Fasting

[sthomson]

I've fasted before - there's lots of information on the internet about religious fasting, with great tips, if you can ignore the "pray to god for strength every time you have a hunger pang" bits.

- Talk to your doctor before you start. I am not your doctor.
- drink lots of water and fruit juice. No caffeinated beverages.
- Take it easy! Don't decide to take the engine out of your car or resod the back lawn during this period. Heck, I was uncomfortable driving, because I tended to get a bit light-headed.
- Don't fast for more then 5-7 days.
- Take it slow when you start eating again. Your first meal should be very small.

 

[DRBUZZ0]

I am a food addict and I wanted to lose weight, so I see this as a sort of mental preparation to overcome hunger. Also I just wanted to see if I could do it for a few days. Why not?

Bad idea dude. First of all, the whole over dieting thing can mess up your matabalism causing you to end up gaining weight. Secondly, this is a great way to eat away muscle tissue which ends up shooting yourself in the foot anyways. On top of that you can end up cracking and eating a lot more when you get off of this fast because you're so glad to be eating food.

I suggest you try a more traditional diet and exercise regiment. Common sense basically: Start off slow and exercise. Cut out soda and such. Try to eat meals and not snacks. Don't eat less just eat better. It's basically the stuff you've heard before. It isn't hard to know what to do. it's more hard to stick to it.

Oh and of course... if you're actually planning on doing this to any real extent, which it sounds like you are, probably ought to have a doctors opinion at the very least.

But in any case what you're doing is probably the worst way to go about it. It'll probably be effective in the short-run but it's shooting yourself in the foot.

Oh and as far as how long you can live? If you're in good health and of a relatively decent weight, then as said earlier... 3 weeks or so before any major serious damage would probably be a reasonable estimate.

But then again, it's not unheard of for people to go 2-3 months before actually dying of hunger. I mean remember when David Blain went for 45 days? That's not that far off for a young person of decent health. I'm sure he could have gone another few days before it became fatal. Hell, maybe even 60 days.

But... don't do that. Be sensable and prolly should see your doc anyway

 

[Gravy]

Bad idea dude. First of all, the whole over dieting thing can mess up your matabalism causing you to end up gaining weight.

He's trying it to see what it's like. Let him be the judge of whether or not it's a bad idea. And it's "metabolism."

Secondly, this is a great way to eat away muscle tissue which ends up shooting yourself in the foot anyways.

Nonsense. He's doing it for a few days, not for weeks.

On top of that you can end up cracking and eating a lot more when you get off of this fast because you're so glad to be eating food.

I suppose that's possible, but if you're used to overeating and then fast, your stomach shrinks, making it difficult to overindulge when you start eating again.

I suggest you try a more traditional diet and exercise regiment. Common sense basically: Start off slow and exercise.

Read his post. He is aware of this and didn't say he was fasting long-term to lose weight.

I mean remember when David Blain went for 45 days? That's not that far off for a young person of decent health. I'm sure he could have gone another few days before it became fatal. Hell, maybe even 60 days.

Jeebus. David Blaine fools people for a living. Get it?

 

[DRBUZZ0]

Jeebus. David Blaine fools people for a living. Get it?

Well yeah, but by all accounts that was not an illusion but a feet of endurance for money and attention... which is the other thing he does.

Anyway, there are documented cases of people going 50-60 days on only water before it became a fatal issue. The world record is even longer:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/04/uk.blaine/

The psycological effects of overeating after times without food have been documented: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

That is one.

 

[BenBurch]

Diets never work.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Well yeah, but by all accounts that was not an illusion but a feet of endurance for money and attention... which is the other thing he does.

By whose accounts? The people who believe the tricks? By Blaine and his PR people?

All that physical preparation for a difficult stunt stuff is just to hype up the trick.

 

[BenBurch]

People have fasted for a very long time (usually involuntarily) and survived, but I don't think any physician would recommend the practice. I recall one story about a survival raft in the Pacific in WW-II where they went like 100 days, but I think they strangled a couple of sea birds somewhere along there and ate them.

