Do you think fasting is good for you?

Question

I have a friend who told me she goes on 5 day water fasts to clean and detoxify herself. Is that a good idea? I am thinking about trying it, but some people have told me it's unhealthy. Do you fast, and if you do what kind of fast?

Answer 1

"Fed Up!" read http://www.hps-online.com/nsectionfast.htm

Answer 2

Periodic short-term fasts are fine...and probably good for you. 5 day water fasts is a bit extreme. For one thing when you go more than a day or two you are at risk of slowing down your metabolism. If weight management is an issue for you, that could make the problem worse. I'd recommend a one-day fast once a week or a two-day fast once a month.

Answer 3

There are many issues that need to be addressed if you want to fast. First, you shouldn't do it if you are in your growing years or teen years, you should not deprive your body of daily nutrients at this crucial time. Second, you need to know if you are hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), if so, you would need to do a different type of fasting, not "just water" fasting. Third, you need to know what you are doing, what you're trying to cleanse/detoxify, how to ween yourself down and bring yourself back to normal meals, etc. You should not "just stop eating" for a few days then start up again, you need to be smart about it.

Some people want to detoxify because they read about it, see it on tv, their friends do it, etc but you need to truly be "toxic" to need to "detoxify". You can detoxify by eating healthy and stopping fast food, greasy deep fried foods, processed foods, etc. You do not NEED to fast to detoxify. Fresh fruits/vegetables, whole grains, minimal dairy, no trans fats or saturated fats, eating more organic/less "treated" foods, etc.

Don't do it unless you KNOW what you are doing or are under the guidance of a professional (nutritionalist, herbalist, doctor, nurse, etc) - do not go by the recomendations of "friends".

Answer 4

No that is not very health. The question is what do you want to achieve if you fast? Weight? By reading all kinds of fit mags. i found that the best way is to eat little snacks all day. 5 or 6 times a day. nothing that is high in cals, or protein, some fruits or something light. What this does is cause the body to is burn the little bit of food and more. It will start to burn the "extra" as well because it is always working.

Answer 5

Fasting is very unhealthy for you. There are much better ways to detoxify your system and if you eat correctly, a fast is not necessary. Fasting doesn't remove the toxins from your colon or the acid, yeast,inflammation, bacteria or fungus from your blood. It just makes your system think that it better start storing fat because you are not feeding it. Bad idea.

Answer 6

Fasting is very unhealthy and it can sometimes backfire and make you gain weight instead of lose it. I didn't eat for just a day once and I gained 2 lbs

Answer 7

5 days is a crash diet but fasting for a week end is good fasting is not eating in day light hours

Answer 8

Fasting is only good to remove toxins from the system. Not as some child-hood gimmick for adolescents.

Answer 9

Check this site out
http://www.craighitchenstherapies.com
This man does free online naturopathic consultations. He is properly qualified to answer this for you and the program I got when I asked for help was great. I think he may be able to help you out. You even get links to stores etc to obtain what you need. Very cool service.

Wes.

Answer 10

Fasting is good for health but it is once in a week.

Answer 11

i'm a muslim..so i do muslim's fasting..we fasting about a month straight every year..but only in the daylight, we drink or eat nothing..but at night(after the sun goers down), we eat normally until the dawn..and of course its good.