Is a fasting diet healthy?
Every spiritual or religious practice has prescribed some form of fasting. Fasting as a remedy for health or weight loss isn’t that new either. However, we have seen several trends of fasting emerge recently. 

Intermittent Fasting diets have become increasingly popular over the last few years. An estimate says that 14% of Americans have resorted to fasting to lose weight. 

Fasting and weight loss


When you are fasting, your dietary intake is restricted and the body uses up the stored energy in order to execute the daily metabolic activities. Ideally this energy is derived from glucose, but during fasting the body resorts to ketosis – burning fatty acids from stored body fat. 


This very mechanism is the reason why, many people, especially those suffering from obesity are rapidly looking at fasting as a means to lose weight. 

We must understand here that fasting, more specifically intermittent fasting is quite different from starvation which is a state of chronic nutrition deficiency and is certainly not beneficial.

Intermittent Fasting Diets

Intermittent fasting implies that you eat normally during the times when you are not fasting and during fasting you restrict your calorie intake. During the time when you are not fasting, you need to keep your intake stable and not overeat – the intake must be limited to 500 calories a day for women, and 600 for men when fasting.

Health Benefits of Fasting

Studies have shown that fasting helps in weight loss. It also has been known to have other benefits like:

• Reduces the risk factors for heart diseases
• It helps in detoxification of your body
• Helps in healing the digestive tracts of people affected by Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis and low blood pressure
• When combined with a proper diet before and/or after it can also be helpful in managing lupus, arthritis, chronic skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis
• It helps in managing diabetes
• It has also been known to increase life span.

Who shouldn’t fast?

However, fasting isn’t always the solution for you. 

Remember, fasting is not a one size fits all diet. Here is a list of people who shouldn’t try out fasting. These include the following. 

• Pregnant women
• People suffering from malnutrition
• Patients with a history of cardiac arrhythmia
• Those with hepatic or renal insufficiency
• Diabetics or people with thyroid issues.

Anyone who wants to give fasting a shot, must check with the doctor or nutritional consultant who will suggest whether they should fast and if they do, what is the prescribed way to go about it. Otherwise, it can raise some serious health concerns and do more harm than good.

It is a safe and effective method for weight loss, but shouldn’t be followed for prolonged periods of time. Otherwise fasting, can also improve your overall health, by turning on the stem cells and triggering a regeneration mechanism. The most important thing is that you get advice from your GP first that you focus on when to eat, and fasting can be a safe and healthy diet option.