Posts Tagged ‘Fasting’

Fasting Weight Loss – A review…

Friday, May 29th, 2009
Fasting Weight Loss - A Review

Fasting Weight Loss - A Review

Fasting, which many people believe to be one of the most effective ways to lose some weight is in fact the most widely adopted weight loss method. But with fasting, what you ultimately do is starve yourself which is not desirable. Moreover, like many other weight loss plans you seem to gain back all the weight that was lost in no time. Furthermore, you find it difficult to control and manage your food habits. In fact, when fasting, you are making yourself drift away from your normal habits and thus it is just not an ideal solution to the problem of obesity.

It has been said for ages that you need to eat less and exercise more to lose weight, and the words fasting weight loss have been hand by hand for a long time. But fasting is not the perfect solution to the problem of obesity as there are many disadvantages to it. If you keep on fasting for a long time, you will eventually make your body vulnerable to many diseases. One example of such health problems is kidney stones where you will suffer an unbearable pain lasts for many days.

Sometime ago, a popular pop singer made an appearance on one of the most famous talk shows, where she admitted that she lost a lot pounds while on a diet where she would only drink juices. There are many of us who try to blindly follow the footsteps of celebrities, but we have to be aware of a few facts before we begin following that example. The first thing we need to be aware of is our own body. That specific singer was pretty young, and younger people have more flexible bodies. Secondly, even she admitted that she had some problems with her behavior when she was on diet. And finally, she gained back all the lost weight as soon as she stopped fasting.

The above example just points out the fact that fasting is a great way to lose weight in the short run. It is one of the most effective ways to get your digestive system to work properly. Thus fasting for a day or two is always recommended. But when it is prolonged, you tend to get irritated for no cause. Moreover, in the long run, you will regain all the weight that you lost and thus fasting becomes ineffective. Apart from this, you miss out on most of the vital nutrients like vitamins, minerals and proteins from your diet and thus it is not considered a wise option for a prolonged amount of time.

Can fasting increase your life expectancy?

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

In the past, fasting was considered to be the main culprit to make people anorexic. However, a new study has shown that regular fasting would not only help in cutting down your weight, but it can also increase your life expectancy! This comes as a big surprise to all those dieters, who thought that regular fasting was just a way to quickly get rid of the body fat and increase hormones. Now, they will be more than happy to know that it can help them to live longer.

The research showed that a person who abstains from food for about 24 hours on regular basis (monthly or weekly), carries some beneficial qualities. For instance, asthma patients who fast regularly have better airway function than the others.

It is very common to hear the paradox that in order to lose weight, one must never stop eating. Some say that the fasting for small intervals of time will never help people in their conquest to burn the body fat. Moreover, they say that fasting would only stop the person form losing weight in the future.
Some claim that the above argument is completely biased, and it is said only to increase the sales of some major production companies. However, recent studies have proven otherwise. These short-term regular fasting really does help a person lose weight.

To question the issue, a research was recently conducted by a select team of specialists and nutrition experts on a group of athletes and body builders. Their research pool consisted of about twenty elite powerful athletes were selected for this examination, whose metabolic activities were observed and studied very closely, under various weight loss programs for about a month. These scientists, closely observed how the body responded ‘before, during and after’ every experiment. Most of these experiments showed some surprising results, which were completely opposite to the ones that they expected. The main question was: ‘What happens to the body if the person starves?’ It was found, that their routine was not disturbed during these fasting sessions even after about a month.

This was really amazing, especially since their research group was elite athletes who have to stay on top of their game 24/7. However, these results were questioned by some experts. There were mixed views amongst the nutritionists, where some felt that dieting is an easy way to cut the excessive calories and lose weight at a faster rate, and others stood against it. They thought that fasting is not meant for each and every person. It is completely dependent on the body of the person in question.

My personal opinion is that both sides have valid points… so the best thing to do is to consult with your doctor before getting into fasting.