Fasting activates your body’s ‘survival’ mode

[singular_me]

when I fast, twice yearly, I generally do it for at least 10 days straight, also as will power exercise and mind clarity. My goal in the long run is being able to hold it for 3 weeks, every 4 months

-------------------------------------------------

Fasting activates your body's 'survival' mode, boosting your immune system

‘Scientific research is finally validating the ancient health and healing practice of fasting. The Telegraph recently reported that scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered that fasting “for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in the elderly, scientists have found in a breakthrough described as ‘remarkable.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/045566_fasting_immune_system_survival_mode.html

[Neuro]

Good article. I haven't done any fasting in many years now. But I do believe in its role to cleanse and rejuvenate the body. I should fast for at least 3 days. Further it could be excellent in prepping, strategy wise, in that it lowers your metabolism and your food storage can last much longer...

[Norweger]

Ramadan is the 28th.

[Neuro]

Ramadan is the 28th.
Spending the whole day, without drink and food, and then stuff yourself full after sunset and before sunrise? Muslims in north Norway should have difficulty survive the next few years, as there will be midnight sun now...

First years I was in Istanbul I didn't have a car I saw multiple afternoon fights at the public transport, and I went with a taxi driver who almost killed a pedestrian in the afternoon. Inshallah mashallah aye?

[Norweger]

Haha yeah it can cause some scenes. Regarding the midnight sun.. i think those who have to deal with that just says eff it and goes after the cycles in Mecca instead.

[Neuro]

Haha yeah it can cause some scenes. Regarding the midnight sun.. i think those who have to deal with that just says eff it and goes after the cycles in Mecca instead.
Do they do that for praying as well? Strange way of saying goodbye to the day in full sunshine, no?{0}

[Horn]

Most of my time since the late 90's has been spent thinking of ways to get out of survival mode.

[Neuro]

Most of my time since the late 90's has been spent thinking of ways to get out of survival mode.
Start thinking about what you want to happen instead of thinking about what you don't want to happen... It actually helped me, changing the way I was thinking...

[Horn]

Start thinking about what you want to happen instead of thinking about what you don't want to happen... It actually helped me, changing the way I was thinking...

That hasn't helped me any since the late 90's.

Isn't fasting thinking/preparing for what you don't want to happen? There is a problem with thinking the way thru, its often cyclical in its effect such that you will be left trying to achieve thru it again. These days I just do or don't, no trying.

I understand the physical/spiritual aspects of cleansing the body thru fasting (furnace in standby contraction), maybe for me it is all rolled up into skipping lunch... :)

Also I may be hypoglycemic, i become very much a pain in the ass when skipping lunch.

Stoics.

[aeondaze]

i become very much a pain in the ass when skipping lunch.

Do you do that most days? :cool:

Seriously though, I knew someone with an auto-immune disease (not luekamia) that went on a fast for about five weeks I think. All they had was the juice from steamed mashed vegetables and water. They lost a LOT of weight (obviously) they looked fantastic and their condition went into remision almost permanently, it would be nearly thrity years now.

[Horn]

Do you do that most days? :cool:

Oh boy, if there weren't another pain fetishist on board...

[singular_me]

I shouldnt have used the word fasting but cleansing. when I do a cleanse, I drink a concoction with lemon or lime and maple syrup. However after 3 days my body is going into ketosis, which is necessary for the body to fix itself

after day 3, there is a weight loss that is appreciable, 1/2lb per day

[Horn]

after day 3, there is a weight loss that is appreciable, 1/2lb per day

That's what happens to me when skipping lunch.

The sheer amount of energy that is required to power this massive CPU is my dilemma,

some days I just don't bootup its higher functions. :)

[brosil]

Here's a little tip from the farm. When a cow is too fat, it won't settle an embryo. Farmers will pen up a cow for 2 weeks with only water. It seems to trigger a survival mode that assures a good implant of the embryo. If your wife is having trouble concieving, you can try locking here in the bathroom for 2 weeks. You may have other problems when you let her out.

[Horn]

Here's a little tip from the farm. When a cow is too fat, it won't settle an embryo. Farmers will pen up a cow for 2 weeks with only water. It seems to trigger a survival mode that assures a good implant of the embryo. If your wife is having trouble concieving, you can try locking here in the bathroom for 2 weeks. You may have other problems when you let her out.

