31 Day Challenge-- No Food, Just Water-- Fasting

[ginkgo]

A side effect of fasting is getting cold a lot. But I do not need to worry about that in July. So I will try to fast and only consume water for 31 days. Also I am thin and do not need to lose any weight. So my body will not need to burn more calories to keep me warm.

My goal is anti-aging and good luck, like more prosperity. I will not mention my age but I would I figure that 30 days can reduce my biological age by 10 years (not to be confused with chronological age). The more you eat, the faster you age. Restrict calories, increase life span? Not so easy - Los Angeles Times Fasting gives your body a chance to reverse that. Three years ago I fasted 22 days. Nine months ago I fasted for 18 days.

Please note that fasting can be dangerous. If I could afford it, I would pay a professional faster like Joel Fuhrman, M.D. to supervise my fast. About 1 in every 100 people can develop low potassium levels by the 10th day during a fast and the fast must be broken immediately since it can result in death. The pro mentioned above checks blood levels.

Note that I am not a doctor so I cannot give medical advice. Other side effects of fasting is having lots of extra time. No need for food shopping, bringing it home, making meals, eating and cleaning up.

Also I read that Steve Pavlina spent a fortune on fresh produce during his 30 day juice fast. I purify (R/O) my own water. Ben Franklin says that fasting can earn you money. He said "A penny saved is a penny earned." So fasting saves me the money that I would spend on food.

Here is what I do know about Fasting. There is an anomaly with my weight. It should read higher than it does. I watched a guy at a carnival guess everyone's weight correctly within 15 pounds for a half hour. If he guesses wrong, then you win. With me he guessed too high by over 15 pounds.

I already started last Sunday July 12, 2007 when I weighed 115 pounds. After fasting for 8 days, I weigh 102 pounds. I did not have much cleansing symptoms since I had a great diet before the fast. In the past I have started fasts after being on a bad diet and I would get horrible cleansing symptoms.

I will not mention my age but I am of the same generation as Michael Jackson. If at some point you do not hear from me, then that means that something has happened to me. Juice fasting for a month is not dangerous compared to a water fast.

Now the worst thing for me is the psychological addiction to food. Not including sex, for most people eating is the the major enjoyment and entertainment in life. Many forms of entertainment include it like going out to dinner, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, going to the movies (popcorn), going to baseball games (hot dogs), football games (beer), barbecues and more. Feel free to add any that I did not mention.

Also the rhythm and timing of the day is built around meals. So all that is missing in my life now. So I am learning to live differently. In the bible, fasting has been used for mourning after someone died.

So I am even free to say that I am mourning the death of the King of Pop. Also regardless of anyone's beliefs, when they fast, they get all the benefits whether mental, physical or metaphysical. Pythagoras fasted to become smarter. Jesus fasted for God knows what reasons.

Physically I pretty much feel the way I normally do. Also when it comes to drinking water, I do not play any mental games like going without it or drinking too much. I just drink when I am thirsty just like all the other 'dumb' mammals do in nature. Also I will break my fast at the first sign that I should.

The main thing about fasting is the way you can tell if somebody is fasting. Say that someone says that they have been fasting 2 or more days. How can you tell if they are telling the truth or lying. Just have them stick out their tongue. It will have a white coat on it.

On a juice fast or lemonade diet, the white coat can be many other colors. So I have been looking at my tongue at least 10 times a day. That way I can visually see that my body is expelling toxins at an accelerated rate. Also I can see how heavily my tongue is coated.

I am still wondering if MightySunTzu had the coat on his tongue clear when he said that he had true hunger that is a sign to break the fast. He covered his 30 day fast on here recently. Fasting is a good time to do some yoga.

[jr1]

Hi Ginko,
I wish you luck and will be following your progress. I broke a juice feast, and decided to stop on the 3rd stay because I didn't want to deal with the depression I was experiencing. It isn't too impressive because of the short duration and the fact that I are still getting nutrients and sugar from the juice. But it was a big deal to me because it is the longest I have ever gone without solid food. My goal in the next couple months is to get through a 1 week water fast. I have been raw for about 6 months, and I consider myself to be very attached to food. I want to work towards diminishing my attachment to food so I can eat more controlled portions throughout the day without compulsively overloading on tasty raw food. And I think fasting is a good way to do that.
Sorry for the rambling. I wanted to let you know you have an audience

[ginkgo]

Thanks! You do not have to be concerned with how long you can do it. With practice and time, you get better at it. You can tell if the cleansing is happening at an accelerated rate if your have a coating on your tongue. Did your tongue have a coating during the juice fast?

