight - lots of it.
Logically, if you go without food you'll lose weight, right?
Well so it would seem. And if evaluated in a simplistic way, the
theory holds true. But there is much beneath the surface of fasting
that can spell serious trouble for those wanting to lose weight.
Fasting - why we do it
Fasting is simply going without food. The reasons can be numerous,
but we've listed the commonest reasons for fasting below:
-
fasting to lose weight
-
fasting for religion reasons
-
fasting to cleanse your body or blood
Fasting to lose weight
By going without food, or eating extremely small amounts, it is true that
your body will lose weight. Of course, don't think that you can
follow the rules of the "40 hour famine" and substitute food with barley
sugar or juice. Depending on how much of these you're consuming,
you could simply be substituting the calories back in another form.
To dramatically lose weight, you'll need to go without all foods, or at
least consume very little. However, fasting for weight loss does
have some significant down sides, described later. You should read
these carefully before considering fasting.
Fasting for religious reasons
Various religions have ritual fasts, usually designed to cleanse the body
in preparation for some spiritual event.
Fasting to cleanse your body or blood
Some people believe that by engaging in a fast, the toxins from your body
are cleansed. They cite the array of artificial substances and
chemicals in our foods, or even disease as the progenitor of these
toxins.
Fasting - the downside
Fasting to lose weight
The problem with fasting is that it actually brings with it an extremely
unpleasant side effect. Whenever you fast, your body's metabolism
slows. This is a necessary protective response, but unfortunately,
the last thing someone struggling with weight needs. The drop in
metabolism is usually fairly permanent. Every time you fast, you
find it that much harder to naturally lose weight when you are eating.
Rather than losing fat, often what is lost is muscle. Once again,
muscle contributes to a faster metabolism, and so the loss of muscle can
be detrimental to one's weight loss efforts.
Fasting for religious reasons
Weight Loss International supports people's freedom of religious beliefs
and culture, and so other than listing religion as a common reason for
fasting, we will leave religious fasting up to personal evaluation.
Fasting to cleanse your body or blood
According to mainstream medicine, there is absolutely no benefit derived
from fasting. Removing so called "toxins" is successfully carried
out by your kidneys, liver, and various other organs, and rather than
fasting, switching to a healthy, natural diet is probably a better way.
For alternatives to fasting, see the links below.
Related Information
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