What a bunch of C***! any body care to write a rebuttal? I don't even know where to start.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...4b0a06d58058b7f

I think the comments posted underneath the article in your link adequately refutes this nonsense. My favourite comment was:
"Let's be clear, "skipping a meal or two" is NOT (the same as) a 72 hour ordeal, that's not eating a morsel for three entire DAYS".

Soooo, when I sleep I'm hangry? OMG!?!?!!! I gotta wake up to eat every 6 hours!!! LOLWUT

I put in a complaint on the site. Hard to believe that HuffPost would print such bad science as if it is fact.

Consider the source, in particular, this author. She also suggests you eat more beans to lose weight.

Just in case, here's a copy of the comment I posted on yooboot:

I guess it's good enough for a rebuttal, yes?

-edit oops forgot the last line of the comment

On a similar topic, Mercola surprised me by saying this recently: (Link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOg_Zvz40q0

I like this video for showing the horrible effects of a prolonged (18 day) water fast on lean mass. Not really, he looks like he did fine. He shows before and after in the first few minutes, so you don't have to watch much to see that.

This guy had reasonable levels of body fat and lean mass to be going into a water fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htuVijrCgl4

And this is an example of what happens if you do a 30 day water fast, but your reserves, both lean and fat are much lower than that first guy. Around 22 minutes in he shows you how he gets progressively more gaunt.

Realistically, if you fast for 18 hours or 18 days, you'll lose some lean mass. But it's not like you cut off your hand or something. It grows back.

I find Joe Mercola is usually pretty on top of things when it comes to health and regularly use a lot of his ideas. But of course I don't always think everything he says is right; nobody's perfect. If he comes across more accurate information like the type Jason Fung is putting out about fasting and preservation of muscle mass he might well update his own website to say so. He seems good about saying when he's found new information and changed his views accoringly.

Back in 2012, there was a lot of talk about a Harper's article by journalist Steve Hendricks about his 20 day fast. I couldn't find article directly without going through sign-up, but here is a good summary of it in a "Journalism" column.
http://journalism.about.com/od/prof...te-About-It.htm the author had a bigger response to this than his books.

It was the first time (for me) reading in mainstream mags that fasting was described as normal and medically restorative, not fringey bodybuilding or part of a religious diet (Daniel Plan was popular too)
He still keeps his weight in check with shorter fasts and exercises so he is not exactly wasting away. He has a new article, Fasting to Overcome Jet Lag, that also brings the technique to "normal" lifestyles.

I love this comment, Teaser... pithily perfect!


Anyone can lose lean mass on three meals a day... simply by not using their muscles, lying in bed day after day. Or consider a simple arm or leg break after 6-8 weeks in a cast... the arm or leg is usually 1/3 less in size compared to the normal limb. But the withered limb regains muscles upon being used... the previously broken limb never stays withered, unless those muscles have also been destroyed in an accident.

One comment I've heard several times in my fasting life since 1975, always said ominously to induce fear in me, "The heart is a muscle...", implying my heart is the first source of muscle mass my body will raid for energy while fasting.

Obviously they're thinking of Karen Carpenter, a totally different situation. I'd have to lose 120 lbs to reach her state, which ain't gonna happen. Shoot, I have trouble enough just getting down to normal weight, even while fasting.

...not only would you have to lose 120 lbs. You'd have to lose it by being anorexic, which is an entirely different order of things than IF.

Chronically feeding oneself extremely low calories is so very damaging, and a lot of us did it, unfortunately!