The Truth about Fasting

Fasting is the practice of depriving yourself of food for a period of time. Let's examine what happens to your body when you employ such a strategy. Your body needs specific nutrients to survive. You need carbohydrate and fat for energy, protein for cell structure and function, vitamins and minerals to act with enzymes for proper cellular function, and water. During periods of normal food consumption, your body will store some excess nutrients in various places. We all see the fat stores that we all have. Some of those are difficult to alter. Fat is stored in special cells called adipose cells. These adipose cells can increase throughout life. They can either be filled with fat or not. Carbohydrate is stored primarily in the liver as glycogen. Glycogen stores can last for 24 - 48 hours depending on the individual. Protein is not stored. You either use it to make body protein or you break it down into amino acids, then burn them for energy. This is a last resort as a source of energy.

When you begin a fast your blood sugar begins to fall. Since your brain runs exclusively on glucose (blood sugar), your liver will begin to relinquish some of it glycogen. The cells in your entire body prefer to burn glucose, so they do until the blood sugar level falls. In 24 to 48 hours, most people will experience glycogen depletion. No more stored glucose! What are we going to do now? The brain cannot survive without glucose. Your liver (your major chemical factory) comes to the rescue in a process called gluconeogenesis, which literally means "the making of new glucose." How is this done? Well the liver begins calling on muscles throughout the body to breakdown protein, so that the amino acids can be delivered to the liver. There they are converted to glucose, so that the brain can continue to function. The other cells of the body begin to burn fat from adipose tissue.

All of this sounds good until you run out of vitamins and minerals. They are necessary to work with the protein enzymes that cause the burning of glucose and fat, as well as, the conversion of amino acids to glucose. To acquire necessary vitamins and minerals, you body will begin sacrificing cells to rob them of their nutrients. This is body decomposition. Muscles begin to waste away. Remember this all begins in about 3 days of fasting. The longer the fast, the more tissue destruction you will experience.

To summarize, there are some benefits to fasting for up to two days. You must drink water and take a vitamin, mineral supplement. Fasting for longer periods of time does more damage than it does good. Don't be a fool!
Jack Bateman
www.thevitaminsupplementstore.com