[Inthon]

I love these fasting reports, best of luck to you!

[ginkgo]

Thanks! I have something else to report. The coating on tongue became much thicker today. I like seeing that since the cleansing is going faster. Now I do not know why it happened. It could be because after 8 days of fasting the body can cleanse faster.

But for the first time I took a walk in the woods near me and it became a long walk. I do know that fasters say that fresh air is important during the fast. In the woods, I cannot see any civilization and that is supposed to be very good for mental health.

Also the air in the woods has more oxygen in it since you are in the midst of all these trees that are turning carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen. I read that the Amazon rainforest creates 30% of earth's oxygen due to all those trees there. Also it is near a creek and lots of little streams. So it there could be aquatic stuff like algae producing oxygen.

But now I will make sure to do it much more. Philadelphia is a major city (6th biggest in country). Sometimes I am taking a walk with lots of cars going by me. I know that the walking is good for me, but now I am breathing harder and cars put out gases that can kill you in 15 minutes if you run your car in a closed garage.

For people with too much stress, it is good to walk in the woods where you cannot see anything made by man. The coating on the tongue is my body talking to me and telling me how the cleansing is going. It is like a progress report. If you break a fast with some fruit, the coating immediately disappears. But if you do not eat for 3 or 4 hours the coating comes back. I am not saying how long it will take for you, but you have your own tongue to tell you what is happening.

[TheEnthusiast]

Sounds great

[craftyjake]

30 days of just water?

although this is quite brave of you, i have to advise you to let your doctor know that you are doing this and to keep him/her up to date

30 days without food is life threatening

the benefits of fasting can be achieved in a 24-hour span... the law of diminishing returns says that by the end of one week without food the life-extension benefits and health benefits will have deteoriated

im not gonna tell you not to do this, but to be EXTREMELY careful

[Barcs]

30 days without food is life threatening

the benefits of fasting can be achieved in a 24-hour span... the law of diminishing returns says that by the end of one week without food the life-extension benefits and health benefits will have deteoriated

Both of these are not true.

If you listen to your body and break the fast at the proper time your life will not be in danger. Real starvation occurs when the body starts digesting its own organs to survive. This is when your life can be threatened. Yes, you should consult your doctor, but don't expect any positive motivation. The true benefits of fasting are certainly not achieved within 24 hours. You need at least 2-3 days before your body even begins to detox and heal damaged tissue. A 24 hour fast is not a fast and is not healthy. This can cause anhorexia or worse. A fast needs to be started gradually and then ended gradually. It's not a quick 1 day fix. Your tongue will not even turn white by then, which is a good indicator.

[ginkgo]

Craftyjake, thank you for the warning. I am being careful since I do not want to die. One M.D. fasted an obese guy and he died after 8 months of fasting! Joel Fuhrman, MD has fasted tens of thousands of people. He will never fast anyone over 50 days even though his mentor, Dr. Shelton (not an MD), would fast some longer.

If you do not hear from me, then that means that something has happened to me like death or a coma. I have no doctor. I think that I know more than doctors, not about stupid things like drugs but about health.

After 9 days of fasting, I missed eating so I stopped my fast. I decided to do urine therapy instead. That is where I drink my own urine. Sorry to disappoint the readers. No, just kidding! I am still fasting. I did not break my fast. I do not drink urine even though some swear by it.

During it I am only taking cold showers as mentioned on one thead and also I am not using any shampoo-- mentioned on another thread. Most of the time I forget that I am fasting. The coating on my tongue got lighter. Then I sunbathed for 2 hours and took a shower and it got heavier. I did not sunbathe around noon, but from 3:30 to 5:30PM.

No sunburn since I have already sunbathed a lot. I took a walk in the woods again and checked out another trail. Here is the bad thing. I have lived here for 22 years, 2 blocks from these woods around a creek and never explored these trails before. Also on the way back from the woods, I saw a meteor (falling star) and pointed it out to some people. It was still daylight outside. They were happy to see it.

I always check out the sky and see meteors and point them out to people. At first they thought it was a plane, but I pointed out that it was heading down and moving fast. The long tail is because it is burning up and most burn completely up before hitting the ground.

[jr1]

Hey Ginko,
To answer your question, I think I had a coating on my tongue during the juice fast. I didn't take too much notice of it, since I have always had a coating on my tongue, even before I went raw. Although I think it has let up a bit since I went raw. It's hard to tell because I habitually brush it every day.

