• H&R Moderators: streaM Freak

Fasting Megathread

Most people are so cut off from their bodies they don't feel anything. I can feel every single thing that happens in my body. People never believe me when I say that but it's because they probably can't imagine it. But if you venture down this path long enough, you will increase your awareness and begin to feel things a lot more.

Also, if you go back to your bad diet right after fasting (not sure what you were eating Abracadabra) then the good effects won't last long. FOOD is the most important thing when it comes to healing our bodies. Daily food, not just a cleanse once in awhile. The right foods and the right sleep, exercise, thoughts, etc and THEN when people have all of that worked out they should attempt fasting. People who haven't detoxed a lot with their diet will only have more hell to go through once they cleanse, and if they are going to go back to the shitty food and way of life it's basically wasting their time and putting themselves through needless torture.

Of course, there are other reasons to fast which have nothing to do with detox in the physical sense (spiritual fasting) so I guess for those people it is not of importance.


Starting my fast today! I'm eating a big breakfast, then stepping down to a light, all raw lunch. Then beginning my juicing when I get home tonight. I'm going to do a lot of green juices like kale, collard greens, cucumber, celery... plus some fruits like apple, pear and pineapple. :) Will update how it goes.

Mods should I start a fasting support thread for support ONLY (no debate or attacking the fasters) or should I just talk about it here? I just feel like we need somewhere fasters can discuss and seek support without worrying about people coming in and telling us we are stupid and wrong for what we are doing....

you're awesome! I'll be your support thread here at home! :D

And since I was a moderator at one point on this site, I will say yes you should start a fasting support thread where no personal attacks or arguments against fasting are allowed.
 
Eh, it's okay. I searched and there were a lot of fasting threads already. I will just update in this one and suggest everyone do the same, and kindly request people to not attack us or try and debate us about it... well I obviously can't enforce that but I will say I am just looking to share my experiences and get support and not to debate.

So, day 1:

It's going well so far! Some major "highs" already. I'm just... calm. Very, very calm. I am NEVER this calm normally, in fact I was just telling matsuo, it is strange because I don't normally think I am NOT calm, but you don't notice how your mind is going 10000 miles a minute until you actually feel it slow down. I don't even feel like I'd have the ability to get angry or yell or be frustrated right now... I just feel calm. I hope this feeling stays.

Today I've juiced: pears, apples, pineapple, collard greens, celery and romaine. All organic of course! :D

I'm about to have my last juice right now. I feel like I will get some VERY good sleep tonight.
 
Zero calorie water fasting is an important method for lowering insulin resistance. It's one of the only ways to diminish a lifetime of insulin resistance buildup.

Do you have a cite for this? The only thing I could find is that intermittent fasting (e.g. Ramadan, 12 hrs per day) might slightly lower IR.
 
Do you have a cite for this? The only thing I could find is that intermittent fasting (e.g. Ramadan, 12 hrs per day) might slightly lower IR.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535723/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0026-0495(85)90060-5
http://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(05)00141-X/abstract

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101227100822.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17447161
http://www.jimmunol.org/content/172/3/1809.abstract

Starvation will lead to decreased TNF-a induction via lowered serum leptin levels. In those with high insulin resistance, acute fasting will often reduce the resistance to a degree. This is modulated by a large number of factors.
 
Fasting day 2:

It is going well. I slept very deep and long as I had predicted. I had really crazy dreams, but interestingly enough they were all happy and very cool. Normally I have at least one bad dream a night, and even the non-nightmares are often very stressful. Last night I dreamed about being at acrobat school (wtf?) and in a second dream, my partner and I had this AWESOME apartment in a really cool big city with a view of the city skyline, a cool kitchen, all the furniture I'd want, etc. I felt very happy and clear in both dreams.

I oil pulled and dry skin brushed this morning before having my first drink of green juice. I felt tired and a little wobbly but not much weaker than I feel waking up any morning. This fast has been far easier so far than my last.
 
Hey Guys,

In the middle of a fast, found this thread and thought I'd contribute.

A little background...this is my winter fast which was going to start the first Thursday of January but I had to work off the Christmas cheer and new years drugs a little more first. I fast once each season as follows.
-2 days low carb veggies (Thu/Fri)
-5 days water (Sat-Wed)
-2 days healthy raw foods (Thu/Fri)

It's prefect because I wake up on Monday for work on day 3 of water and am in full out haltosis by then so energy is up and I'm ready to go. Plus my healthy plans only spoil one unhealthy weekend ;)

Let me give you a little summary of my fast so far.

