False fasting: an alternative to weight loss

Some people find it much easier to avoid certain foods, such as alcohol. If you give up alcohol for a few days or even weeks, you will definitely lose weight. Quite fast even. On the one hand, alcohol itself contains a lot of calories, and on the other hand, it causes nighttime cravings.

Today, health professionals largely agree that there is no such thing as safe drinking. Alcohol researcher Professor Helmut Seitz: “200 diseases are caused by alcohol. On the other hand, it is again surprising that when you stop drinking, many organs can regenerate again. ” The liver probably benefits the most from not drinking alcohol, because the alcohol is broken down there. However, if the liver has to constantly break down alcohol, it stores it as fat. A fatty liver develops. But this process is reversible! If you don’t drink alcohol, liver tissue can recover, which means new healthy cells can form and the liver can become defatted.

The heart also benefits. A study of regular beer drinkers showed that one in three suffered from cardiac arrhythmias, one in four from tachycardia. If a regular drinker abstains from alcohol for half a day, the heart rate returns to normal.

In general, doctors and scientists recommend: Just try an alcohol-free period – ideally for a month or two, but a week can also help. See how your body reacts. You can often readjust after such a break from fasting, because alcohol is often also a habit. Breaking this not only helps the liver, kidneys or heart, but can also be the start of a permanent reduction in alcohol consumption. Doctors still recommend two days without alcohol – on other days, women are allowed a small beer or 0.1 liters of wine, and twice as much for men.

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