What is the longest time you have gone without food?
So just drinking water only, not nutritional drinks. Perhaps it was due to a health issue or maybe you were in the military on an exercise or lost somewhere?
For me i was hiking with two friends during the 90's in a southern mountainous area of Australia and we weren't lost but one guy twisted his ankle and it slowed us down and we had to do the final five days through very mountainous country with only an onion, a packet of soup mix, some tea leaves and plenty of water. One guy had a chocolate bar left but ate it all himself. There was no adequate cell phone coverage back then. By the end i had lost a lot of weight, i was very lethargic and i could look at leaves on trees and was tempted to eat them along with all the bugs. During this time we also walked about 70km and I lost about 12kg and i was already very lean. At the end we finally got to a road near a small village and flagged down a motorist who picked us up. I actually didn't feel hungry at this point... it was like i was beyond it. I navigated with an outdated map which caused us to miss a small settlement along the way and compass.. so nothing electronic as that's all we had. Anyone been through something similar?
Here's a photo i took of a deserted hut in the distance that we came across.. it was shelter but had no food.
@User41 Never said you was Brother ,Vets are tested in many ways and in times of need that training becomes actual surviving ,but my experience with moss ,its to be avoided ,especially in the south , Its like a birds nest makes a quick tender bundle ,,but you don't want to play with the mite infested thing ,use it if you must but don't handle it any more than you have to . That was funny about eating tree bark I have been blessed ,I always get game ,but I have spent a many day picking pine cones for those pine nuts ,and I hate shelling pecans .
But Brother my hats off to anyone who has roughed it ,and also served our country .Thank you for your service ,and all the other Vets who have commented to , Regardless which country they represent ,its has also been my pleasure to serve with some great men and women from all over the world as well ...
As BoobooSnafu said Its a shame sometimes we could not tell the politicians to take a chill pill And let us settle it over a cook out and a cold one We all want the same thing (except the extremist) Just to make our countries a little safer for our loved ones . And as for me ,,the Coast Guard was a killer job
have a good one ,and again ,thanks for your service If you ever hunting in Florida ,avoid the moss ,,its full of red bugs LOL
@KayraJordyn [quote]No, it isn't convenient. It's incredibly inconvenient[/quote] So you're saying a Christian scientist would NOT want to prove their faith true?
Muslim scientists produce results the suggest the events in the Quran literally happened, like the moon being split in two and then joining back together, or people being raised from the dead using cow blood. Isn't that pretty convenient, that the only scientists producing those results happen to be of the Muslim faith?
[quote]It goes against those who claim we came from monkeys, which takes more faith than creationism does.[/quote] You're saying it takes more faith to believe in something that you, as a human, can observe, witness, study, and find evidence for, than it takes to believe something that you CANNOT observe, witness, study, and find evidence for.
Lemme give you an example. You're a forensic scientist, and someone has just come to you with a murder case. The victim was found dead in his home with multiple injuries that closely resembled stab wounds. A knife with a blade profile matching the wounds was found in the house, with blood on it which matched the victim's blood type.
The coroner, however, believes the victim was not stabbed but rather shot to death, the knife found nearby was a coincidence, and that the shape of the wounds was an anomaly.
So you're telling me it would take more faith, and therefore less logic, to believe that the victim was stabbed, than to believe that the victim was shot. That you somehow need to abandon reasoning and critical thought to believe the conclusion that all the clues around you are telling you to, and it would be more logical and more reasonable to ignore those clues and instead draw a conclusion that you have no evidence of.
[quote]I believe in things I have seen that make no logical sense![/quote] And that is the problem. If you believe in something you can't see, and that makes no logical sense, and that you can't find a way to observe or interact with, then you're making stuff up. You can wind it around in a way that it doesn't clash with any proven truths of the world, but you're still...making it up.
[quote]This is my opinion. Not yours. I accept that. Can you?[/quote] No. Because in order to accept this, I would need to abandon all my beliefs, and everything that I can observe about the world, everything I can interact with, all my logic, my reasoning, my critical thinking skills. I'd have to throw those away and say "Oh well, I guess that's all bullshit, and there are no rules to reality, there are no laws of nature, things just happen without any explanation."
