The FastGirls weekly fast is a 24 hour Total Fast, defined as voluntary abstinence from all food or drink except water as long as the nutritional reserves of the body are adequate to sustain normal function. The fast begins at sunrise every Monday morning and continues through sunrise on Tuesday.
Dr. Joel Furman, M.D and author of the book "Fasting and Eating for Health" talks about the Total Fast versus other forms of nutritional modification:
Fasting is a state of relative physiological rest...Except for extremely rare instances where some form of medication may be indicated, it should be recognized that a Total Fast, with water only, is both the most effective and the safest way to fast.
Vitamins are not generally required because within the body's cells are adequate reserves of protein, fat, minerals and vitamins that can be called upon during period of famine, food scarcity, or fasting. Even in prolonged fasts (those lasting from 20 to 40 days) no deficiency diseases develop, illustrating that the body has the ability to utilize its stored reserves in highly exacting and balanced manner.
In some cases a liquid diet, such as fruit or vegetable juices, has been considered to be a fast. This may occasionally be appropriate for a person who requires relative bowel rest, whose health condition would make a fast inappropriate. One cannot, however, achieve the powerful benefits of Total Fasting if juices are part of the fast. Biochemically the body does not enter its "protein sparing" fasting state [while juicing]. In this state the body conserves its muscle reserves and fat is preferentially broken down.
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