Now this is excellent advice, my wife has trouble conceiving anything.

Does it work for other symptoms, or only an illness. :)

[Neuro]

That's what happens to me when skipping lunch.

The sheer amount of energy that is required to power this massive CPU is my dilemma,

some days I just don't bootup its higher functions. :)
I noticed, mostly the days you post here, yes?

[singular_me]

fast metabolism?

well actually when I say 1/2lb daily, it is when keeping action low throughout the day. fat gets burned even faster if more active. Up to 2/lbs if taking a good 3H walk for example.

have you ever fasted/cleansed more than 3 days in a row? If not I would recommend 5 days at least to see if the body response changes. Maybe you should do a cleanse like I do, so you still ingest 500 calories daily.


That's what happens to me when skipping lunch.

The sheer amount of energy that is required to power this massive CPU is my dilemma,

some days I just don't bootup its higher functions. :)

[Awoke]

http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?22960-Great-night-tonight-Very-productive-Could-use-input

[Hatha Sunahara]

I just started a 'fast' (not a cleansing) but a real fast yesterday, and I hope to keep it up until the end of tomorrow. Maybe longer. I've done the master cleanse a few times--for 10 days, and I agree with Singular_me--it scours out both your mind and body.

A fast is with water only. If you take in any sugar, as in a 'juice cleanse' then your body doesn't make a full transition to 'no food'. What happens after about three days is that your blood is purged of sugar--and your body starts to fuel your brain and muscles with ketones--which replace the sugar in the blood. This is a fuel that is made by the liver from the stored fat in your body. Your metabolism also slows down, and your body conserves energy as well as fuel. You can go on like that for 40 days they say. While this is happening, you have to consume at least 2 liters of water a day, and since your body has saved a huge amount of energy by shutting down your digestive system, it uses that water as a solvent to remove all the accumulated dirt and toxins everywhere inside your skin. That shift from consuming food to cleaning itself out is the body's analogous process for what societies need to do from time to time. We need to stop consuming and throw out all the accumulated junk. This does wonders for your mental state. Religious people know the benefits of fasting. I think it's admirable that Muslims have a period during a year devoted to cleaning themselves out. I doubt that it does much good for the fundamentalists among them, but ordinary people who lack agendas can benefit significantly from fasting. I think westerners would see a reduction of violence if there was a fasting holiday.

Yes it's true that making that shift from fueling yourself with sugar to fueling yourself with ketones (fat) makes you uncomfortable. First you get hungry, but after two or three days the hunger disappears, and you feel more normal--but your activity level decreases because if you try to keep it up, you get dizzy and weak. So, you just relax, and that does wonders for your mind. I don't want to do more than 3 days because I can't afford to be out of service for much longer than that. But it's a really great thing. Your blood pressure goes down, if you have arthritis, it abates considerably. If you have any chronic diseases, they start to retreat. I think the best thing to do after a fast is to try to exist with as little food as it takes to keep up a level of activity you are comfortable with. That way you can stay lean and healthy. I've only been doing this now for a day and a half and I can already see how everybody, including me, gets seduced by our society to eat too much, and the wrong kinds of foods. Our ancestors had no supermarkets or convenience stores or junk food, and for them fasting was something quite normal, especially when they didn't feel well. Today, if we don't feel well, we do the exact opposite--we eat. Something is wrong with that.

Here's a piece that describes 'Your Brain on Ketones':


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/your-brain-ketones



Hatha

[Neuro]

I just started a 'fast' (not a cleansing) but a real fast yesterday, and I hope to keep it up until the end of tomorrow. Maybe longer. I've done the master cleanse a few times--for 10 days, and I agree with Singular_me--it scours out both your mind and body.

A fast is with water only. If you take in any sugar, as in a 'juice cleanse' then your body doesn't make a full transition to 'no food'. What happens after about three days is that your blood is purged of sugar--and your body starts to fuel your brain and muscles with ketones--which replace the sugar in the blood. This is a fuel that is made by the liver from the stored fat in your body. Your metabolism also slows down, and your body conserves energy as well as fuel. You can go on like that for 40 days they say. While this is happening, you have to consume at least 2 liters of water a day, and since your body has saved a huge amount of energy by shutting down your digestive system, it uses that water as a solvent to remove all the accumulated dirt and toxins everywhere inside your skin. That shift from consuming food to cleaning itself out is the body's analogous process for what societies need to do from time to time. We need to stop consuming and throw out all the accumulated junk. This does wonders for your mental state. Religious people know the benefits of fasting. I think it's admirable that Muslims have a period during a year devoted to cleaning themselves out. I doubt that it does much good for the fundamentalists among them, but ordinary people who lack agendas can benefit significantly from fasting. I think westerners would see a reduction of violence if there was a fasting holiday.

