The Pros and Cons of Fasting Diets

There always seems to be a new dieting craze year after year. Once it was the juice cleanse, now it’s the fasting diet, but do they actually work? The short answer is that it depends on the diet. The juice cleanse has been proven largely ineffective by many studies over the years, whereas the fasting diet’s success in helping you lose weight is both due to its extreme nature and due to the cellular processes that fasting induces.

As with any diet, it is your lifestyle habits outside of whatever meal plan you choose that will dictate your ongoing success. Low-calorie and fasting diets, however, provide a stepping stone to your losing the weight and hitting your desired weight quickly and easily. Then, once you have reached your goal, you can find ways to help you stick to your weight through exercise and calorie control.

The Pros of Fasting Diets

Fasting can be quite good for the body and your lifestyle, but only when done with all the facts at hand. Just like anything if taken to the extreme, you can experience incredibly negative side effects.

Before we get into that, however, here is a quick rundown of the benefits:

Can Change Your Cellular Process
Your cells react to fasting in many interesting ways. One of the most interesting reactions to fasting is that it forces your cells to go into autophagy, which means your cells purge themselves of unhealthy toxins they have built up over time and even increases their cell repair process.

Can Help Burn Fat Directly
Fasting can also put your body into ketosis, which burns fat faster than many other options on the market. This means through fasting, you can finally burn off that belly fat that has been plaguing you for ages.

Health Improvements
You can see a variety of health improvements through fasting, especially when done on a specific diet that is designed to introduce the process of ketosis. Some health improvements of those on fasting diets include:

• Reduction Insulin Levels and Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
• Reduction Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
• Reduction Cholesterol Levels
• Reduction Cancer Risk
• Reduction and Improve Alzheimer’s
• Reduction Longevity

More studies need to be done on human subjects in order to verify the findings of current studies of fasting in relation to these health benefits, but so far the scientific evidence is in favor of the practice.

The Cons of Fasting Diets 
 
Like all diets, there are cons, but regarding fasting, these are limited with the benefits far outweigh any disadvantages.

Common Side Effects of Fasting Diets
Some common side effects of these fasting diets include:

• Lethargy
• Hunger
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Headaches
• Nausea

Fasting diets should also never be done for more than 12 weeks at a time, though intermittent 5:2 diets can be done for longer. Regardless of what your strategy, always work with others to ensure your health remains safe while you lose their weight.

Low-calorie diets, such as the intermittent 5:2 diet, has risen in popularity recently because of its simplicity. Reducing your calorie intake for two days a week can help you gain the many benefits above.

This is a guest blog entry.