[MightySunTzu]

Originally Posted by seanner689

The thing that never made sense to me is that if you're eating 2000cal for example and spend (2000 minus X)calories digesting that food, you have X calories left for moving, living, and healing the body.

If you eat nothing, you actually have to break down energy within your body for anything you want to do. So if you fast, you'd have to break down X calories within your body just to be able to go about your daily day, and then after that your body is somehow going to say "hmmm, maybe i should further deplete my evolutionary safety net of fat reserves to repair this bum knee that I 'never had energy to fix' when I had a constant influx of calories"?

Greetings, Greetings Seanner,

I see what you are saying... it seems counter-intuitive to believe that with no energy intake our body actually becomes better able to heal itself.

But nevertheless, i believe that's actually the way it works. Digestion is a massive undertaking within our bodies and the more we are digesting, the less energy we have left over for cleansing and healing. The energy derived by burning stored body fat, without any of the digestive efforts is the secret. A very big part of what a fast does is enable us (by not expending 80-90% of our energy digesting) to eliminate a ton of toxins within our body. The elimination of these toxins brings about unspeakable benefits:

Benefits of Fasting

Mental clarity is improved and brain fog is lifted.
Rapid, safe weight loss is achieved without flabbiness
The nervous system is balanced
Energy level and sensory perception is increased. The longer the fast, the bigger increase in energy and vitality. You normally need less sleep.
Organs are revitalized
Cellular biochemistry is harmonized
The skin becomes silky, soft, and sensitive
There is greater ease of movement
Breathing becomes fuller, freer and deeper
The digestive system is rejuvenated and becomes more effective; the peristaltic action of the intestines (the cause of a natural bowel movement) is stronger after fasting.
Fasting retrains your tasting sense back to more healthy food as acute sensitivity is restored.
Fasting can increase confidence in our ability to have control over our lives and our appetite, and that our body is self-regulating and a self-healing organism capable or establishing balance when given the possibility to do so.
Normal metabolic and cell oxygenation are restored.
Detoxification - as soon as the body realizes that it's fasting it will begin to eliminate those things that cause disease, such as fat cells, arterial cholesterol plaques, mucus, tumors, stored up worries and emotions.

from: Fasting

Originally Posted by seanner689

People who fast don't have extra energy from not having to digest food, they are often staying at home, resting and avoiding strenuous activities. From everything I read on these forums, your body encourages as little energy expenditure as possible while fasting; to spend extra energy going around curing random ailments doesn't make sense.

I'll propose an alternate, equally kooky idea:

When you're fasting, your body can't fix any of its ailing parts ... no energy. It stops sending pain signals because it doesn't want your body to think that those parts need fixing.

haha, yes this sounds a bit kooky .

Aches and pains that disappear during the fast are not just a temporary mirage that re-appear once we begin to re-feed. These symptoms do not return until we re-toxify our bodies... if that is the unfortunate route we choose to take.

As another point of debate against the "disabled pain centers theory", in my last fast, i bumped my shin against an open drawer. It would have been really nice had my pain sensors not been working, but alas this was not the case. It stung like a mother.

It is true that we don't have the extra energy during a fast to lift weights or do 50 yard sprints but we do have the energy to cleanse... and our bodies devote themselves in near entirety to this function... and this cleansing leads to healing.