Fasting For Weight Loss: The Pros And Cons Of Fasting To Lose Weight By Star Smith At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Everybody tells you that in order to lose weight you need to eat less calories. For many people the next logical choice to lose weight more quickly is to go on a fast. It seems reasonable that not eating any food will force the body to lose weight, and this is true.

However, is going on a fast for several days, or even a week or more, healthy?

When done properly, fasting can be a good thing for your body, because it not only causes you to lose weight, but helps the body eliminate toxins as well. When fasting for weigh loss it is tempting to drink nothing but water, but this can be very dangerous for the body.

When you go on a water fast for more than a day or two, you can wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels, causing it to fluctuate between being too high or too low. You are literally starving your body of essential nutrients it needs to keep functioning properly. Maybe you’ve heard of people who go on a fast to protest something and then end up in the hospital with a feeding tube. This could happen to you too, that’s why water fasts are generally discouraged.

However, there is a healthier way for you to fast. It’s much better for you to go on a one day fast, than a longer extended fast. You see, you want the fast to help you lose weight without side effects.

This means you need to understand a little about how the body works. Food is fuel to the body and supplies needed nutrients. When you are overweight, the body has accumulated too many fat cells along with unhealthy toxins.

You see, when you starve the body of the nutrients it needs, it will automatically slow down your metabolism and use what calories it has in reserve more efficiently. As you know, slowing down your metabolism makes weight loss a lot harder. Those going on extreme water fast diets will initially lose a lot of water weight, but when they resume eating again, they’ll quickly gain back all the weight they lost and more.

The body just doesn’t like to be starved and when that happens it will work even harder to retain every single calorie that you consume. This is a natural survival mechanism built into our bodies to help keep us alive. Since you cannot fight nature, it’s best to stay away from any kind of extreme fasting.

On the positive side, a 24-hour fast will give your body a needed rest and let it do some healing. Toxins will also be eliminated.

This mini fast will reduce your cravings for certain fatty foods and cleanse your body, so that when you do resume eating, it will be much easier for you to continue down a healthy path of steady weight loss.

You can make your own natural juice by blending fresh fruits and vegetables into a tasty drink that will supply you with plenty of nutrients while fasting. There are lots of juicing recipes online that you can use to create the ultimate healthy drink.

Again, you don’t want to stay on a juice fast for too long. Think of a fast as simply cleansing and healing your body. It is a short term way to assist your in reaching your long term weight loss goals.

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