3 days of my FAST

I didn't want to start this thread until I could prove to myself that I actually pull this off.

I am 3 days into a fast of no solid food. I have never gone on a fast before, never felt the need, however I have gained 15 lbs and feel very uncomfortable. My clothes don't fit, I feel bloated, slow and fat. I tried Atkins and other diets to no avail so I decided to get radical and fast.

I put this in the RFandT section because most people fast for spiritual reasons and my question is....

Will I make a spiritual connection thru fasting? How long should it take? Are there
any dangers? etc.

And any other information on fasting would be greatly appreciated.

Namaste
whaaa

reply to post by whaaa


I would think it depends on your reasons for your fasting. The spiritual connection is more of an 'awareness' of what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Just personal suggestions that might allow you to reach a 'spiritual' connection...
this is how I look at fasting....this is just personal ideas, only take what resonates with you!! OK?

I fast from meats now and then. Meat is a higher vibration of life, I believe we are here to be one with all life and care for life that is lower vibrations then ourselves. My no partaking of meat is a concious awareness that a life did not have to be taken for my need of food. I do not fast from all solid foods and here is why. Fruits and Vegtables can be consumed without the killing of a entire plant. We dont have to kill a apple tree to get the apple...so this to me, says these are gifts to us as food. Our bodies need fruits and vegtables!! If you are not consuming any solid food you very well could become a little delusional due to your body running so low on what it needs. Dizziness, lightheadedness, and fatigue are all things to watch for anytijme you drastically change your diet.

A few days of fasting from solid food should be fine...but mabey evolve that into bringing back natural foods that are totally nutritious for you. If you are on a strict fluid, fruit, vegetable, and mabey even some nuts...you should still accomplish your goal of thinning up a little bit.

Again, only take what resonates with you!! I have good reasons to believe that Jesus and John the Baptist were not meat eaters.

My best to you
LV

Thanks for the help LV.

Perhaps what I am doing isn't a proper fast, but more like a liquid diet.

I'm drinking Slim fast creamy milk chocolate and V8 spicy. I haven't craved solid food at all. I have dropped 3 lbs so far and already feel better with a more positive outlook.

Even my beer gut from years of drinking beer has started to shrink some.
I will miss the alcohol but I know that it has no place even in my liquid diet/fast.

Originally posted by whaaa

Perhaps what I am doing isn't a proper fast, but more like a liquid diet.

That is kind of true whaa ...

In fact, if you're drinking things like slimfast or V8 it's really not a fast at all, it's more of an aggressive diet and it will not yield any fast related benefits as your digestive system will continue operating as before.

The most aggressive fast is obviously a water fast but it is also not recommended without fasting experience and/or supervision.

I do a juice fast 3-4 times a year.

Organic fruits and veggies juiced in a masticating juicer (not rotary/bladed), 4 times a day. Even with that there are some heavy fruits (pears/bananas/peaches) that have to be avoided because they also require regular digestion. The whole point of a fast is to give one's digestive system a chance to self cleanse over a period of time. ANY item ingested during the fast process that triggers regular digestion nullifies the benefit of the whole fast.

If you want I am happy to provide lots of linkies, or talk about it via U2U.

Fasting is one of the best things anyone can do to cleanse mind, body, and spirit.

From what I understand, the only thing you are restricting yourself from is fibre? (From only eating soft foods). I'm not a nutritionist, but isn't that a bad idea? Doesn't the body need fibre to digest stuff properly?

I always found that the best way to get into shape is to eat according to how much work you do in a day, and then exercise a bit.

PS: It is the month of Ramadan now, when muslims fast. However, the Islamic method is different in that it is a daily fast, and they don't drink water either. Wouldn't help you in any way (I doubt it is geared towards weight loss), but an interesting coincidence nonetheless.

Do you guys know your blood type?

I know a nutritionist, and apparently your blood type and your digestive system is somewhat linked. Mostly, it is to do with the acids in your stomach.

I am O+, which is the "old world/hunter" blood type I guess. But as a result of my being this blood type, my stomach has more acid in it than all the other blood types.

Many fruits as a result are not recommended for me. Especially lemons and oranges which are high in acid. These things are more likely to give me heartburn and I get acid reflux. Because rather than using up the digestive acids, they add to them.

Meat on the other hand is recommended for me. Because it will use up my digestive acid, which creates a balance in my stomach. If I do not eat really solid meets, such a steak or burger for a few days, and stick to lighter meals then I will almost always get heartburn and acid reflux problems.

