Best Diet? And fasting question?

From those people experienced with diets, or have tried a variety with success, which ones have you used that provided the best gains of weight loss and also comfort. I am trying to think of which one will be the best for me along with daily exercise.

Also, i have heard mixed reviews about fasting. Apparently it is very healthy to "cleanse" the body using this technique, but what is the danger point in fasting? Would it make any difference positively to my body to go 2 days before starting my diet?

Oh and i have been eating pretty healthy for the past few months, mixed in with varying degrees of exercise. I have lost 15 pounds since March.

a diet isn't something you're on, it's something to you have.

if you seriously want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to be changing your overall lifestyle. you can plug in your stats on this website and find out how many calories you need per day to lose weight.

try to eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat/no-fat dairy, and lean meats.. and try to cut out juice, soda, pop and caffeine.

also, fasting is a bad idea. it puts your body into starvation mode and your body will just feed off of your muscle tissue. i've had an eating disorder for around a year and a half and "fasted" for around 8 months, and now i have barely any muscle.. so please don't fast.

if you consume lots of fiber and drink lots of water, your body will push out all of the toxins in it naturally.

I don't really have any advice on good diets (I'm sure someone will,) but I don't see why you would fast. The whole fasting thing confuses me.
I'm not sure what good it could do, you're probably better off sticking to what you're doing.

Sorry I couldn't be more of a help.

Your body naturally detoxes and cleanses itself all the time via the liver and kidneys.   Every time you go to the toilet there's the proof that your body is cleansing and working well!!   Fasting doesn't do anything positive to help this process.   It merely puts the body under stress.  However, a diet of plenty of fresh whole foods, fruit and vegetables, plenty of fluids, some wholegrains, oils and lean proteins... will help.   Avoid the worst nasties such as refined sugar, alcohol, caffeine, processed foods, additives, salt, transfats.... and this gives your organs chance to do their job more efficiently.  Being active is also very good for the digestion!

The 'best' diet as someone very wisely said is the one that fits you and your lifestyle like a glove fits a hand.  Eating good wholesome food 90% of the time, watching the portions all the time and taking regular exercise.   The 'best' diet is the one you enjoy so much that you can see yourself adopting it for life....

gi-jane is right about the fasting. It's a VERY debated subject, although stay AWAY from it as a tool for weight loss.

The two "diet books" which are, (as above posters have said) lifestyles, that I've found the easiest to apply to the REAL world and not just DIET land are The Abs Diet (which is my favorite because I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER and it focuses on building muscle and not JUST losing weight) and Bill Phillips Body For Life, because I have actually SEEN it work (my dad got into seriously good shape on that diet). But I do think the abs diet is easier to follow.

But on this site you can easily learn the basics (calories in vs. calories out, deficits, BMRs, RMRs, etc...) which make it easy to control your weight based on your OWN lifestyle.

The South Beach Diet is awesome and works amazingly... but if you're going to go on it you need to read the book. Without it, the diet will be harder and you won't be able to follow it correctly. But trust me, this diet is amazing. And it even transforms into a lifestyle. There are steps, and if you follow them you will lose a ton of weight and keep it off while being healthy.

Use the CC diet!  It's written by someone who successfully lost weight and backed up by thousands of us who have lost weight and kept it off.

start here: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/article/memb er_hkellick.html

Then go here: http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/931 20.html

Read and learn!