[ginkgo]

Is it coated when you eat a normal cooked food diet. If you do not know then eat some junk food and see if it is still coated. It is not like if you do not brush your tongue, it will get cavities, rot and die and need to be pulled.

It appears that my psychological addiction to food is a fraction of what it was on previous fasts. My body has gotten good at fasting. So it is kind of uneventful except I amazed that I do not miss food. Over a decade ago, I did fast for 11 days and thought about food constantly. So I have fasted 11 days and I am now on my 12th day.

[ginkgo]

I am on the 13th day of my fast. Eating is great entertainment and lots of fun. That is why so many are obese. I do not enjoy not eating (fasting) one bit. But I am saving about $12 a day. Fasting is a sacrifice, but people who are willing to sacrifice can accomplish things.

The bible does not say what Jesus did before His fast but does cover what He did after his fast. I have never been addicted to a drug, but I am going through what they go through when breaking a psychological addiction.

[tsjechov]

Good luck, but i do agree that it is better to inform your doctor. Your life must be worth more than 12$ a day.

Fasting i see it only as a personal sacrifice. There can be a time for that... But people can also use their health and days working as a volunteer for animals, environmental causes, anti-poverty, children in need etc. That is, in my opinion, a real sacrifice.
I do see personal improvement as important for everyone, but not only for themselfes. I see personal improvement as a way of becoming stronger, healthy, secure to be able to be there for others too.

[ginkgo]

I am now on day 14 of my fast. My weight is 101 pounds so I am holding onto the weight which I need to do to last 31 days. Before the fast, my blood pressure was 180/105. High blood pressure is 140/90. See my other thread on fasting and high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) and Fasting

My blood pressure today was 136/98 and next reading was 142/93 so that averages to 139/95.5 which is borderline. But still not eating is not fun. There is a danger in fasting while not being supervised, but any doctor will tell you that a BP of 180/105 is also dangerously high. As mentioned on the other post, I do not take drugs like Michael Jackson did and that is what killed him at age 50.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by tsjechov

Good luck, but i do agree that it is better to inform your doctor. Your life must be worth more than 12$ a day.

Fasting i see it only as a personal sacrifice. There can be a time for that... But people can also use their health and days working as a volunteer for animals, environmental causes, anti-poverty, children in need etc. That is, in my opinion, a real sacrifice.
I do see personal improvement as important for everyone, but not only for themselves [spelling corrected]. I see personal improvement as a way of becoming stronger, healthy, secure to be able to be there for others too.

I do not have a doctor!

[SJD715]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

Thanks! You do not have to be concerned with how long you can do it. With practice and time, you get better at it. You can tell if the cleansing is happening at an accelerated rate if your have a coating on your tongue. Did your tongue have a coating during the juice fast?

Is the coating on your tongue the only way to tell? I am curious an thinking of doing this for a week to start. I am in the military so I have to work out alot and Im worried I wont have the energy.

[ginkgo]

It is the only one that I know of but there may be ways to tell by checking the blood but our ancestors could not do this. The Jews did lots of fasting and that is why the bible has 74 references to fasting.

[funchy]

This is not the bible. We are smart enough to know about things like electrolytes. Filtered water means you're not even getting trace minerals in your water.

The electrolytes your body has will be lost over time. This makes it harder and harder for the cells to maintain proper fluid balance or to do little things such as muscle contraction. Calcium is one of those ions that is essential for body function, and that will be flushed out as well. Your skeletal muscle has some calcium in reserve in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of the cells. Cardiac muscle does not, so the heart will struggle.

Blood pressure will become harder and harder to maintain without electrolytes. Your kidneys will begin to struggle. BP will drop when sodium is lost and not replaced. At a certain point, when BP gets too low, the nephrons that work as filters in your kidney will simply stop working without enough input pressure --> kidney failure.

As blood calcium drops lower and lower, parathyroid hormone tells bone cells to release stored calcium to keep the body going. In other words, bone mass a little bit each day.

The body needs glucose to function. Your nervous system can't run on fatty-acids the way muscle can, so your pancreas will release glycogen which is normal. Skeletal muscles and liver release their stored glucose when they get the glycogen signal. But when there isn't any more glucose to release, the liver is forced to kick in : gluconeogenesis converts amino acids (protein) and fats into glucose to keep the body alive. At this point, the source of the proteins cells need for normal function are diverted. Cells do *everything* via proteins, so all body cells begin to lose efficiency. Some may cease to function. Do it long enough, and this is where the muscle wasting comes from that people associate with long periods without food.

