I am happy with fasting, but I have had some problems/issues that I believe I have thought through, mostly about long fasts, that I want to share. Long fasts are reported to go deeper, to do deeper “cleansing” than short fasts. I have no problem with the short fasts, called intermittent fasting. I do them often. But the long fasts go deeper and do more. Even cancer cannot stand up against the long fast. There are very few ailments that can endure a long fast (except starvation itself, anorexia probably, type 1 diabetes, and other wasting diseases.).

But the problem that I have been having { aside from the willpower problems (:->) } is that I get constipated.

The theory of fasting includes the idea that the intestinal tract needs a rest. My intestinal tract has been working 24/7 for about 70 years and 11 months. But “they” say that it needs a rest. My heart has been beating more than 71 years; does it need a rest? Perhaps I should stop my heart from beating for 9 days in order to give it a rest. Obviously, this resting of the intestines is not fully supported by deductive reasoning.

And my gut microbiota? They did not sign-up to starve to death with a 10 day or a 20 day fasts. The gut microbiota almost certainly take a terrific hit when a person fasts for long periods of time. And the gut microbiota is probably your best friend when it comes to health. This has been my biggest theoretical problem with the long fast since the beginning. Please be very nice to your gut microbiota.

And here is another problem with the long fast. “They” say that we live off of the stored nutrients in our body. But what if we didn’t get sufficient micro-nutrients in the first place when we built up those fat cells that we are now breaking down. (I am positive I wasn’t getting enough magnesium when I built up my fat reserve; I have to supplement magnesium now or my health will decline rapidly; I know this as a fact since I have experimented with supplementing with magnesium on and off numerous times, and the “off” always costs me health and happiness and the “on” always brings health and happiness back.) What about that? Of course, in Herbert Shelton’s time or Upton Sinclair’s time or Paracelsus’ time or Hippocrates’ time this was not a problem. ALL of their foods were nutrient rich. If they got too fat or too diabetic or if they got cancer, it wasn’t because of micro-nutrient deficiencies like selenium or chromium, etc. But that is a genuine problem for us modern folk with our processed foods and artificial fertilizers.

My solution to this conundrum is the slowing (like fasting). It is possible, even doable, even easy to eat salads every day that are so low in calories and carbs and moderate in protein, a ketogenic salad, such that one is still de facto fasting. The fiber in the greens and onions and other salad mixings of one’s choice still feed the microbiota. Your microbiota will thank you for your consideration. One’s intestines now get moderate exercise and keep one “regular”. With regard to resting the intestine, this is like sleeping is to the heart. And you insure that you are getting sufficient nutrition.

The trick of course is to get a variety of organic veggies that are extremely low in carbs and calories. This morning I used lettuce, tomato, radish, and celery. But any extremely low calorie and low carb veggies will do. I even tossed in a few dried apricots since I didn’t want to toss them away; they gave my teeth a good workout. One also has to find a salad dressing that is paleo or at least not dreadful; I found one this morning at my local conventional grocery store.

The thing about this “slowing” is that since there isn’t anything else that I can eat, I focus my mind on taking the time to buy and prepare worthwhile salads properly.

Is it a real fast or part of a real fast? I will not enslave myself to a concept or label when I can perhaps do better. The slowing starves my body of unnecessary calories (unnecessary as long as I have a big belly and am 25 pounds overweight). It starves my body of undesirable carbs and excess protein (undesirable and excess as long as I have insulin resistance). Does it uplift my spirit and cleanse my mind like a “real” fast? I haven’t had time to evaluable that yet. But I sure am enthusiastic about breaking out of the prison of what other people think a fast should be; is that uplifting? It is so far. Does it still exercise one’s willpower like a “real” fast? I don’t know yet; probably.

Autophagy and apoptosis will still happen with the slowing and its extremely low glucose and calories. The risk of problems from a lack of nutrients is reduced to zero. And autophagy and apoptosis is where the magic happens.

So, because of these ideas, I encourage anyone who wants to do the long fast to consider these ideas that I have presented. And any intermittent fasters, I strongly recommend that you make sure that you are getting more micro-nutrients than usual while doing your intermittent fasting.

Sincerely,

Roger Bird, aka bachcole

Thank you, Fuvvie. That means a lot to me. Spread the word: we can think for ourselves. (:->)

Dear HappyNow, nice handle. I will check out those links.

With my (and probably most) methods, a person can push as hard as they want, as long as they understand the principles involve: autophagy, apoptosis, ketogenesis, etc.. Yesterday I ate twice as in the archetypal intermittent fast. Today, I pushed a little harder and just ate once. When I get to my normal weight, my hunger will either be greater or I won’t feel the need to push so hard against the hunger and my weight will stabilize.

Getting true to one’s real hunger helps a lot. Today, I just wasn’t very hungry and eating only once was fine. If I were to be diagnosed with cancer, say, my motivation would be much stronger and I’d probably eat just greens and very little else.

I still have about 25 pounds to go and could slip into diabetes if I am not careful. But, like you, this fasting etc. is my health insurance. The monetary health insurance doesn’t help so much when one is writhing in pain, which I have done. (:->)