I have fasted intermittently daily for years and I think they can be great help for that (though, I just stick to “eating my sleep” . But when I do my occasional 5 day water fasts I feel like it defeats the purpose of truly ridding my body of all things.
Separately, it’s now believed that whenever the brain receives a chemical or food which tastes sweet at all, it reproduces the same hormonal effects in the body as when it eats actual foods. But since it’s hormonal and the other constituents in regular sweet foods aren’t available, we don’t see the same effects physically (but we absolutely feel them).
Consider that you are craving sweet tasting things and that those cravings are correlated to hormones being released to signal you want them. It’s the same reason why we think baby’s are cute. Or why we think women in bikinis are sexy. None of this is objectively true, our minds make us desire these things in order to create responses it must in order to survive biologically.
No, once you are used to it you may not consider 24-36 hr as prolonged fasting, and drinking energy drinks, you will miss out on other benefits of fasting, it will also leave you craving more food. I usually add a few drops on apple cider vinegar in glass of salt water to feel different taste than water
The Reddit world will always be split on this. I try it on myself. Just do it the way YOU want. If you don’t get results try without. Every body is different and reacts differently. If it helps you get through a fast like it does for me…do it! If you don’t lose enough weight or feel icky don’t do it. Try it all. Go with what is best for you.
If your primary goal is losing weight, you will lose weight at the same rate as if you didn’t take them. I won’t comment on them being healthy or not as I have no idea, but I can say that I don’t experience any increased hunger after drinking them.