Are there negative effects of fasting?

IIRC, long-term fasting can affect your immune responses.

Short term, perhaps minor light headedness, maybe loose stools as the digestive tract clears. As long as you stay well hydrated a couple day fast is fine. Anything longer should only be undertaken very gradually. Obviously if you fast for 30 days or more the negative would be extreme fasting will result in death. haha

Initially can feel dizzy or weak.

Initially you will lose weight but it is loss of lean muscle, tissue and fat. When your body loses lean muscle your metabolism drops which means your body adjusts to needing fewer calories to maintain body weight than it did prior to the fast.

Once you return to your normal diet it is common to see rapid weight gain until the lean muscle and tissue are restored by exercise and time.

You get hungry.

Seven days without food makes one weak.

Some people shouldn’t fast. I get sick weak and start barfing.

“Even a short-term fast can have negative health effects, while fasting for a longer time could cause serious health problems.

Fasting can have short-term side effects such as headaches, dizziness, fatigue, abnormal heart rhythms, and a fruity taste in the mouth. It can also raise the risk of an attack in people with gout. Longer-term fasting can interfere with the immune system and vital bodily functions and can damage the liver, kidneys, and other organs.”

American Cancer Society

One long-term one is death.

Digesting food involves a tremendous amount of energy. When the body has no food to digest, it uses that energy for other things. One of the things it does, is begin to remove toxins stored in our tissues, from our brains, down to our toes, in our organs, nerves and muscles. If you fast when your body is not properly prepared, when your body is fighting an illness or infection, or for too long for your particular body at that time, your body becomes flooded with toxins. This will make you sick, thoroughly negating the health benefits you sought via fasting in the first place. Before a fast, be sure you educate yourself about the right way to do it. I can tell you from personal experience that if you go about it the wrong way, there will be hell to pay, but if you do it wisely, it will be of wonderful benefit to your overall health.

Yes, when done without supervision.

@Skylight If digesting food involved tremendous energy I’d be so skinny. Let’s not get it twisted, playing cornerback in the NFL requires tremendous energy, digesting food, eh, not so much :P

@Skylight: Are you saying, that in addition to world-wide political upheaval and climate change, I have to worry about toxicity in my toes?