Yes it's true that making that shift from fueling yourself with sugar to fueling yourself with ketones (fat) makes you uncomfortable. First you get hungry, but after two or three days the hunger disappears, and you feel more normal--but your activity level decreases because if you try to keep it up, you get dizzy and weak. So, you just relax, and that does wonders for your mind. I don't want to do more than 3 days because I can't afford to be out of service for much longer than that. But it's a really great thing. Your blood pressure goes down, if you have arthritis, it abates considerably. If you have any chronic diseases, they start to retreat. I think the best thing to do after a fast is to try to exist with as little food as it takes to keep up a level of activity you are comfortable with. That way you can stay lean and healthy. I've only been doing this now for a day and a half and I can already see how everybody, including me, gets seduced by our society to eat too much, and the wrong kinds of foods. Our ancestors had no supermarkets or convenience stores or junk food, and for them fasting was something quite normal, especially when they didn't feel well. Today, if we don't feel well, we do the exact opposite--we eat. Something is wrong with that.

Here's a piece that describes 'Your Brain on Ketones':


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/your-brain-ketones



Hatha
I did a 7 day fast on water alone, many years ago, and no after 2-3 days you don't stop being hungry, you continue to be hungry ALL the time, you really can't think of anything apart from food, and your senses become heightened I could smell a bakery a quarter mile away, you walk by a restaurant and you have memorized their menu without even stoping to look at it. And you get a high similar to amphetamine if you eat hors deuvres after 7 days.

[Hatha Sunahara]

I did a 7 day fast on water alone, many years ago, and no after 2-3 days you don't stop being hungry, you continue to be hungry ALL the time, you really can't think of anything apart from food, and your senses become heightened I could smell a bakery a quarter mile away, you walk by a restaurant and you have memorized their menu without even stoping to look at it. And you get a high similar to amphetamine if you eat hors deuvres after 7 days.

Neuro, I think you're right. My experience up to now has been with the Master Cleanse which isn't really a fast because you take in a concoction of lemons and maple syrup throughout the period. The maple syrup makes it so you don't go into full ketones mode. I am now at the end of my third day of this total fast--with water only--no sugar, and I'm still hungry, and I think about food all the time, and when I do, I take a sip of water. I weighed myself this morning, and I lost 5 pounds since I began, but I feel like I have no energy to spare, and every time I get up from a sitting position, I get dizzy and feel like I'm going to lose consciousness. My breath is starting to stink, my lungs are putting out a lot of phlegm that I have to spit out frequently, and bowels are also purging everything that's inside them. This is only after three days. It's gotten very uncomfortable and I have a motivation to end this fast. I may do it again sometime in the near future, but 10 days seems like an eternity. I think in the morning I'll break this fast with a handful of grapes, and later on I'll try eating a few slices of cantaloupe. I'm going to take this opportunity to savor the food I eat. And I think maybe instead of going for a full 10 day fast, I will first try eating quantities of food that are just sufficient to make the hunger go away, and to always keep the hunger at bay, but close enough that it reminds me to eat.

I think the cultural signals we all get is to eat as much as you want, and whatever tastes good. I think that is one reason why Americans have such poor health. I once read that in France, and in most of Europe, people eat slowly and only until their hunger goes away. And that keeps them relatively more healthy, so they don't have to spend so much money for getting care for poor health. Is that true? Or am I digesting a load of mythology?


Hatha

[expat4ever]

Not long ago I was looking into raw food and fasting and through another site learned about this
http://www.realpeacework-akademie.info/sofia/Englisch/E-betterworld/E_EB-Szekely/gospel1.pdf

I'm not big on religion but lately lots of things have been happening to make me wonder. Things I am questioning and suddenly the answers are before me. This is one of those things... Its rather long so I havent read through it yet. Basically just scrolled a few things then went for the information on food. Around pages 19,20 is what I have been looking at.
I should also say here that this was found in the secret vault of the Vatican around the beginning of the 1900;s I think. The explanation is in there as well. One reason it hasnt gotten mainstream attention is because it talks of a heavenly father and an earthly mother instead of just one god. Amazingly that makes a lot more sense to me.....Anyway, good info on there on food, eating and I believe fasting.

