Is fasting a good way to lose weight?
No. Prolonged fasts can cause serious harm by depleting the levels of protein, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium in your body. Fasting can also cause toxic levels of ketone bodies (compounds produced when body fats are broken down) to accumulate in the bloodstream, despite the popular belief that fasting is a good way to “cleanse the system.” On the other hand, short (1-2 day), occasional (no more than once every few weeks) fasts do not appear to be harmful to most healthy people. [The previous sentence is intended as recognition of the fact that many people fast for religious or spiritual reasons; it is not intended to encourage fasting, however briefly, for weight loss purposes.
