Fasting is often associated with spiritual renewal or preparing for medical tests, but it can also be an effective way to lose weight quickly. A dietary fast can take several different forms and be short term or long term, depending upon how much weight you have to lose. People who fast are not only more likely to lose weight, but they can also increase their energy levels and lower their risks for diabetes and heart disease.
Identification
In the strictest form of a dietary fast, you'll consume only water, with some variations allowing you to also drink herbal teas and fruit or vegetable juices. Some fasts mix eating with fasting on alternating days or combining fasting for a period of several days or even weeks, followed by a return to solid foods.
Expert Insight
A Serbian study, published in the July-August 2007 issue of "Serbian Archives of General Medicine," evaluated obese patients who fasted over a three-week period. The average body weight decreased from 290 to 259 lbs. following the fast, and body mass index decreased from 100 to 90. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels improved, as did insulin response, with 21 percent of patients showing glucose intolerance before fasting and 12 percent after, and insulin resistance improving by 13 percent. Another project at the University of Illinois at Chicago studied patients who alternated fasting and non-fasting days for eight weeks. The results, published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in November 2009 found an average weight loss of 12 lbs.
Recommendations
Since many people may find fasting to be too difficult to follow for any length of time, fasting just one day a week may help you lose weight. That's what researchers at Cornell University discovered in a study published in the journal "Physiology and Behavior" in March 2010. Because it takes 10 to 14 days to recover the body tissue lost from a one-day fast, going without food one day each week can produce a significant reduction in body weight over time. The team also discovered that fasting one day didn't lead to overeating afterward.
Considerations
Certain people should not follow a dietary fast, including children and pregnant and nursing women. You should also avoid fasting if you have diabetes, congestive heart failure, weakened immunity, are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments, or right before or following surgery. Fasting also has potential side effects, such as dehydration, low blood sugar levels, lightheadedness, headache, fatigue or digestive upset. Check with your doctor before starting a fasting regimen.
References
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: Detox Diets Debunked; Maria Adams; January 2009
- Cornell University Chronicle Online: Study on Fasting and Dieting Suggests Why Diets Fail; Ted Boscia and Susan S. Lang; March 2010
- "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A."; Intermittent Fasting...; R. Michael Anson; May 2003
- "Health Magazine"; Is Fasting a Couple of Days a Week Dangerous?; October 2010
- "Serbian Archives of General Medicine"; The Effects of Three-week Fasting Diet; B. Beleslin et al.; July-August 2007
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