No matter what intermittent fasting schedule you're on, if you found that you're not losing weight or you've hit a weight-loss plateau, it could be because you're not clean fasting.

According to cardiologist and weight management expert Luize Petre, MD, intermittent fasting involves alternating periods of eating, or "feasting," with periods of not eating, or "fasting." The fasting window can be done in various ways, either with allowance of very low-caloric foods or liquids or by restricting it to only zero-calorie liquids. "When the more restrictive approach is taken, that is called clean fasting," she explained.

Clean fasting often is used to describe fasting or time-restricted feeding where only calorie-free and unsweetened beverages are consumed; in other words, Erin Donaldson, DO, with Executive Medicine of Texas, said stick to water, sparkling water, black coffee, tea, and herbal teas with nothing else added not even lemon slices or a noncaloric natural sweetener like stevia or monk fruit.

Many experts will say a little cream, MCT oil, sugar-free sweetener, or stevia is OK to have in your coffee while fasting, also known as "dirty fasting." But for maximum results, especially if you're not achieving your weight-loss goals, "the fast should be kept clean, and all artificial sweeteners should be avoided," said Dr. Donaldson.

Dr. Petre adds that sugar-free sweeteners can raise your insulin levels initially, and that's because your taste buds tell the brain that sugar is coming and the body prepares in advance for insulin secretion. Studies suggest that stevia can also raise insulin levels, so that should be avoided as well.

When insulin levels are low, it cues our bodies to use stored fat for energy, explained Dr. Donaldson. And even though you think you're still fasting because you're only drinking coffee with a little sugar-free sweetener or cream, or you're consuming something under 35 calories, if your body produces insulin, then it won't turn to your stored fat for energy.

Your body will have the same response to sugar-free beverages such as sodas and sports drinks, said Dr. Petre, so it's best to avoid these as well and stick to clean fasting.

If gum is sweetened with artificial sweeteners, then yes, it could also trigger insulin secretion as discussed above due to the taste buds and brain connection, explained Dr. Petre.

Another issue with chewing gum or consuming a sugar-free beverage while fasting, explained Dr. Jason Fung, MD, a nephrologist (kidney specialist) and author of The Complete Guide to Fasting, is that "gum is usually not recommended because the act of chewing and the sweetness usually triggers salivation and hunger." So for some, even if you chew sugarless gum or drink a diet soda, it might actually make fasting harder.

Don Brown, MD, CEO and founder of the LIFE Fasting app, said "the popular concept of clean fasting doesn't necessarily have a strong scientific rationale." The important thing is that in clinical research studies, even when people consume a small number of calories, flavored water, broth, or other artificially sweetened, calorie-free beverages while fasting, intermittent fasting for periods of 16 or more hours has been shown to have measurable health benefits.

If you're feeling great intermittent fasting and sipping on coffee with a little cream and stevia, chewing gum, or drinking sugar-free beverages, then I say that's a win! But if you're not feeling great or achieving the weight-loss results you want, it's worth trying clean fasting.

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What Is Clean Fasting, and How Will It Help You Speed Up Weight Loss? - POPSUGAR

Weight loss teas promise to boost your metabolism, burn away stomach fat, and even "teatox" your body.

What tea marketers don't tell you is that drinking these brews might also be associated with more missed periods, unplanned pregnancies, and permanent gut damage.

Social media influencers can make thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars promoting these teas as fundamental weight loss strategies. But Instagrammers and YouTube stars are not required to vet, understand, or even actually drink the things that they post about.

It turns out the heart-healthy teas that you might actually want to drink, which are scientifically-linked with good health outcomes, are both cheaper than a "teatox" detox tea and much safer for your body in the long run. Here's what to know.

Actress Jameela Jamil has been a vocal opponent of weight loss teas. Her online petition to end celebrity promotions of "toxic diet products" on social media has garnered more than 244,000 signatures. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Detox teas don't do much in the way of helping people lose weight.

"If you want to 'curb your appetite' eat some damn green vegetables or have some nutritious natural vegetable soup," The Good Place star Jameela Jamil, who started a body-positive #iweigh movement on social media, said on Instagram last year, railing against the diet tea industry.

