What do you think about water fasts?

A great way to lose muscle.

Very true. Check out all the damage intermittent fasting has done to the muscles of these poor people:

http://www.leangains.com/search/label/Client results

Don't they just look so weak, sickly and unhealthy? Nasty, I'd never want to look like them. Practically anorexic:

http://www.chilloutpoint.com/images/2010/08/anorexic-models/anorexic-models-06.jpg
______________________________________________________
Fasting just destroys your muscles and puts you into starvation mode where you don't lose any fat:

http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/265/5/E801.short
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/50/1/96.short
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/94/11/4524.abstract
__________________________________________________________________
Fasting is so bad for your health, too! Scientific studies have shown that over and over again, like these:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300080
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17616757
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16529878
_______________________________________________
It wrecks blood sugar:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17522614
_______________________________________________
And it ruins your metabolism!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837292
____________________________________________________________
Also, you can't work out while you're fasting! That would be stupid.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3622486
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17489012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3292504
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w8712615714k8150/


Read a little before mouthing off about something you don't understand, and next time I won't have to science pwn you all this severely.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

You're possibly my favourite person right now.

Ever notice that the people that bash fasts, are the one who have never done them?

Mhm.

I only do them between dinner and breakfast.

heehee, me too!

if you are interested in 24-36 hour water fast, I strongly recommend that you first read Eat Stop Eat. I read that book recently and I think it has some interesting stuff in there. I haven't committed to doing intermittent fasting...although I have now done three 24 hour water fasts pretty easily. I fully believe that before you try something, you should read about it to fully understand the why's and the how's. Based on my own personal experience with these 24 hour fasts that I tried, a lot of what the book said would happen, happened. I wasn't grouchy or irritated or, really, hungry. I worked out just as I normally would during the fast day without any noticeable difference in effort or performance. I did drink a ton of water throughout the day. I did keep myself busy throughout the day.

Anyway, I haven't committed to intermittent fasting....but I think the concept works if you read the book.

Ever notice that the people that bash fasts, are the one who have never done them?

Mhm.

Ever notice the people who do fasts are desperate to lose weight?

Ever noticed people who say that have never actually researched intermittent fasting and what it's used for.

As for the OP intermittent fasting may not be the right thing for you. You need to be eating a healthy and varied diet to do it. Yours is not in the right place to be doing that. I would suggest first getting you diet into a more healthy place before even considering any kind of fasting,

are you really advising this person that is very malnourished to fast

I don't recall advising anyone to do anything. I'm not a doctor, and you all are adults. I merely debunked all the fasting misinformation that was being propagated here. It is up to the individual and their doctor or dietitian to decide what is nutritionally appropriate for themselves. If you want to give her advice on how to improve her diet, be my guest. As for myself, I will give her friendly advice if she asks for it, and not until then. I didn't magically become responsible for her health because I posted a bunch of research studies that are freely available to anyone who looks for them.

I get it....you are passionate about fastings. The OP has serious issus with food right now, you are not helping. Think of the audience and post responsibly.

I get it....you are passionate about fasting. The OP has serious issues with food right now, you are not helping. Think of the audience and post responsibly.

Frankly, my intended audience was all of the people who posted so haughtily about how fasting is the worst idea ever without doing one iota of research about it. I didn't read the OP's diary, because I don't read anyone's MFP diary that isn't my friend, that's none of my business. You seem to think my posting in support of fasting is "encouraging her", but that's BS. Fasting can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including while bulking (i.e. gaining weight on purpose) to keep the fat gain low in relation to muscle gain. I am currently doing that very thing, myself. Fasting can also be done for purely health reasons while maintaining goal weight, since it has beneficial effects on cholesterol and triglycerides, improves insulin resistance, and there are a lot of animal studies that indicate it may improve longevity. So saying that support of fasting is support of crash diets or anorexia is ridiculous. You can fast with any amount of calorie intake on your feeding days from 10,000 to 200 calories, and with a wide range of food quality, and all of those factors along with fast length and frequency go into determining the safety and effectiveness of fasting for you, whatever your goals in using it may be.

If you want to help her, maybe you should send her a PM about how to eat healthier instead of wasting time blasting me about something that has no necessary relationship to her calorie intake, and nothing at all to do with her food quality.

For that matter, her diary could have been set on private, and then none of us would have known what she was or wasn't eating. Should I just never post about fasting on the off chance that someone with an eating disorder will read it? Should I lie about it and say fasting is awful? No, that's silly. Fasting is a powerful tool, and there is ample scientific evidence supporting its proper use. Both I and two other users here linked to Leangains.com, which has extensive information about how to fast in a healthy way. And for good measure, here is an eBook on the subject with hundreds of references to the scientific literature:

http://www.eatstopeat.com/lose-weight.html

Her health is her responsibility, and that goes for everyone on the forum, as is stated on the bottom of every page of every thread. It is my responsibility to answer her question honestly, and ideally in an evidence-based way, which I did.

By your logic we should ban all cooking shows on the off chance that a food addict could be watching :grumble: