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Help doing Water-fast.....


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hello everyone......

 

So, i'd like to know if there's anything i can do to make fasting any easier? Something i have to do before i start water fasting.....( or even after as well )

Because i've been trying to water-fast several times, and everytime i feel sick by the end of the first day, really tired, and by the second day i desperately go to the kitchen, and i eat eat eat... till i'm full.... so... what do u guys do before going to waterfasting?

i wanted to be able to do it for at least 3 days... but it seems so hard...

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AndJack,

 

Why do you want to waterfast? I can think of no benefits of starving yourself for 3 days. Even your own body rejects the idea. I know that some people think it's wonderful but then some people think lots of things are wonderful.

 

When you fast (as a healthy person) your body sends you signals that it's hungry. You feel weak, lightheaded, irritable (hopefully you won't operate a car or work in a field where the safety of others is in your hands). More importantly, your body starts to eat itself. You have a daily need for calories and amino acids. Your body will take some calories from fat, some from muscle and ALL amino acids from muscle. If you are looking for a way to lose muscle mass, fasting cannot be beat.

 

Keep in mind that your body will still go through oxidative processes (which release free radicals) while you fast. Your body does this everyday. But on most days, you feed it anti-oxidants from fruits and vegetables so there's hopefully no long-term damage.

 

I'm sure you didn't want a lecture on the horrors of fasting. However, I don't see any positive aspects for healthy people fasting and certainly not for bodybuilders or those into fitness. (By the way, some people with cancer lose their appetites as the body's attempt to starve the cancer. That's the only sickness that comes to mind where fasting might be advantageous).

 

If you do decide to fast, there are probably other forums out there with more members who fast. Maybe some raw foods forums?

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Most books on fasting are written by people who are not degreed health professionals. The reasoning and information that these authors give on fasting are often ignorant of and in direct contradiction to well established medical science.

 

Every year for the past 4 years I have gone to a 5 day vegan festival that invites a variety of speakers to come. Every year there was a representative from a community called Tanglewood which supervises and encourages fasting. Last year, this non-medically trained, self assured fasting guru finally killed someone:

 

( from Quack Watch ):

http://tinyurl.com/2hdmje

 

Since I went to this festival so many times I knew this fasting guru on a first name basis. I can remember him telling me how Tanglewood was considering moving from my area to central America because authorities, pushed on by the "medical establishment" were harassing him because what he was doing "worked". He tried to get me to try his crack pot diet. When I told him that none of what he preached was founded on science he looked me from head to toe and gave me a judgmental look because I was overweight at the time.

 

Yes, someone can know what they are talking in regards to health/nutrition/fitness....be a human being, and still not be attractive..........while someone who *dangerously* doesn't know what he is talking about can be rail thin, "healthy" looking.

 

For what it is worth there is medical information that supports the worthiness of fasting. The book below is written by (a vegan) Dr. Joel Furnham MD who used to run a medically ( as in having an MD there ) supervised water fasting clinic in New Jersey. I think the book below is the only book you will ever find on fasting written by an MD and backed up by medical citations.

 

FWIW Dr. Furnham only advises fasting for people who are in near life threatening circumstances brought about by diseases of overconsumption. He will not accept anyone for fasting until they have learned to eat properly and demonstrated that they have done so for months

 

 

Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease

by Dr. Joel Fuhrman MD

http://tinyurl.com/2ra3qj

 

He emphasized in his book that fasting is an activity for extreme health issues and isn't something to do casually or when your health is fine.

 

If after all of this, you don't plan to fast, but you are still interested in the subject, read his book. You will have good information on the subject instead of the health food co-op superstitions that most people believe in

Edited by beforewisdom
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i actually thought fasting would help giving a break to our bodies... but now i'm not so sure anymore... anyways.. i don't really know why i was trying to accomplish such a thing.... i think it was mostly because i wanted to try something and not so many people are able to do, and achieve it, than getting healthier...( by the way....i'm already a vegan who avoids a lots of processed stuff ) anyways... thanks for the advices... next time i'll try juice fasting....

 

ps: i know i haven't introduced myself yet, but i'll do that when i have more time...

Edited by andjack
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Thanks for that info, BeforeWisdom! I can see myself referring to it in the future. It's good to know that Furnham has written about this - I'll pick up his book if you'd be so kind as to give me the title.

