A large portion of today’s population would like an easy and quick method to lose weight. As the number of overweight people grows so does the number of products advertising that they can help you lose weight.
However many people become overwhelmed and disillusioned and decide to take an alternative course of action by fasting. Most health experts agree that a one or two day fast can be good for the body. Obviously, fasting over a longer period normally has very serious health implications that need to be talked over with your doctor before beginning.
There are circumstances when it could be safe to fast for several days, but in most cases it is not a good idea to go beyond one or two days. Fasting is an effective way of losing weight during this time, but it may not necessarily be the weight you want to lose.
It is a well-known fact that weight loss is a matter of consuming less calories than you burn. Obviously, if you consume no calories, you will burn more than you consume. On the other hand, just starting an exercise program will also cause you to burn more calories than you currently burn.
While fasting can help you lose weight, long-term starvation can ultimately lead to major weight gains. Probably the only condition more unhealthy than obesity is the condition where you are constantly and rapidly changing from being overweight to underweight.
It is important to get on a healthy eating plan that will maintain a healthy weight, rather than to go back and forth between starving yourself and then eating the same foods you ate before. This can often be the case when people have such diseases as binging, anorexia, and bulimia.
New variations and types of fasting with more ‘appetising’ menus have become available. In addition to the original type of fasting, which is drinking only water and consuming nothing, there are now fasts where you can eat fruit and you drink only juices. In the strictest sense eating fruit can’t really be considered fasting, but fruit is an excellent food for nutrition and weight loss.
Most people try one or the other ie either water only fast or a juice fast. Some do a hybrid, starting with a day of total fasting and then adding in juices for a few days. The fresh squeezed juices they consume help them get plenty of calories and some enzymes. It is important to only use organic produce for juicing as juicing inorganic fruit may lead to heavy concentrations of pesticides and herbicides.
Some people may then begin to consume a diet of only fruit after they have ended their fasts. If the fasting was done for a total of 5 or 6 days, the fruit eating would normally be done for 2 or 3 days to get the body used to eating food again while continuing weight loss. Following the fruit diet with a raw vegetable and fruit diet is not uncommon. This too would go for 2 or 3 days.
Weight loss will be rapid as you continue to severely short your body of calories. Eating all of these healthy foods that are full of fibre will help improve the health of your digestive system. Eventually you should reach the optimum full healthy diet, which is balanced for you to maintain your weight loss and then achieve a constant weight for the long term. But you must realise that you need to continue this healthy diet for the rest of your life.
You should always attempt to eat healthy foods in their natural forms as much as is possible. Most fruits, vegetables, and nuts are easy to eat and are very tasty in their natural forms. If you find it impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle after fasting, it may be that you just do not have the required motivation to make fasting work for you.
