Fasting has miraculous effects on your body. It can give you better gut health and improve your digestion process drastically. Fasting helps in cleansing your system and provides the aid your system requires for recovering after heavy meals. It helps in giving your system rest and helps in rejuvenating your system.
Fasting has been practiced in several cultures for years and is a wonderful way of curing illnesses and strengthening your body. It is a preventive therapy that works on strengthening your well being and provides physical and mental relief.
This article helps in breaking down myths and facts regarding fasting benefits.
Fasting slows down your metabolism
Many people think that fasting will slow down their metabolism. It’s important to understand that a low-calorie diet and fasting are two different things. Fasting for gut repair works on improving your metabolism and helps in boosting lipolysis.
The process of lipolysis is essential because of the following reasons-
- Lipolysis is a multi enzymatic process that improves fatty tissue breakdown in your body and gives you weight loss.
- It helps your body by increasing your core body temperature and burning the excess fat stored. It also increases your basal metabolic rate and improves the physiological functioning of your body.
- Lipolysis is essential for the effective functioning of all the enzymes in your body, and fasting improves this by putting energy into lipolysis.
Fasting will break down muscle
Another circulating myth about fasting is that it leads to muscle breakdown. Several evidence studies have shown that well-regulated fasting will not cause muscle breakdown.
Here’s why well-planned fasting does not cause muscle breakdown-
- Fasting has to be strategic and not a regular running thing, so there will be no muscle breakdown. If you plan your fasting sessions and nourish yourself and consume a balanced diet, fasting will not cause muscle breakdown in your body.
- Fasting improves insulin sensitivity and helps in better breakdown and metabolism of glucose in the body. It helps regulate the blood sugar response and promotes the breakdown of fatty tissue that improves insulin resistance.
- It will burn the excess fat and retain the lean muscle mass. If you follow a good pattern and do not perform heavy workouts on protein-deficient diets, you won’t face any trouble.
- Proper sleep and stress management, while fasting, can boost your metabolism and prevent any muscle catabolism.
It’s important to remember the pros and cons of fasting. It is suitable when your body is not under stress and suffering from any metabolic diseases.
Fasting can help you lose weight quickly
Many people think that fasting to reset the digestive system can help them in losing weight quickly. This is a myth that does not have any reasoning.
Fasting cannot help you lose weight quickly unless you make lifestyle changes. Bodies are the sum of years of habits, and only fasting cannot change it. A caloric deficit diet, regular exercise, proper sleep, hydration, and genetics are factors that determine your weight. Believing that only fasting can solve your weight problems is wrong since fasting is a science, and randomly knowing it cannot help you lose weight.
Here’s how fasting can help you lose weight-
- It helps in promoting fewer calorie consumption. It will satisfy control overeating and uncontrollable binges and enable lower calorie consumption, leading to weight loss.
- It boosts your metabolism and health ineffectively, burning all that you consume. It increases your core body temperature and works on improving the properties of your digestive fire.
- It improves the response of the gastrointestinal system to the food consumed.
- Fasting improves digestion and quality of your gut microbiome and promotes good bacteria that help break down food effectively and encourage weight loss.
- Fasting is a safe way to lose weight and burns more calories in fat cells.
- It is more sustainable than fat dieting, and the body is forced to use fat as a primary source of energy instead of sugar. Fasting promotes low body fat composition that is required for overall well-being and disease prevention.
Thus, fasting is a beautiful way to lose weight, and well-planned fasting sessions can do wonders for your body in terms of weight loss and well-being.
Fasting triggers hunger and overeating
A common myth that many people believe is that fasting triggers hunger and overeating episodes. When you plan for your fasting days in advance, you prepare your body to survive without food for the designated time. This can be done by staying hydrated with fluids throughout the day.
It helps keep your body in a positive nitrogen balance, and if you are well-nourished, you won’t feel hunger and overeating urges. To fast effectively, it’s essential to have nutritious meals the day before long hours of sleep so that you do not rush for unhealthy snacks.
Here’s how you can fast effectively-
- Remember to stay hydrated throughout the day and do not think about food all the time.
- Plan your sessions and decide what kind of fluids of foods you will be taking throughout the day to prevent any unwarranted episode.
- If you are fasting randomly to lose weight after a few days of heavy food consumption, you may end up binging.
- It is essential to know that fasting is a lifestyle change and requires dedication and planning to effectively change your body.
Fasting position your body in starvation mode
Another widespread myth that many people believe is that fasting pushes your body into starvation mode.
The difference between starving and fasting are listed below-
- Fasting is a well planned conscious choice will you create an eating schedule for your body.
- It is a voluntary action, and you can put an end to it anytime you want.
- Starvation often causes the metabolism to go down, but fasting increases your core body temperature and metabolism and effectively burns fat.
Fasting causes malnourishment
Many people who are new to fasting think that fasting causes malnourishment. This is not true as regularly planned intermittent fasting does not cause any deficiency in the body. It is advised not to fast more than 24 hours on any day because it can push your body into starvation and cause malnourishment by muscle breakdown.
Obesity rates today are at an all-time high, and fasting can help in reducing it.
Worldwide, obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.
Year | Obesity Ratio |
2019 | 1.9 billion adults – 650 million were obese. |
2016 | 39% of adults aged 18 – overweight |
2019 | 38 million children under the age of 5 – overweight or obese |
2016 | 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 – overweight or obese |
When you are starving, the body will break down the lean body mass and utilize it as energy. The most benefits out of fasting, it’s important to remember that you must not fast for more than the designated time. It is also essential to stay hydrated throughout the day so that you can keep flushing out toxins from your body.
Conclusion
Fasting is a beautiful way to give rest to your body and to tune it effectively. It provides a boost to your metabolism, helps in weight loss, detoxifies your system, and helps in regulating blood pressure and blood glucose response. It improves overall mental and physical well being. It is an easy way to keep your system high functioning through detox.
Many studies have found that people who fast regularly live longer than those who do not. It also improves overall good health and promotes immunity as a more robust body can fight infections well. Start fasting today and see the miraculous effects on your body. Plan your fasting sessions well and look at how your body responds to the benefits of fasting for a day.
