In my opinion, one should never fast for more than 24 hours. Food is the vital fuel our bodies need. It is not "the enemy." It is, however, our RELATIONSHIP to food and eating that sometimes needs to be adjusted. Towards this end, I have found that fasting IN THE SHORT TERM (i.e. 8-24 hours), on occasion, can be helpful in reorienting oneself with one's natural body processes. For example, fasting, or at least the cessation of eating that coincides with a good night's sleep, can smooth over the short-term glycemic "spike" that comes from eating large amounts of carbs, especially processed sugars, leaving the body "reset" and ready to begin more balanced consumption anew. In my own experience, recently when I began to adjust my eating habits with an eye towards weight loss, I had an interesting insight: it had been years since I had been hungry. Oh, I had FELT hungry. Sometimes it seemed I was ALWAYS hungry. "I could eat......" was one of my tongue-in-cheek catchphrases around the house. The problem was I had eaten so regularly, so habitually, for so long, that I had FORGOTTEN THE PHYSICAL SENSATION OF HUNGER. I had, instead, replaced it with a purely psychological approximation that had insideous aspects. I could conjure this faux hunger at will, consciously or unconsciously, out of boredom, depression, or an urge to celebrate or indulge. The faux hunger was often not reasonably or quickly satisfied by eating at all. I wonder if this isn't something most of us do to some extent or other, amidst all our abundance and plenty. So I fasted. I woke up one morning and didn't eat right away, didn't even have coffee. Lunchtime passed and something happened that hadn't for a long time: my stomach growled. I began to feel hungry, not just in my head, but in my gut, where it belonged. I compared how I felt to my Faux Hunger. Here, in my stomach, was a sensation completely without the subtle undertones of fear, desperation, or the narcissistic urge to instant and overabundant self-gratification. This reidentification of an old friend -- bodily hunger -- became a tool I could use to readjust my relationship to food and eating. I resolved to eat not just better food, but more slowly, and in smaller portion, waiting to become hungry again -- truly hungry -- before eating again. Good luck. I don't know if I really answered your question, but I thought I'd share some insight.

You dont NEED food if you are planning on fasting. Your organs process liquids the same way it processes food, and ALL organs that process food are also used to process your liquid intake. There is a diet called the Lemonade Diet or Master Cleanser where all you drink is Lemonade & water for 10 - 40 days (most do 10 or 21) and you lose about 2.2lbs per day (1KG). I lost 1 - 1.1KG after I tryed it for one day but when I try it again soon im going for 21 days and increasing my exercise. The first 2-3 days you are just losing water weight but you will not dehydrate as long as you keep your liquid intake up. This will cleanse your body of all toxins and prevent disease and has also helped many people cure aches and pains. After the first 2-3 days you will then begin to burn calories, therefore you will lose weight. You CAN do this for longer then 40 days as long as you have breaks and follow the rules stricty such as a specified diet for when you are coming off the MC (orange juice/soups for 2-4days). If you want to read more you can join the forums and read more about it at www.thelemonadediet.com Hope this helps! =)

i actually tried the lemonade diet and it did help. i was able to smell things a lot better, tell the difference between being hungry or just wanting to eat food. it was really tuff to not eat food specially with room mates eating pizza all the time. but go to http://humblebeehealth.com and you can learn some things about the diet, fasting and other crazy things about what is in the foods we eat on a regular basses. here are some links to go to that will make you not want to eat some of the foods you eat every day. http://humblebeehealth.com/links

There is little difference between fasting and starving yourself. Fasting can be beneficial to get all the gunk out of your system, and clear your mind, but should NOT be done for very long - your body starts to destroy your muscles, and your HEART is a muscle, remember that! When fasting, you should still take vitamins and drink LOTS of fresh fruit and vegetable juices. The dangers are the same ones involved with anorexia. Instead of fasting, why don't you just stop eating things that bring you down - heavy foods like meat, milk, and cheese. Change your diet to organic produce and focus more on eating raw fruits and veggies.

I can think of any benefits at all and the risks are obvious.