Intermittent Fasting?

Have any of you all tried intermittent fasting?

I'm going to try an experiment and try a 24 hour fast every Monday. I'm not talking about a water-only fast . . . maybe eating just raw fruits and vegetables (and lots of water) for that day.

Let me know your all's thoughts or experiences.

I tried fasting once...

Was the worst 10 seconds of my life.


DarkShadow out

I was raised Jewish. We fast one day a year.
Generally, fasting for a day means (for us) skipping all meals except dinner. But that's because the Jewish "day" starts at sundown.

it's not good for your brain.


What is your goal, please?

My goal is to provide myself with a periodic cleanse so to speak. By that, I mean indulging in a day of fruits and vegetables only.

what are you cleaning and how is the fast accomplishing that?

I have a couple reasons to try it:

- I have Hepatitis C and borderline high blood pressure. I've read that periodic fasting (Even the kind I'm doing, where it's just a day of fruit and vegetables) is beneficial to healing those conditions.

- There is not one day in my 39 years where I've gone a day without food. I've been blessed. I want to pay homage to the higher power (whatever you want to call it) for this by going a day without.

I'll let you all know how it goes. I was just curious if anyone had any experience with it?

Nintyplayer wrote:

I was raised Jewish. We fast one day a year.
Generally, fasting for a day means (for us) skipping all meals except dinner. But that's because the Jewish "day" starts at sundown.

Ever been to an all you can eat Seder? Worst times

I don't even practice eating kosher anymore, except rabbit and bats. There are just some things I won't even touch. Mmmmm.... baaaaacooooonnnnn......

But, yeah. Don't do it. Just lower your caloric intake if you're worried about weight loss. If you try to starve, your body is hard wired to hold onto what mass you've accumulated because it thinks you're dealing with famine.

I occasionally do it for spiritual reasons. My personal record is four days with only sugar free liquids.
More often though I'll just go through a 24 hour period with only sugar free liquids. It's not that hard because for the first 13 hours you still have your last meal in your system.
It taught me that most hunger is in your mind.

I should give this a try. After all it is almost bathing suit season.

No... not on purpose.

I did a lot of water-only fasts in the 1970's.

Depriving of food for spiritual reasons
doesn't give the same feeling as volunteering at a soup kitchen
and looking starving people in the eye.

There are no molecules that are "cleaned" by this method
and depriving of calories weakens the immune system.

MORE importantly, depriving of calories is not good for the brain

stir fried veggies with curry sauce is no big loss on me so that type of fasting is like normal eating for me.

if you have hepC and bad blood pressure i suggest eating healthy every day.

Actually depriving yourself of calories is good for the mind. While the brain relies on carbs as fuel, the hunger caused by the lack of carbs causes your brain to become more focused in order for food to be easily found, if we slowed down when we were hungry we would have gone extinct a long time ago. 
I used to fast by eating only in an 8 hour window but had to quit when I couldn't fit 4,000 calories into that window; now I just have some days where I skip eating altogether and simply drink protein shakes and meal replacements.

This is theory AND
protein shakes and meal replacements 
ARE food in the blood stream

I didn't say they weren't, but okay.

having a shake is not fasting tho



I've seen too many elderly people lose it.
When I see young people, I know that they are aging and
 I'd rather that they stay lucid and I think that they would too, in theory

I didn't say it was.

I have fasted, though not for very long.  I didn't eat for most of a day and drank only green tea.  It is interesting how different you start to feel.  More focused (as has been mentioned) and basically lighter.

A common misconception is that fasting is strictly about food.  This is not so.  You can fast from pretty much anything that you are used to doing.  I recently fasted from listening to music.  Apparently, as a result, I actually slept really well for the first time in a long time.

I don't recommend going long periods of time without food, unless guided by someone who knows what they are doing.  There are many other things you can fast from.  Specific kinds of food could be avoided for a time.  As you said, Blue Rattler,  eating raw fruits and vegetables and drinking water is not a bad idea at all.  Obviously you'd be missing out on protein, but if you don't do that for too long you'd be fine.

Processed foods. Try eating only fresh foods and no sodas or other carbonated beverages.

Celery and garlic are both good for lowering your blood pressure.

What about actually studying anatomy and nutrition?

Thanks for contributing, Flora.

Flora V. Arbor wrote:

What about actually studying anatomy and nutrition?

I have heard numerous professionals mentioning that intermittent fasting is good for losing weight.
this involves eating 8 hours of the day and fasting for 16 hours of it.

arrowdynamic wrote:

Flora V. Arbor wrote:

What about actually studying anatomy and nutrition?

I have heard numerous professionals mentioning that intermittent fasting is good for losing weight.
this involves eating 8 hours of the day and fasting for 16 hours of it.

Waiting 12 hours - through the sleep cycle - from the last bite of dinner
 until the first bite of breakfast
 AND doing your cardio exercise first thing in the morning,
 before you eat, optimizes fat-burning
 IF you have a lot of muscle since muscle is the only fat-burning tissue.


"losing weight"  is not a good term since we can "lose weight" by dehydrating
 but, in the process, harm the brain.

So, "burning stored fat" is an important term to use instead because many of the
 ideas of the past are not safe or effective.