The Unknown Dangers of Fasting for Weight Loss
Juice fasting has recently emerged as a new, hip weight loss diet method. In southern California, one of the dieting capitals of the world, a newfangled approach to weight loss is making the rounds, in part to conceal the fact that the dieter is indeed dieting. Juice dieting has become all the rage for rapid and relatively easy weight loss. When done right and for the right purpose, fasting is a natural method of body detox and internal cleansing. When pursued for days and even weeks at a time, fasting for the purpose of weight loss can be a very perilous undertaking.
For centuries, juice fasting has been used with great success in addressing various health problems and detoxifying the body of built-up toxins. Weight loss is a normal side effect of fasting, given that no solid foods need to be processed by the body and overall calorie intake is very low. Weight is lost because 1) water retention goes down, 2) trapped gas in the digestive track is discharged, and 3) toxins that are stored in the cells of body fat are purged. We don’t necessarily burn fat on a fasting program, rather, we are cleansing our fat cells of stored toxins, so they become smaller.
The chic set in southern Cal have caught onto this, and juice fasting has become the new dieting. And while the results are quite definitely desirable (in addition to weight loss, cleansing gives you all the other benefits of cleansing your body — better energy, clearer skin, better concentration, a feeling of well being, and a reduction in various symptoms ranging from body aches to indigestion), fasting for prolonged periods can do far more harm than good. Unless you know how to detox safely, you can do more harm than good trying to cleanse your body.
What our bodies really need is nourishment, not starvation. Most of us already experience one or more nutritional deficiencies. Our bodies need a steady supply of nutrients to function and sustain health. Starvation or extreme calorie reduction will in the end cause imbalances in the body that will, at best, launch an assault of food cravings, the dieter’s worst nightmare.
The promise of speedy weight loss can be very alluring, but weight loss at any cost is really quite dangerous. There are a few healthy methods to achieve rapid weight loss, and there are healthy, sensible long term approaches to eating that will, if you stay to it, shed the pounds and keep them off.