Day A: Vegetables need salt (I refrained) and I think I ate a pound of carrots

Day B: Slept well. I think I must of emptied out all my bowels this morning/afternoon/evening.
Started water only at 7pm this evening.

Day 1: Slept well. Felt a little hunger throughout the day but nothing to write home about and energy was fine. Didn't BM all day so took an enema that night and it felt great (...afterwords :\ )

Day 2: Uncomfortable sleep with headache, tossing 'n turning and oily sweat and I am not looking forward to the rest of the day. However I got a few good hours in late in the morning and awoke feeling great with faint acetone on the breath. It seems I have gone into Ketosis which usually happens later tonight, so it's a good 12 to 16 hours early. My body must be smartening up :D Had a fairly substantial crap that night as well (after 48 hours without eating!)

Day 3: Okay sleep. The usual situation where I wake up early and my body is tired but my mind just can't nod off again. Went on a 5km walk on top of usually day to day stuff and was definitely out of breath by the end but didn't feel my detox symptoms subside with gluconeogenesis which is good. Bowels have settled down and a little bit of fecal matter is passing with some water in the morning which is fine for me.

Day 4: Same okay sleep. Same morning BM. I was very tired after an extremely trying morning at work but luckily meetings were done early so I got home and tried to nap. Ended up just resting for an hour or two but feel so much better. I think I'll go for another 5k walk later.

One day left and I'll tell you how it goes. This weekend I've got a hot dinner date Saturday night at The Keg (steakhouse), so I might need to break this a little less gently than would be ideal (seems to happen often haha). Or I could just order the salad :S
 
It seems I have gone into Ketosis which usually happens later tonight, so it's a good 12 to 16 hours early. My body must be smartening up

That it interesting because someone on another forum said the same thing happened to them, as if with each fast the body learns about fasting and becomes more efficient at it.
 
^I was very pleased and like all body adaptations it does make sense. Perhaps people should start fast training before going on Survivor? :D

By the way MynameisnotDeja, have you (or anyone else reading this I suppose ;) ) ever tried a long term low carb diet to stay in ketosis for extended periods of time (like first stage atkins or the eskimos etc). I tried it once and my brain was a lot clearer but I like to swim sprints so it's too intense to manage without glucose. I'd consider it again if I could still bike and run I suppose but it's kind of the opposite of the whole Power Gel mentality. Maybe I'll go google around a bit.
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535723/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0026-0495(85)90060-5
http://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(05)00141-X/abstract

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101227100822.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17447161
http://www.jimmunol.org/content/172/3/1809.abstract

Starvation will lead to decreased TNF-a induction via lowered serum leptin levels. In those with high insulin resistance, acute fasting will often reduce the resistance to a degree. This is modulated by a large number of factors.

I'm reading this as the opposite. "Starvation decreases insulin sensitivity" - i.e. making insulin resistance worse. On the same page, "more insulin resistant subjects tended to maintain (or modestly improve) insulin resistance whilst subjects with better insulin sensitivity tended to worse [sic] it."

Exercise is the only thing I've heard will really reduce insulin resistance.
 
^I was very pleased and like all body adaptations it does make sense. Perhaps people should start fast training before going on Survivor? :D

By the way MynameisnotDeja, have you (or anyone else reading this I suppose ;) ) ever tried a long term low carb diet to stay in ketosis for extended periods of time (like first stage atkins or the eskimos etc). I tried it once and my brain was a lot clearer but I like to swim sprints so it's too intense to manage without glucose. I'd consider it again if I could still bike and run I suppose but it's kind of the opposite of the whole Power Gel mentality. Maybe I'll go google around a bit.

I follow a mostly raw foods diet. I don't eat any grains, potatoes, etc at all. I do eat fruit and vegetables but they are the only carbs I eat. I basically do a high raw, dairy free version of the specific carbohydrate diet.

The only sweetener I use is honey. It is a carb but different from regular sugar.

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

^info about the diet.

