Fasting

So I was had started a 7 day fast 4 days ago, but I hand't considered Thanksgiving and ended up breaking it. I had never fasted before, but thanksgiving was too tempting at 3 1/2 days in. In hindsight I also didn't commit as much as I would've liked by still drinking coffee and eating tomato soup once each day.

So seeing the main page of PoE today, I see we are at 7 days 2 hours (at this moment). I'm going to use this as a countdown to my 7 day, water only fast. Seems like a good way to bind my conviction as well. Especially with thanksgiving leftovers haunting me and preparing all the meals for a family member.

I have always liked tests of will power, I feel they increase resolve and dominance of the 'animal' mind. Beyond that, I thought it would be interesting to experience hunger since I have never gone more than 3 days without eating something.

I figured I could make a post each day in this thread, documenting progress. Silly as it is.

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Maybe we could discuss health and religious reasons for fasting in the mean time, since I know nothing of either.

Health wise, I hypothesize that water only fasting for 7 days is terrible for the body. I could see how one or two days could be good though.

Religion wise, I am guessing something to do with sacrifice and enduring (hunger) pain for god?
Or maybe some dude intuitively understood that fasting was good for the body a long time ago.
I know of a church nearby which recently did a 21 day water only fast. Which I imagine is quite difficult.

I'm interested to see your daily updates. I'm also interested that you chose to do a 7 day fast as a mental challenge despite the potential health concerns.

Keep in mind I am no expert or doctor, just a Google user. Here are some potential health concerns with a 7 day fast that I found:

Cardiac muscle loss and mineral deprivation can lead to death. A Florida woman died in 2010 after a 21 day fast*.
Another potential downside of long-term fasting is the rate of detox because your body is burning fat that contains stored toxins.


Some of my friends are currently doing challenges that I see as having less health risk and more benefits, such as:
Reducing garbage output to absolute minimum for 1 month
Eating vegetarian or vegan for 1 month
Eating no artificial or processed sugar for 1 month (extremely difficult)
Eating no lactose for 1 month


* http://paleoleap.com/long-fasts/

What is your goal with it?

You gave already in, so define a new goal, that you can hold. You will get better over time. If you need motivation in form of forum posts do it. If you want to go real deep, you need to take 4-6 weeks of free time in combination with meditation, and nothing.

Good luck

You'll probably feel great until you realize what it does to your digestion track.

Basically think of all that junk that's in your tummy and pipes drying up and turning hard.

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PsiBlades2002 wrote:

I'm interested to see your daily updates. I'm also interested that you chose to do a 7 day fast as a mental challenge despite the potential health concerns.

Keep in mind I am no expert or doctor, just a Google user. Here are some potential health concerns with a 7 day fast that I found:

Cardiac muscle loss and mineral deprivation can lead to death. A Florida woman died in 2010 after a 21 day fast*.
Another potential downside of long-term fasting is the rate of detox because your body is burning fat that contains stored toxins.

Yeah I was expecting some muscle loss, but probably not too much. My activities will be pretty minimal. I'll skip my workouts and probably just stick to light stretches. I'll put my weight in the updates (170lbs 5'11).

I could see how someone could die from a 21 day fast, that is a long time to go without food or juice. Though I think I'm in tune enough with my body that I would realize before it gets to that point.

Toxins from fat didn't occur to me, though I don't do drugs or drink much. Though my diet isn't the best.

I'll update once per day and see how bad it gets ;). If I don't post one day, I'm probably dead.

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CalamityAOE wrote:

You'll probably feel great until you realize what it does to your digestion track.

Basically think of all that junk that's in your tummy and pipes drying up and turning hard.

That is disconcerting... Will it work it's way out once I start eating again?

"

pifpep wrote:

What is your goal with it?

You gave already in, so define a new goal, that you can hold. You will get better over time. If you need motivation in form of forum posts do it. If you want to go real deep, you need to take 4-6 weeks of free time in combination with meditation, and nothing.

Mental fortitude, so I guess meditation.

