Merits And Demerits Of Starving The Body In Weight Loss Efforts

       

Starvation is a popular weight loss strategy, which has both merits and drawbacks that everyone endeavoring to lose weight needs to understand. No one can dispute that excessive fat is a pandemic in modern society. Millions of people, including children, are either obese or overweight. The natural consequence of this situation is the proliferation of lifestyle disorders like obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular complications and various forms of cancer, to name a few. People resort to various approaches to shed off excess weight, and starvation is one of them.

Starving the body has two important benefits in weight loss. To begin with, it gives the body time to digest what is has eaten. Slow digestion resulting from overburdening of the digestive system is one of the reasons for excess weight. The body stores surplus food as fat, even as it struggles to absorb another meal. Starvation helps the body to digest and assimilate the food in the system, and thus prepare for another serving. Consequently, it averts weight loss.

Secondly, when the body is starved, there is less strain on body organs and systems, thus helping them to function optimally. Every time you eat food, each organ has a role to play to ensure that nutrients are absorbed and the waste is expelled. Overeating strains the digestive, excretory and circulation systems. It also exerts the concomitant organs like the liver, kidneys and the heart. Denying the body food relieves this strain and allows the organs and systems to exhaustively deal with the food in the system. Consequently, there is little room for storage of food in the form of fats.

On the other hand, starvation is detrimental to weight loss efforts. Firstly, the body needs all kinds of nutrients to survive. While carbohydrates are the main contributors to excess weight gain, starvation means that the body will lack its daily share of minerals, vitamins, fats and proteins. As a result, your body will become weak and unable to sustain your weight loss efforts.

Secondly, and closely related to the first reason, starvation often leads to overeating. A starving body unconsciously forces one to eat more food than is necessary, and to 'horde' it, in preparation for another period of starvation. In essence, after starving the body for a day, you are likely to eat more food during the next meal. This excess food is stored as fat, which adds to your weight, while you are busy trying to reduce it.

Merits And Demerits Of Starving The Body In Weight Loss Efforts