Jamil is correct that detox teas are not a science-backed way to lose weight. At best, they may lead to more urination and bowel movements, and at worst, they can do serious harm.

Instagram told Insider that it recently began blocking weight loss product ads to Instagrammers under age 18. The platform also promised to remove from the platform any content that "makes a miraculous claim" about diet or weight loss.

"I've been working with Instagram all year towards this," Jamil said on her Instagram page after the new policy took effect on September 18. "If you're under 18, you will no longer be exposed to any diet/detox products, and for all other ages; all fad products that have bogus, unrealistic claims will be taken down and easy to report."

People drink tea at a Taoist temple tea house. Szechuan Province, China. Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

There is good reason why tea is considered the most popular drink in the world (after water).

In places around the globe where it's not always safe to drink out of the tap, making a well-boiled tea from leaves or ricewater can be a great way to stay hydrated, without getting any waterborne illnesses.

But not all tea is created equal. Green tea is one of the healthiest options, studies suggest, because it may help lower blood pressure and is rich in plant chemicals called flavonoids.

Flavonoids are not unique to tea; they're also abundant in fruits (especially citrus), veggies, chocolate, and wine. The way that these plant chemicals work inside humans is still something of a mystery to science, but researchers have discovered that they tend to be associated with better vascular health, and what look like decent heart health benefits (hold the milk for best results, and go easy on the sugar).

Weight loss claims about teas are more contentious. Many of the studies that people use to bolster diet tea claims have been done in mice, not people.

Some scientists are intrigued by appetite-regulating chemicals called catechins that are especially common in green and oolong tea varieties.

There is evidence that, at least for some people, drinking catechin-rich green tea can help burn more fat. But experts treat these findings with caution, as the studies tend to be small, the effects minimal, and the results not entirely conclusive. (Some research, for example, has only been performed on small groups of men, while other results find ethnic differences to the benefits of tea-drinking.)

Another issue with bigger, population-based studies is that tea-drinkers tend to have healthier lifestyles overall, making it difficult to tease out how many of the observed health benefits researchers see in them are really from the tea they drink.

It is also possible to drink too much tea, no matter what kind. The plant chemical oxilate, abundant in tea, can prompt kidney trouble, if you consume glasses upon glasses (like, really a lot, say, 16) every day.

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Some teas aren't "diet" at all, they're just emptying out your insides. Literally.

Many teas contain laxatives and diuretics, all-natural or not. Some of these teas are designed, quite simply, to get things moving out the back end, while others perpetuate dangerous myths about how they can prompt rapid weight loss.

"The 'weight loss' caused by a laxative-induced bowel movement contains little actual food, fat, or calories," the National Eating Disorders Association says on its website. "If the chronic laxative abuser refuses to re-hydrate, they risk dehydration, which further taxes the organs and which may ultimately cause death."

Drinking laxative-laced teas regularly can lead to laxative dependency, effectively shutting down a person's colon, and potentially damaging their liver, too.

Some of the other serious side effects of laxative useinclude fatigue, rectal bleeding, dizziness (often associated with dehydration), and weakness. That's why doctors recommend laxatives should only be used to treat constipation now and then, and not every day.

Dieters who've tried one celebrity-endorsed "teatox" have complained to outlets including Vice and The Daily Mail that they were missing periods and getting pregnant while on birth control.

Green tea, on the other hand, is generally considered fine to drink during pregnancy, as long as sippers stick to a cup or less per day. (The caffeine in green tea, just like coffee, is linked with more premature babies and lower birth weights, when drank with abandon.)

If you enjoy a little green tea, it can be a great and inexpensive way to stay warm, get some caffeine, and maybe even help regulate your appetite.

But tea can be dangerous when people use it to avoid eating real food. Diet teas don't work, and you'll stay far healthier eating a balanced diet, rich in nutrient-dense plants, without the gut-bomb diarrhea-inducing diet cleanses.