And lol, I've had that thought about Survivor for a LONG time now! Actually if you watched the last Survivor, one of the contestants, an older lady named Jane, practiced going for a long time without food while still being physical as part of her training she put herself through before the show. She was amazingly strong and probably would have won if she didn't get voted out for being the threat that she was. :)

Btw, I had an apple/celery juice and decided that fruit juice while fasting is far too sweet for me. I crashed and felt sick after. I am going to stick to green juices with a tinnnnny bit of fruit such as pineapple from now on. Those don't make my blood sugar spike and then crash. It's a shitty feeling.

I'm very tired and ready for more sleep quite soon. Hopeful for some more good dreams tonight!
 
That's pretty intense to follow all the time. Nice work! On the amazing race a few years back I think there was a jerky guy who was also a vegan. They had to eat a pound of fermented meat or something and he couldn't so they got eliminated haha. Anyways I'm definitely off for a walk now.

Sweet Dreams!
 
As far as science can tell us, ketosis is NOT a state humans should be in 24/7.

edit - in response to amapola. I may very well be mistaken, but this is just what my research has led me to so far. Much still needs to be studied, and I still have much to learn. :)
 
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As far as science can tell us, ketosis is NOT a state humans should be in 24/7.

edit - in response to amapola. I may very well be mistaken, but this is just what my research has led me to so far. Much still needs to be studied, and I still have much to learn. :)

I'm not sure if my diet would do that or not. Since I eat fruit. I am doing my diet to help heal my gut from the damage years of gluten soy and corn did to it, among other things. The SCD has shown to help a LOT of people with problems such as mine. Since being on this diet some of my autoimmune issues have cleared dramatically.
 
Fasting Day 3:

It is going well. Although I didn't sleep very well. All that juice kept me up all night. I woke up 7 freaking times to pee. Ufghjhsdfkjsdhf.

But I felt a lot better waking up this morning than yesterday morning and I feel better than I did last night. It got pretty weird for a second there last night... I felt... very strange. And sick, for a little while but it passed. My last juice of the night made me VERY high, a feeling I can only compare to being on crack and wanting to ramble on for hours on various topics. But at the same time I had an odd unpleasant feeling I can't really describe... like a weight on my shoulders emotionally. It must have been detoxed because it is gone this morning.

I keep having random cravings for the foods I ate years ago. They aren't intense, "OMG I WANT THIS SO BAD" sort of cravings though. For whatever reason it is always foods that contain a cheese/corn combination, both of which I am intolerant to. It's been chedder quesadillas or enchiladas, but rather than the intense longing for it, it's more of a thought of it. A memory that comes on really strong. It's like my body is detoxing out these food memories and addictions from the past... very strange how it works. I haven't had either of those foods in about 1.5 years now.

I'm going to do a liver flush tonight and a salt water colonic flush tomorrow. Both of these have provided me excellent results many times in the past so I'm not worried about them. But now that I'm high raw I am likely not going to liver flush anymore. This may very well be the last time I need to flush or do colonics, at least for a good while. Hope so.

I'm off to make some more green juice and then head out to the store to get the ingredients for my flush and more juice. Peace!
 
catching up on this thread, the gist is a fast is nothing but water + fruits/veggies, right?

so how do nuts fit into the equation?
 
There are many different types of fasts.

Dictionary.com gives a good definition of a fast as
"an abstinence from food, or a limiting of one's food, esp. when voluntary and/or as a religious observance; fasting."

So if you are use to an average western diet you could perform a fruits, vegetables and nuts 'fast'. It would be very similar to a raw foods diet.

How nuts fit it really depends on what you want to get out of your fast. That being said I believe they are generally quite high in fat which makes them unsuitable for many fasting regiments.

edit: or you can use MynameisnotDeja's definition :D
Though I personally would call that a fluid diet as you can still fulfill all you calorie requirements with protein shakes and fruit drinks etc.
The term 'juice fast' is commonly used as well which generally just means freshly squeezed juice and is quite calorie deficient but still includes many nutrients.
 
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Though I personally would call that a liquid diet as you can still fulfill all you calorie requirements with protein shakes and fruit drinks etc.
The term 'juice fast' is commonly used as well which generally just means freshly squeezed juice and is quite calorie deficient but still includes many nutrients.

Yeah, I'm not meaning "liquid" as anything like a green smoothie. Green smoothies, protein shakes, etc, although liquid-like, still have fiber and what not, they are basically just ground up food with water added to them. Real fasting requires no fiber or anything to digest so the digestive track can rest. Otherwise you are just eating an extremely calorie restricted diet but your digestive track still has to do all the work of moving the fiber through.
 
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