@BlueMetalChick My friend, I won't tell you your beliefs are stupid. That's one thing I can promise, my dear. No, I don't set up "paper tigers" in order to destroy them. I don't answer such questions, either. I do, and have always, believed the Word of my God, the God of Israel, Isaac, David, to be true. That's the person who has supported you, and wished you well, and better than you sometimes chose, always. I am not making up the things I have observed, that have been studied, over time, and proven true. Call it a miracle, call it unexpected healing, call it medicine finally doing it's job. But call it true, because it is, in my never-to-be-humble opinion. It doesn't make sense to those who don't have eyes to see. But to those who are willing to accept not everything has a normal, medical explanation, it might seem like a miracle. I have seen people healed with energy. I call it a miracle. You would likely call it a psychosomatic response. But people are living now, those who couldn't walk, eat, stop vomiting, talk, look people in the eye, believe in miracles. People have gotten better from this. This is what I'm studying now, as I've always felt energy in my hands differently than others may, or may not. I don't know. All I know is, I'm able to help my mother's pain, and that's enough for me. For now. I'll start working on my sister's migraines once my pain is under better control so that I can really channel energy, and I'll make sure she's not freaked out by it. Then I'll try the next person. This is my belief. Sometimes, my God honors faith. If you must distance yourself from me, I understand. It doesn't change how much I like you, admire you, even in your attempts to discuss all this with me. I'm no different than I was when I arrived in January. Feel embarrassed for associating with me. Fine. I still support myself. That's fine by me, honey. With genuine love. Kayra.
@KayraJordyn [quote]No, I don't set up "paper tigers" in order to destroy them.[/quote] Ok that brought the exact wrong visual to my mind because "paper tiger" is the name of a popular porn site from my home country and I immediately started thinking about weird shit when you said that 😂
[quote]I am not making up the things I have observed, that have been studied, over time, and proven true.[/quote] Then you can't believe things like dinosaurs and humans existing at the same time because that HAS been studied over time, and proven to be false.
[quote]Call it a miracle, call it unexpected healing, call it medicine finally doing it's job. But call it true, because it is, in my never-to-be-humble opinion. It doesn't make sense to those who don't have eyes to see. But to those who are willing to accept not everything has a normal, medical explanation, it might seem like a miracle.[/quote] We're obviously talking about two different things here, because people being cured of diseases or surviving injuries that should have been fatal is something that has a lot more leeway. But biogenesis, or evolution being false and humans living with dinosaurs, and a flood covering the entire world but suddenly disappearing less than two months later? Those are not physically possible things, they aren't events that have ever been observed, witnessed, replicated, or rationalized.
Close to two weeks. I spent much of my childhood enduring chronic starvation. Which is part of why my metabolism is so fast these days and I eat twice as much food as a grown woman of my size usually would.
@BoobooSnafu Sometimes I'll take a selfie making a mean face but I don't share it over social media, I just do it cos sometimes I think I look cool making a mean face. It's not to share though lol
@BlueMetalChick you remind me of a Komodo dragon, especially one eating a mammal twice it's size like an ox. 😂 I guess there's a sense of beauty in how ruthless that creature is.
I had fasted many times 7 days,just water but when I lost my girlfriend in November and then my Mom passed away in January I was suffering so much grief ,the thought of food made me want to throw up . I drank coffee right on but I quit eating for 30 days I had not gone totally without food ,My Kids came by to comfort me and made me eat a small amount 6 times ,,I lost 45 lbs But I started getting chest pains so my ex and my uncle talked me into going into the ER and I was having a heart attack . The doctors said I was trying to commit suicide by starvation and they baker acted me and locked me up in the mental ward . The next morning when a board interviewed me ,they removed the baker act hold ,but since they had me there ,I stayed in a volunteer program until they made me leave They scanned my bracelet and gave me all my meds with no hassles put me on Valium ,and made me eat 3 times a day and chased me around trying to make me eat a snack ,,shakes and anything that I would eat I had people begging me to talk with them about the Bible And every night my Daughters brought my guitar and they opened a deck up for me to play music and sing ,and they served us real coffee and donuts . I didn't want to leave ,,it was cool when I had to go everyone gave me their phone numbers ,the staff all hugged me and told me it was a blessing meeting me .
It was a hard time in my life ,but I already knew until then I could go 7 days on nothing but water ,no sweat ,,but now I know if I use a sports drink so my body chemicals don't get out of whack ,,I can do 30 days too .
