fasting bad for you?

Question

yh i would have thought your starving your body of vitamins and all but i also was told its good for cleaning your system out and renewing every cell in your body and removing metals etc.
is it good or bad or both??

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

Fasting....oh boy, here we go.

The way the body works, it requires nutrients on a steady basis. It needs carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and water.

When we starve it, no matter how temporary, we create a state of acidosis in our body, a state of temporarily acute renal failure.

This idea of "cleansing" your system out with starvation, colonics, laxatives, etc is very dangerous. Your body is very efficient, its the job of the kidneys and the liver to systematically "cleanse" your system, this is called metabolism and urination and excretion. These three processes are how the body cleanses itself.

Now there is no procedure on earth that can cause a "renewing" of every cell in your body. Nor can you ever remove "metals". You have to be careful with all the pseudoscience out there, its rather damaging becasue it sounds kinda credible if you arent trained in health care.

Its true that you are made up of billions of cells. And yes, cells are continually being died, destroyed, sloughed off, as well as being created. There is no process outside of chemotherapy that can do this. Fasting doesnt do this.

You can renew cells, when they stop working, they die and new ones are made. And each type of cell has a different time line. Blood cells have the longest, going for 21 days, before they die and new ones are released. Other cells, like epithelial (skin) are constantly being sloughed off & then new ones are made. Every cell in your body goes through this. The body is very efficient at "renewal"

And then the metals......If it wasnt for metals, your heart wouldnt beat....metals like potassium, magnesium, sodium, chloride etc......But the pseudoscience wants you to believe that you have too much cobalt or molybdenum in your system that needs to be cleansed. Wrong again.

However, it is right in saying that fasting does remove metals from your body....it removes the Sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, etc from the body, effectively causing multi-organ failure.

And if you already have issues with your health and you fast, you will cause the tempory acidosis to become permanent, and you will have effectively killed yourself by causing renal and hepatic failure to occur.

Fasting isnt necessary, what is necessary is a good diet, that has fruits & veg, fiber, monounsaturated fats, protein, carbs, etc. Everything in balance

Answer 3

That is the biggest load of rubbish I've heard in a long time mate! I'm not being rude, but it really is!!!

To clarify, IT IS VERY VERY BAD!!!!!!!!!!

Just eat a healthy diet for gods sake!

The current reccomended eating plan (by doctors and nutritionists, not womens magazines) is four or five small to medium meals a day.
Each meal (with the exception of maybe breakfast) should contain all of these ingredients to a greater or lesser degree: Carbohydrates (rice, pasta, spuds, etc.) Protien (chicken, fish, etc.) Vitamins and minerals (fresh fruit and veg).
It is not hard to come up with a thousand different meals with each of these ingredients, from simple English sunday roast, to Chinese or Italian.
It is possible to still have a pizza or a takeaway, just limit it to maybe once a week or fortnight.

Answer 4

Managed fasting is a very good method for detoxing the body. There are many books on how to do it properly - juicing recipes can allow you to maintain your vitamins while going through a fast.

Always check with your doctor before fasting - and be prepared to feel rather miserable a few days into a fast as the toxins leave your body.

To answer your question, yes fasting is good to do occasionally.

Answer 5

Anything over a 24 hour fast can be harmfull, but a good 24hr fast can be very good for you body in many ways. It is only 1 day so your body will still have food in the digestive track and will not start eating your muscle and fat. It does clean your system and really when you complete a full fast without cheating, when you eat you fast breaking meal it tastes better than anything, everytime for me it tastes way better than normal.

Answer 6

Fasting is counter productive. The body switches to starvation mode and catabolic metabolism. This results in not only fat, but protein breakdown. This damages muscle, which can include cardiac ( heart ) muscle. It does not of course renew any cells, which is frankly a gibberish concept! Nor can it remove toxins.

Answer 7

fasting is very useful,but when you are beginner in this,start with 2 or 3days,after that you can try one week.you couldn't do this for losing weight,you can loose with this but the main aim is to clear your body in every way.there exists a lot of books doctors that recommend it also they are using fasting for cure illnesses.if you want to do this start with some days but be careful when you finish.the days after are also very important.don't eat meat and heavy meal for 3 or 5days.you can hurt yourself if you stop fasting and start suddenly eat normal.and starving for such a short time like week or two doesn't affect your vitamines pool.it is surprising but people don't need so much food they are consuming.it is in our genes,in prehistoric time,they haven't such a regulatr and huge intake of food

Answer 8

Miss two meals over night. So eat lunch, then nothing until lunch the next day. Drink water. You will go through a couple of hours where you feel weak and a bit sick, but once that passes you'll find it easy.
It gives your guts a rest and you have plenty of vits and nutrients stored to last you 24 hours!
Once a month is good.

Answer 9

It depends on you, If you really want to fast then your body will burn less enegry and you will find it less apertite. If you do not want to fast but it has been forced to do so then you will feel hungry and starved. Which is not good for health and your body will burn more engery and make you uncomfortable as well as much weak.

Answer 10

fasting gives the digestive system a break and allows it
to heal - e.g. water fast

a juice fast - will feed the body while also giving a break -
and it will provide great nuitrients -

I would pick juices over water ( 3 days to 2 weeks)

and I have a machine to make my own carrot/spinach/celery juice

all the best

Answer 11

well I think fasting doesn't do any good. It just means you lose weight rapidly which can damge you body. The best way to losse weight is just to eat lots of fruit and vegetables and cut out really fatty foods. Oh and don't go to mcdonalds!