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Andjack, I think your reasoning for fasting compares to many. It's fun to push ourselves. If you do decide to juice fast, keep in mind that you will most likely lose some lean muscle mass unless you're drinking a large amount of juice. If that's okay with you then go for it.

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Thanks for that info, BeforeWisdom! I can see myself referring to it in the future. It's good to know that Furnham has written about this - I'll pick up his book if you'd be so kind as to give me the title.

 

Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease

by Dr. Joel Fuhrman MD

 

You can read a description of it on Amazon here

http://tinyurl.com/2ra3qj

 

You can see which online retailer offers it the cheapest here:

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/9780312187194

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One important thing is that you should not work or do anything demanding..It is best to mostly sleep in this time..

Also if you plan to fast for 3 days it is recommended to have a 3 day preparation before fasting and a 3 day recovery after fasting..

In the preparation you should gradually reduce your food..

For instance if you consume 2500 cals the first day you should get 1700 the second 1200cals mostly from fruits maybe some rice and other easy digestible foods and the third day you should get about 700 cals just fro, fruits...This will prepare your body to cut the food intake..

After fasting is done you must do the same to come out of it..

 

There are some doctors who use fasting as a therapy..You may find one to help you....

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And fasting is not that dangerous..Maybe the book is talking about 20 day fasting or so...

A 3 day fasting is the most natural thing in nature..Do you think animals have food every day?Do you think all animal find food during bad weather?

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I read that book and I saw both of those men speak.

 

It is a good book.

 

If I was talking to someone who was only going to buy one book I would recommend Furnham's over theirs, however. Furnhams book explains to you in detail, with medical science, how and why fasting works, Furnham is an MD ( versus just a chiropractor ) and Furnham has medical citations.

 

I bought their cookbook after I saw them speak. It isn't a bad book either if you are looking for a cookbook where not every recipe is drenched in oil.

 

They had a lot of inspiring stories of people suffering from diseases of overconsumption ( cardiovascular, diabetes etc ) getting huge improvements in very little time for a very, VERY cheap ( comparatively ), non -invasive treatment.

 

Between their book & Furnhams my opinion about fasting completely changed.

 

I believe it is a tragically overlooked medical tool.

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I've read some of the posts but not all of them so maybe my post is useless but anyway...

 

Fasting can be a good thing. Prehistoric men were fasting for few days each time they didn't find food, it's good to regenerate the body. It cleans the organism, but it's especially the fact that you're burning fat, including toxic products stored in it, some are eliminated everyday, some stored in internal organs. So after, when you start eating again, it stores new clean fat. It's better to regenarate some of that fat every month, than to have 20 years old fat !

If you say you're eating healhty, you don't need to do some extreme fasting. It's for those who are sick, the body saturated with saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, etc... Dr. Shelton said water fasting is the best cure against any disease or infection, because the body must concentrate on fighting the virus, not waisting energy on digesting food.

Our bodyfat is pure energy, fat being more energetic than carbs and proteins. The usual people have more than 100 000 calories in fat waiting to be used.

 

It's true that if you do absolute fasting you're gonna lose muscle, but maybe not if it last just one day. Some people do this for weeks and months, that's for sure they lose more than 80% of their lean mass.

 

I would say short (1 day) absolute fasting is good sometimes, fruit fasting also, 3 days/month. Longer than that, do a protein fasting, without any danger. When you feel weak, no need for sugar, usually some salt (iodized), potassium, water do the job. Concerning food rage after a day or two, it's the first few days that are difficult, after this you usually never think about food.

Edited by I'm Your Man
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Personally, I'd avoid any type of fasting. Why not just drink a lot of water and not fast? If you want to burn fat, exercise. When I was younger, I didn't eat enough and ended up becoming weak, sickly and diagnosed with hypoglycemia. I'd be very careful about starving your body even for short periods of time. Also, how can a body concentrate on fighting off diseases if it has no fuel to do so?

 

Mike

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(...) Also, how can a body concentrate on fighting off diseases if it has no fuel to do so?

 

Mike

 

the body can use his fat cells as the fuel.

 

The body is supposed to have all the necessary weapons, no need of medication pills. I can't beleive the average canadian spend 998$ each year in medication, while I spend 0$ in life time!

