Fasting??

Here is the problem.

In a true survival situation, you have no idea when you will see a drive through again. 1 day? 3 days? a month? You need to think long term and try to procure food whenever you can. When you should eat that food has more to do with shelf life and necessity. For instance if you had the opportunity to dig up some clams, eat them.
 
JCavSD said:
In the same way that I don't think running a car low on oil on a regular basis is helpful, I don't think running the body low on nutrients is helpful. Not a health care professional, but I can't see how fasting can be physically (as opposed to psychologically) healthy.
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I do not see how the human body can be compared to an automobile. The body has a way of rebuilding itself unlike an automobile. Its kind of like saying I don't exercise because I get sore and it hurts. Extremes are good to experience sometimes.
As for eating a veg diet, I tried that for a few years and it is just not a balanced diet. Humans have been eating meat for a very long time with great results. I understand that the meat production practices are for the most part horrible I would not sacrifice eating animal protein. There are was to get quality meat. There are other was to save money but skimping on quality food is not one of them.
 
RUNIT said:
I do not see how the human body can be compared to an automobile. The body has a way of rebuilding itself unlike an automobile. Its kind of like saying I don't exercise because I get sore and it hurts. Extremes are good to experience sometimes.
As for eating a veg diet, I tried that for a few years and it is just not a balanced diet. Humans have been eating meat for a very long time with great results. I understand that the meat production practices are for the most part horrible I would not sacrifice eating animal protein. There are was to get quality meat. There are other was to save money but skimping on quality food is not one of them.
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Let me clarify. The body can be viewed as a living machine. Yes, the body can repair itself to a certain extent and an automobile can't. However, both will run more or less efficiently, and have a longer or shorter life, based on how they are maintained. Not exercising is bad for the body, as is letting a car sit for extended periods of time. I wouldn't call most exercise "extreme" just because it hurts.
 
You can go longer without food than without water. You can accustom or 'train' your body to go without food for long periods of time. When I was younger, I fasted every other day for about two months without any side effects and yes, your senses seems to get sharper. But, in this age and time where most foods are devitalized and robbed of their nutritional value, compounded with the affects of pollution on the human body, you have to be very careful.
 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pollan is interesting guy on real food

"eat food, not too much, mostly plants"

of course, when he says food, he means *real* food. which basically means, as natural and un processed as possible other than prep//cooking.

fasting, or just cutting back some on food intake is fascinating. it's not necessary to feel "full" all the time. having a little hollow / being a little hungry is actually NICE.

starving is not nice... but that can take weeks. some of us can even benefit from that ;) well, i can. most people eat the wrong things, and too much.

another way to look at it: it's like other kinds of exercise or training. something to learn about, and figure out.

what's that rules of threes? three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without oxygen? mmm.

some people can't seem to last three seconds without some things :>

additionally, in certain cultures, fasting, like yoga, and such, SEEM to have benefits. one would think that after hundreds or thousands of years, it might be interesting to see. sure, you don't HAVE to. it's just something interesting to do. hacking your own body.
 
It is very important to seperate not drinking water from not eating food
The body needs water and cannot survive for long without it
But can go fo a long time without food

Fasting as a health practice is best with drinking water
The recovery is from lack of water and rehydration
It is easy not to eat if you are drinking water

Also hot/warm water will provide calories
 
Bladite said:
additionally, in certain cultures, fasting, like yoga, and such, SEEM to have benefits. one would think that after hundreds or thousands of years, it might be interesting to see. sure, you don't HAVE to. it's just something interesting to do. hacking your own body.
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Strength training is important, and much like the health food/ diet market in America there is much falsehood and misinformation out there. Thankfully there are many people here at bladeforums I have seen in threads all over the forum that have a stronger grasp of what real strength is.
 
me and a friend got caught out one night,we only had food for the day,and we ran out of light trying to find the trail home. waking up in the morning, then having to walk for 3 hours was surprisingly hard .im quite happy to walk all day usually, but that walk was a struggle,feet dragging and sluggish. i think i could handle a fast,but probably would have to conserve energy carefully.
 
Bladite said:
....., like yoga, and such, SEEM to have benefits. one would think that after hundreds or thousands of years, it might be interesting to see. sure, you don't HAVE to. it's just something interesting to do. hacking your own body.
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I agree,
[video=youtube;E15TpFn1MqI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=E15TpFn1MqI[/video]
 
I am not talking about the health benefits. Those, in a sense, will go out the window in a survival situation. I think the survival mindset, the psychological advantage, it creates is HUGE. A quick example that came up in our discussion: one of the guys has practiced fasting for religious reasons for years. When the 'canes hit the Gulf Coast a few years back, he was stuck at home with his family. He has a brother who is hypoglycemic (lack of food for him causes severe migraines) and his sister was pregnant at the time. So...he was able to pass on some meals in order to keep the calm and full enough to function. Yea, it was only for a few days and they had plenty of food, but he was able to function by eating breakfast and then consuming lots of clean water.

I think it would also come in handy in our EOTWAWKI scenarios. If I have prepared my body for some deprivation, I can go a lot further, in theory, before I have to sit down and have some chow. I can also pack less chow initially if I have to bug out because I have prepared my body to operate for longer periods of time between "refueling."

Of course, this is largely theoretical. Stress and other things would play into a survival situation that would skew your results.
 