 

[DRBUZZ0]

By whose accounts? The people who believe the tricks? By Blaine and his PR people?

All that physical preparation for a difficult stunt stuff is just to hype up the trick.

So what is your point? You think Blaine was getting nutrients through the hose or something? Okay fair enough. it doesn't change anything.

Surviving without food for 45 days is not "Magic" it's entirely within reasonable limits. Barry Horn, the animal rights activist did a series of long hunger strikes and was not in very good physical condition when he started his last one. He died of liver failure after 68 days.

Here's an interesting article about a hunger strike that lasted a damn long time. The first deaths did not occur for 74 days:
http://www.iacboston.org/golive_pages/thelongest-hs.html

This article quotes one hunger strike has going over a year before death occurred:

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/451378


There are numerous hunger strikes which lasted more than 60 days without deaths occurring.

 

[RobRoy]

I'm currently fasting for a few days. I knew there are few, if any, physical benefits of fasting but I wanted to know how dangerous it is. How long can someone fast before it starts to do damage to the body? (I'm talking about only drinking water)

Everyone seems to be hung up on your eating and exercise habits, but it seems you want to know just two things:

1 - How dangerous is fasting?
2 - How long someone can fast before damage starts?

If I'm wrong on these two, please let me know and I'll adjust accordingly.

Let me open by saying that I have Crohn's Disease, which is similar to ulcerative colitis. I might actually wish this on my worst enemy, but they'd have to have killed my dog or stolen my Bible or something like that. On occasion, I am required to fast for any number of reasons. I am always under the care of my physician.

Now, to answer the first question, the danger in fasting depends on the length of time you plan to fast. It goes up by percentages the longer you go. I should define here that fasting means no intake of food, but water as wanted. Some fasting allows for a peice of fruit, or a broth soup once a day. Water should not be used as a substitute for the food. It is possible to harm/poison yourself by drinking too much. The longer the time, the greater the danger. Any fasting over three days should be done only under a physician's care.

How long is completely dependant upon the person. Diabetics, obviously, have a much harder time of it as someone with a very slow metabolism. For this reason, I would reject almost anyone's estimate who doesn't have an M.D. after their name, and doesn't have access to your personal medical files.

Long-story-short, make an appointment to see your doctor, ask him/her your questions, get his/her opinion, and go from there.

 

[BenBurch]

Have to retract that last statement.

The book I read (when I was but a sprout) was "The Raft" by Robert Trumbull, which is about aviators in an open raft with basically no survival equipment for 34 days.

There HAVE been 100+ day life raft survivals, though I am not sure if starvation was involved in them.

 

[tkingdoll]

People have fasted for a very long time (usually involuntarily) and survived, but I don't think any physician would recommend the practice. I recall one story about a survival raft in the Pacific in WW-II where they went like 100 days, but I think they strangled a couple of sea birds somewhere along there and ate them.

Eat the liver first, it has more good stuff than a hunk of birdflesh.

What?

 

[karmicserenade]

A what now?

Cutting out toxic stuff like caffeine, bread, booze, red meat, dairy etc, and drinking lots of lemon water....eating tons of greens and veggies, you know a cleanse...it is good for you! I do it every so often, say for a weekend even

Nothing bad about that

 

[Slimething]

Cutting out toxic stuff like caffeine, bread, booze, red meat, dairy etc, and drinking lots of lemon water....eating tons of greens and veggies, you know a cleanse...it is good for you! I do it every so often, say for a weekend even

Nothing bad about that

Everything is toxic, even greens and veggies. At least some of us get to choose our poisons.

 

[DRBUZZ0]

Cutting out toxic stuff like caffeine, bread, booze, red meat, dairy etc,

Nothing toxic I see there. Well, alcohol is toxic technically and caffeine in very large doses. But in any case. There's nothing actually toxic listed there, assuming you don't eat copious amounts of it.

and drinking lots of lemon water....

