Fasting vs Starving

Dr. Nadia Pateguana outlines the clear difference between Fasting and Starving.

There’s a bit of confusion between “fasting” and “starving.”

Some people may think both are the same but, in fact, they are quite different. For one, fasting is a voluntary practice of completely abstaining from food for a period of time, whereas starving is often imposed or an involuntary act.

Proper fasting is done “intermittently,” as in alternate day fasts or even more prolonged fasts of two days or more. If done properly, fasting can have many great benefits.

In between fasting periods, people are encouraged to “feast” properly or, in other words, eat their choice of foods (preferably whole foods) until they are satisfied.

Starving, on the other hand, is most often done “consistently,” where people eat small amounts of food when available or as imposed by the “eat less, move more” approach also known as CICO (calories in, calories out). When people forcibly eat small amounts of calories because they are on a “diet,” they feel hungry and are, in fact, “starving” all the time.

These two very different practices will also have markedly different metabolic effects. While intermittent fasting will not slow down your metabolism, constantly starving will, over time, slow it down.

https://thefastingmethod.com/idm-community-july-2-2019/