So when I am not eating meats, I end up having to eat alot of pasta instead. Which is not so great for my weight. And I have to avoid tomato based pastas, as the acid in the tomatos will upset my stomach(even though I do not like tomato's by themselves, I love pretty much anything made with it, go figure).

Not all meats are good, Pork isn't very good for my stomach for example. But beef is.

This listing is a bit more general than the one I seen before.

www.nutrition4health.org...

Type O

Highly Beneficial: Beef, lamb, liver, eggs, salmon, whitefish, olive and flaxseed oils, onions, kale, garlic, spinach, plums and prunes, pineapple juice, to mention a few.

Neutral: Chicken, turkey, bass, shrimp, lobster, butter, goat cheese, cod. liver oil, almonds, pecans, string beans, rice, rye bread, many vegetables, most fruits, most juices, most spices, mustard, mayonnaise, chamomile tea, beer, red and white wine, plus many other items.

Avoid: Pork, ham, bacon, catfish, lox, milk, goat milk, cheese, peanuts, cashews, navy beans, lentils, wheat, oats, corn, white potato, cabbage, olives, oranges, honeydew melons, strawberries, apple juice, orange juice, vinegar, black peppers, ketchup, coffee (even decaffeinated), tea, and sodas.

Type O‘s have a hardy digestive tract and thrive on animal protein. Organic, free range meats are preferable.

Now, other blood types is the opposite of this. Like an AB+ person will generally have a stomach that doesn't have a lot of acid in it. The fruits that are not so great for me, are really really good for them. It helps them produce more acid and that helps better digest their foods. Meats on the other hand like steak and such, is not so good for them, because their stomachs have a harder time digesting them.

Type AB

Highly Beneficial: Lamb, rabbit, turkey, salmon, mackerel, sardine, cottage cheese, goat milk, olive oil, peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, navy beans, green lentils, oatmeal, Essene and Ezekial bread, rye crisp, white and brown rice, broccoli, celery, kale, garlic, grapes, figs, pineapple, grape juice, carrot juice, horseradish, ginger tea, hawthorn tea, rose hips tea, coffee, and green tea.

Neutral: Liver, pheasant, catfish, carp, sole, snapper, skim milk, soy milk, cheddar cheese, peanut oil, cod liver oil, cashews, almonds, brazil nuts, green beans, northern beans, domestic lentils, grapenuts, seven grains, cream of rice, whole wheat bread, multigrain bread, couscous, quinoa, asparagus, carrots, red cabbage, white potatoes, and many other vegetables, apples, peaches, pears, various melons, apple juice, pineapple juice, prune juice, very many spices, mustard, mayonnaise, jelly from appropriate fruits, catnip tea, peppermint tea, beer, red and white wine.

Avoid: Anchovy, sea bass, lobster, haddock, lox, bacon, beef, pork, veal, venison, ice cream, whole milk, buttermilk, sherbet, corn oil safflower oil, filberts, sesame seeds, lima beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, kamut, buckwheat kasha, lima beans, all white and yellow corn, red and yellow peppers, bananas, oranges, rhubarb, white vinegar, cayenne pepper, ketchup, relish, fenugreek tea, senna tea, distilled liquor, diet and other sodas.

Now I mention this because this causes me troubles. I have a bit of a guilty conscious about eating animals. I feel that I shouldn't really eat them, and like Leo said about the apple, I can eat an apple without killing the tree, but I can't eat a steak without killing a cow.

But if I don't, then I get stomach problems. And it's not something that is just about cravings. I love many of the things that aren't beneficial to me, such as cheese and potatoes(some of my favorites). And when I try not to eat animals, that is generally the direction I go, cheeses, potatoes, beans and such. I just end up with days of heartburn and acid reflux.

Pork I've pretty much removed completely from my diet, and I do not ever eat seafood, outside popcorn shrimp which is mostly batter.

Originally posted by badmedia

Many fruits as a result are not recommended for me. Especially lemons and oranges which are high in acid. These things are more likely to give me heartburn and I get acid reflux. Because rather than using up the digestive acids, they add to them.

Mmm, though true that citrus fruits are high in acid in terms of heartburn, they are in fact alkaline foods and not acidic.

www.thewolfeclinic.com...

The alkaline-acidic balance in the body is one that fasts restore as most of us are way to acidic as a result of our daily food, respiratory, etc, intake.

You should really ask your nutritionist about it.

