Hello,

I am wondering if it would be good and healthy to eat every other day, so you let the body fast every other day.
I think it may be very good for us as long as we keep ourselves hydrated,
The fast will let our body clean its self , and saving on energy so it will slow down the aging process.
And when we do come to eat our bodys will soak up all the healthy nutrients like a sponge.
Also it has been shown that fasting increases the natural growth hormone which is very good and healthy and again anti-aging.
My concern is if we would still be getting enough protein e.t.c. while just eating every other day.

Any thoughts on this
Or scientific stuff.

Take Care,
Paul

There are lots of papers on the benefits of intermittent fasting, search pubmed.

But every other day is probably too risky, you'll get too skinny and yes, risks of malnutrition are high.

Once a week is enough. Enjoy your food!

Wouldn't that just Fcuk up your metabolism?
YES it would!

If done correctly, this is a very good approach to staying very healthy. It should not be dismissed just because it is different from the way we eat.

The key point is to make sure to get the optimal nutrients on the day you eat and let the body rest the next day. Intermittent fasting gives about the same result as calories restriction and is much easier to follow. You do not have to start yourself with calories restriction, you eat on the eating day the things you like and give your body the rest the next day.

[www.fightaging.org]

[www.amazon.com]

[ifdiet.blogspot.com]

It can be a good transition diet plan for those who have weight problems



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2009 12:59AM by madinah.

I don't think I would want to do that long term. If it's for cleansing purposes why not do a 10 day fast? Or is it more of a calorie restriction thing?

I workout too hard every day. I need the calories daily. Maybe if I were still sedentary.

Thanks for the replys,
There is so much evidence out there that fasting is very good for us, will it be good long term every other day ? I think it will be as long as we eat enough calories nutrients e.t.c. on the days we do eat.
Would just one meal a day have the same benefits ? im not sure.
Would juicing fasting every other day have the same benifits ? i dont think so, BUT there would be advantages, calories and vitamins/minerals e.t.c. would not be a problem, but juice fasting is not as cleansing as water fasting and also i don't beleive juice fasting would be benefitial for our natural growth hormone, ( is that important ? , most say it is, but theres not an awfull amount of evidence out there. )
Im sure it would be easier ( maybe better ) to either juice fast every other day or eat 1 large meal a day.

Cheers,
Paul.

>Would just one meal a day have the same benefits ? im not sure.<

That's a good plan too, and maybe more workable. I like to sometimes eat only dinner. It's easy to fast till 4 or 5pm, and then eat a good, well rounded raw meal. If you don't eat after dinner, you're getting about 23 hours of fasting and detoxification in every day on this plan, while still eating well.

There's pro and con to every eating plan, so it's best to just go with what you feel drawn to, try it, and see how it works. Listen to others' opinions, but don't let them dissuade you too much if you really want to try something. Revolutionary ideas are always first frowned upon, and later embraced.

Keep us posted on the results!

Sharrhan:


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Thanks very much,

That sounds like more of a life cleanse - something to help you get rid of energy, productivity, your job, any time that you spend not thinking about food. I don't think it is healthy or 'eating to live', and unfortunately, I tried it myself once.

wild-aloe--
It's not something one necessarily has to do every single day, although there are many who do eat just once a day and thrive. Some people even live for months on juice. I felt better on a 40 day juice fast than I've ever felt in my life. Same with an earlier 28 day fast. I had more energy and I felt totally alive and full of joy and bliss.

Another diet, similar to the one meal plan, that Tonya Zavasta practices is to eat (rather sparingly) till early afternoon, and then dry fast till the next morning, and she's been doing this for years and she positively GLOWS. She also does 90 minutes of Bikram yoga every day, so she obviously gets lots of energy from her breakfast smoothie, mid-morning juice and mid-day meal of salad, or whatever it is she's doing now.

A large component of the ancient secrets of longevity and superior health is to eat very, very little food and continually refine the body and the diet so that maximum nutrition is derived from minimal food.

In my universe, anyway--- just my opinion. I know there are raw food gurus who recommend eating lots and lots of raw food.

Sharrhan:


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Kwan, I wasn't really referring to eating once a day in my post - but the idea of only eating every other day - which I think is bound to be something unstable and life-limiting. I think if someone's body adjusts to eating only once a day over time, that is fine. I recently cut down from 4 meals to 3 when one of my meals wasn't feeling so good, and that gave me a big boost of energy. But it seems much less likely that someone's body is going to tell them, of it's own accord, to water fast every other day. And imposing that for intellectual reasons can lead to all sorts of problems and generally doesn't sound like a sustainable healthy diet that one can eat long term and maintain a good internal equilibrium, move on with one's life instead of always thinking about food.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2009 12:33AM by wild-aloe.

Paul,

Why don't you go and have your experience of eating every other day, and report back to us how it felt and what results you got from doing so? Since I doubt anyone here has done what you are describing long term, you may be the first to do this.

