You know, lots of people go on these "crash diets" and say they work really well... However, do they really?

I have seen lots of articles saying that crash diets don't work, and also other articles that say that crash dieting is the way to go.

So, my question is, any personal experience with crash dieting?

Has it worked or not worked for you? How long did you do it for? What else did you do along with it?

I just know it hasn't seemed to work for me ever, but then.. It usually leads to "binge eating" which in effect cancels out all that suffering.. I guess the trick is to just eat less, and do more exercise I guess...

I don't like the idea of any particular 'diets' really. The only thing that works for me is portion control, cutting out or cutting back on the fatty foods and sweets. I've done a couple of 3 day fasts in the past that dropped a few pounds, but I thought of it more as a detoxing method.

Even when I'm trying to lose weight, I don't completely eliminate things I like though, like if I have ice cream, I'll limit the amount I eat, because finishing off a pint of Hagen Dazs was never a problem for me.

Making some small changes can really make a difference, and really can't be, and shouldn't be, considered suffering. As we get older, we have to think logically about what's good for us, fast foods, etc. are not. We got away with it when we were younger, but now we get fatter, which leads to diabetes, joint problems, liver, heart, etc., etc.

Of course exercise like walking, weight lifting, aerobics always helps...along with drinking extra filtered water daily, etc.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

fasting makes your body think it's in a famine and it goes into survival mode by storing fat and when you start eating again it is still primed to store excess calories as fat,so fasting can actually make you gain weight in the long run

You are so right there lol.. I'm not that way with ice cream, but a bag of chips or a can of pringles... Yeah, same thing lol!

In terms of fasting you are right about the body storing fat as it thinks it's in starvation mode..

I think we put too much focus on this as a society, if someone is a healthy weight for them they shouldn't be too focused on losing weight, fasting or the like..

The only reason I ask, is you know the holidays are coming up, so I wondered how effective it would be (short term) either before or after lol.. Well before I could see it not being a good idea because then you would just pack it in even more. But what about after?

You think that would work? (again short term, not a long term idea).

The best way to lose weight is to stop eating + drinking "foods" filled with toxic chemicals, and actually eat foods with sizable amounts of micronutrients. Then you need to get rid of all of the toxins already in your body.

Your liver is responsible for eliminating/burning the fat stored in your body, and also in charge of detoxifying everything that enters your body (from food, water, air pollution, etc.). Because of this, almost everyone's liver is clogged and overloaded with the toxins we are putting into our bodies on a daily basis, and so you cannot lose fat easily. The major reason your body stores fat is not because of excessive calorie intake (in a healthy body, your metabolism would regulate itself to burn of any extra you ate, or slow down if you don't eat enough), but because you actually store toxins in your fat cells in order to prevent them from killing you when your liver and other elimination organs are overburdened. This is why so many people lose lots of weight when they do cleanses. I do not advocate water fasting, but juice fasting is great for detoxifying your body while still providing optimal nutrition. Your body is given the rest it needs to break down your fat cells and be able to deal with the toxins that were stored in their. A clean body is a healthy body is a fit body.

An important point is that people who fast or attempt to lose weight on the SAD (Standard American Diet = crappy processed food diet) often lose far more muscle mass then fat; this is because their body is actually choosing to break down the muscle instead of the fat, because burning their fat cells would result in a toxic overload that might kill them.

Many artificial chemicals added to processed foods also mess with your metabolism and cause you to gain weight and eat far more then you need to. Diet soda causes people to gain more weight then normal soda because of the artificial sweetener "aspartame".

Another major reason people gain weight and can't lose it is because of parasites. Candida albicans is also a major culprit and rather difficult to get rid of.

Start eating natural, organic whole foods and do these four things and I guarantee you will lose weight if you are overweight:

* Colon cleanse, colonics [if you can afford them] and daily enemas
* Liver cleanse
* Parasite cleanse
* Candida cleanse

These steps will also give you noticeably more energy levels and, in conjunction with the other cleanses I am going to list below, can frequently resolve many health conditions.

* Kidney/bladder cleanse
* Heavy metal cleanse
* Lymphatic cleanse

so, basically just "fast" but eat fruits and drink fruit juices.. But isn't that sugar overload? Even if only natural juice?

I remember a guy telling me that he only drank fruit juices for a long time but then he had issues with his blood sugar levels afterward because of all the sugar intake. They say PineApple is a good one for weight loss, also Green Tea and Jinseng.. But you need the extract as the "good stuff" you would need to eat a truckload of pineapple to get enough of what you need to help cleanse yourself.

