Avoid Water Only

[Steve23]

I used to do water fasting 1-3 days a week for a while (a religious stint in my life). It certainly created more discipline in my life and caused me to be quite mentally focused, as I didn't have much caloric energy to gain from. I had to push pretty hard to get throught the second or third days.
I've also done similar fasting, avoiding almost all food but a few I selected for the fast. These times were just as mentally intense, but I had more energy and didn't risk long-term health as much.

I think for long-term health, it's better to get some nutrition daily, especially protein and some vitamins and minerals.
This may go against the grain of what others recommend, but I think eggs, especially raw, are a good element to include in a fast, with some citrus. Or blend some nuts and fruits and vegetables.

I think water only for an extended period of time borders on superstitious nonsense.

Thanks for entertaining my opinions.

[Aleksander Krstic]

You left out the option of one day. That's what I did.

[ssandra]

I too did one day (24 hours). It helps me kickstart a new lifestyle in eating, because for a short while it eliminates the cravings + it really showed me my dependense on food (mentally, not physically).

[Steve23]

Originally Posted by Aleksander Krstic

You left out the option of one day. That's what I did.

Yeah, sorry about that ... but I guess you can't change polls after they've already been created...

Thanks for the post, though

[Gene]

I have been in situations where I had no food for 14 days one time and 60 days another time. Neither of these fasts were by choice. I did drop a lot of weight during these periods without any food. At the end of the 60 days without food I was weighed more than 100 pounds less than just before the ordeal started. I almost died from the lack of nutrition.

I would be concerned if someone were to undertake a fast lasting more than a few days.

[Reader101]

I think it's kind of sad to starve oneself on purpose especially just on water (unless religion purposes). My high school psychology teacher was talking about how she visited children in Africa who only got water to eat... and they looked normal until you poked their stomach (because they told her to)... and your hand goes all the way through. It's nasty. I don't know how to correctly describe it in words. It's like poking a pillow... it inflates again afterwards but it's only filled with water. I thought it was really sad. Our class was doing pen-pals thing and raising money and stuff like that. If anyone does this, please don't do it for an extended amount of time. (And please at least take vitamin supplements)

[ginkgo]

Exercise can kill you if you do it wrong, but that does not mean that exercise is bad for you. It is not fasting if you do not have a choice in it like 2 of the examples above. It is a certainty that if you are prevented from eating, you will eventually die.

Sex and rape appear similar but there is a huge difference of it being one's choice or not. On Youtube, Oprah's doctor (Dr Oz) introduces Dr Fuhrman (M.D.) to talk about losing weight with a better diet. Dr Oz also has a foreword in one of Fuhrman's books. Hundreds of MDs have bought Fuhrman's latest book.

He has fasted tens of thousands of people on nothing other than water. The only reason he does this is to help people with health problems. Some come to him with serious health problems that other MDs have said require surgery.

He learned about fasting from Dr Shelton who fasted over 30,000 people on only pure water. He created Natural Hygiene. This site on Fasting has quotes from 19 MDs saying how beneficial it is to do fasting. One MD says on his site that fasting saved his life.

Famous people who have fasted include Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Pythagoras, Mark Twain, Dick Gregory and the 3 fathers of modern medicine-- Galen, Paracelsus and Hippocrates. Dick Gregory's book, Nig***, sold millions of copies.

If you try an experiment and eat the unhealthiest foods and most toxic foods there are for a couple of weeks and then fast for a week, you will feel really awful similar to a person who stopped smoking or taking heroin. These toxins that are stored in the body fat need to go back into the blood before the body can get rid of it. As far as people talking about doing it for an extended period of time, that is very vague. It could refer to 5 days or 5 months. Fuhrman mentions in his book on fasting that an MD fasted a fat guy for 7 months and he died. So that is too long even if the person has plenty of body fat. Fuhrman never fasts anyone for over 50 days.