Not sure what the benefit other than the water having a lemon taste to it, if you like that. Anyways, nothing wrong with drinking lemon water. Not that it does anything special...

eating tons of greens and veggies

Um.. well greens and veggies are low in calories and have fiber so I guess that's good. Not sure how they're any less "toxic" than bread or red meat. In any case... that's fine too. Not gona do anything special, but if you like salad then knock yourself out.

you know a cleanse...it is good for you! I do it every so often, say for a weekend even

No I don't know. "cleanse" I'm not sure what that means, but I suspect it goes along with the whole idea of being filled with toxins from the modern world and that whole thing...

Nothing bad about that

meh. there are worse.

 

[BenBurch]

Yeah, "cleansing" is a form of woo, unless of course you are actually reacting badly to some foodstuff you regularly consume. Some people find certain things indigestible owing to differences in our metabolisms, and they *do* feel better after changing their whole diet. The key there is to eliminate one foodstuff at a time until you get the same effect as you get when you "clense" and then you know what to avoid.

Humans have all sorts of differences, some genetic, some acquired, that can mean that we react differently to the same food.

For example, I simply cannot have chocolate; It causes week-long blinding migraines with stroke-like onset. An ER doctor quizzed me on what I had been eating and when I told him "chocolate flavored coffee", he said "That's it!" I've avoided chocolate since 1985 and only a handful of migraines since. I used to get them every couple of weeks.

 

[skeptifem]

Look, I know how to really lose weight. Exercise and healthy eating is the way to go and I am well aware of this. This is just sort of an experiment to test myself.

your mood will probably take a serious dive, and then youll just start feeling really weird.

i mean, fasting isnt the best thing you could do... but a few days isnt going to kill you or anything. so good luck.

 

[RobRoy]

Not sure what the benefit other than the water having a lemon taste to it, if you like that. Anyways, nothing wrong with drinking lemon water. Not that it does anything special...

I have heard that a half a fresh lemon squeezed into cold water will help reduce hunger, especially when dieting. I have no idea if this is a mental or physical attribute to lemon water.

Red wine, on the other hand, has been shown in some studies to have health benefits . . . especially if you're trying to procreate!

 

[karmicserenade]

Supposedly lemon has a cleansing effect of the liver...I don't really know how it does this, I am not a dietitian, but whatever, it is tasty.

Cutting out red meat (which is pumped full of hormones, as is all meat) helps, and as long as you wash your greens, that rids them of toxins...

Caffeine is a diuretic, which is not a good thing, it actually takes water from your body..and how can that be a good thing?

I don't consider a 'cleanse' to be woo, it is simply eliminating calorie laden things from your diet....how is that woo?? Cleanse is simply a popular term used for the diet..

I think if you truly want to lose weight, you will do whatever is right for you, sometimes being bombarded with advice works against you...

I wish you all best in your endeavor

 

[Slimething]

I don't consider a 'cleanse' to be woo, it is simply eliminating calorie laden things from your diet....how is that woo??

The woo part is that you're not cleansing anything. Food in its own right is toxic. Lettuce is toxic to some extent or it wouldn't exist anymore. All you're really doing with the "cleansing" is exchanging foods that you think are more harmful to you for others which you believe are less harmful to you. There is no evidence for those beliefs unless you are seriously overconsuming one type of food and that depends on your metabolism and genetics.

Cleanse is simply a popular term used for the diet..

Use "depuration" or "depurate". That's the scientific term and will really wow your crowd.

 

[Madalch]

Cutting out red meat (which is pumped full of hormones, as is all meat) helps, and as long as you wash your greens, that rids them of toxins...

I've often had moose, elk, venison, bison, and other meats with no hormones other than what the animal naturally produced- if they were pumped full of hormones, then someone must have been putting posters of naked does on the trees.

Most pesticides have low solubility in water, so washing your greens doesn't really do a lot to get rid of them.