Alternate Day Fasting: How Good Is It For Your Health?

Researchers report in the October issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that fasting or eating half as much as usual every other day may shrink your fat cells and boost mechanisms that break down fats.

Consuming less calories and increasing physical activity is usually what people do to lose weight and stay healthy. But some people prefer to adopt a diet which consists of eating as much as they want one day while fasting the next. On each fasting day, these people consume energy-free beverages, tea, coffee, and sugar-free gum and they drink as much water as they need.

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Fasting is one way of losing weight. Fasting is simply going without food. When you do not eat anything or eat small amounts, your body loses weight.

Periodic fasting can be as good for the health as sharply cutting back on calories. With alternate day fasting, your life span, insulin sensitivity and stress resistance can be increased.

Alternate day fasting is a powerful process to recover from health conditions like asthma [Medication for Asthma], blood pressure, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, heart disease, chronic headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, uterine fibroids, benign tumors, adult onset diabetes, acne and eczema [Eczema Treatment].

Fasting provides a period where your body repairs and strengthens damaged organs. Fasting also allows your body to cleanse cells of accumulated toxins and waste products. It gives rest to digestive tract and strengthens mucosal lining.

If you go for fasting regularly and once you stop fasting, you are likely to get back the weight that you have lost during fasting. Therefore, you can go for periodic fasting or alternate day fasting for weight loss.

Your body’s digestive organs require rest from time to time and by fasting, you can give rest to digestive system. Alternate days you can eat what you want and the next day you should consume energy free foods. Periodic fasting is a great way to get your body on the fast track to detoxification.

Benefits of alternate day fasting:

  • Losing excess weight
  • Healthy skin
  • More energy
  • Elimination of stored toxins
  • Stabilized blood pressure
  • Better sleep quality
  • Stabilized bowel movements
  • Anxiety and tension are reduced

Alternate day fasting side effects:

While fasting, valuable muscle tissue is lost as well. This slows down your metabolism. Muscle contributes to faster metabolism. Alternate day fasting do not supplement your body with required nutrients to function properly. Fasting can result in weight loss, but not permanent weight loss.

Fasting is associated with many health problems such as constipation, fatigue, heart problems, sensitivity to cold, diarrhea and brittle nails.

In alternate day fasting, one complete day you will be without foods. Therefore, you can get irritated, fuzzy headed and disoriented. Therefore, it is better to consult the physician before going for alternate day fasting.