Part I
I know from recent self-experimentation that fasting is not the same as HFLC dieting. Not even close.
Fasting is the intentional abstinence from food, until “true” hunger returns, and is undertaken for the purpose of improving one's health or curing disease. Simply put, fasting is a rest from food, rather than a forced denial of it.
Being an ancient practice compared to HFLC dieting, there is a long list of conditions in which fasting has been purported to help, many of which still afflict people today. As expected, stomach and bowel diseases were particularly responsive to fasting, but other more serious conditions were helped as well, including chronic pain, arthritis, some cancers.
Admittedly, the thought of going without food for more than a day was at first overwhelming and hard to make sense of. “Is this even possible,” I remember thinking.
After reading and re-reading peoples’ reports on their fasting experiences, I was determined to try it. "It shall be a complete fast, " I remember saying to get myself mentally ready, where I would only eat again when true gut-level hunger returned–that is, only after I made it through at least the second day because hunger felt before this point was supposedly "false hunger."
Having fasted at least six times, let me tell you that overcoming the first two or three days is one of the hardest fucking things you'll ever do.
Most people who try fasting fail because they give into their hunger pangs too soon. But all of the difficulties of a complete fast lie in these initial days, after which it is smooth sailing.
I know from recent self-experimentation that fasting is not the same as HFLC dieting. Not even close.
Fasting is the intentional abstinence from food, until “true” hunger returns, and is undertaken for the purpose of improving one's health or curing disease. Simply put, fasting is a rest from food, rather than a forced denial of it.
Being an ancient practice compared to HFLC dieting, there is a long list of conditions in which fasting has been purported to help, many of which still afflict people today. As expected, stomach and bowel diseases were particularly responsive to fasting, but other more serious conditions were helped as well, including chronic pain, arthritis, some cancers.
Admittedly, the thought of going without food for more than a day was at first overwhelming and hard to make sense of. “Is this even possible,” I remember thinking.
After reading and re-reading peoples’ reports on their fasting experiences, I was determined to try it. "It shall be a complete fast, " I remember saying to get myself mentally ready, where I would only eat again when true gut-level hunger returned–that is, only after I made it through at least the second day because hunger felt before this point was supposedly "false hunger."
Having fasted at least six times, let me tell you that overcoming the first two or three days is one of the hardest fucking things you'll ever do.
Most people who try fasting fail because they give into their hunger pangs too soon. But all of the difficulties of a complete fast lie in these initial days, after which it is smooth sailing.
I failed on my first two attempts. On the first attempt, I gave in at the end of the first day and ended up eating dinner. There was definitely anxiety as I was getting increasingly hungrier as to what would happen if I had continued. Nonetheless, I was really disappointed in myself for being weak. Carrying this disappointment with me into my second attempt, I was even more determined, and for that reason alone, lasted nearly three days. I don’t remember why I stopped, as it’s been years. . . . I was probably just feeling fucking awful.
Anyway, from thereon in, I was able to get over the hump, so to speak, and completed a complete fast. I’ve always been disciplined with regard to my health, but fasting really tested me.
Every fast was made while I was a full-time student, which on reflection was probably reckless, as fasts like these were conventionally undertaken in the absence of any distractions. Regardless I was strong enough to do it; actually, my concentration, memory, and processing speed improved, and not having to think or worry about my next meal, I felt, for lack of a better word, liberated.
I remember in the midst of one of my fasts, I brought up the topic of going without food in a conversation with my roommate at the time who was a devout Christian. He told me that people could not go without food for more than three days and be well in somewhat of a resolute tone when I had mentioned that I was thinking about embarking on a complete fast. What he didn’t know (and to avoid conflict I didn’t tell him) was that I had been fasting for four days at that very moment. He was a Christian yet believed that people couldn't fast for more than three days without harm when Moses did it for forty. . . .
History is replete with stories of people who, for whatever reason, had found themselves without food for days. For instance, a shipwreck that leaves people stranded for days or weeks on a remote island is recounted by the survivors upon their rescue as a time of great panic, worry, & angst, where food occupied their thoughts, and even became an obsession, throughout the entire ordeal. The point is that perception is crucial: People who are unexpectedly forced to go without food believe that they are starving, whereas the experienced faster does not.
Can we fast for a week or more? Absolutely. I’m proof of it.
There are many accounts of people who've fasted for over forty days. Granted in these extreme cases, at the outset, most of these fasters were morbidly obese. (Is it fair, then, to call this a fast when a morbidly obese person is living off of his own internal larder–essentially a diet of meat and fat?)
The fear of wasting away to skin and bones is a common concern among the skeptics, but the idea that a person could voluntarily starve himself to death is absurd on the face of it.
I remember reading about one young girl who fasted (I think for a neurological condition) for forty-some days, while walking on average four miles per day towards her fast's end. She wasn't obese, nor was she overweight at the start of the fast. Yet somehow she was able to live her life without major limitations.
If a person interested in fasting has a job that he can’t take off from, as long as the work is routine and easy (like a clerical position), I can't imagine major issues arising.
During each complete fast I lost on average a pound a day; but towards the end of the fast, the rate of weight loss slowed dramatically. Nonetheless, fasting should not be employed for the purpose of losing weight because adopting a rational diet & exercising are more sensible courses of action.
Enemas and copious water drinking are usually recommended during fasts, but I had forwent these practices, mostly out of laziness. Anyway drinking copious amounts of water is probably unnecessary. Enemas, however, are critical because no food is being eaten to stimulate the bowels. (Though, even without enemas, bowel movements are made to the end.) Clearing out the bowels, from excess microbes & putrefying food, is a critical means by which fasting heals.
Although I would not recommend fasting to anyone any longer (except as a last resort when all else fails) I experienced only positive results: brighter eyes, clear bowels, more energy, weight loss, and smooth, porcelain-like skin. A life-long faster of note, Upton Sinclair, the author of The Jungle, claimed that fasting was his key to “eternal youth and permanent health.”
I appeared stiff & haggard while HFLC dieting, and in general, the diet's effects were at odds with those of complete fasting. I will probably never experiment with it again.
Briefly, the so-called "intermittent fasting" doesn't provide any additional benefit to what complete fasting does, it is a poor man’s derivative of it. People who are drawn to it I think should train their bodies to eat moderately (i.e., small meals), rather than resorting to eating massive amounts of food in one shot, compensating by starving themselves for 16 to 24 hours, and then repeating the process day after day (though a complete fast can fix eating disorders like this).
Fasting to me is the ultimate reset button. Intermittent fasting & HFLC dieting can only wish to be anything close to it.
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