Very often people go on fasting diets for religious or “purification” reasons. I am sure from a religious/spiritual point of view it has its merits, but from a “purification” and even slimming point of view it has little to no credit.

The body is a finely tuned machine with it’s own purifying mechanisms and systems, like the liver and kidneys. Both the kidneys and liver work 24 hours a day to ensure that all toxins are removed from the body as soon as possible. All these systems need in return is sufficient nutrients, energy and water to perform their function. By going on a fasting or starvation diet, it does not allow these organs to operate efficiently since they are not provided with all essential nutrients and energy they require to cleanse the body, hence discrediting the purification theory.

Will you loose weight: If weight loss is the aim, yes you will. Again, the loss is due to initial massive water loss, followed by the loss of lean muscle mass due to the loss of protein from vital organs and lean muscles in an attempt to generate energy. Eventually the body will also loose fat from the fat stores.

Effects on the body: As per the energy deficient diets, the metabolism would slow down to try and maintain the function of vital organs. The person will feel tired and lethargic. Lean muscle protein and protein from vital organs are used for the generation of glucose to sustain the function of vital organs. This can lead to organ damage and even death in cases where the fasting is continued for substantial periods of time. This is NOT a recommended method of loosing weight and if you feel necessitated to do this for spiritual reasons, please do not continue this for more than one day consecutively at a time.