And some of those cleanses don't sound too pleasant to be honest... They sound kinda uncomfortable.. i have heard people feeling nauseous, getting headaches, etc.

I don't juice fruits for those reasons, I juice green sprouts. Lazy people can juice store-bought vegetables...nowhere near the nutrition of green sprouts you grow yourself, but still much much better then what most people eat. Most people doing a juice fast like to juice fruits to get calories; I think it's a bad idea but it's your choice.

That's called "detox", and it is a very good thing. The reason you might get nauseous, or get headaches, is because of the toxins that are being released from your fat cells and elsewhere in your body and eliminated. These are the same toxins that will eventually lead to you getting cancer, or arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, and any other disease imaginable. A little discomfort now is definitely worth a lifetime of good health.


Also, many people do cleanses in the wrong order and pay the price. Always do a colon cleanse first, for example. When you are detoxing your liver eliminates toxins from your body through the colon via the portal vein; if your colon is clogged up then those toxins back up into your bloodstream and you feel really bad, plus it harms your health. Doing cleanses in the right order avoids many of the uncomfortable side effects. Some cleansing protocols are also better then others.

Of course you might feel a little discomfort...you're removing years worth of toxins in a matter of days.

Juicing Greensprouts? I never really thought of them as having much juice in them. But then maybe I am just getting the wrong kind..

Could you also do water chestnuts? I like water chestnuts.. Well in Chinese food anyway lol.. I am not entirely sure what the flavor would be like without it. But I imagine water chestnuts have a decent amount of protein and vitamins in them, and can soak up pretty much any flavor you want to throw at them right?

But greensprouts.. do you add anything, or just drink the pure juice? No salt, sugar, pepper? (Sorry for the dumb question I have never juiced greenspouts before...)

I drink 'em plain...it WILL taste nasty at first, but after a few weeks you will get used to it and actually enjoy the taste, and the benefits are unbelievable.

You can probably juice water chestnuts - you can juice any fruit or vegetable, although some provide more juice then others.

Store-bought sprouts will always be inferior, and growing your own is so easy. Go to the sprouting thread here for more information and I'll answer any questions you have about growing them.

Thanks for the information. I'll check it out.. I wouldn't consider myself as having a "Green Thumb", and I really don't have any space for growing but I can give it a shot.

From taking a quick look it looks as if you don't need a lot of space to grow them am I right? A normal flower box will do? Of course I have no idea if that would even be practical as I imagine you need a few boxes to yield a quantity of sprouts that are sufficient to juice...

It's a new adventure, that's for sure...

However much you can grow and juice is great, but if you want to be drinking as much sprout juice as I do (about 40 oz most days), you will need dozens of trays; during wintertime I need to have around 100 trays going at any one time because everything grows much slower. But if you have a shelving unit/rack you can fit dozens of trays in a very small space, and you can also grow lots of green sprouts in jars instead.

If you want to have an 8 oz glass of wheatgrass juice everyday, for example (4 oz in the morning, 4 at night), you would need about a dozen 10 inch square trays in your rotation. You can use flower boxes and just about anything else but the yield will be dependent on the size of each.

Edit: You don't need a green thumb for growing most sprouts, it is very easy to do. Once you get the hang of it you can have well over a hundred trays + jars going at on time with very little effort.

Totally false, sorry. This is more of the 'low fat high carb' hype.

Fasting IMPROVES insulin sensitivity and fat burning.

I don't advise fasting as part of a weight loss program. Fasting is for those with extensive experience with cleansing or those who are 'fat enabled'.

For me, I don't plan a fast, fasting is failure to plan a meal, due to my ability to go long periods between sustenance.


So much valuable and free information at Mark's Daily Apple, he should get a Mother Theresa award.

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I'd rather meander for the prevention than race for the cure.

I went the opposite way and exercised with weight, "growing into" my amount of body fat. Everyone asked me if I had lost weight -- no, none, I just gained muscle. It also works for women -- remember Lynda Carter?

You mean Sara Connor?

Too bad she didn't keep it up.

Protein intake is important during 'weight loss', as you have proven.

Yeah, there were a few "protein" power plans floating around supposedly to help with weight loss.

However, I can't see that being really great, unless you plan on taking something like Metamucil, pure protein and you won't find it fun or fast to take a crap....