The new goal is to double down, go from 'cheating' with soup and coffee to pure water for 7 days.

My dad fasts one day in the week, every week of the year.

And his meal on the next day has that extra layer of flavor because of it.

I don't see a point in stressing the body in order to convict yourself of willpower, which makes me assume what my dad is doing is healthy and what your trying to do is not. Though i could be wrong, so don't let it bother you.

My thoughts,

one action a day adds up, one action a week adds up, one action in a life-time doesn't add up.

Peace,

-Boem-

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Boem wrote:

My thoughts,

one action a day adds up, one action a week adds up, one action in a life-time doesn't add up.

-OT- I feel like I take a contradictory position against you the majority of times I quote you. Just an observation. -OT-

If the one action is life-changing or life-defining it doesn't need to add up. It's a giant integer in and of itself. I would question, however, whether or not 7 days is going to satisfy your curiosity about your mental willpower. I'm sure if and when you achieve it, you'll be happy. But will you be satisfied? 3 days is already pretty damn impressive.

If you're young, or healthy, or both, I don't think 7 days is a chronic risk (although I'm not a doctor, and I'd add that if you have some other obscure condition, heavily stressing the body can cause it to flare up in a way that can be serious).

I also don't think that you should be hard on yourself for tomato soup and coffee, and I'd recommend adding in a glass of milk and fruit juice, as well as a multi-vitamin.

I've done 48 hours for a charity thing before, and I don't remember it being that bad, although it was quite a while ago, so perhaps I have rose colored glasses on in that regard. I think I was ~14 at the time.

As it seems Boem's father could attest to, our bodies are amazing and can adapt to almost anything. It's even possible that regular fasting is even more natural from an evolutionary perspective, since it would likely mirror semi-regular patterns of bounty and scarcity that our predecessors surely faced.

THe occasional 3-day fast probably wont do you much harm; in fact, it should* clear out your system nicely.

For my money, eating good foods, even if you're eating too much of them, is better than eating no food or junk food. Doing 15 minutes of low-intensity exercise per day is better than doing none.

I've lost 120 lbs over the last 4 years without fasting or trying to condition myself to do a triathalon. Am I in optimum physical condition? Not for my standard, which boils down to, "could I play roller hockey two nights a week?" Could I get there by the end of 2017? Most definitely, which is more than I could say 4 years ago.

Turn big problems into small problems,then turn small problems into no problem.

*Note proper use of the word "should"

I went full strict vegan for a whole year as soon as I watched documentaries about how bad meat is nowadays. I had no problems, just had to get used to it.

Note that I grew up in a farm, poultry and pigery. Then lived in the city over a decade now. Been a mostly vegan for at least 5 years now. I can't go full 100% strict as there are non-normal days where you'll be forced to eat something from the convinient store which contains milk or somekind of milk derived ingredient.

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innervation wrote:

-OT- I feel like I take a contradictory position against you the majority of times I quote you. Just an observation. -OT-

If the one action is life-changing or life-defining it doesn't need to add up. It's a giant integer in and of itself.

Your talking about trauma's, either mentality or physically, which leave scars and remind us of their potency every time we are confronted with that scar.

A trauma is relived every time you become aware of the scar, it isn't a singular event in a life-time, otherwise it wouldn't have the effect your dedicating to it.

I get what your saying, but i refute the notion that it's a singular event in a life-time, the trigger is a singular event.

Here is the thing in relation to the OP, i'm sure the intent is genuine but it is still hypocritical to undergo a fast if your just doing it to pat yourself on the back for willpowers sake when there are people forced into it without any say in the mater.

In that sense, if you want to contribute to a change on a larger scale, long therm endured
changes in life-style are a bigger feat.
"lead by example" is one of the things thought to me.
A life-style is passed down the generations, a whimsical pat on the back or ego is not.

I find self-flagellation not inducive of harnessing willpower, i more or less recognize it as the ploys of a bored ego in need of a hug.

Then again, i'm an odd-ball so don't be bothered by my opinions to much, everybody is free to do as they please.

Peace,

-Boem-