[hanklazard]

I agree that fasting seems natural and as a doctor (though not an endocrinologist) I can tell you that it is generally safe for most people with what I would call "normal" physiology.

However, the discussion here is not about people with "normal" human physiology.

Remember what diabetes is: simplistically, it's the inability to properly regulate the glucose in the blood vs in the cells. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune condition that results in the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Without insulin, blood glucose levels elevate but the cells of the body continue to starve.

Type I diabetics are basically trying to synthetically replace the activity that their pancreas would be performing through a combination of carefully regimented eating (including very close attention paid to carbohydrate) and blood glucose checks / insulin injections. Suddenly changing over to a fasting diet without careful supervision from a physician could be lethal for a type I diabetic.

I hope that helps clarify.