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The weight loss' teas you've seen on Instagram are a scam, but there are teas with appetite-curbing benefits - INSIDER

She slowly eased her way into exercise

Once I was 215 pounds, I kind of felt like I was just going to be stuck there forever, Dukes says. My mindset was really poor and I didnt enjoy exercise and I couldnt honestly even think of what life was like before I packed on the weight, because I felt very stuck in my body.

She says she didnt exercise at all.

And it felt very hard for me to move my body, she says, and frankly, I also felt very embarrassed to go to the gym. I felt like I didnt know what I was doing.

To get started, she set a goal for herself: In the beginning, it was just move my body every day, do a little bit more than I did yesterday.

Dukes signed up for a gym membership. Every day, she worked out on the elliptical for 20 minutes.

In the beginning, 20 minutes on the elliptical felt like I was dying each day, she says.

That eventually became a lot easier because my body got stronger. I built up my endurance and my strength, and so thats when it became more fun, she says.

She adds, I found I was able to do a lot more than I was beforehand because it made me want to try new things.

After about six months, Dukes says she had lost about 30-40 pounds. She started to do more high-intensity training with weights.

Losing weight can be difficult, but its important not to fixate on the end goal, says Dukes. Its easy to look at how far we have to go and feel very discouraged by that, she says.

She says to focus on one day at a time.

Focus today on making good nutrition choices, moving your body, and then tomorrow, doing a little bit more, she says. Maybe drink a little more water, get a little more activity in. Maybe rather than taking the elevator, take the stairs. Just do a little more, because all of those healthy habits compound over time, and they snowball into big results.

She says its also important to focus on having a healthy mindset.

Its not some diet or some weight loss kick that youre going to be on, says Dukes. Just make the decision to be healthy and never stop. If youre making those health decisions every day, its going to compound.

Dukes says losing weight feels amazing.

I never thought I would be in the shoes I am in today, but losing the weight has completely changed my life, she says.

She says her weight loss isnt about the weight on the scale or being able to fit into a smaller size.

Just genuinely loving how you feel and what you look like and having the confidence, it changes everything in life, says Dukes.

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How this woman lost 75 pounds: Gradual lifestyle changes were the key to her weight loss success - NBC News

Teens and young adults with anorexia are at risk of life-threatening illness even if their weight falls within a "normal" range.

That's the conclusion of a new study that looked at "atypical anorexia," or cases in which patients show all the symptoms of anorexia with the exception of low body weight. In the past, these cases were considered less severe than typical anorexia cases, but the new study found that both types show the same signs of severe malnutrition. "Patients with atypical anorexia are just as sick, medically but they may be even sicker, psychologically," said Dr. Neville Golden, a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine and co-author of the new study. Although recognized in the diagnostic manual for mental health disorders, the DSM-5, atypical anorexia may remain underdiagnosed, Golden said.

"The assumption is that doctors in the community are not recognizing it," he said. The oversight may place patients at risk of cardiac arrest, bone degradation and even death, Golden and his colleagues found.

The new study, published Nov. 5 in the journal Pediatrics, shows that there's no connection between an anorexic patient's weight and the actual severity of their condition. In the end, the number on the scale matters far less than the sheer amount of weight patients lose over the course of their illness both normal-weight and underweight patients fare worse the more weight they drop.

Related: Understanding Weight: BMI & Body Fat

"There's no weight or BMI that equals [an] eating disorder," said Dr. Casey Cottrill, the medical director of the eating disorders program at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who was not involved with the study. Over the last five to 10 years, the number of normal-weight people hospitalized for anorexia treatment has spiked, she said. Recent studies estimate that one-third of patients admitted to hospitals for anorexia treatment are of normal weight. In both atypical and typical cases, the signs of malnutrition appear the same, but patients of normal or above-average weight may suffer longer before being noticed.

In light of this, doctors must watch for signs of disordered eating and malnutrition in all patients, regardless of size, Cottrill said.

