Eat, Fast and Live Longer

I can kill two birds with one stone. By fasting I am taking control over my food consumption which requires monitoring intake and establishing certain days where meals are dramatically reduced. This helps not only with becoming more physically fit but also more spiritually fit.

My program is this; feel free to make recommendations because I am certainly not a nutrition expert. Every Sunday and all religious days I will refrain from consuming any solids from the crack of dawn until the setting of the sun. The first full Wednesday-Friday of every month I will do the recommended 3 days of 50 calorie soup. And finally the 5th, 15th, and 25th day of every month will be reduced consumption to 700 calories. If any of those days coincide with a Sunday or religious holiday, the Sunday/Religious holiday consumption rules will apply.

It really is all about insulin. It's weird, I have read up and discovered all these alternative way of losing body fat, and visceral fat, and these ways have been through manipulating insulin production through fasting, and cutting out the huge amounts of sugar in today's foods. Both of these have now been shown in BBC programmes in the past 2 months, I think it's a great thing that they are showing these ways WITHOUT demonising them, just goes to show that the media may not always be thinking of glorifying unhealthy food.

Basically, lipase (the fat metabolising enzyme) is only produced if insulin levels are low in the blood, and to achieve this you have to eat next to no sugar for a time so that your body goes into gluceogenesis, which then leads to fat eating


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Originally posted by mikepopy
Ahh yes, beer...
Its what I call liquid bread!

So do the Russians. Interesting fact- Orthodox Christians spend about half of the year fasting. Alcohol isn't allowed during a strict fast. However, Russians will still drink beer during a fast, as they use exactly your logic. It was only in the past year or so that beer was officially even considered alcohol in Russia (and they only did that because too many young people were becoming alcoholics).

OP: Very interesting! I many have to give this a try myself.

Originally posted by buddhasystem

That's a point long since known in the Orthodox Christian tradition, with its annual great Lent which in fact is 6 weeks of a strict vegan regimen, plus the first 3 days and the last one is 100% fast. But those who actively work get explicit dispensation.

I started sticking to veggies a few months ago and I do feel a whole lot better. Didn't lose too much weight, but just feel lighter anyhow.

Ah, that's what I get from not reading an entire thread before responding! Are you Orthodox as well?

reply to post by domasio


I discovered by accident that I was allergic to gluten. Once I cut out gluten products I lost my cravings for sweets, my blood sugar leveled out, and I lost weight even without dieting. I eat mostly fresh produce with lean red meats (no processed), fatty fish, and healthy oils. It's amazing what a difference it has made to my life.

= Day 3 of my fast =

Ok today i woke up without any headaches. Both me and my girlfriend both had sickly tension headaches all yesterday which real made the whole not eating thing much harder to cope with. Mainly because we were left thinking that maybe if we ate the then pain would go away. We thought i might have been either the lack of food, caffeine or may even the weather ( it went from sunny to stormy here yesterday ) But we managed to get through the day with giving in to temptation.

So today things don't seem so bad. Certainly not as dizzy or light headed as yesterday. I guess my body has used up all its available glucose reserves by now.

I haven't been to the gym ( i usually do weights 3 times a week ) while fasting as I'm a bit worried its going to make me super hungry or very dizzy. But i haven't just been sitting at home doing nothing either, I've been out at least twice every day doing some photography which has really helped take my mind off things.

The original plan was to do 3 days like the documentary in the OP suggested but i think rather than get up on Monday and start eating right away I'm going to go to the gym and see what effect it has on me first. Who knows i might even go an extra day.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement, advice and stories on fasting

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Very good job! I am glad to hear it is actually achievable among average people. But then again, some could make the argument you are more self-disciplined to begin with because, as you mentioned, you frequent the gym. Either way - congratulations!

reply to post by Misoir


Thanks Misoir, it seems like you are on a pretty though regimen yourself , well done

How long have you been doing this?

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
I haven't been to the gym ( i usually do weights 3 times a week ) while fasting as I'm a bit worried its going to make me super hungry or very dizzy.

I did a strength session this weekend at the end of my 16 hour non-eating window. Strength was exactly the same. No noticeable difference on the weight lifted but I did feel a little (just a little) bit shaky at the end. I'm sure my blood sugar was getting low because I was really pushing myself to see what affect it had. Timing isn't right during the week due to work but I'm sure I'll do it again this weekend. It's not a problem.

reply to post by dbates


Thanks dbates, i finished my 3.5 day fast today and a few hrs after a full English cooked breakfast i went to the gym. I use Assault pre workout which kicked in very quickly. I managed about 3/4 of my usual routine on the weights. I was quite surprised id lost 3.5 kilos. Its an encouraging start

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Actually I was just putting that out there in this thread to see what people with more understanding of nutrition and such would think of it. Whether it was too much or just right. Anyway I will be starting it tomorrow (the 15th).