This is from a post I wrote for our expanded fasting forum. I am adding here also because, lately, I have been getting a lot of emails of people asking me about fasting and starvation. I also get lots of emails from teenagers asking similar questions, and in this entry here I want to talk about fasting/starvation and spirituality in general. I would appreciate if members would comment on this blog entry and provide the community with their own views and opinions. Here's the post...

When one firsts starts to fast, one goes through an initial round of hunger pangs as the body gets used to feeding from stored fat rather than the daily intake of solids. There is an entire biochemical process involved here, but I am describing it in as simple terms as possible so that you can see what I mean.

That initial phase of hunger and detoxification lasts roughly nine to eleven days (or longer depending on one's state of health and body makeup). For most people, hunger then goes away (in some cases completely) and one regains a sense of strength, energy and well being.

That means that the body has made the total transition to feeding from food to feeding from fat (and any other bodily debris that it comes across). For people who are ten pounds overweight or more, this lull typically lasts up to 40 days. The "clue" that the fast has turn into starvation is the return of deeper, stronger very painful hunger pangs.


There will be no confusion. One will know. The "normal" hunger pangs while fasting are VERY different from the hunger pains that emerge when starvation begins. The time limit is contingent on the level of body fat that you have. As I said, for most people that limit is 30 to 40 days. For people who are already thin and have very little body fat, it could be much less - 14 to 21 days.

I would say that most people who are healthy (not emaciated or suffering from an eating disorder) can safely fast for seven to 14 days without reaching the point of starvation.

But there is no ONE answer to this since everyone's body is so keenly different. A person who is fasting responsibly and for the right reasons will not reach starvation except by pure accident as I did. Noone should fast "to test" the body and "see" how far it can go. That is not what fasting is about... at least not for me.

Fasting is a metaphysical discipline that - as I see it - is given to us as a tool of empowerment, healing and self-improvement - NOT to harm the body or perpetuate an ascetic lifestyle. Life is hard enough as it is. To actually bring pain upon myself just for the sake of self-flagellation or punishment is totally unhealthy. Anyone who does this should get help asap. Today's youth in particular are especially vulnerable to this type of ascetic perspective.

The pressure to "look" good, "be cool" and "fit in" often leads many to make tragic choices that end up creating more problems than solving them. I myself had to pay the price for making such choices. My heart aches for the youth. I wish there was someway I could get into their minds and tell them: "Hey, I've been there, I know you're hurting... but the answer is NOT in making the EASY choices, but rather in learning to accept yourself just the way you are and then making GOOD (yet often harder) choices that can lead you to TRULY effect positive change."

There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good and be healthy. The problem is when these desires lead us to do things that are unhealthy and, in the end, will not yield the "lasting" results that our souls truly desire. The problem is when we think that "looking good" and all things "external" are the "meaning of life."

A life run purely by externals is a life that will never be satisfied or reach any true level of fulfillment. Why? Because what is external decays and dies. But the spiritual, the intangible is eternal and THAT is where the true "meaning" is. But that is another post for the "spiritual fasting" forum.


Sorry for the banter. LOL I hope this helps to clarify a bit. If not, just ask away and either I or someone else in the community will do their best to answer!