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by Scottythinks on June 15th, 2005

Scottythinks

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What are the benefits and risks involved in fasting?

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  • by Rumpleforeskin on June 16th, 2005

    Rumpleforeskin

    In my opinion, one should never fast for more than 24 hours. Food is the vital fuel our bodies need. It is not "the enemy." It is, however, our RELATIONSHIP to food and eating that sometimes needs to be adjusted.
    Towards this end, I have found that fasting IN THE SHORT TERM (i.e. 8-24 hours), on occasion, can be helpful in reorienting oneself with one's natural body processes. For example, fasting, or at least the cessation of eating that coincides with a good night's sleep, can smooth over the short-term glycemic "spike" that comes from eating large amounts of carbs, especially processed sugars, leaving the body "reset" and ready to begin more balanced consumption anew.
    In my own experience, recently when I began to adjust my eating habits with an eye towards weight loss, I had an interesting insight: it had been years since I had been hungry. Oh, I had FELT hungry. Sometimes it seemed I was ALWAYS hungry. "I could eat......" was one of my tongue-in-cheek catchphrases around the house. The problem was I had eaten so regularly, so habitually, for so long, that I had FORGOTTEN THE PHYSICAL SENSATION OF HUNGER. I had, instead, replaced it with a purely psychological approximation that had insideous aspects. I could conjure this faux hunger at will, consciously or unconsciously, out of boredom, depression, or an urge to celebrate or indulge. The faux hunger was often not reasonably or quickly satisfied by eating at all. I wonder if this isn't something most of us do to some extent or other, amidst all our abundance and plenty.
    So I fasted. I woke up one morning and didn't eat right away, didn't even have coffee. Lunchtime passed and something happened that hadn't for a long time: my stomach growled. I began to feel hungry, not just in my head, but in my gut, where it belonged. I compared how I felt to my Faux Hunger. Here, in my stomach, was a sensation completely without the subtle undertones of fear, desperation, or the narcissistic urge to instant and overabundant self-gratification.
    This reidentification of an old friend -- bodily hunger -- became a tool I could use to readjust my relationship to food and eating. I resolved to eat not just better food, but more slowly, and in smaller portion, waiting to become hungry again -- truly hungry -- before eating again.
    Good luck. I don't know if I really answered your question, but I thought I'd share some insight.

    Comments

    • It's good to know your body!

      Scottythinks

      by Scottythinks on October 24th, 2005

    • don't do it. Not bothering to eat first thing in the morning when you are hungry is not a good thing to do. If you go without food you will lack energy as your blood-sugar levels drop and will feel like crap. Your brain requires protein to function so not giving it any will impair concentration and you may get a headache etc. Your appetite for sugary foods will increase as your body responds to the lack of food. Keep it going long enough and your brain will go into 'famine' mode and start to conserve energy. When you do eat, you will put weight on as the brain them assumes the 'drout' is over and just in case there is another famine, it will extract as much as it can in terms of fat, carbs, etc etc from anything eaten - then it will store it up.

      Mushen

      by Mushen on June 20th, 2007

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