Fasting

[idiot_stimpy]

I am interested in learning more of the benefits of fasting.

 

 

Does anyone have any advice or good stories to tell?

 

 

I am almost 24hrs into a water fast. Not feeling hungry yet, but I think it will come soon.

[idiot_stimpy]

Good resource care of Erlang

 

http://www.allaboutfasting.com/

[Erlang Shen]

Welcome!

Good luck with it!

Edited April 2, 2014 by Erlang Shen

[Jetsun]

If you can sweat a bit it is good and brush your body with a reasonably hard brush it will help your body with the detox by unblocking your pores and removing the waste which has been brought to the skin, that way you remove some stress from the internal organs and support full body breathing.

[Infinity]

Sorry this could be slightly off topic but it also may be of some relevance if your going on a big sailing trip... :-)

 

I read something interesting the other day. The article was about people who survive many many days at sea on minimal provisions and by catching fish, birds and turtles etc...

 

This survival expert says if your ever in that situation where food is very short the best thing to do is not eat for 48 hours and drink minimally as this causes the body to go into efficient mode where it uses lots less energy and thus when you do eat your provisions it will use them to better effect, handy to know!

 

∞

Edited April 2, 2014 by Infinity

[RiverSnake]

When doing a water fast a good trick is to also bless all the water you drink for whatever your intention for doing the fast is. It can make the fasts a bit more intense as well.....depending in the intention.

 

My 2 cents, Peace

Edited April 2, 2014 by OldChi

[Jetsun]

When I did my one and only fast I read that it can be a bit of shock for your body to go straight into just water, so I did a day of light food, then a few days juice, then water for a few days, then juice again before food so your body can adapt slowly. So how you do it depends on how long you do it for.

 

I found after a day or two I stopped being hungry at all and then I started to smell really bad for the rest of the time, I think your body starts to break down a lot of toxins or muscle or something which is why you start to smell but all that toxic stuff is being released which needs to come out which is why I suggested sweating was important because it will greatly help purge the body. It is hard to sweat when fasting as you don't feel like exercising and could possibly be bad for you to over exert yourself but if I did it again I would definitely find a way to do it daily,maybe do some light exercise in a hot room wrapped up in plastic bags or something. Also a lot of what is being purged is coming out through the skin so you need to shower regularly and brush the pores or some of it might be re-absorbed into the body.

[Marblehead]

My fish are fasting tonight. The last couple days I have been over-feeding them and much of the food has gone to waste. Tomorrow they will be hungry.

[SonOfTheGods]

cayenne pepper added helps to move toxins

 

don't use tap water

 

be still

 

breathe

 

all is well

[dee]

Intermittent fasting

[idiot_stimpy]

I heard when you go into ketosis, the breath smells quite bad.

[Dr_D]

I am interested in learning more of the benefits of fasting.

 

 

Does anyone have any advice or good stories to tell?

 

 

I am almost 24hrs into a water fast. Not feeling hungry yet, but I think it will come soon.

 

How long are you planing to fast?

[idiot_stimpy]

Maybe 5 days at first.

 

Is there anything you can do for the immune system so you don't get sick when in the fasting state?

[RiverSnake]

Maybe 5 days at first.

 

Is there anything you can do for the immune system so you don't get sick when in the fasting state?

 

IME, Fasting boosts the immune system. Another good trick is to fast when you get sick. It's worked for me numerous times, it kicks any illness right out of your body.

 

My 2 cents, Peace

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Don't overdo it.

...

Edited September 22, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell

[dust]

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

 

Not sure if relevant to this crowd, but I've been doing a half-assed version of I.F. for the last few months (basically, not eating in the mornings), and I've experienced more energy in the mornings to walk/workout/qigong, more even and controlled energy levels during the day, slow weight loss (to a point), more regularity (once every morning), and the fun of being able to eat whatever & however much I want during "feeding" periods.

 

I would naturally skip breakfast as a child/teen, but years of people going on about how "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" made me get into the habit of eating it. Silly. Listen to your body, man!

 

I now also realize that before fasting, I'd never really been hungry. I still haven't been truly hungry, but I realize that going for a day or so without food is not a big deal. A rumbling stomach just makes one appreciate food all the more.

[nickyro]

Is fasting a practice that has anything to do with Taoist Alchemy? Or just general health?

Thx

[voidisyinyang]

I recently did a five day fast while doing intense warehouse work for 4 of the days.

 

I lost 3 to 5 pounds.

 

Fasting while doing qigong meditation the whole time is called "bigu" once you get strong internal heat and then you began filling up the lower tan tien with energy. It's called called "converting jing to chi" energy. Yes it is dangerous because you are using and activating your "pre-natal chi" or "sea of chi" below the lower tan tien - your life force energy for reproduction. So you turn that from "Yin jing" into "yang jing" or "yin chi" energy. To do this properly you have to cultivate mind emptiness - a spiritual focus - so solitude is best.

 

There are different ways to fast but for the bigu way - there have been science studies on it.

 

There are threads on the taobums on bigu - so just search for it.

[de_paradise]

I just broke a 2 week water-only fast. Everything went fine. The first day I detoxed from caffeine, and there was headaches and hot sweats. After that its just weakness and taking it easy. Only light exercise like short strolls. I go into "fasting mode", and just not even try to function normally. I just dumb down. People talk about having energy or working while fasting, but thats not how its seem to work with me.

 

Detox is the main reason. At day 3 ketosis starts, and you burn your fat stores. Around day 10 the body hunts around for other protein sources, and this is where it can get good, because it will hunt down diseases cells, even cancer, or calcification in joints (if you have some kind of chronic joint pain somewhere it will get eaten up)

 

I've had successful results in fasting and accelerated foreign language absorption.

 

I think if you want to be able to meditate through a fast, it takes alot of discipline, because it becomes difficult to focus the mind. I've read that the sufis take a meal every other day, which solves that problem. We might call that meditation with a calorie restricted diet. Likely it could lead to some altered states. But the quickest way to detox is water only without interruptions.

[idiot_stimpy]

Thanks for the information.

 

At the moment I am doing 48hr fasts.

 

I would love to do a 7 day fast soon.

 

I agree it can seem like its hard to focus the mind.

 

 

Definitely notice a lot of energy movement around the body.

Edited December 9, 2014 by idiot_stimpy

[silent thunder]

Recently I'm feeling the flow of only eating in an 8 hour window, usually from about 2-10 pm.

 

Some days this extends into an entire day, or several of not needing fuel.

 

I don't go in with a set goal.

 

It's just about flow.

 

Being present.

 

 

It was really striking when I got into fasting, the realization of how often I ate just out of boredom...

[Yasjua]

Tens of thousands of species do natural fasting due to limited resources, extreme weather conditions, and interspecies competition. I find it inspiring to join the ranks of my more highly evolved animal brethren in a fast from time to time