Quote Originally Posted by Mirage View Post
How would it catabolize your weakest cells if you store glycogen for 3 days anyway? Why wouldn't it just use that?
Your body at first uses mostly glycogen in combination with lipids and proteins, before being forced to use only lipids and proteins to convert into glycogen.

Quote Originally Posted by Mirage View Post
Pretty much this. The idea of cleansing, or ridding the body of toxins and whatnot by doing anything other than not ingesting them is pretty much malarkey. And most of what the OP is saying about that stuff is not backed up by any research I've ever come across. And I feel safe in saying I've skimmed through more nutrition related research papers than the average person. Maybe I'm wrong, but when I've never heard of this stuff outside of health magazine article garbage and the underlying statements don't even make sense with what I know of the way the body functions, I have to question it.

As for fasting, there are definite and proven metabolic benefits to fasting for 14-16 hours or so. I know one woman who for a while could go to zero carbs and never reach the point where her body was in ketosis until she tried intermittent fasting which is a bit like hitting a big old metabolic reset button. But anything over 16-18 hours tops and those benefits disappear and you run into a bunch of other issues. There's nothing like starving yourself for more than a day to get the body to stop losing weight for example.
I don't understand how it wouldn't help in cleansing processes. If you have mild acne or skin blemishes, I don't think they will survive a good fast. The whole environment inside your digestive system changes in a way that puts less stress on it. In the very least, your momentarily not injesting as many new toxins into your body.

There's a suggestion about metabolic damage. The best way to address that is just be aware that its possible and plan to avoid it. Its monkey business to think that an occasional fast will cause long-term irreversible damage! There is no way to get around the laws of thermodynamics; even a damaged metabolism will lose mass.

Scientific research into nutrition can be dubious at times. There is a huge marketplace for food, and every educational and research insitution has an agenda. It's very defeatist to believe what we think we know will never change. Simply put, there is only money to be lost if people eat less.

Seriously, don't be so afraid to try something new. It works great for me and my purposes. Even if you're a guru, you might not be privy to the latest trends. There is a recent surge of new information, try
http://www.leangains.com/ a blog from a recent author, and the wikipedia article on fasting has information confirming my OP.