At most 2 meals a day. One when the sun is high and another just as it sets. Everything raw, nothing cooked. Kill no beasts for food. Drinking the raw milk, good...


I think the cultural signals we all get is to eat as much as you want, and whatever tastes good. I think that is one reason why Americans have such poor health. I once read that in France, and in most of Europe, people eat slowly and only until their hunger goes away. And that keeps them relatively more healthy, so they don't have to spend so much money for getting care for poor health. Is that true? Or am I digesting a load of mythology?


And when you eat, never eat unto fullness. Flee the temptations of Satan, and listen to the voice of
God's angels. For Satan and his power tempt you always to eat more and more. But live by the spirit, and
resist the desires of the body. And your fasting is always pleasing in the eyes of the angels of God. So give
heed to how much you have eaten when your body is sated, and always eat less by a third.
"Let the weight of your daily food be not less than a mina, but mark that it go not beyond two
(approximately one kilogram or two pounds). Then will the angels of God serve you always, and you will
never fall into the bondage of Satan and of his diseases. Trouble not the work of the angels in your body by
eating often. For I tell you truly, he who eats more than twice in the day does in him the work of Satan.
And the angels of God leave his body, and soon Satan will take possession of it. Eat only when the sun is
highest in the heavens, and again when it is set. And you will never see disease, for such finds favor in
the eyes of the Lord. And if you will that the angels of God rejoice in your body, and that Satan shun you
afar, then sit but once in the day at the table of God. And then your days will be long upon the earth, for
this is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. Eat always when the table of God is served before you, and eat
always of that which you find upon the table of God. For I tell you truly, God knows well what your body
needs, and when it needs

[Hatha Sunahara]

I developed a renewed interest in fasting when I found this link in my bookmarks:

http://falconblanco.com/health/fasting.htm

There is a link on this page to the Essene Gospel of Peace,

It just reminds you that the struggle with Satan is neverending. If you succumb, Satan will rule the earth. Satan wants your virtue, and if you give it to him, he rules you. Fasting is a way to regain your virtue and a reminder of how to keep it.


Hatha

[expat4ever]

I've been reading about fasting for the last month or so. I like that link you provided and will take the common sense approach to this. One day a week for a couple weeks then move up to 3 days then on to 10 days and more. I would love to do a 40 day fast but will definitely need to build up to that and may need to do that supervised.

[Hatha Sunahara]

I finished my fast yesterday. And again, I think Neuro is right. A handful of grapes is more than delicious after a three day fast. In fact, everything you eat is really really good. If food tasted that good all the time, life would be really sweet. And I'm thinking of ways to preserve that moment so it available all the time.

The way I have figured out to do that is to go on an intermittent fast. I'm thinking that if I restrict my eating during the day from noon to sunset (as it suggests in the Essene Gospel of Peace), I will have a long enough period of fasting so that anything I eat will always be extra good. I think my goal is to always be on the edge of hunger. I am going to come to terms with hunger. Hunger is a good thing. I am going to get to know it really well so that when I eat I can enjoy the feeling of making it go away. Maybe the whole point of fasting is to get to know hunger. Food tastes really good when you're hungry.


Hatha

[expat4ever]

My breath is starting to stink, my lungs are putting out a lot of phlegm that I have to spit out frequently, and bowels are also purging everything that's inside them

Sounds like this was working really well for you. All of the above are signs your body is cleansing itself. From the link you provided.

In the body, the first stage of cleansing removes large quantities of waste matter and digestive residues. The first few days of a fast can be rough due to the quantity of waste passing into the blood stream. The tongue becomes coated and the breath foul as the body excretes waste through every opening. After the third day of the fast, there is little desire for food.

This saturday will be my first fast. Just one day. Same again next week on Saturday.. After that I will choose a good time to do a longer fast. Will try to do at least 4 days and maybe as much as 7 and see how that goes. I have a close friend who is a nurse and lives right across from me. I will have her check on me daily to ensure I'm not dead :) LOL.

[Horn]

My breath is starting to stink, my lungs are putting out a lot of phlegm that I have to spit out frequently, and bowels are also purging everything that's inside them

I'm also doing these things constantly.