But anyone who follows celebrity news has probably also noticed that a lot of Hollywood stars are into fasting. Beyonce did a "master cleanse" fast to drop 20 pounds before shooting Dreamgirls. Gwyneth Paltrow is known to be a fan of the detox benefits of fasting. Woody Harrelson recently revealed his dream to escape to Hawaii and fast for 40 days. The question is: WHY?
Well, I've done a few water-only fasts of 3 to 5 days while researching my new book, Mister America, the biography of a man who thought that fasting cured just about everything. While I wouldn't recommend a water fast for most people—it's pretty unpleasant—you might be interested to learn what I found:
Fasting does take off weight quickly. (Amazing, huh? You stop eating and the pounds just melt off.) BUT: Research has shown that because your body thinks it's starving, you will put all that weight and more back on, unless you make major lifestyle changes. I lost 18 pounds by fasting and then cutting back on calories and walking 2 hours a day for a month. Six months later, when I'd gone back to old habits, I'd gained back 20.
Fasting reboots your system, quickly. Absolutely nothing—vacations, shopping sprees, martinis—has knocked me out of a mental and physical rut and more quickly than giving up food for three days. On day four, I felt like an entirely new person.
Fasting does strange things to your body. After a five-day water fast I could suddenly touch my palms to the floor, although touching my toes has always been difficult for me.
As for those Hollywood fasters, I notice that Beyonce had put the weight back on (and looks much better, in my opinion). Gwyenth was reported to have collapsed last year while following a "live food" fasting regimen. If Woody has made it through the equivalent of Lent without any caloric intake, I haven't heard about it. I think fasting can be a powerful tool for health, but like many tools, it has to be used carefully.
Here's a Wikipedia entry on fasting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting
Here's a link to some of the health discoveries I made (good and bad) while researching my book:
http://misteramericabook.com/tenstrange.html
And here's a copy of Bernarr Macfadden's best-known book on the therapeutic use of fasting:
http://chestofbooks.com/health/natural-cure/Bernarr-MacFadden/Fasting-Hydropathy-and-Exercise/
[photo credit: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images Entertainment]
