5 Common Myths about
Fasting that May Stop You
from Benefitting from It
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Facts
Ritual fasting has been part of religious traditions for thousands of years,
from Muslims who fast during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan to
Mormons who take a regular break from food the first Sunday of each
month. But a recent growing body of research shows that abstaining from
food intermittently may have physical as well as spiritual benefits.
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1. Fasting may help your heart
2. There is chance fasting can cut down cancer risk
3. Fasting won’t help you lose — and keep off — weight.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence showing that fasting will detox
or cleanse your body.
5. Talk to your doctor before you are starting fasting regimen
Facts
 Here is how your body reacts when you stop feeding it:
 When you eat, your digestive system breaks down carbohydrates into the
sugar glucose, the body’s major source of energy. Which then travels to
your body’s cells to provide them with fuel.
 If you haven’t eaten recently, the supply of glucose in your blood drops
and your body turns to stored glucose, called glycogen, for energy.
 Once the glycogen is used up, your body begins to burn fat and muscle
stores to make its own glucose to fuel your cells.
 After a few days without eating you will lose body weight, blood will
become more acidic resulting in bad breath and fatigue.
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Benefits
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Fasting helps weight loss
Fasting improves Insulin sensitivity
Fasting speeds up the Metabolism
Fasting promotes Longevity
Fasting improves Hunger
Fasting improves Eating Pattern
Fasting improves Brain Function
Fasting improves Immune System
Fasting contributes to Self-Enlightenment
Fasting helps clear the Skin and Acne
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• Myth: Fasting Slows Metabolism
• Fact: Your metabolism is the energy cost to keep your cells alive; it's the
summation of all the biological processes that sustain your life.
• No matter where this myth came from, it's simply not true, because
despite popular belief, researchers have proven many times over that
only the amount of food you eat matters, not the pattern in which you
eat it. That's to say, how frequently you eat or when you eat doesn’t
dictate your body co
• Fasting doesn't decrease your metabolism, nor does it put you into
starvation mode. Starvation mode is a myth, unless of course, you're
actually suffering from starvation. But you're not starving with fasting,
not even close.
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• Myth: Gaining the Weight back after eating:
• Fact: Some people claim that fasting, or dieting in general, is a waste of
time because you'll simply just gain the weight back after you stop. That's
why fasting is a lifestyle change. It's not a diet. It's a permanent fixture.
• If your goal is to lose weight, then the reason you're thinking of or have
already started fasting is because you were consuming more calories than
you were expending, and you needed to reverse it. If you stop fasting,
and so reverse it again, of course you'll gain back the weight, because
you went right back to taking in more calories than you were putting
out.
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• Myth: Having low energy without food
• Fact: At first, you may experience a few complaints while fasting, one of
which may be decreased energy. After your body and mind adapt to the
fasting lifestyle, you won't even think twice about having less energy
when skipping meals. You'll feel vibrant and vigorous. You'll have the
energy of a thousand suns.
• You can also think of this: Hunger is a motivator, perhaps the most
primal motivator of all. Predators hunt when they're hungry. When
they're hungry, they expend the most energy. Think of fasting as being on
the hunt, as a time when your body is primed to get its most taxing work
done.
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• Myth: Skipping breakfast is bad and will make you fat
• Fact: Breakfast skipping is associated with higher body weights in the
population. The explanation is similar to that of lower meal frequencies
and higher body weights. Breakfast skippers have dysregulated eating
habits and show a higher disregard for health. People who skip breakfast
are also more likely to be dieting, thus by default they are also likely to
be heavier than non-dieters.
• Keep in mind that most people who resort to breakfast skipping are not
the type that sit around and read about nutrition. They are like most
people dieting in a haphazard manner. The type to go on a 800 caloriecrash diet and then rebound, gaining all the weight (and then some)
back.
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• Myth: Fasting disrupts your eating habit
• Fact: By fasting you willfully set a time to eat that fits your lifestyle.
• You can also deliberately control how much calories you eat.
• Fasting improves your eating patterns and reduces your over-indulgence
tendencies in the long run.
• Brief fasting can change how you view eating and triggering the start of
a healthier diet plan