Fasting for better health

[rambone]

I've been reading about fasting. It seems to offer quite a few health benefits. It can detoxify your body and help you defeat certain ailments. People have known the value of fasting for thousands of years. I think it has been forgotten today in our binge-eating, pill-popping society.


Dr. Ben Kim - Fasting for Health

Benefits of Fasting:

• More energy
• Healthier skin
• Healthier teeth and gums
• Better quality sleep
• A clean and healthy cardiovascular system
• A decrease in anxiety and tension
• Dramatic reduction or complete elimination of aches and pains in muscles and joints
• Decrease or elimination of headaches
• Stabilization of blood pressure
• Stronger and more efficient digestion
• Stabilization of bowel movements
• Loss of excess weight
• Elimination of stored toxins
• Improvement with a wide variety of chronic degenerative health conditions, including autoimmune disorders

You can fast in a variety of ways. Apparently the purest and most beneficial fast is to go on a water fast, drinking only water for a period of time. Another common fast is to only drink a few allowable fruit & vegetable juices. There are other variants as well.

The duration can vary. Since the real purpose of the fast is to detoxify your body, the duration depends on how quickly this happens. Dr. Kim says, "The idea is to fast as briefly as possible, but as long as is necessary to allow the body to restore health."


Your thoughts?

"Let us be very clear on one basic fact: to fast is not to starve. To starve is to abstain from food beyond the period when the fast must end; when the individual has reached a point at which weakness rather than strength sets in, or gives indications of setting in. Since the fast should be conducted under expert professional direction, the director orders the fast broken before it ceases to be fasting and becomes starvation instead."

-Dr. Herbert Shelton, Fasting Can Save Your Life


"In my opinion, the greatest discovery by modern man is the power to rejuvenate himself physicaly, mentally, and spirtually with rational fasting."

-Paul Bragg, The Miracle of Fasting​

 

[RockCreekRelics]

Ok man I backed you up on apple cider vinegar but now you've gone too far LOL.

 

[6birds]

Everything in moderation, exercise, and get your shots.

 

[LEaSH]

It sort of reboots your pancreas from what I've read. I don't know if it does help or hurt.

I fast during a certain time of year prior to easter holiday. I have good feeling days and not so good feeling days. I can't say I come out the other side of it feeling healthier or not.

 

[Suprtek]

Couldn't do it for very long if I tried. It's hard enough for me to go 8 hours before a blood test. Type 1 diabetes would not be very conducive to this behavior.

 

[kevman65]

Since the diabetes has already been brought up I'll leave that one alone. You don't have to fast to do a purifying purge. You can do 7-14 days of nothing but fresh fruit and veggies with water. You still need some protein in your diet so you can toss in natural peanut butter.

The key is to get the added preservatives in normal foods out of your system.

Plus you can increase your fiber intake which will help clean you out so your body can process your intake better.

 

[junglerogue]

I've done it for extended periods of time (3-4 months) where I would go with a liquid only fast. I found that if I did Tues-Thurs, and then ate normally afterward, I was still losing weight. But know when you fast, you also lose muscle mass. I lost 25 pounds over that time period, doing absolutely nothing but not eating! The last paragraph eluded to the different types of fasts, I would definitely start with just a vegetable/fruit and liquid fast. It takes discipline, just like kicking the smoking habit.
Leash said it's like rebooting your pancreas, but it also cleans out your intestines...think of it like a colonoscopy without the feeling of being violated. DRINK lots of water/juice/protein shakes/etc.

 

[lovemachine]

Starving yourself is never a good idea. Eat more to lose more.

 

[T712]

I've completed a 7 day juice fast and a 10 day water fast. I didnt really do either of them for health benifits; truth be told, I was just curious as to what would happen to my body and just to see if I could do it.

