Posted: 2/11/2011 7:47:10 AM EDT
|
I'm not too familiar with fasting. When I was a kid I thought eating was a waste of time and I preferred to just keep running and jumping or whatever young boys do. Not that I was unhealthy, but in my teens occasionally I'd go a day or two sometimes without eating. No big deal really.
Since I turned 18 or so I feel can barely go 8 hours without eating , so I haven't "fasted" in years. I'm sure I could if I felt it was worth it. A few of my older friends recently started fasting to lose weight. The first guy to to it was a LOT overweight when he started. I'm not exactly sure the process he used but I'm pretty sure it was a 2-3 day fast at a time, obviously still drinking water. Then a few normal days eating normal meals. Then another 2 days. Supposedly he lost like 70 pounds and feels great. A few other friends decided to try it and they aren't into it too deep yet but so far they seem to think it's a good thing. I looked into it just a little bit but for a different reason. I have a couple friends who have cancer and are on chemo. Some of the "research" I've been doing seems to indicate that fasting has great potential in cancer patients. Fasting is said to weaken cancerous cells and insulate healthy ones somehow. It makes sense in my head, but who knows if it has any weight. A lot of other things I read said things like, "There is no scientific proof that fasting....." etc. Seems to me that if your body is not taking in nutrients your body is going to have to "triage" itself and healthy tissue would not be as likely as cancerous tissue to be "eaten" first. Fasting is also said to help detoxify your body of all the crap we put in it on a daily/weekly/yearly basis. All this got me thinking and I figured I'd pose the question to GD - Who here fasts, and why? |
|
A simple solution would be to not fast.
I do that a lot and it works quite well in qwelling your hunger, being healthy and having evergy. Oh and Jesus doesn't really care if you stop eating for a day. If you need forgiveness for something horrible you did, just ask. He doesn't for fasting. |
|
Probably start throwing in a 1-day fast every week or sofor the health benefits as soon as I adjust to the low carb diet again. Calorie restriction seems to have some immense health benefits so long as you don't go too low, though I don't know if fasting shows the same results. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
|
A lot of people who eat low carb / paleo / Atkins experiment with intermittent fasting (IF) such as eating as much as they want midnight to midnight on Tuesday, then nothing on Wednesday, then repeat; or maybe two 24-hour periods a week with no calories. For me the form of IF that works is to eat (almost zero carb but lots of food) only during a four or five hour period in the morning. I feel fine the rest of the day and consistently lose about 0.2 pounds per day. This only works with low carb food, at least for me. If I eat bread or cereal or something it's hard to go more than a few hours without more food. |
|
Quoted:
A simple solution would be to not fast. I do that a lot and it works quite well in qwelling your hunger, being healthy and having evergy. Oh and Jesus doesn't really care if you stop eating for a day. If you need forgiveness for something horrible you did, just ask. He doesn't for fasting. Thanks for letting us know you are the all-knowing 
|
|
Quoted:
Depriving your body of needed nutrients is not a smart idea. Simply eat less if your body is storing excess. Trying to run your body on zero food is like trying to run your car without gas. Except that your car doesn't start burning valuable parts of the car as a substitute. |
|
Quoted:
Fasting is said to weaken cancerous cells and insulate healthy ones somehow. It makes sense in my head Can you explain why that makes sense to you? Just curious. As for fasting - I'm of the opinion that the hunger drive exists for a reason. Also, for dieting, if you're not very careful about caloric deprevation, your metabolism will go to shit, which means the minute you start back eating, you're going to put it all right back on as fat. |
|
Quoted: Depriving your body of needed nutrients is not a smart idea. Simply eat less if your body is storing excess. Trying to run your body on zero food is like trying to run your car without gas. I disagree. Our bodies are fantastic machines and are designed to store nutrients because until relatively recently in human history, we involuntarily fasted frequently. I believe occasional fasting is healthy. Pregnant woman, children, and the sick would be advised not to but anyone else can and, IMO, should. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Fasting is said to weaken cancerous cells and insulate healthy ones somehow. It makes sense in my head Can you explain why that makes sense to you? Just curious. As for fasting - I'm of the opinion that the hunger drive exists for a reason. Also, for dieting, if you're not very careful about caloric deprevation, your metabolism will go to shit, which means the minute you start back eating, you're going to put it all right back on as fat. Well to me it just kinda makes sense that if your body is going to start eating pieces of itself, it might recognize cancerous tissue as something that is less important than healthy tissue. I agree with you on the dieting part. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Depriving your body of needed nutrients is not a smart idea. Simply eat less if your body is storing excess. Trying to run your body on zero food is like trying to run your car without gas. I disagree. Our bodies are fantastic machines and are designed to store nutrients because until relatively recently in human history, we involuntarily fasted frequently. I believe occasional fasting is healthy. Pregnant woman, children, and the sick would be advised not to but anyone else can and, IMO, should. Your body stores energy reserves, yes - but it doesn't store everything you need. Otherwise fat people would be immune to vitamin deficiency ailments which we all know they are not. This is pretty basic science. Fasting is unwise despite what some nut doctor may pitch in a book or on the internet in an attempt to sell you on his fad diet. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Depriving your body of needed nutrients is not a smart idea. Simply eat less if your body is storing excess. Trying to run your body on zero food is like trying to run your car without gas. I disagree. Our bodies are fantastic machines and are designed to store nutrients because until relatively recently in human history, we involuntarily fasted frequently. I believe occasional fasting is healthy. Pregnant woman, children, and the sick would be advised not to but anyone else can and, IMO, should. Your body stores energy reserves, yes - but it doesn't store everything you need. Otherwise fat people would be immune to vitamin deficiency ailments which we all know they are not. This is pretty basic science. Fasting is unwise despite what some nut doctor may pitch in a book or on the internet in an attempt to sell you on his fad diet. I understand your point and agree that energy reserves are not the same as food with all their vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are the only ones stored in your body. All the water-soluble vitamins (that's everything else - all the B's, C, etc) are not stored and you will be operating in a vitamin-depleted state while you fast. Just the same, I still believe it is healthy to fast occasionally. |
| I've read a couple of reputable research papers over the years that suggest that there may be a better link between Americans and Canadians no longer fasting (or even just periods of increased ascetic practice, like cutting rich foods over a period like Lent) and our increasing cancer rates than all the other hokum suggested by fad of the day "science" diets that gain media attention (like the easy no-cancer fix of drinking red wine, no wait - eat grapes instead, no wait - it's drinking green tea, no it's garlic, ...). None of the papers claimed a scientifically proven conclusion because it wasn't their primary study, but the a couple of the researchers suggested that the secularization of society seemed to be inversely proportional to ascetic periods in diet and/or fasting, and that the body may need these periods of "rest" for all its systems. Their primary research was for athletes gaining strength/performance, not weight loss or cancer or... but their research did support that (at least in Olympic and national team level athletes across a broad array of sports) that a fasting period of 3-7 days immediately prior to an intense period of training seemed to better prepare the body for health and growth than those who did not fast based on statistically relevant differences in gains in lean muscle mass and strength. |
|
A few things I was looking at, if anyone is interested.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3337872/Fasting-could-help-fight-cancer.html http://www.goodhealthinfo.net/cancer/what_i_learned.htm http://www.karlloren.com/biopsy/book/p15.htm |