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Yes, giving your digestion system a break from all the food processing in theory sounds healthy to me, but you have to be prepared for it. You have to have some down time for yourself cause all the toxins that are released will give you headaches and joint aches because the toxins have been released and are circulating in your blood, and hopefully will be expelled when you eliminate. Which fiber is good to have in helping in elimination. So maybe instead of juicing the vegetables, you can also just eat some of them for the fiber content. But then you are putting stuff back into your digestion system. Mmmm. . . . . Maybe you fast to release the toxins, and then eat alot of fiber to push it out! So maybe your body is telling you that already! You just need to be specific in what fiber to eat after a day of fasting!

 

Another point also, is that your glucose level goes way down. You should be able to handle it, but you just might want to check out to see if your insulin levels are OK with a fasting blood test.

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because the body must concentrate on fighting the virus, not waisting energy on digesting food.

 

It's true that if you do absolute fasting you're gonna lose muscle, but maybe not if it last just one day. Some people do this for weeks and months, that's for sure they lose more than 80% of their lean mass.

 

Concerning food rage after a day or two, it's the first few days that are difficult, after this you usually never think about food.

 

These are some valid points I agree with. From what i've read, when the body is not busy digesting food, it can use it's energy to access other cells out of the body to pull out waste, toxins and what have you...

 

Water fasting and most fasting in general is pretty contradicting to the environment built on this forum. People who are looking to maintain and build LBM do not avoid food. One doesn't complement the other. Unless you have been bulking up for the longest and you have plenty of bf and lbm to spare but even then I wouldn't fast for an extended period of time (more than 5 days), if you value keeping your gains from all the hard work you did.

 

The food rage wearing off after a few days is very true. It is simply mind over matter. It's kind of like running. When you start, your legs don't want to move, you get going and you are hurting some but once you get past that threshold, your legs just have a way of moving on their own, it just flows. Ever run and stop after an hour abruptly? Your legs still want to go. After a couple of days of avoiding food, the body adapts and it just becomes your daily routine.

 

After fasting is done you must do the same to come out of it..

 

This is very true. If you spend 5 days fasting, it is going to take five days for your body to start functioning normally. When I would fast and begin to resume eating, my body didn't necessarily welcome the food; it treated it as a foreign substance and eliminated it rather quickly. Only after several meals spread out, did my body start to welcome the food again.

 

Two people that you may want to look up regarding fasting are Dr. Norman Walker and Dr. Fred Bisci.

 

Speaking from my personal experiences, I am no longer keen on regular fasting. I lost an exorbitant amount of lbm and that is not my goal as of late. I will be staying away from water fasts. Juice fasts are ok for me right now but I don't really crave the need to do them. I'm very active and I like to fuel my body so it recovers properly.

 

I totally hear you though in wanting to push your body to the limits and accomplish what others would never consider possible for themselves but I don't find extensive water fasting in excess of 3 days condusive to lbm maintenance or growth. A small one, i.e. less than 3 days, is not terribly harmful and it's up to you and your tolerance, mind over matter.

 

believe it or not, I actually performed a dry fast for 17 days (no water no nothing), just to see what I could push my body to and although I accomplished it; it was quite possibly the stupidest thing I ever could have done in my entire life. It anded me in the hospital hooked up to an IV of calcium chloride and for what? Personally, i've had it with fasting; I just eat healthy, raw and if anything eat more than the average person, to gain muscle by fueling my body.

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Fasting is tough for the first two days if you've never done it before. However it actually gets easier once you get past the second or third day. Honestly...the last time I did a fast it lasted for about 8 days. I felt great and had to force myself to eat(very rare since I spend nearly every second trying to not think about eating). I always felt incredible a few days after I start eating again.

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"believe it or not, I actually performed a dry fast for 17 days (no water no nothing)".

 

damm ! I didn't even know that was possible ! everybody say : we can survive 3 months without any food but only 3 days without water...

Human body sure is a surprising machine.

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The body is supposed to have all the necessary weapons

 

Is that a joke?

 

No, why ? ahaha, maybe it sounds weird the way I wrote it. I could say it better in French. But I'm talking about antioxydants, white corpuscules, having an effective immune system, to prevent rather than to cure... also, the impact of a malady will be less harmful on healthy persons, and they will tend to cure and recover faster and easier.

 

I should have said : the body and mind..., some people have succeed in curing their cancer with their own will, concentration and by visualizing their white corpuscules fighting the tumor.

 

Of course everything I say is my opinion or based on some stuff that happen in reality. And we can't always understand reality. Rare are the things that are pure science and can be perfectly and rationnally explained.

Edited by I'm Your Man
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