Dec 17 2007
After the Fast - Days One and Two
Weight lost in two days after the fast - 1 pound
Total lost so far - 12 pounds
Well, I conducted a four day fast, and I’m now writing this in the morning three days later. Although this experiment was originally intended to prove (or disprove) the claim that a fast can help curb sugar cravings and other food obsessions, I learned a lot more than I bargained for.
The most surprising thing is that I wasn’t hungry after I started eating again. In fact, I’m still not really hungry, although I enjoyed my fruit this morning, and I’m looking forward to a big salad for lunch, with some grilled chicken tossed on top. However, I am not ravenously hungry, nor am I having any difficulty controlling my appetite. And the fruit I’m eating in the morning seems to be taking care of any desire I might have for something sweet
I really expected to feel some hunger -either during the fast or afterwards. Since I didn’t, I decided to do some reading and find out why.
I looked for answers from Herbert M. Shelton, one of the leading proponents of therapeutic fasting, and a man who trained many practitioners in natural healing. In his book The Science and Fine Art of Fasting, which was first printed in 1934, the body looks at a fast as a time of rest and renewal. Dr. Shelton described the natural end of a long fast as being the return of hunger, and he said that anyone continuing a fast after the return of hunger was actually starving, not fasting.
Since I had no intention of completing a long fast (and no one should without very close supervision by a competent health practitioner), I actually broke my fast when my body really wasn’t ready to eat yet. My digestive system thought it was still on vacation, and wasn’t really geared up to start it’s work again when I decided it was time to eat.
The short after-the-fast diet that I’m following, with some modifications, was designed by Dr. Allan Cott, in his book Fasting as a Way of Life. The diet will ease the digestive system back into eating, without shocking it with too much food. First, the freshly-made grape or orange juice (not bottled or frozen), which can be assimilated almost immediately by the body with almost no energy at all required by the body. Next, whole fruit, which provides the fiber needed to encourage the intestines to move things along quickly, but which are still very easy to digest when eaten alone. Then comes yogurt, to replenish the supply of beneficial bacteria to the gut, and, finally, a return to normal eating.
I’m certainly no expert in fasting, but it looks like there is a big difference in response short and long fasts:
- A long fast carried out until the return of hunger, which will strip most of the stored energy (fat) from the body, but it also results in ravenous hunger when the fast is broken. Dr. Shelton claimed that a patient needs to be closely supervised in the days following a long fast to prevent them from overeating, making themselves sick (or worse) and regaining all the weight they lost. Therapeutic fasts can go for two weeks to a month or more, but only under a doctor’s close supervision.
- A short fast, which ends the fast before the body is really ready to go back to the work of digesting food, leaves the person with a reduced appetite, and no desire for overeating.
For therapeutic purposes, then, a long fast may be beneficial under certain circumstances - but for weight loss, it seems that a short fast would be best if the information I’ve read so far is true. You still needs to check in with your doctor to make sure that a day or two without food would not be harmful, just in case, but as my own experience has shown, it’s possible to lose up to 12 pounds in just six days with little or no discomfort, and the days without food help to reduce the appetite after the fast is over.
Many people take a ‘digestive vacation’ one day a week, or a few days every month. Dr. Roy Walford, the man who spent decades studying the physiology of aging, discovered that mice that went without food for a day or two every week could live twice as long as their brothers and sisters eating normal mouse food every day. Humans are not mice, of course, but there are people who feel that giving the digestive system a rest every once in a while can help to extend our lives, while also helping us stay thin and healthy. More research is needed, naturally…
My final conclusion: If you’re even vaguely contemplating taking drugs in order to lose a fast 10 or 20 pounds, try a very short fast first. Alli, Xenical, Ephedra, and any other drug or herb that claims to “reduce your appetite” or cause you to “burn fat faster” will have side effects - and some side effects are dangerous. It appears that the easiest, fastest, and safest way to lose weight is simply to stop eating for a day or two (with your doctor’s permission, of course).
Now that my experiment is basically over, and the holidays are coming up fast, we’ll find out if my reduced appetite can hold fast in the face of tables filled with delicious food. Only time will tell….
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