Les Stroud's "Survivorman" is a great example of how fasting can be done, in a survival situation. Seems like every episode involves some food deprivation. After 4 days with no food, he'll say that he's weak and has to be careful, standing up too fast or just being wobbly is part of the danger. Passing out isn't too bad, it's how and where you fall that will get you.
Les did adventure racing, at one time, and seems to be in great shape. Some folks wouldn't be as capable as Les, given the same conditions. This is why it could be good to at least try fasting, see how your body reacts. If you can fast, maybe it's something to practice on a regualar basis, same reasons we practice anything, to be prepared.
 
My longest fast is 10 days, nothing except water, to drop weight before marathon races.

I would be doing this while in the middle of marathon training, running 5-10 miles a day.

It definitely changes your perspective on food, I can go deeper if anyone is interested.
 
Starving yourself is definitely not healthy! I don't know how helpful it may be, but it isn't healthy. Starving yourself screws up your metabolism, which causes your body to retain more fat from what you DO eat. It's a very popular myth that starvation is a good method of dieting. And yeah, if you starve yourself for a long enough time, obviously you will lose weight, but at the same time you will be destroying your metabolism and depriving your body of nutrients, which can make you sick and weak. So, in all honesty, i'd refrain from starving myself for extended periods of time to "train" for a survival situation.
 
There were some studies done that said that a very low calorie diet is very good for us.. Our bodies are build for it. Also one of the reasons our body would store all the energy it can at times of plenty. I have a friend who would fast one day each week and eat normal the rest of the week. she lost weight and feels much better. Sometimes she feels like fasting for 2-3 days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction
 
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g02139 said:
My longest fast is 10 days, nothing except water, to drop weight before marathon races.

I would be doing this while in the middle of marathon training, running 5-10 miles a day.

It definitely changes your perspective on food, I can go deeper if anyone is interested.
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Please send me an email at ....... todd@tadscustomknives.com

Thanks!!!!!

TA
 
Niconi said:
Starving yourself is definitely not healthy! I don't know how helpful it may be, but it isn't healthy. Starving yourself screws up your metabolism, which causes your body to retain more fat from what you DO eat. It's a very popular myth that starvation is a good method of dieting. And yeah, if you starve yourself for a long enough time, obviously you will lose weight, but at the same time you will be destroying your metabolism and depriving your body of nutrients, which can make you sick and weak. So, in all honesty, i'd refrain from starving myself for extended periods of time to "train" for a survival situation.
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Hi, so there are many levels of starving/restriction/dieting and have different consequences to them. It's hard to lump them all together and I'm definitely not qualified to speak to all of them, since I don't usually diet or watch what I eat. But the thought behind fasting, is that people used to fast all the time, it used to be for religious/spiritual reason, and when humans were hunters, they might not get to their next meal for days to a week. It's only the last hundred years that people started to get 3 meals everyday (granted, we live longer and maybe healthier)

For me, starving, was a way to get my body into ketosis so it would, as fast as possible, switch to burning fat for fuel. It definitely feels weird, light headed and even you see thing differently, and it's the first 2 days that's the toughest to get through. I've done this 3 times now, twice for marathons and once for charity fund raising, no negative side effects. Also each time, it's easier to keep off the weight afterwards, as in I lose around 5lbs permanently.

I'll say this though, that first meal, oh man, so delicious. And since your stomach shrinks, you don't have to gorge, it's like a reset button on your food intake. It makes you think about the food you eat and it makes you appreciate it and happy with smaller portions.
 
This thread inspired me. I'd been playing around with fasting and different foods and have come up with a pseudo plan for myself...testing starts today. Coffee and some rice today and nothing else. Protein tomorrow and then an every other day switch of veggies and protein in reduced portions. No fast food ( not a soda drinker, but I love hot dogs and fries). We will see in a week how my body and stomach react!
 
Rockywolf said:
This thread inspired me. I'd been playing around with fasting and different foods and have come up with a pseudo plan for myself...testing starts today. Coffee and some rice today and nothing else. Protein tomorrow and then an every other day switch of veggies and protein in reduced portions. No fast food ( not a soda drinker, but I love hot dogs and fries). We will see in a week how my body and stomach react!
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That sounds like a great idea! You should start a thread about your experience. Is there a heath and fitness forum around here? I will check now.
 
My experience...
You are in the best condition you will be at the very onset of an actual survival situation. You may be able to maintain your physical and mental condition, however this is unlikely as your physical and mental demands will increase depending on weather, injuries ETC.Of all survival situations i have ever researched the common fact was the survivors health and mental state declined as time passed,regardless of environment and conditions.
I feel that fasting and knowing what it will feel like to be truly hungry are good stress inoculators, however you cannot train yourself out of true exhaustive hunger. When a "survival situation" happens, you get knocked down on Maslow`s heirarchy of needs pyramid. You no longer have the warm house and t.v. to occupy you/distract you from that hunger and the basics are foremost in your mind. preoccupation with food, water ,shelter, fire, in whatever order the situation deems most important; will be constantly on your mind.Combined with the possible solitude and your own thoughts....makes you nuttier than a squirrel.But it is your body and mind telling you to hunt and gather to live...dont ignore that part.I have had the opportunity to experience sleep deprivation, hunger,isolation ETC and can tell you that when you have barely enough energy to collect the readily available water and edible plants...it is not the same as fasting for a few days at home.i used to fast for 2 day periods every 3 weeks (need to start doing that again, i think it is good for you. cleaned out the pipes ETC) and it was not even in the same ballpark as starving in the woods.
Keep your body in the best condition you can at all times is the best preperation for any situation (skills over gear anyday). it is a slow downhill after that.
 
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