Question:
Been an on/off low-carber for the last 3 years. A few months back I did a 5
day cleansing fast. Since then I haven't followed low carb and have put on
some weight. I'd like to get back to the low carb WOL but I want to start
with a detox fast. My goal this time around is a 10 day fast. I've done a
lot of research on fasting and am completely sold over on them as a
cleansing tool. I'm not real keen on the idea of enemas so I resort to salt
water purges. I am wondering if anybody here has any experience with fasts
and if you could share your expierences.
Answer:
According to the experts, you lose weight faster eating a diet of low carb,
moderate protein and high fat than when fasting! (Dr. Atkins discusses this
in DANDR). It's because when you starve yourself your metabolism slows down
to try to prevent you from killing youself ;)
Also, when you fast your body burns muscle tissue along with fat. Why would
you want to do that?
Which low-carb diet plan have you read that says to "start with a detox
fast?" And to use enemas and salt water purges? To me this sounds more
like an eating disorder, not a healthy diet. IMHO.
It's quite popular here (Germany) and I did one for two weeks years ago.
I started with the dread salts and that cleans things out pretty quickly
and I drank a fruit juice 3 times a day. Fasting does put you into an
odd state so most of the time I wasn't hungry and had energy, but it
does make you weak in the long run. I lost 10lbs and gained it back very
quickly - which is not normal for me.
With all other diets I've tried, I have kept the weight off for at least
a few years.
I think it would be good for healing certain things like having too many
medicines in the system (drinking the appropriate teas and natural
healing stuff) and it certainly cleanses the liver and intestines. I
can't understand or recommend anyone using it as a diet to lose weight.