So, IMO I think this idea is unnecessarily dangerous & harmful.

In another post, you say you want to do it to deal with your high blood pressure. Until you address the reason for the high BP, you're not really healing anything. You're draining the body of the ions it needs to maintain a normal fluid function in its cells, without addressing why you have high BP. When you go back to eating normally and the electrolytes return to normal levels, your high BP will return. Any weight loss is likely to return quickly.

Instead of trying to diagnose yourself, have you talked to a good doctor about your history of hypertension? High BP can be caused by serious conditions such as kidney disease or narrowed arteries. May I suggest you look at the cause of your BP and address that, instead of trying of temporarily forcing it lower by flushing out all electrolytes? Also consider that if you have some sort of latent problem, stressing your body by starving for a month may make you very sick.

[ginkgo]

Funchy, the above information on curing high blood pressure is not from me. It is from a book by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. I just put it in my words since ideas are not copyrighted, but the sequence of words is. He has fasted over 10,000 people.

Maybe what you say is why he will not fast anyone over 50 days. The blood pressure stops dropping at a certain point on the fast. This forum has Mighty Sun Tzu's 30 day fast logged on it. One doctor fasted a fat guy for 8 months and he died. But that shows that a fat guy can go that long without food. The body is not stupid as you think.

It is brilliant with the memory of billions of years of evolution in its cells. When Oprah's doctor (Oz), had a very obese patient, he sent him to Dr. Fuhrman to be fasted. I gave you a source for my information. Do you have a source for your information. I own the book described below.

Funchy said "Until you address the reason for the high BP, you're not really healing anything." I thought that I described that Fuhrman's book says that the cause of essential (no known cause) HBP is the hardening of the arteries. See above for the Mayo Clinic info on this. When the walls of the arteries are flexible, they can expand and keep the pressure from getting too high.

When they are inflexible then when the heart pumps (that is the higher number in the fraction) the pressure is too high. Fasting removes the plaque (made of cholesterol, calcium and more) that is causing this. That is why (see above- I am repeating this) if you have a cholesterol level of 150 before the fast, then it can go up to over 300 during the fast. It is the cholesterol being taken away from the arteries, AKA good HDL cholesterol.

The plaque build-up hardens the walls of the arteries and makes them more narrow as you mentioned. It is simple plumbing. The fasting does not cause this cure but allows the body to do it. Only the body has the power to cure itself.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman (according wikipedia): "is an American author and board-certified family physician who specializes in nutritionally-based treatments for obesity and chronic disease."

"Fuhrman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine [first school of medicine in country & one of the top ten] and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Health Association. He serves on the Advisory Panel of The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, as well as on the medical staff of Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, New Jersey, where he specializes in nutritional medicine."

"Fuhrman is the author of six books. He has appeared on radio and television shows including: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, CBN,[2] The Today Show, Good Morning America, Discovery Channel,[3] TV Food Network, CNBC and XM Radio."

"Fuhrman advocates fasting (under qualified medical supervision) as a therapeutic modality for many chronic diseases for which conventional medicine would offer only palliative, if not harmful, treatment with drugs and surgery. His book Fasting and Eating for Health reports recoveries via fasting from ailments that were considered intractable."

The above link on the book is amazon.com. The book has in it the following:

"Dr. Fuhrman's powerful and practical guidelines apply for conditions ranging from the common cold to serious heart problems. This program provides an alternative to the costly and all-to-common side effects of sugery and drugs."--Andrew Nicholson, M.D., Director of Preventive Medicine, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine."

"This is where the future of medicine should be heading."--Ronald Cridland, M.D."

"This is neither alternative medicine nor conservative medicine, but rather progressive medicine. Dr. Fuhrman's approach offers individuals suffering from [chronic] diseases the only real chance for a meaningful cure. I have been fortunate to observe many of these outcomes firsthand and can testify to the power of this approach for certain diseases."--James Craner, M.D., M.P.H. [Masters in Public Health]"

"Dr. Fuhrman's book is revolutionary. It shows clearly and unmistakably the way to recover health, and could change the prevailing way of treating disease."--Theodore Coumentakis, M.D."

"If you are lucky, you will read Dr. Furhman's book before you have subjected yourself to medications and medical procedures. This book is for those who want to take charge over their health and well-being, and for those who want to embark on a journey toward a more satisfying life."--Don Jeret, M.D."

