Thoughts and Experiences with Fasting?

[TejasT]

I was curious to get your all's take on fasting. I've never tried it, and would love to hear some experiences and opinions on those here that have.

What exactly is the purpose of fasting in your experience? Is it to cleanse your body? Your mind? Is it a spiritual thing? Or all of the above.

For those of you that have tried fasting, what were your experiences with it? If you could give me a little detail on the type of fasting you did (only fruits, only water, giving up 1 meal, etc) I'd appreciate it.

And finally, are there any good books or references on the subject you'd recommend.

[Mason Black]

Hey tejasT!

I did it last year during Lent. What I did was two small meals a day that come out to one meal. Something like a small bag of chips, a sandwich, just something that's not going to fill you by any means. Then have one normal meal. I only ate meat once a day, and on Fridays I don't eat meat at all. I would save the whole meal for dinner. No snacking by any means though. It was hard at times, but it also felt great! I do it from time to time. Sometimes just for a day, sometimes a week. Just depends on how I feel. I do it for God, He's my reason behinde it all.

I don't know of any books on it off the top of my head. But, if I find anything I'll let you know.

[djanello]

"If you can't control what goes into your mouth, how can you control what comes out?"

-- St. John Chrysostom
(ca. 400 AD)

[Posty]

Check out "The Miracle of Fasting" by Bragg. Bragg recommends a weekly one-day water only fast and claims many health benefits.

Cheers

[mwm]

Recently I have thrown in a fast or two & had a great experience. So much so that I am buying a juicer next week and I'm planning to try the once a day trick for 5 weeks to see how it works for me. I also had a driver last week (to and from the airport) that was close to 70 and looked better then most 40 year olds. It was very inspirational; he practiced a one day a week water fast, lived and thought clean & he seemed to be enjoying his life. He told me about how he was planning to go canoeing over the weekend.

Sounds like fun.

I'm going to tie my five weeks of one day a week fasting to overall extra clean eating and dropping soda.

That does not "sound" quite as fun, but I'll be glad I did it!

The aspect of fasting and super clean eating I enjoy most is how little I suffer from muscle and joint aches.

[MikeNY]

Paul Bragg's Book on fasting is the tops, old but it is still the best. I've fasted in the past and might start again; but commonly fast the Paul Bragg way and miss breakfast just eat lunch and dinner; sometimes I skip lunch. It always makes me feel better. I've talked to some real hard core faster's, one reportedly fasted 40 days and nights as a spiritual exercise in reverence to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the ancient world fasting was a common exercise in the Mederterrian World, Middle East and India.

[gs300tx]

Lets not forget about the month of Ramadan that starts tomorrow in the US. 30 days(or less depending on the lunar calendar) of fasting, sunrise to sunset no food or water.

[MikeNY]

Ali I think ancient man used that pattern that Ramadan shows, that men in ancient Arabia ate one good meal a day and were slim and strong. I suspect that way of eating was used by many people in ancient times. The Warrior Diet talks about that.

[gs300tx]

Well we got guys like Herschel Walker who claims to only eat once a day and look how strong he is. This is something that is definitely worth looking into.

[Paul Smith]

I have been practicing Intermittent Fasting (IF) for the last four weeks. The version I follow consists of a daily 16-18 hour fast with a "feeding window" of 6-8 hours. The fasting period means NO calories including those that come from beverages. I just drink spring water.

Typically, I eat lunch around 12-1pm which commences the feeding window. I sometimes snack later in the day and then eat dinner sometime around 6-7pm. Sometimes my eating ends at dinner, other times I may have a small snack later. Regardless of how much food I've consumed, I stop eating 6-8 hours after I started.

Several observations:

--LIFESTYLE. I chose to start my feeding stage at lunchtime because it fit better into my lifestyle. I rarely feel like eating breakfast first thing in the morning so it was easy to skip it. I find that, socially, I enjoy eating lunch with friends/colleagues and we all know that dinner often has a social component to it.

--EATING. I like to eat. And I have always found it difficult to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Besides the fact that it took a great deal of planning and coordination, I found it hard to limit myself to such small amounts. When I eat, I eat. When I don't, I don't. IF allows me to eat satisfying meals twice a day with a couple snacks if desired. I try to eat clean most of the time but because of the caloric deficit that I create, it allows me to be a little more liberal and enjoy the occasional treat more freqently without consequence. I have also found that my stomach has gotten smaller and, therefore, I eat less. I just can't seem to eat the same quantities of food that I used to (nor do I have the desire to).

--ADJUSTMENT. It took me about 2-3 days to get my body used to this routine. I felt very hungry at first. After I adjusted, I find that I "notice" that I might feel a little hungry at times but I do NOT have the terrible feelings of starvation that I feared I would. If I feel a little hunger pang I drink some water and it usually goes away. I realized that I often ate at predetermined times not because my body needed to but because I felt I was "supposed" to. It was conditioning pure and simple.

--ENERGY LEVEL. Contrary to what you might expect, I have much, much MORE energy be eating less food!!! This is undeniable and very noticable. Proponents of IF suggest that this is because the body is not in a constant state of digestion which, of course, requires much of your body' s energy. There's a reason we often feel tired after consuming a meal.

--WEIGHT LOSS. In four weeks I have lost 8-10 pounds. I believe I have gained some degree of muscle as well. My body looks better and my clothes fit better too. One theory as to why IF aides in weight loss is that by only eating during the window, your insulin levels go down and stay down for much of the day (the fast). When you eat small meals every few hours, your insulin levels never have a chance to go down and remain somewhat elevated throughout the day impeding weight loss.

--CONCLUSION. For me, this method has set me free from food. I feel that I don't have to obsess over counting calories or worry about scheduling meals constantly througout the day. Like I said before--when I eat, I eat. When I don't, I don't. This has been surprisingly easy. I consider IF to be a lifestyle change and plan to eat this way permanently.

Just my two cents. Good luck!!!

Paul

[tom]

I have been doing what Paul does, more or less, for several years. It works for me, too.

Tom

[monty]

I eat some fruit and nuts throughout the day then eat a good dinner.

I have done this for a few years. I find I have more energy, never sick, and have gotten more cut.

Monty