The Truth About Fasting To Lose Weight
March 5th, 2010 -- Posted in Food to Eat to Lose Weight | No Comments »Fasting to lose weight will give you the body of a movie star in only two weeks, or so the sales pitch goes.
The excess pounds will melt away as you consume nothing but water or juice for 10 days or more, leaving you looking like Jennifer Aniston or George Clooney.
But as the old song foes, “It ain’t necessarily so”. In fact, extended fasting to lose weight is just about the worst thing you can do.
Right, I’m sure you’re confused if you’ve seen stories about celebs – and ordinary folks – using water fasting to lose weight or juice fasting to lose weight and achieving some amazing results – 10, 20, 30 or more pounds lost. But let me urge you to be very cautious.
Fasting for a day or so is fine and can help you lose excess water, but you should not use it as your sole weight loss tool. Don’t go on on a liquid-only fast for days on end just because you want to lose weight – it is not healthy.
Here’s the sad truth – if you do go on an extended liquid-only fast, you will lose weight – sometimes a lot of it in a very short time. That’s why it is so appealing. But in most cases, that weight piles back on as soon as the fast is over. Some fasters even find themselves heavier because they are so hungry after a fast they can’t stop eating! In fact, I’d like to see the long-term outcomes of some of those water and juice fasters if they don’t also change the bad habits that got them overweight in the first place!
When you go on an extended liquid fast, your brain believes the body is being starved, so it will slow down your metabolism to use less energy. In turn, you’ll feel like you have less energy! And once your system has depleted its fat stores, in an extreme fast you will start to lose muscle, too. In a healthy weight loss program, you need to keep eating and increase your metabolism.
And bear in mind – a liquid fast lasting days or weeks can give you headaches, nausea, dizziness and even cause damage to your kidneys and other organs.
Right, now you know why fasting and weight loss is a tricky issue, let me make clear that I believe there IS a place for fasting as part of a healthy lifestyle. Indeed, cultures all over the world use fasting for religious reasons to help focus the mind on higher things. And Often, a short fast is used to help the body recover from gastro-intestinal disorders. Stomach flu, for example, can be eased by drinking cooled boiled water for 12 to 24 hours.
Some folks even take regular short fasts to clean out their digestive systems, enjoying a “light” day or so free from meals, coffee and junk food.
To use fasting as part of a weight loss plan you need to check out a wonderful guide by an expert, Master Cleanse Secrets by Raylen Stirling. It’s a fast that includes food! You get to lose weight on this liquid diet (all natural ingredients including organic lemons) while still putting nutritious food into your body.
Find out more about safe fasting and altering your habits to get slender and healthy at Master Cleanse Fast.