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor so I cannot give medical advice. I am not a lawyer so I cannot give legal advice. The above quotes are allowed on this site due to the fair use rule of copyright.

[BlackFalcon]

I really want to do it some day, just to know that i can do it, guess I'll do it next year.

[hkalchemy]

An interesting thing to do. I need to look into how eating less can reduce one's biological age. I don't think I eat much, but I'm not ready for this!

[BlackFalcon]

Originally Posted by hkalchemy

An interesting thing to do. I need to look into how eating less can reduce one's biological age. I don't think I eat much, but I'm not ready for this!

I don't thing that it can reduce one's biological age, but in some level it can make you feel better.

[Smartass]

I heard somewhere that fasting this long can exhaust the heart, so that for instance at the age of 50 it will just stop. I heard that the heart can only beat so many times and that fasting gives it a blow or something and uhh you die earlier?

Is that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ or truth?

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by hkalchemy

An interesting thing to do. I need to look into how eating less can reduce one's biological age. I don't think I eat much, but I'm not ready for this!

I got just what you need! Restrict calories, increase life span? Not so easy - Los Angeles Times Only proven anti-aging thing but there may be others now.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by BlackFalcon

I don't thing that it can reduce one's biological age, but in some level it can make you feel better.

Fasting is the best thing for anti-aging. See post below for more on this.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Smartass

I heard somewhere that fasting this long can exhaust the heart, so that for instance at the age of 50 it will just stop. I heard that the heart can only beat so many times and that fasting gives it a blow or something and uhh you die earlier?

Is that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ or truth?

I am on the 16th day of my fast now. Thank you for the interesting responses. You have hit the nail on the head about hearing things. People hear many myths everywhere including forums. In Philadelphia, a company sent a letter to all employees saying that if someone is driving at night with lights off, do not flash them so they can turn them on. Why?

Because people are playing a game and if you flash them, they will follow you and kill you. It is actually an urban myth just like waking up in a bathtub filled with ice and a kidney was cut out of you.

As far as truth, there is fact and opinion. Is it an opinion that Michael Jackson died? No. If the doctor says that you have cancer, is that a fact? No, because you can get a 2nd opinion.

So all answers to your question are opinion. But it actually is the opinion of Dr. Fuhrman (read all about him and his book in posts above) and Dr Shelton, who fasted 30,000 people, that fasting is anti-aging and makes your heart work much better since it is taking all that goo out of your blood. Fuhrman specializes in treating severe heart problems with fasting. Also read the opinions of 19 other MDs about fasting on this webpage: Fasting

Have you heard the saying "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Well that saying is wrong since you can have your cake and eat it. But that is not the saying. The saying is supposed to be "You can't eat your cake and have it too." People say "God bless you" when you sneeze since sneezing means that evil spirits are trying to possess you.

So if you get some information, consider (and remember) the source of it. Then you can say that all Jews should be killed according to Adolf Hitler instead of saying that I heard that all Jews should be killed. See the difference?

On the site in signature below on cancer it says that most people with cancer that die, die of chemotherapy. Then it explains that this was according to a garbage collector in a bar who was partially drunk. Just kidding. It tells that it is according to a renowned MD with a link to the site that it is from. It is actually in a book he wrote.

Abortion should be illegal. Abortion should be legal. These are opinions, but it is a fact that President Bush believes the former and President Obama believes the latter. So It try to make my statements into facts when I can.

[Smartass]

Ok ginkgo, first of all: impressing fasting. Wow 16 days no food. Don't you get like really skinny from doing that?

You try to make your statements into "FACTS FOR YOU"
If you are going to analyze everything, I would like to say that you could also vouch for "nothing is fact". Its all just subjective. I know, also this is not fact according to this. It's all very hypocrite. You probably heard this and thought about this before. My English isn't that good and it would take hours for me to explain my train of thought here so I'm sorry for my vagueness. Actually I just wanted to put the thing I've heard out there to provoke OPINIONS not fact. I thought it to be interesting to see what other people thought about it and what they had heard or experienced. Out of these opinions, my own experience and other situations, I can update my own view on reality. I CREATE MY OWN TRUTHS OR FACTS. If you say Micheal Jacksons' death is fact, I could say that it is not to me. I've never even seen or touched the guy and he might not even exist.

Anyways I guess my point is you shouldn't over-analyze everything. Oh and I heard it from my father who had known or saw someone on tv..I'm not really sure..that had done alot of fasting in life and died at the age of 50 something. My father said the fasting exhausted his heart.

