In India, where I am from, fasting seems to be very common among those who want to be more spiritual. I know some people, like David Blaine, religious icons, and so forth have practiced it. However, is it really safe? How would it affect somebody physically? I'm not sure if it is common in any form of martial arts... could somebody fill me in on this?

I don't think day long fasts are really a big deal. My old muay thai instructor would fast pretty frequently for religious purposes. Prolonged fasting I imagine could be pretty harmful, though.

Wieving it from an occidental perspective (with plenty of food) fasting once a while may be even healthy. Not long prolonged fastings, I mean, but spending a couple of days on just a couple of snacks and such.

I know people who once in a while spend a week on salads alone. Somethign like that could be benefitial, provided you don't stuff yourself afterwards, but go back to your old diet (assuming your diet is balanced).

Sometimes I fast an entire day, water or tea only. Mostly because I take a lot of creatine and protein which every once in a while give me indigestion problems. A water-only day long fast seems to help me cope with that. It makes me feel dizzy in the middle of the day, but by afternoon, I sort of snap and wake up.

I've worked with people from the Muslim faith, and I know they experience something similar when they fast for Ramadan. I don't know how they can pull that out during the entire month, though.

Fasting may not be the best of practices for those aiming at sports like bodybuilding where you need to constantly be on top of your food intake, but the practice itself is not harmful, and may even be beneficial. Note, however, I would never recommend that for somebody suffering from diabetes, though.

I've done days where I've consumed nothing but 100% fruit juice. I tend to feel pretty good afterward.

Papa once (well, a few times) told me that fasting for like 3 days in a row cleans your system. He's done it a few times himself. Gone to work and everything else as normal, just no food or water. He claims a doctor told him about it.

Fasting is outdated, though. The Quickening is where it's at.

Here's some quick info: http://www.healingdaily.com/juicing-for-health/fasting.htm

One of the old ATA manuals I have, I think it's the philosophy one, goes a couple of pages into fasting. If that doesn't tell You it's safe, nothing does.

Never done it though, I like food too much.

Papa once (well, a few times) told me that fasting for like 3 days in a row cleans your system. He's done it a few times himself. Gone to work and everything else as normal, just no food or water. He claims a doctor told him about it.

Fasting is outdated, though. The Quickening is where it's at.

No water? For three days?

That's what he said. He said he didn't even brush his teeth for those days to ensure that he wouldn't get any water.

He also said that he'd always daydream about the things he'd eat after he stopped fasting, but he'd always start out with a soup or something to get his stomach working. Nothing real hard to digest.

I've worked with people from the Muslim faith, and I know they experience something similar when they fast for Ramadan. I don't know how they can pull that out during the entire month, though.

Be honest. It's hardly as though they are actually fasting for a whole month. They fast between sunup and sundown for the whole month. Big difference. Fasting for half a day is not hard at all. Come sundown and you should see the big feasts!

falc

Papa once (well, a few times) told me that fasting for like 3 days in a row cleans your system. He's done it a few times himself. Gone to work and everything else as normal, just no food or water. He claims a doctor told him about it.

Fasting is outdated, though. The Quickening is where it's at.

So your an immortal too?

Too? There can be only one!

I did the Ramadan thing one time for a religious studies class. For the first 4 days I felt like total crap, but after that I just snapped out of the funk and I was a-okay.

There's a lot of evidence that detox fasting can actually be really good for you. I'm not sure how it would affect your training regimen. I don't compete and train strictly for health benefits, but I do a 7 day fast about once a year, and take a couple weeks off when I do.

By fast, I'm referring to no solids. I do drink lots and lots of liquids with simple sugars so that my metabolism doesn't go into starvation mode. Personally, I stick with water, lemon juice and a little bit of honey for 7 days, then ease back into solids by eating fruit on day 8, fruit with yoghurt and whole grains on day 9 and then small portions of protien and such after that until I am back on my normal diet. The lemon juice is supposed to help cleanse the GI tract, including the kidneys and liver. I'm not terribly scientific about it.

I've read about more scientific "detox fasts", like this 7 day juice fast on About.com: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/detoxcleansing/a/7dayjuicefast.htm

I can tell you that the first day is not bad, day 2 and 3 are when you can physically feel the toxins that are buried in your body being purged (your skin gets funky and the first time I did it I smelled like I'd eaten too much garlic), but my opinion is that it's not unhealthy if done prudently. Of course, this presumes that you have no other issues, such as diabetes.

I hate this computer. Anyway.

What are the toxins?

Ok. So toxins build up in your body. I assume cells. Ok. So then you have toxins in your body and fasting gets rid of them. Assuming more quickly or efficiently than when not fasting because if there was such a build up I would probably be dead by now since I have never fasted.

So why is there a build up of toxins and why is your body getting rid of them more efficiently/quickly when you are fasting? Does it just have more time on its hands since it isn't digesting so the body needs something to do and starts doing that?

The 'toxins' thing with fasting is bullshit. We have kidneys and a liver for a reason.