Dr Shelton fasted Fuhrman (before he became a doctor) for 42 days to help his broken foot to heal. The doctors said that Fuhrman would never skate again. But he did and also won some championship titles.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Gene

I have been in situations where I had no food for 14 days one time and 60 days another time. Neither of these fasts were by choice. I did drop a lot of weight during these periods without any food. At the end of the 60 days without food I was weighed more than 100 pounds less than just before the ordeal started. I almost died from the lack of nutrition.

I would be concerned if someone were to undertake a fast lasting more than a few days.

How did you find yourself in that situation??!

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

How did you find yourself in that situation??!

Since he does not say I guess it was probably from one of these: a lost child, orphan, forest fire fighter, soldier, bum, scoundrel, smuggler, thief, wanderer, delusional, and a fool. That comes from his blog.

[Steve23]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

Dr Shelton fasted Fuhrman for 42 days...

I think it's bogus that any would claim to be on a just water diet for that period of time without significant excess body fat (significant being whatever would be enough to sustain a person).

I'm not saying the concept of fasting is bad. I think it's great thing and do practice it in my life. I'm just saying a water only is no more effective than other kinds of fasting and carries with it many more health risks.

[Wes]

As some said, water fasting is TERRIBLE idea. The body can't sustain itself on water alone, it needs vitamins that aren't present on H2O. Stating otherwise would be irresponsible. Many people do it, for a number of reasons, but most often they don't realize the effects it has on their bodies.

Now, there are studied cases of people going on a similar diet with moderate success, but it involved constant medical monitoring and a liquid intake of the proper vitamins in the needed dosages (not just water). Still, it could have side effects, since the organism wasn't built to function that way.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

Since he does not say I guess it was probably from one of these: a lost child, orphan, forest fire fighter, soldier, bum, scoundrel, smuggler, thief, wanderer, delusional, and a fool. That comes from his blog.

The complete description from my blog is:
I have been in no particular order; a lost child, orphan, farmer, oil field driller, forest fire fighter, soldier, student, bum, scoundrel, smuggler, thief, counselor, coach, entrepreneur, engineer, wanderer, photographer, internet pioneer, author, publisher, poet, philosopher, oil field producer, beneficiary of good fortune, friend, husband, father, son, brother, grandfather, seeker of wisdom, seeker of truth, delusional, and a fool.

And the sixty days without food was as a result of one of the incarnations enumerated above.

[Andrew Gubb]

^Yeah but we want stories, STORIES!!

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

How did you find yourself in that situation??!

The 14 days without food was part of an experiment the U.S. government was conducting.

The 60 days without food was a result of being injured and alone for that period of time until rescued by my comrades. I had water available in my environment but no ability to forage for food.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Steve23

I think it's bogus that any would claim to be on a just water diet for that period of time without significant excess body fat (significant being whatever would be enough to sustain a person).

I'm not saying the concept of fasting is bad. I think it's great thing and do practice it in my life. I'm just saying a water only is no more effective than other kinds of fasting and carries with it many more health risks.

Apparently you refuse to look up anything on the internet. Say I just came to the U.S. and said that there was no such thing as Christmas. My proof is that there are no Christmas decorations, to trees up, no presents etc (since it is too early). A simple search on the internet would show different.

So yes if you are super fat and your metabolism slows down, that ain't good. But on a fast with no food your metabolism slows down a lot. So the detractors say that because of that fasting is bad for that fat person and will make him much fatter (of course after he ends his fast not during it).

Here is a quote from my webpage of fasting: This book says "most people can fast safely for a whole month or longer. Our body gives the signal when it is time to end the fast." Dr Cott also says "When anyone abstains totally from food, profound changes take place. These changes revise attitudes about food and put appetite into alignment with the body's real need for energy."

Dr Cott is a PhD in philosophy. Just kidding! He is a medical doctor and a psychiatrist. All over the internet they tell about one of the best cures for vitamin deficiencies is fasting. Are you crazy? How can that be? That makes no sense! Here is the saying that explains this: "You are not what you eat, but what you assimilate."