I guess it's my daddy's word against your doctor huh?
Thank you for updating my facts here..

[ginkgo]

Yes there are facts that you experience but you can be fooled like with magic. Then the media might be wrong. So you can say that I try to be more factual. I do not think that you can over analyze on the subject of health since it is about life and death. One can die from fasting if it is done wrong.

The evidence you gave is anecdotal evidence. Wikipedia says: "Evidence, which may itself be true and verifiable, used to deduce a conclusion which does not follow from it, usually by generalizing from an insufficient amount of evidence. For example 'my grandfather smoked like a chimney and died healthy in a car crash at the age of 99' does not disprove the proposition that "smoking markedly increases the probability of cancer and heart disease at a relatively early age". In this case, the evidence may itself be true, but does not warrant the conclusion."

So here is some opposing anecdotal evidence. The movie Gandhi won an Oscar for best picture decades ago. You can watch it. Gandhi may be the famous faster in modern history unless you can come up with someone else. Gandhi did a great deal of fasting for long periods. But he did die at 89. That is not extremely old, but he died of a gun shot-- he was assassinated!

As far as getting skinny, a fat person does not have to worry about this. So for me I will walk for a half hour a day, but the rest of the day I take it very easing so I do not need to burn many calories. Michael Phelps on the other hand was eating 12,000 calories a day in the Olympics. Then my body is doing its best to conserve calories. You can read on my website how an MD says that this does not happen with very fat people-- slow down of metabolism.

Still fasting. If I do get too thin then I will break my fast. What is your primary language?

[Smartass]

You're probably right about that I should say from who I heard something right away lol. I speak dutch.

Good luck with your fast ginkgo!

[ginkgo]

I mentioned fasting being the best thing for anti-aging. Hopefully on this thread. One guy posted his 30 day fast. He would go without water for 18 hours no matter how thirsty he was and would drink over a gallon of water a day.

I am now on the 19th day of my fast with my last meal Sunday almost 3 weeks ago. The above thing with water is self-destructive and dangerous. While fasting and while not fasting, you should drink when you are thirsty. The above can make someone dehydrated. Also on a fast you need a lot less water so your kidneys get a rest. Drinking over a gallon a day (while fasting) is overworking your kidneys which is bad for the kidneys. It makes them age faster not slower.

Fasting cannot cure anything. Only the body can cure itself. But fasting gives the body a rest and vacation allowing it to do its job properly.

Now, Smart Ass, you gave a good example of what can happen above. If the guy above (MightySunTzu)(Sun Tzu wrote The Book of War centuries ago, but the above guy said that he was a Christian) had kidney failure then the news would say that Fasting Caused Kidney Failure. Then, Smart Ass, you would say that you heard that fasting destroys the kidneys. No-- drinking too much liquid does that.

So as far as anti-aging, the book I have is online so I did a search for flatworms and fasting but could not find it. So I added Shelton to the search and found it. The flatworm grows his whole life and when it gets to a certain age and size, it dies.

So when reaching that size and age, the flatworm would move like an old flatworm. They fasted the flatworm and it would shrink back to the size when it was a baby. But low and behold, it now had the energy and vitality of a baby. So they start feeding it again and then, when old, fasted it again. So they could do this many times and it lived many lives or at least 7 times its normal lifespan.

Here is the quote from the online book by Dr Shelton:

"Prof. C. M. Child, of the University of Chicago, took some small flat worms, worms which when fed, grow old, lazy and infirm, and chopped them up into small pieces and each piece grew into a new and young worm. He took some of the old worms and fasted them for a long time. They grew smaller and smaller, living off their own internal resources for months. Then, when they had been reduced to a minimum size, he fed them. They started to grow and were just as young in physiological condition as ever they were.

The planarian may continue to shrink until reduced to less than one-hundredth of its original size, to a size even below that at which it hatched from the egg. When this point is reached a supply of food will enable it to grow again.

These reduced worms have the proportions of young rather than those of old worms. They look rejuvenated. Prof. Child alternately fed and starved a group of these worms and caused them to live over a period of twelve generations. They showed no signs of progressive aging--whenever they were large, they were as old as ordinary worms of the same size; whenever they were small they were as young as ordinary young worms."

A caterpillar fasts and becomes a butterfly. A tadpole fasts and sunbathes and becomes a frog. The book has a whole section about animals and fasting.