A current trend in the world of health and fitness has been fasting diets. I am sure many of you have either tried them yourselves, are following one right now, or know someone who it. I came across an article on Live Strong that discusses the risks involved in doing such diets, in particular, “water fasting”.

Something really important that they shine a light on at the beginning of this article is that there is no fast way to actually lose weight overnight (Galic, 2019). Everyone is always searching for the fasted way possible to lose weight and keep it off. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist. Reaching a healthy, maintainable weight takes time. Many of these diets that claim to provide you with magical, overnight results that sound too good to be true are just that. The promises and claims made by these fad diets and weight loss plans are usually are too good to be true. Losing weight in a healthy way takes time, and many of these fad diets do more harm than good.

Fasting diets, or water fasting diets, are usually more harmful than useful when trying to lose pounds and keep them off. Fasting diets typically involve not eating for 24 hours (more or less), and with the water fast you do just that while only consuming water during the fasting period. This type of dieting can lead to headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, fatigue, and can even have dangerous consequences especially if you are someone with diabetes (Galic, 2019). A study that was published in AE Press even found that when people water fasted for 11 days they experienced a highly elevated amount of uric acid in the blood as a result, which could lead to issues like kidney stones (Galic, 2019).

I stand by the position they take in this article on fasting diets, they are unnecessary and cause more harm than good. There are so many better ways to lose weight that will allow you to maintain a healthy weight long term. Implementing a balanced, healthy diet followed by routine exercise will benefit you much more in the long run. As the article recommends if this is still something you are interested in trying to be sure to consult a doctor to help you find the safest fasting option and to ensure you avoid health complications.

Resources

Galic, B. (2019, June 3). How Much Weight Will I Lose on a Water Fast?. LIVE STRONG.  Retrieved from https://www.livestrong.com/article/221792-how-much-weight-will-i-lose-on-a-water-fast/

Mojto, V., Gvozdjakova, A., Kucharska, J., Rausova, Z., Vancova, O., & Valuch, J. (2018). Effects of complete water fasting and regeneration diet on kidney function, oxidative stress, and antioxidants. AE PRESS. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29455546

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