Fasting

[adion]

Has anyone here ever tried therapeutic fasting? I have read about fasting to cure physical ailments as well as mental health related sicknesses like schizophrenia.

Has anyone ever tried this method? What are your thoughts on fastign to alleviate depression, anxiety or social anxiety.

[gaia]

I like to practise the other extreme... self-indulgent bingeing.

Umm no.. seriously now though.. how is fasting meant to help? Is it so that you start to get 'woozy' and light-headed (a bit 'tipsy')?
I don't understand.

[corruptedheart]

There are theories floating around that suggest mental illnesses are caused by the brain being overloaded with toxins. Fasting, of course, detoxifies. And presto. Of course that only works if some mental illnesses are caused by toxins. The jury's still out.

[adion]

Jul 1, 2008 13:17:42 GMT -5 @corruptedheart said:

There are theories floating around that suggest mental illnesses are caused by the brain being overloaded with toxins. Fasting, of course, detoxifies. And presto. Of course that only works if some mental illnesses are caused by toxins. The jury's still out.

Yeah that is what I have read, also that toxins in the body cause mood changes and things like depression and lithargy. Fasting is supposed to cleans and heal the body....

@ Anna:
You fast when you are sleeping...and don't wake up lightheaded and woozy (or at least I don't ,but everyone is different). Supposedly when you fast your body heals itself of any "sickness" and flushes out any toxins in the body.

I can see where you would want to cleanse your body of toxins because there are so many toxins in the foods we eat (I eat) and not to mention things like medications, cigarettes, alcohol, pollution, coffee...etc.

[gaia]

Jul 1, 2008 14:37:50 GMT -5 adion said:

@ Anna:
You fast when you are sleeping...and don't wake up lightheaded and woozy (or at least I don't ,but everyone is different). Supposedly when you fast your body heals itself of any "sickness" and flushes out any toxins in the body.

I can see where you would want to cleanse your body of toxins because there are so many toxins in the foods we eat (I eat) and not to mention things like medications, cigarettes, alcohol, pollution, coffee...etc.

Haha.. I wake up lightheaded and woozy all the time.

Anyway, if fasting is what some people want to try - good luck to them. Though people just have to be careful not to overdo it.

Personally, I have my own ways of detoxing the body and fasting isn't really involved.

[madiocre]

I think the reason one can fast whilst asleep is that the energy requirements are minimal therefore you dont really need the glucose in your blood to be as high .

[Naptaq]

I fasted once for about 35 hours. The most difficult period was the first day. I drank a lot, but I aborted it soonder than I expected because I was concerned about my body. It took a few days to get in the normal eating rythm again. But other than that it was fine.

[pnoopiepnats]

Eating usually makes me less anxious than not eating.

The ex had an 8 day medical fast at the hospital. They gave him fluids in IV and nothing by mouth; no food or liquid by mouth at all for 8 days.

[Bodhi]

Jul 1, 2008 16:46:40 GMT -5 gaia said:

Anyway, if fasting is what some people want to try - good luck to them. Though people just have to be careful not to overdo it.

Yeah, I agree about being very careful. I could see someone on here trying fasting, having it help a little and then them taking it overboard and becoming anorexic. I think instead of fasting to get rid of the bad toxins in your body, people should change their diet to more healthy foods that don't have those toxins.

[MrNice]

I did the lemon diet where I ate nothing for 10 days except 3 lemons worth of lemon juice a day mixed with some maple syrup and lots of water. It didn't have any effect whatsoever on my mental health although it was a very interesting experience.

I think a better way to detoxify is to eliminate the intake of toxins and the body does the cleaning by itself without the need to fast. I recently stopped eating junk food and drinking soda, and also very careful with alcohol, and it had noticeable effects within about a month.

[HybridMoment]

I rarely used to eat when I was in high school and I was always socially anxious, yet I didn't have very much energy at the end of the day. All avoiding food ever did for me was make me catch a cold about every two weeks.

I eat normal now and I hardly ever get sick. As for getting rid of toxins you just need to excercise, drink water, and have a functioning liver.