Here is more that Dr Cott learned from fasting people. Note that his book (see site above with quotes from 19 different MDs on fasting) was a best seller: Fasting: The Ultimate Diet. How do you know that I did not just invent that book. You can look it up.

From my webpage above: "Some people are concerned about their metabolism slowing down when they are fasting. But this makes it so that thin people can fast a long time. Also the fatter you are, the less it slows down. The body is slowing down the use of your extra calories so that you have enough to finish the fast. Again, the body is not against you but is out to help you. When you fast, you are placing all of your trust in your body's intelligence which has billions of years of evolutionary experience. When doing a religious fast, people place their faith in God to take care of them, instead of their own eating habits.

Also for this reason of conserving calories, it is more comfortable to fast in warm weather than in cold weather. The body is not looking to make you more uncomfortable in cold weather but to make sure that you have enough calories to finish the fast. With fat people it knows it does not have to conserve calories, so it does not slow down. As soon as people start eating again, it speeds back up to normal. After a couple of days of fasting, your body produces ketones which is the most powerful appetite suppressant there is. Since the body is brilliant, if it finds that you have lots of diseased and poorly formed muscle, it will eat that first. It knows that it is stupid to make you thin and beautiful and then just let you die. Fasting is God's or nature's bloodless operating table."

Part of the reason that I created a website was that I was learning so much from books, there was no way I can memorize it all. So my website knows more than I do even though I created it.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Gene

The complete description from my blog is:
I have been in no particular order; a lost child, orphan, farmer, oil field driller, forest fire fighter, soldier, student, bum, scoundrel, smuggler, thief, counselor, coach, entrepreneur, engineer, wanderer, photographer, internet pioneer, author, publisher, poet, philosopher, oil field producer, beneficiary of good fortune, friend, husband, father, son, brother, grandfather, seeker of wisdom, seeker of truth, delusional, and a fool.

And the sixty days without food was as a result of one of the incarnations enumerated above.

I picked out the ones that could produce that situation and I did list "soldier." Also if you are male and not a "son", that would make you a double immaculate conception and even Jesus and Anakan Skywalker were not that.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I picked out the ones that could produce that situation and I did list "soldier." Also if you are male and not a "son", that would make you a double immaculate conception and even Jesus and Anakan Skywalker were not that.

Memo to self, add son to the list!

[Gene]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I picked out the ones that could produce that situation and I did list "soldier." Also if you are male and not a "son", that would make you a double immaculate conception and even Jesus and Anakan Skywalker were not that.

I looked at my own list again and noticed "son" was already in the list.

[ginkgo]

When talking about how long someone can fast that is not fat I forgot to add this from the webpage on fasting above: "Dr Cott says "the rate at which you lose weight is generally in proportion to the degree you are overweight. Most people who fast for a week can expect to lose up to 20 pounds." "But when you fast, it is not unusual to lose 4 or 5 pounds the first day and up to 10 pounds in 2 days." The general rule is that fat people lose weight at a faster rate than thin people during a fast."

[Barcs]

The longest I've fasted on water alone was 2 weeks and when it was complete I felt better than I had in years. Fasting isn't for everyone, but it seems like a lot of the reaons people are giving for being against fasting are all rooted in paranoia. Fasting is not perminant and is not starvation. There's a huge difference. It's definitely not superstitious nonsense. It is more like a system cleanse. I fast for a week on water twice a year now. As long as you are careful and listen to your body, the risk is pretty low. You should still consult a doctor if it's your first time, however.

[The Big D]

One day, sure, as an occasional spiritual exercise. But any fasting (ignoring "fasts" where you eat food with protein) consumes muscle mass. Who except emaciated fashion models decides "I just HAVE to get rid of these muscles"?

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

... if it finds that you have lots of diseased and poorly formed muscle, it will eat that first. It knows that it is stupid to make you thin and beautiful and then just let you die. Fasting is God's or nature's bloodless operating table...

I guess I answered my own question.

That's nuts