I did feel hunger pains the first 5 days ,,,but after that ,I wasn't hungry at all
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@rckt148 Wow amazing story, thanks for sharing. Yes you are right, there's something about the 5 day mark where you suddenly stop feeling hungry. Still, i think going 30 days without nutrients would potentially have a lot of health issues, especially to do with the heart as well as bone degradation, then the extended Ketosis (zero carbs) would cause serious thyroid problems too. Glad you're ok though.
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10 days. Thanks to a 8 day meth/heroin bender. I was running off batteries pretty much lol.
@BoobooSnafu the most valuable things in life can’t be bought or sold and pardon my ignorance but it’s something that most people on this planet never take a second to acknowledge that fact.
Three days, and I allowed myself water. Sometimes God speaks in whispers, and when we quiet ourselves, his voice is loudest. It's not about what I got out of it, but I did receive something beautiful. God's Love is without bounds!
It's not the same for everyone. Intention is important, but so is nutrition. I don't expect anyone else to fast, and if it's bad for you, you alone can monitor your limits. 😊 This was my experience, and it was a good one. Difficult, and surprising, because I didn't know what would happen. If I tried to fast today, with my meds and chronic conditions, I'd be in trouble. I think God understands. ;) 🤗 @BlueMetalChick
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Perhaps a week and a half, no water. Kind of a recurring thing in my childhood. My aunt would withhold food and water as a punishment for days at a time.
@BlueMetalChick Yeah. I mean, I won't get into it, but he was doing things with me. I wouldn't call it a relationship though, I was probably about five or six. I told her about it because I thought it would get him in trouble, but she went crazy on me instead.
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@SW-User I'm sorry you had to go through this. My parents were similar. There was abuse going on at school and when i tried to tell my parents, they just blamed me for lying as the teachers were adults after all and too good to do anything that i'd said. I think a lot of adults really need to reevaluate having the title of adult bestowed on them.
Wow... what an experience... I did a sponsored fast for 48 hours for the Irish heart foundation. These type of stories kept me going. My fast was nothing compared to that.
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@Dusty101 48 hours for charity is great! In a sense mine was easier in that I had no choice and couldn’t pull out if I wanted to. Eating afterwards was nice though, right? :)
@SW-User yours was worse... I could have stopped anytime! Also I slept during the 48 hours... I had a smoothie after.. My stomach ached.
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@Dusty101 I remember now it was hard to sleep feeling so hungry. It might have been that the smoothie was a bit strong. I think the first thing i bought was a meat pie and chips as that was what was being sold in the first shop i went into, and that wasn't a great idea as my stomach hurt too.
That's really cool. I've fasted for a day or two in a row as a kid, and that's about it. Why couldn't you eat leaves and bugs?
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@Lostpoet We were lucky that it wasn't a life or death situation. At any point i was prepared to ditch my gear and run maybe 30km or so to the nearest location and get help but i thought we'd get through. Well leaves aren't something we can digest as far as i'm aware and... well we could have eaten bugs but were still at the point where it seemed really gross. Also as you can see from the pic, we were above the snow line and there were no birds or animals or snakes etc. We could have descended lower into the valley but it would have added days to the walk if we couldn't find food.
@SW-User thats pretty badass man. Do you guys go out much anymore?
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@Lostpoet No, the two guys i hiked with are both married with kids now, but i go out on my own all the time, and to this same location. I'm just better prepared and plus i have a GPS now, makes it easy!
I've gone three to four days without eating more times than I can count, often just as the result of sudden longlasting bursts of energy where I feel no need whatsoever to "refuel". I usually end those times after the third day just out of a fear that something bad will happen eventually if I keep not-eating, but not because I actually start to physiologically debilitated by lack of incoming nourishment. Eating even a small meal seems to totally throw of the rhythm of those strange occurrences, and I immediately have to go back to eating normally or suffering fairly predictable consequences.
I read the book [i]Into the Wild[/i] recently. The author made the supposition that Christopher McCandless starved to death because he was suffering from paralysis in his legs induced by lathyrism, poisoning from seeds of wild potato, which prevented him from gathering food or hiking out. Scary. You have to be careful what you eat in nature. I don’t think I’ve ever gone without food for more than half a day. I get hypoglycemia, so being without food is frightening to me.
