Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Getting fat from fasting

Gulfnews: Warning against unhealthy eating habits after fasting

I think it has been reported often that the weird eating habits that the month of Ramadan fasting induces often leads to weight increase, which seems a little bit inconsistent with the point of the exercise. As the Gulf News article above notes:

People tend to get more obese and diabetic due to irregular eating and overeating after ending the fast, a senior doctor from the Ministry of Health warned, advising people to eat healthy during the Holy Month.

Fasting during Ramadan can improve a person's health, but if the correct diet is not followed, can possibly worsen it, it warns. The deciding factor is not the fast itself, but rather what is consumed in the non-fasting hours, the Ministry said.

Quite.

But what about this new-age-ish claimed health benefit for Ramadan fasting:

Dr Prem Jagyasi, managing director of ExHealth, the organisers of the initiative, said Ramadan is a great opportunity to focus on bringing back a balanced and healthy lifestyle in people's lives who do not normally watch their eating habits. "Ramadan requires to give the stomach a break, and by doing so one will be able to break down and expel the collected toxins from body," he said, but notes that it is very important to understand the proper practice of eating healthy.

Is there any scientific justification at all for believing fasting eliminates "toxins" from the body? I would be surprised if there was.

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