I started with the juice fast, then around seven or eight months later i did the water fast. Some notes about each:

Juice fast
- I felt like I was starving ALL THE TIME
- Had the craps pretty much the entire time
- Other than feeling like I was starving, I felt normal

Water fast
- After day three, I didn't feel the slightest bit hungry
- At about day five, I was craving some very weird stuff (like a fried bluegill and marshmallow sandwich, which I had never even conceived of let alone tried)
- After about seven days my tongue started growing a white hair-like substance (taste buds?), it was freaky.
- My breath was horrendous
- At day nine I was experiencing this strange but pleasent euforic feeling, like a type of "clarity" , well that or I was losing my mind.
- I dropped about 20 pounds (which of course came back within a week or two afterwords) and looked like walking death
- My co-workers were convinced that I was going to die

As far as noticing any health benefits, its hard to say. I didn't really feel any different after a week or two with either one.

 

[cburnworth]

all the crap we have been exposed to is stored in the fat cells. when fasting & only drinking water, those cells will get burnt off thus releasing all of those nasty chemicals. you will feel nasty for awhile, but then feel much better. I took a month of a detox pill & dropped about 15 lbs. felt much better.

 

[tyler34]

Starving yourself is never a good idea. Eat more to lose more.

ding ding ding! and get all your vaccines

 

[rambone]

Since the diabetes has already been brought up I'll leave that one alone.

Good call.

You don't have to fast to do a purifying purge. You can do 7-14 days of nothing but fresh fruit and veggies with water. You still need some protein in your diet so you can toss in natural peanut butter.

I would definitely start with just a vegetable/fruit and liquid fast.

DRINK lots of water/juice/protein shakes/etc.

That sounds doable, I will probably try the fruit/veggie fast first. That will probably be easier for a newbie like me.

 

[zenbruno]

In the classic book by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha claims three important accomplishments: thinking, waiting and fasting.

However, Siddhartha views fasting as less about cleansing the body than about subjugating the body (and its capricious needs) with the mind.



Rambone, your posts relating to health/government/business/public policy/disease/prevention/holistics never fail to intrigue me -- thanks!

 

[rambone]

Water fast
- After day three, I didn't feel the slightest bit hungry
- At about day five, I was craving some very weird stuff (like a fried bluegill and marshmallow sandwich, which I had never even conceived of let alone tried)
- After about seven days my tongue started growing a white hair-like substance (taste buds?), it was freaky.
- My breath was horrendous
- At day nine I was experiencing this strange but pleasent euforic feeling, like a type of "clarity" , well that or I was losing my mind.
- I dropped about 20 pounds (which of course came back within a week or two afterwords) and looked like walking death
- My co-workers were convinced that I was going to die

As far as noticing any health benefits, its hard to say. I didn't really feel any different after a week or two with either one.

all the crap we have been exposed to is stored in the fat cells. when fasting & only drinking water, those cells will get burnt off thus releasing all of those nasty chemicals. you will feel nasty for awhile, but then feel much better. I took a month of a detox pill & dropped about 15 lbs. felt much better.

That's what I've read as well. The chemical agents stored in your body are being released, and can appear in the form of vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes, and other uncomfortable symptoms. People who have been on a lot of drugs or chemotherapy will see these symptoms more heavily. All the more reason to do it, and get that stuff out.

 

[rambone]

In the classic book by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha claims three important accomplishments: thinking, waiting and fasting.

However, Siddhartha views fasting as less about cleansing the body than about subjugating the body (and its capricious needs) with the mind.

Siddhartha is in good company. Hippocrates, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Zarathushtra, Confucious, Mahatma Ghandi, Leonardo Da Vinci, Moses, & Jesus Christ also knew the power of fasting.

Rambone, your posts relating to health/government/business/public policy/disease/prevention/holistics never fail to intrigue me -- thanks!

Hey, thanks!

Have some purified water on me. (lol) Cheers!!

 

[phrozen5100]

Wow, for once you actually posted something I agree with rambone...kind of.
Intermittent fasting has been around in the bodybuilding world for a little while now and seems to ultimately exhibit effects similar to a chronic diet of reduced caloric intake. I'm not sure if the author is referring to IF in your article, but I would not do any extended fasting.

This article does a good job of summarizing IF:

An Objective Look at Intermittent Fasting - AlanAragon.com - Fitness Based on Science & Experience

 

[rambone]

This guy really summarized fruit-fasting well. He talks about the sickness involved with detox, the weight he lost, how to get through the tough parts of the fast, et cetera. A good read.

Fruit Fasting - Fruit Fasting for Weight Loss and Detoxification