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Many people all over the world are interested in different weight loss methods for a variety of different reasons. One of the most ancient ways to lighten the physique and cleanse the body is fasting for weight loss. Fasting, by definition, is willingly abstaining from some or all food and drink for a specified period of time, and depending on the type of fast chosen, you can choose to abstain from all food or just certain kinds of foods. A popular fasting choice is to consume only liquids for a specified period of time. Fasting, if done properly, can have many positive lasting effects on a person’s health, and can be the jump start needed to begin a healthy lifestyle. It can also change the way you think about food and about eating.
Overeating is one of the leading causes of unwanted weight gain, and this may be the result of cravings and an emotional addiction to food. Many times people will eat excessive amounts of food during times of extreme sadness or depression because the food comforts them and provides fleeting moments of happiness. The practices of emotional eating and overeating are habits that must be broken before a person can embark on the road to a healthier lifestyle. This is where fasting comes into play. A period of fasting has been shown many times to break a person’s addiction to food, along with breaking overall unhealthy eating habits . The longer the period of fasting, the more effective it will be at breaking these habits. One thing to watch out for is the possibility of over-indulging in sugary fruit juice while on a fast, particularly if you are prone to emotional eating. Drink juice sparingly so as to limit your sugar intake while on a fast.
Fasting helps a person to lose weight by burning stored body fat. During a fast, a person is not consuming foods that contribute additional body fat to the fat that is already stored on the body and this forces the body to burn the stored fat in order to provide the body with energy to function properly. This is the principle behind the latest fad detox diets that promise quick weight loss as well as the more tried and true juice fasting. During a fast, the body also slows down its metabolic rate so that a smaller amount of energy is needed to perform the same tasks as before. Since this energy is provided by the food that is eaten, less food will be needed after a fast to maintain the current energy levels.
Finally, even though your main concern here is fasting to lose weight, a good fast also works to clean the body of harmful toxins. This process is called detoxification and it leads to a cleaner digestive system, meaning that the body is better able to digest the food that is eaten than it was before the completion of the fast. This works to aid in weight loss because the body is functioning as well as it possibly can. Fasting also gives your liver an opportunity to get rid of stored toxins and replenish its supply of enzymes. In the course of a modern lifestyle, we are constantly producing and being exposed to various toxins that our livers must filter and dispose of. When the system gets overloaded, these toxins are stored throughout your body in order to minimize their potential for harm. But you will feel much better and be able to operate much more efficiently once they have been cleansed.
One thing that you need to be careful of with this type of diet is the possibility that you will lose muscle mass, since you will not be consuming enough protein to maintain your existing muscle mass. This is a major problem, and the most serious criticism leveled at fasting diets. Muscle is not nearly as important to the body as some of the other things made from proteins, such as hormones and neurotransmitters, so in a pinch your body will use muscle tissue as a protein reserve that it can draw from to make these vital substances. The problem, of course, is that muscle tissue is one of the body’s main calorie-burning tissues, and without as much muscle mass it will subsequently be much harder to burn fat and lose weight.
You can counteract this by simply adding a little whey protein powder to your water, tea, or juice while you are fasting. Some would argue that the cleansing will not be as complete, but I think the benefits of supplementing with protein during a fast far outweigh the risks.
This does add a few extra calories to your diet also, but unless you take a really large quantity of protein the process of glucogenesis is unlikely to take place. So your body will not be using the protein for fuel (as calories), but rather as a nutrient like vitamins. Most people also feel more energetic when they have extra protein in their system, because without the burden of digestion your body is free to use that protein for making neurotransmitters and hormones instead of digestive enzymes.
A final beneficial effect of fasting is that it may actually increase the time that you remain alive! Research has verified the claims that have been made since ancient times, that fasting allows people to live longer and healthier lives. Laboratory tests in just about every animal have shown the equivalent of years being added onto the lives of test animals, and voluntary human trials of calorie restriction have shown similar results.
I’ll conclude by saying that a fasting diet is a fine way to lose weight as long as you follow the guidelines in this article by restricting your sugar intake through fruit juice, and by supplementing with a little whey protein powder to prevent the loss of muscle tissue. If you do those two thing you can lose a lot of weight very safely by fasting.
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