In any case, if one has a hard time digesting a type of fruit or veggie, there's no need to force one's self ... there are plenty of other yummy fruit/veggie substitutes.

reply to post by badmedia


Very interesting info there. I wonder if a nut and veggie diet with some unique fruits would suit you. I know this is true about the meat eating O blood types...which only makes sense with evolution. I believe O is thought to be the oldest blood type...in which man did live on meat almost totally at times. As much as I talk about the eating of meat...my body does just fine on meat, it could probably survive on meat and meat alone. My ideas of fasting from meat is not that it would be required in any which way...but more just a conscious practice. The same idea could be practiced by saving on any material of the Earth, which is the womb of life itself. So the idea of saving on natural energies and not being wasteful of our natural resources could give the same awareness in consciousness. In my opinion that is...which is worth nothing really. This is just my own understandings.

Even though meat is a life form....so is the Earth, as a whole unit, in my mind. So saving on any natural product is benefiting the Earth, as a whole. I notice when I go through a fasting, I am much more aware of the wasteful products my house uses, such as plastics, foil, ect....and try to do my best to reusable items that I dont have to throw away into the loads of trash we make as humans.

Originally posted by schrodingers dog

Originally posted by badmedia

Many fruits as a result are not recommended for me. Especially lemons and oranges which are high in acid. These things are more likely to give me heartburn and I get acid reflux. Because rather than using up the digestive acids, they add to them.

Mmm, though true that citrus fruits are high in acid in terms of heartburn, they are in fact alkaline foods and not acidic.

www.thewolfeclinic.com...

The alkaline-acidic balance in the body is one that fasts restore as most of us are way to acidic as a result of our daily food, respiratory, etc, intake.

You should really ask your nutritionist about it.

In any case, if one has a hard time digesting a type of fruit or veggie, there's no need to force one's self ... there are plenty of other yummy fruit/veggie substitutes.

Well it was from talking to a nutritionist that I found out about it in the first place. Although it wasn't that I went to one or anything, but my friends old girlfriend was a nutritionist and she was all on me about this stuff.

I am misspeaking/generalizing about the acid thing. It was actually just chemicals in the stomach that she was talking about, I just kind of say the stomach acid thing as a generalization of the process. She just explained it as being what worked best with the chemicals in the stomach, and would would use them and what would add to them.

I had a chart that went into detail about the 3 categories. Like in more detail than I really needed - I found out that eating turtle is benefical.

I in general went through it and picked out things I liked and have changed my diet into being more in line with that - such as not eating pork, or oranges and lemons. I do still occasionally eat oranges and drink lemonaid, I have trees for them and they pretty much keep fruit year round. But it's just if I were to eat for days in a row, or if I just all day long ate things are like it, then I get heartburn and such. But I have to get some kind of solid meat/substance in me eventually.

So my problem isn't so much diet itself, but rather me not thinking it is right exactly to eat animals. But I can't resist it. My mind doesn't exactly agree with my body.

I was mostly wondering if you knew your blood types, in order to see if there might be some kind of relation to how easy it is to do that. I know the nutritionist pretty much said that meat eaters are usually O+, and vegetarians were usually AB+(I think that is the one).

Maybe I should ask for a steak tree?

reply to post by LeoVirgo


Where I live makes a lot of those things easier for me. In terms of waste and such. We have recycling here, and the majority of my trash is recyclable. The recycling bins here are twice the size of the trash container. Most things I buy can go in the recycling.

As for the earth, I do not really worry much. IMO, it's not the earth that will be what comes to an end first. But I know what you mean, it's a living environment for us that needs to be kept up. I think pollution should just be outright illegal, and that regulations just legalize pollution for a select group of people. The product someone makes may have some waste to it, but I see no valid reason why a way can't be found for that waste to be contained and possibly dealt with in a useful manner, and is not polluting things.

Got factories producing high amounts of heat, and it just goes into the atmosphere. When not feed it into a turbine that spins and produces electricity, and eventually whatever it is cools down and can be collected/filtered. I dunno, seems only logical too me. How much would that really cost? They could even sell the electricity for a bit, although someone will come along and say ohh too much energy, you're killing the market.

Does this have anything to do with Rhamadan? Or are you just fasting? or for health reasons?

Originally posted by nixie_nox
Does this have anything to do with Rhamadan? Or are you just fasting? or for health reasons?

