Fasting

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This might sound stupid that I'm talking about this outside of a religious context, but has anyone found fasting to be of any psychological benefit? It's just I've noticed that if I go a long enough period of time without eating (like, say, 6 or 7 hours), my sensory overstimulation BS goes away and I feel almost normal. I heard someone talking about the physiology of fasting and the reasons behind fasting on Ramadan and Yom Kippur and I realized that that is pretty much the way it makes me feel. I think I might try to fast from sunup to sundown tomorrow and see what happens.

6-7 hours?How long do you usually go between eating?

I used to go a day or two without calories,as well as years of very restircted calories,and I did find mental states unique to that sort of metabolizing.Early stages can yield a clarity and a kind of biological "quiet" that's sort of nice.I suppose distracting sugars are burned off and the slower fats haven't been accessed yet.Quietude.Keeping fluids going is important.

Longterm leads to depression though,or worse.Bad news.

That is interesting..I find fasting to be a beneficial practice...psychologically, physically and spiritually...however due to my strong appetite, I'm not good at it...

Unrelated,but have you experimented with what you eat for lunch?"Clean" calories,complex carbohydrates and lean protein(plus plenty of water),should give you energy to work with.I feel tired when I eat very many starches(and I do like starches).

Anyway,the occassional "hiccup" in your metabolism,like fasting for ten hours,isn't a bad idea(in my opinion).I think it's generally a good idea to keep the system running,so to speak.Fuel is good.

I have fasted for two days once, but after that I pigged out on lasuanga (sp?) and I started shaking and stuff so that didn't end well. But once I ate only raw foods, like fruits and veggies for two weeks and it was an awesome feeling. The only problem is that you don't feel very full most of the time, but neither will you on a fast. You also become uber regular. haha.

Overeating is a strain on your metabolism, insulin levels and blood sugar levels, and that can have a definite impact on your neurological and physchological state.

I practice calorie restriction regularly and find it very beneifical. It helps stablize my metabolism and detox my body. I often have more energy afterwards.

I eat a lot of veggies too, and these have a lot of deetoxifying properties as well as lots of nutrition. I tend to feel worse if I don't get my veggies.

So Maldoror, did you do your experiment?

My experience is that my blood sugar drops and then my nervous system gets even more stimulated and I go into meltdown mode. So I can't imagine it having positive psychological benefits. Plus the brain requires a constant (literally) supply of glucose, which it will get no matter whether you eat or not. If you don't eat, it will get glucose from bloodstream, fat stores, as well as muscle. If you're burning muscle to fuel your brain, your heart muscle is also being depleted. Not a good idea from a physiologic standpoint.

Occasional (moderate) fasting can jumpstart the body's detox system. (I guess because it saves energy which would otherwise be used for digestion.)

one of the few things known to correlate with longer life is lower caloric intake...

there's obvious good/bad about fasting.... i do think balance in all things though is key.

due to some other bio issues... ive become accustomed to eating a little fairly often. i often have like 5-6 meals a day... your basic 3 with snacks in between.

i do notice a difference in metabolism as well as a general state of satiation...and am still not completely sure i like the difference... i still do enjoy stuffing my face and have eyes that are way bigger than my stomach

I almost always fast till 1pm each day, and try to go longer. I feel better if I do this, for some reason. I do eat alot at night.

I've never been able to do a 24 hr fast, especially not the yom kippur one where you're not even allowed water. I can't go more than an hour without water.

About calorie restriction (for health)... I have done that too, but found that if I went a few days on a very low calorie intake, when I would eat, I would feel completely stoned. So I stopped eating so little.

I sometimes do these self-contained experiments to see how long I can go without eating and/or how little I can eat and how long I can go eating that little. I've found that anything under 1500/ 1800 a day for prolonged periods makes me irritable, disoriented, and gives me the "stoned" feeling when I do eat.

I was always under the impression that BREAKFAST was the most IMPORTANT meal of the day as it kickstarts your system supposedly - so not sure about fasting until 1 pm, Apatura .

A family member has Asperger's syndrome and generally when he was younger going without food would result in difficult behaviour and we would have to guess that he had not eaten for a while. This effect has tended to lessen with age.