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I involuntarily fasted through college simply because I was too poor and busy to afford full meals multiple times a day. I would often only eat dinner, sometime
by o10449366 7y ago
I involuntarily fasted through college simply because I was too poor and busy to afford full meals multiple times a day. I would often only eat dinner, sometimes lunch too, but still managed to maintain a healthy BMI and ate enough to sustain an exercise routine. It took me only a few months to stop feeling "hungry". Now, many years later, I still have no sense of hunger and feel like I have much more control over my body and my mind as a result. My coworkers, on the other hand, seem unable to focus if they don't have lunch by 11 AM.
- Bakary 7y agoBased on what I've read on the topic, this isn't actual hunger but appetite. You can't ignore hunger, and it doesn't go away until you've found food.
- tomp 7y agoMy personal experience contradicts this. I fasted a few days sometime ago. The first day was OK, the second was miserable and terrible, but then I got "used" to it and stopped feeling hungry (or, alternatively, my brain got used to the stimulus of "hunger" and, even though I could still feel it, it wasn't salient any longer... à la neural adaptation [0]). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_adaptation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_adaptation
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoI recently read about an interesting experiment on conscientious objectors during the war. They were fed a very restricted diet (in terms of calories) and observed. As it went on they became obsessed with food, they would take recipe books from the library and even collect cooking implements. I guess it's not that surprising from an evolutionary perspective.
- DanBC 7y agoThe famous experiment is the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experimen... https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/anorexia/the-minnesota-starvation-study-important-insights-to-help-us-understand-a-loved-one-suffering-from-anorexia https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/anorexia/the-...
- s_y_n_t_a_x 7y agoYou can get hunger pains that are well more extreme than having an appetite. Those hunger pains can and will subside if you ignore it long enough.
- Brian_K_White 7y agoI have ignored food beyond the normal daily hunger a few different times just for the fun of the experiment. I never experienced any kind of hunger that I would describe as pain, and I could easily ignore it seemingly indefinitely. The only thing that made me stop and eat after about 3 days was fear. By then I was shakey and weak and I was afraid of getting even weaker and maybe not waking up. 3 days should be well short of any serious danger, but I am skinny and tend to constant nervous energy like bouncing my leg & tapping fingers etc. So I had to consider I might have less reserves than most, and possibly burn what I do have faster. Today my girlfriend would obviously never even allow such an experiment to get that far let alone further. But that's the only way I'd go further is with someone else around to watch in case it did go too far. Normally, when I'm doing whatever I want and can afford anything I want, I eat once a day, usually late at night. Have ever since I was responsible for my own meals. But even at it's worst, as far as I got, it wasn't pain and I was able to ignore it.