Although atypical anorexia has gained recognition, still, "when one thinks of malnutrition, one thinks of low weight," Golden said. To learn whether low-weight anorexic patients actually fare worse in clinic, Golden and his colleagues organized the largest, most comprehensive assessment of normal-weight adolescents with anorexia to date.

The study compared 50 teens and young adults with atypical anorexia with 66 patients who met the traditional diagnostic criteria, meaning their weight fell below 85% of what would be expected for their height and age. The participants ranged in age from 12 to 24 years old and received treatment for their disorders during the study. More than 90% of participants were female. (Anorexia is about 3 times more common in females compared with males, according to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).)

The authors compared the patients' current weights, histories of weight loss and vital signs; and found that regardless of participants' weight at admission, those with more dramatic weight losses appeared more severely ill.

Patients who lost a large amount of weight, fast, displayed the lowest heart rates among those in the study. In fact, for every 2% increase in the rate of weight loss per month, patients' heart rates measured 1 beat per minute slower in the hospital. A dangerously low heart rate points to a larger problem: poor nutrition leaves the heart with too little fuel to pump properly while also forcing the body to break down heart tissue for much-needed energy, according to NEDA. Clinicians usually hospitalize patients whose heart rates clock below 50 beats per minute, as their condition can quickly deteriorate into complete heart failure, Cottrill said.

Related: What Is Mental Health?

Patients with atypical and typical anorexia showed similar dips in other critical measures of health. Both groups had dangerously low blood pressure and became dizzy when moving from lying down to sitting up or standing. Both groups showed deficiencies in key electrolytes such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium nutrients that help vital organs like the heart running smoothly. The patients who lost the most weight, or had been losing weight for an extended period, had the lowest electrolyte levels.

All female patients who had begun menstruating stopped having regular periods, meaning their bodies were no longer producing enough estrogen to maintain their normal cycles. Without estrogen, the growing patients' bones could not absorb calcium as they should during puberty, Cottrill said.

Overall, both groups of patients appeared similar on all counts except one. Those with atypical anorexia actually ranked worse on a questionnaire designed to measure the severity of their eating disorder psychopathology. The poor scores suggest that those with atypical anorexia may be more fixated on losing weight, restricting their food intake and burning off calories than those with typical anorexia. Anecdotally, the patients seemed "very fearful of getting back to their [original] weight," Golden said.

Future research should investigate the best treatment for cases of atypical anorexia, particularly cases in which patients are overweight or obese, since very little data exists in this area, Cottrill said. Weight gain normally comes along with both the physical and psychological treatment of anorexia, but with overweight patients, it's difficult to gauge how much weight they need to regain. More research must be done on how different bodies react to malnutrition and how best to treat patients of different sizes, Cottrill said.

In addition, when treating obesity, doctors must learn how to help people lose weight sustainably, without resorting to drastic measures, Golden said. By monitoring patients more closely, perhaps physicians can catch poor habits before they fester into a full-fledged eating disorder, he suggested. The first step, of course, is to raise awareness of what disordered eating looks like.

"I think there's a lack of awareness of atypical anorexia nervosa, even among clinicians," said Dr. Avinash Boddapati, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in the Northwell Health network, who was not involved with the study. As a psychiatrist, Boddapati said he can address the underlying emotional distress and harmful coping mechanisms that lead to disordered eating. But to tackle the problem head-on, pediatricians and parental guardians need to work together to monitor signs of atypical anorexia.

"The big take home message is to focus, not just on the weight, but on the rate of weight loss," he said.

Psychiatrists can also screen for rapid and extensive weight loss in their patients, "even kids [who fall] within a normal weight range," said Dr. Peng Pang, an adolescent psychiatrist at Staten Island University Hospital in New York. First, mental health professionals should ensure that their patients are physically stable, and refer them to a hospital if their health may be compromised, said Pang, who wasn't involved with the study. Then, once the patient's vital signs are restored, psychiatrists can work with patients to find new, sustainable coping mechanisms.

"Regardless of the body weight, I think the message is that you have to intervene, immediately and aggressively," Pang said.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Teens with Anorexia May Be 'Dangerously Ill' Even if They Are Not Underweight - Livescience.com