The Dangers of Fasting for Weight Loss
The fitness industry is constantly looking for the next best thing for you to digest. In an effort to keep things fresh, an endless amount of fad diets have hit the market. One specific diet that has gained popularity is the fast.
The big problem with fasting, however, is that it can cause some very serious issues especially if you do it for a prolonged period of time. Don’t believe me? Here are 6 reasons why you shouldn’t be fasting:
1. Liver drainage. What drains out of your liver? Glycogen. And this can happen in less than a days time. Without glycogen your body doesn’t have a mechanism to control blood sugar. Thus, you’ll end up with extremely low levels of energy.
2. The transformation of muscle to sugar. Without sugar, the brain shuts down. This is one of the reasons diabetes is so scary. When you fast, sugar becomes depleted in your body. In order to prevent death, your body begins to transform muscle tissue into sugar.
3. The breakdown of organs. Muscle won’t be the only target here. Your body will also break down vital organs and tissues, to a lesser degree of course. And cannibalizing your own organs is probably not that healthy?
4. Ketone bodies. Your body can only cannibalize so much tissue before you enter the danger zone. And once you’re in the danger zone, your body will do everything it can to get you out. How does it do it? With the production of ketones which are basically an inferior substitute for blood sugar.
5. No proof of cleansing. Many people fast because they believe it cleanses their body. Yet no conclusive scientific studies have proven this. In fact, a recent documentary by the BBC showed that fasting provided NO benefit whatsoever in terms of increased health.
6. Acid/base mayhem. Fasting is most likely going to disrupt the acid-base balance in your body. In addition to loses in minerals and the degradation of your intestinal lining. And the worst part of all of this is that exercise becomes extremely painful.
Unfortunately, most fasts are also accompanied by a weight gain rebound. This happens because as you fast your metabolism slows down significantly. Then once you stop fasting, you eat an excess to compensate, but you have a slower metabolism!