Hedonist don't celebrate Rhamadan! No, I just want to lose some weight so I can regain my "dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee" demeanor.

reply to post by whaaa


I think fasting is a bad way of losing weight. As is just eating less for a time period. It can mess with your metabolism.

I have problems with my weight due to when I was younger being a bit of a drug addict. I didn't really eat over a period of time and lost weight(and didn't need to at the time). Well I eventually woke up and cleaned up my act before I did too much damage to myself, but one of the things that has been messed up ever since is my metabolism.

Before then, I could seriously eat an entire large pizza and not gain a pound. No matter what I did I could not gain weight, and I would eat alot. Like one of those hot dog eating contestants would. I ate fast food all the time and stuff, but never gained weight.

Within 3 months of me quitting that kind of a life, I had gained a gut and about 80lbs. No joke, it was like overnight. And I now even eat my less than I ever use to, and still can gain weight. From eating an entire pizza by myself, to only eating a few slices. And the only thing that changed was my metabolism.

So if you starve yourself and lower your metabolism, you can actually do the reverse of what you want and in the long run end up with weight gain - and an even harder time of getting it off. You'd be better off just getting a healthier diet and exercise.

reply to post by whaaa


*laughs*

there has to be better ways then fasting hon! What other methods have you tried?

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by whaaa

 

*laughs*

there has to be better ways then fasting hon! What other methods have you tried?

Atkins, South Beach, Mediterranean but my Corona and Red Bull addictions nullified any positive effects I might have gained from the diets.
I'm at my with end. So I've quit the alcohol and stimulant drinks and have switched to SlimFast and spicy V8. No solid food. Actually seems to be working.

I'm also taking a supplement called bacopa; not really sure why.

Fasting is potentially dangerous and can also facilitate the loss of muscle and not fat.

Diet and exercise are definitely the way to go. If that doesn't work, see your doctor.

But in terms of Bacopa:

Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) leaf extract is called brahmi in Ayurvedic medicine and is widely used in India, especially for enhancing memory, analgesia (pain relief), and epilepsy. Bacopa has traditionally been used to treat asthma, hoarseness, and mental disorders, to help improve mental performance, epilepsy, and as a nerve tonic, cardiotonic (heart tonic), and diuretic (increases urine flow). Bacopa was prominently mentioned in Indian texts as early as the 6th Century.
Most research on bacopa has concentrated on its effects on learning. Bacopa may also be helpful in managing pediatric attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but clinical evidence is lacking.

/mwo6up

[edit on 8/25/2009 by ravenshadow13]

If I can throw something into the mix here.. I greatly suggest a month long raw diet. No meats, no cheese, nothing that is cooked or processed in any way. Its difficult at first, but I guarantee in a month, you'll have lost half the weight you're looking to. I kid you not. Guaranteed.

Just leafy greens, fiber, non-roasted nuts, beans, etc.

Plus it will change your entire demeanor towards food well after its over too. Your stomach will shrink to a normal size, and you'll crave hearty things less often.

Its a really hard thing to do, but I felt so amazing afterwards I almost never came back. Now I do it two months each year and I'm almost back in fighting shape.

I'd like to add, that blood-type thing really is me to a tee. I'm O+ too and all the things it says to avoid are things that give me wicked heart burn.

[edit on 8/26/09 by SantaClaus]

By announcing your fast to the world, you may have just forgone any spiritual gain you would have had from it....

MATTHEW 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

If you are fasting for spiritual benefit, God says to do it in secret.

Originally posted by doctorex
By announcing your fast to the world, you may have just forgone any spiritual gain you would have had from it....

MATTHEW 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

If you are fasting for spiritual benefit, God says to do it in secret.

Matthew617 didn't know what he was talking about. My father has already blessed me and opened my eyes to the lies and deceptions of men. That's pretty spiritual; don't you think??



[edit on 26-8-2009 by whaaa]

Day four almost half over. Still no solid food.

Last night was a real struggle. My girl friend and her girl friend brought over a combo Pizza the size of Vermont and cooler full of DosX, Tecate, Carta Blanca and Corona gold.

Under their buxom blonde beauty lies the dark heart of Satan.
Sadistic pleasure mongers with nothing on their mind except to break my spirit and my will.

I stood strong with the shield of faith and the armor of grace. Thanks to my higher power and 2 strawberry SlimFast's....I claim VICTORY.

Tonite the 26th, they threatned me with briskit, ribs and fries from "Rudy's BBQ shack"

In the name of all that's holy; please pray for me my friends!!



[edit on 26-8-2009 by whaaa]