I have found that I do better taking a steady, consistent approach to feeding. I try not to experience hunger any more then to get an early slight hunger signal and respond to it by eating enough food to remove the hunger signal but not to move into a full stomach situation. This allows me to be "satisfied" and not going from one extreme to the other like so many ED people do with their feast or famine eating style. The best way to find out what works for you is to experiment.

Thanks for the replys,
I do want to try it, im not sure if i should ease into it or not.
I do love the sound of eating once a day at lunch time or early afternoon and some juice before this and then dry fast untill the next day.
Im doing this today and will do this all week and then i might jump into eating every other day.

The health benefit of a fast starts really 24 hours after the last meal. So fasting until the next morning a day or two a week is much better than dry fasting 12+ hours each day. Of course dry fasting 12+ hours each day is much better than not fasting at all.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2009 09:37AM by madinah.

Thanks,

Is dry fasting better than water fasting ?
I prefer to dry fast i find it easier, but i do wake up the next day feeling a little dehydrated, which i guess is not good.

Paul,

If you get thirsty, drink. If you are not thirsty, then don't drink. This is called listening to your body.

Of course listening to your body is the key. Animals in the wild do not drink when they fast, they rest and reduce body functions sometimes for days.
The body spends energy processing water.
A dry fast is more powerful than a water fast. [www.curezone.com]

Way before I started eating raw I noticed that naturally I was on a 48 hour eating cycle. I would eat a ton one day and very little the next switching off. I don't know if it is healthy or not, but I seemed to do it naturally without even thinking about it.

I use to eat for two days and fast on the third but now I switched to regular weekly pattern, fast on Monday(water fast) and Thursday(dry fast) every week.

Great thanks guys,
I guess it is simple really if i get thirsty i will drink some water.
Im a little concerned about the water i drink, its always tap water whick i put through a cheap filter, im sure its not the best, im worryied about it being acidic, i could just add a little bit of whaetgrass powder when i need a drink, that will make it alkaline, i think.

Madinah,

what have you noticed since doing this ?

paulieGB

It is probably the best change I made into my raw life. I know my eating days and family and friends know it. It is easier for me to fast when I am at work on Monday and Thursday, far from home and the fridge and fruit baskets. The Monday fast is a necessity following a three days eating. The reason I drink water on Monday is that I go to the gym that day. I am building more muscle on this plan even though I eat less than before.
I have more energy on my fasting days, it is amazing.
The body works better on a schedule and it set its own pattern. Here is a great site and resource on that [fastingconnection.com]

Thats great Madinah,
very motivating actually, Im going to try it
Its interesting that you work out in the gym on your fasting day, i have always beleived that a post workout meal was needed after working out.

Do you eat a mixed diet on your eating days, fats and proteins and carbs ?
Do you eat lots of calories to make up for the fasting days ?

paulieGB

I do not count calories, I just listen to my body. I eat a lot of greens. I grow indoor greens(wheatgrass, sunflower, buckwheat).
On my eating days, I make green juices in the morning and a fruit smoothies.
At noon I usually have a green smoothies. I do not eat snacks in between
In the morning, I eat between 6-8 am and for lunch between 12-2pm. After that I do not eat, I may have juice when I get home when I feel I need some.

The body does not need that much food if your system is clean. The body can process nutrients from the air we breath and water we drink.
Assimilation is the key not the food or nutrients. Here is a great quote on that [fastingconnection.com]

Thank you,
I really like that site too.

Actually this would be harmful to your body, in several ways, some have been mentioned.

The true benefit from fasting comes after 3-4 days, and really far longer extended fasts are the highly beneficial ones.

Before then you are merely freeing up some energy from digestion and a few other things, but you will not begin the physiological process of breaking down fat and repariring tissues like you will not a long term fast.

So many folks talk about fasting here from a sort of hokey perspective, yes there are energetic and spiritual aspects and some of the basiscs are right, but many of these authors are missing quite a bit of the actual science as well as all of the evidence and writings of those who are experts such as Shelton.

Read the book...

[www.soilandhealth.org]

True Shelton is a great resource on this but there a newer findings in this field.
[fastingconnection.com]

Weekly fasting has the benefit of introducing a discipline in limiting the amount of food we eat. If you fast weekly there is no need for long term fasting because your body is in a clean state

I've heard once a week fasting can be beneficial as well, but not the extent of such a long fast, even if you do fast once a week, at least a week long fast yearly sounds like a good idea from what I've read, granted I need more study and most of all personal experience before I can say much more. One can know only so much externally through many of these means, while internally we may access untold volumes.

Shelton is great-- I have one of his books and I've read some of his writings at soilandhealth.org, as well. I value long-term water fasting (and juice fasting, as well) more than any other healing modality. The only thing I'd add, though, is that often people are unable to fast for a really long time, due to their circumstances -- 40 hr. a week job, or school, or whatever -- and it's undoubtedly better to do short fasts than no fasting at all in these cases. Also, people who are new to the raw food lifestyle would do well not to start right off with a super-long fast; it could be very harmful if they are not supervised.

I'm looking forward to doing a long fast this summer when I'm away by the ocean on my camping trip. That's when I usually try to do them.

Sharrhan:


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