Fasting - A Good Way to Lose Weight or Dangerous?:

As more and more people fight the battle of the bulge, and obesity rates keep rising in the United States, many are turning to fasting as a quick solution to speedy weight loss. Is fasting something that everyone should try? Can it really be dangerous? Let's find out.

First, when you suddenly deprive your body of expected nutrition, your body begins to suffer. If you are taking things to extreme, this can mean that you are throwing not only your blood sugar off, but your electrolytes, which can be extremely dangerous.

In addition to deprivation of necessary chemicals and nutrients, the psychological effects of fasting can also be very severe. Recent studies have shown that participants that fasted from food every other day ended up being extremely unhappy on the days that they did not eat, and had a tendency to "make-up the difference" when they did eat.

Many people swear by fasting and many cultures utilize it to gain not only physical awareness, but spiritual awareness as well. However, this spiritual awareness may simply be hallucinations brought on by a lack of food as your brain struggles to function without proper nutrition.

Before you try fasting, it is essential to discuss your plans with your physician. You can inflict serious harm on yourself by failing to follow this advice. Fasting is definitely not for everyone and may exacerbate known or hidden health problems.

Many people prefer to start fasting by removing solid food from their diet every other day. This means that on certain days, you limit yourself completely to water and possibly sugarless gum, and on other days, you eat as you normally would.

If you don't think you are up to this kind of challenge at first, you can start by simply removing certain foods that you enjoy from your diet. For example, on certain days, you can refrain from eating meat products, sticking to fish instead.

Overall, strict fasting, such as 7-day fasts or longer are not recommended. As your body is deprived of food, it begins to go through ketosis, which means that your body is actually breaking down parts of your internal organs in an attempt to feed itself.

However, fasting done with moderation can lead to weight loss, if it is managed correctly and not overdone. If you can avoid the impulse to "catch-up" when you do eat, you should be able to successfully lose weight and keep it off.

In addition to checking with your doctor, it is also a good idea to visit with a nutritionist who will be able to recommend different supplements and vitamins that you can take while your fasting to make sure that you are not depriving yourself of necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

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