@ChampagneOnIce you have a problem with an imbalance of glucose that effects your bodies insulin , The boy in into the wild misread the markings on a wild potato which poisoned him . Vomiting and Diarrhea dehydrated his body until his organs began to shut down After a very short time of the kidneys and liver not working properly or at all You get septic ,the poison is not just in your intestines now ,its in your blood as well . He was poisoned ,he needed more than to eat . As I share earlier in this post I went over 30 days ,and in that time only ate like 6 times ,and it was very little when I did . But I drank water and coffee ,,lots of coffee ,I was grieving myself to death . Grief can mimic the same symptoms of a heart attack ,,in my case I had a heart attack . It was explained to me (that was my 3rd heart attack )that I had let my Electrolyte's get out of whack and my organs were trying to shut down . But in the boys case ,,all the vomiting and diarrhea did him in .
I have had survival training ,and I have engaged in 7 day fast , Christ did it 40 days Christ and Gandhi was my inspiration I would be ok ,,hunger strikes was something he did to draw attention to the suffering of his people
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi or The Father of the Nation in India, undertook 17 fasts during India's freedom movement. His longest fasts lasted 21 days.
Nelson Mandela also refused food as have many on hunger strikes 3 days without water will shut organs down ,,but longer periods without food https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/israel-brutal-brand-apartheid-occupation-170529063628470.html
This is an article on Nelson and a few other famous people who also refused to eat I have messed around until now I need insulin injections ,something I hope to over come naturally ,,when I know I have no choice ,I take better care of myself But its only been recently I was told its time to do something about it I have the actual movie that boy documented what he was doing and his farewell letter when he had accepted what he had done to himself eating the potato . once he know what he had done ,,He knew then he was not leaving his camp he had built in a VW bus ,it is a very sad movie only impressing on me If I am not 100% sure in the wild ,don't eat it
Last summer, I juiced fresh fruit and veggies for 20 days for health reasons. In addition to only juice, I dranked lots of water and coconut water. The first three days were the most difficult with your body detoxing. Afterwards, I felt energetic.
Glad you guys weren't lost; that would have been a game-changer.
When I was a kid my dad would not feed me for days at a time. Sometimes now I will fast at most for three days. Once you reach the point of not being hungry something has changed in your mind. A more primitive instinct. Glad you made it through. Cool pic!
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@StokedFox I'm sorry you were abused like that. I struggle to keep weight on to this day, not sure why but it's why i go to the gym and surf etc. But you are right about reaching the point of not being hungry. I'll never forget reaching that point, i felt like i actually didn't need to eat again, but i was in some kind of delirious state. Glad you like the pic!
@Platoscave I agree. One thing i found is that it's worse for the first two days.. in fact very painful after the first day of no food, then after that as long as you have plenty of water you can slowly waste away without any significant hunger pains... well for a few days anyway. After longer periods there's hallucinations and health damage. 5 days with no food was definitely as long as i'd want to go.
@SW-User Wow, you a gangsta! I've only ever fasted when I've been praying and meditating on the Bible. If I were to do so now, with my physical issues, I'd have to be very creative and somewhat lenient, as I once was, a few years ago. When I fasted it was usually from all but water, and generally lasted about three days. When you spend that time in prayer and focused on a great purpose, one which Christ filled many times over, the time can seem lesser than it was. Or more precious than expected. It's not a guarantee, just a lovely, loving potential, aka a moment that can promote growth and closeness to God.
PerthSurfer: You are a real survivor. You could easily have been one of the lost, but I'm so glad you weren't. Thank you for sharing this. Some of us need to see what life is worth when it's almost out of our hands, and I'm glad to receive this message. I'm grateful you're still here to share this from your own lips/hands! Thank you, and thank goodness you found safety before hacking barely-nourishing trees to death and only wasting energy, lol. That had to have been a desperate hunger many know, but that few privelaged people have had to contend with.
Hey, nobody ate anyone else. 🙄 Kudos! 🤗☺️
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Wow. That was such an ordeal! I only got up to maybe 14 hours. Nothing like what you've been through.
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@SW-User Thanks yeah the hard part was all the exercise we had to do. Like i just wanted to lay down and sleep but if we didn't keep moving and meet our daily schedule we wouldn't have made it. Plus the guy with the twisted ankle needed us to carry his gear and that slowed our progress down a lot too. 14 hours is long enough without food. I sure wouldn't recommend 5 days again.
Same - about 5 days. Stuck way back in the bush....full days walk to ......anywhere. no money....and just enough weed-bix to feed the dogs till payday. And I remember....by the beginning go the fourth day - I felt no hunger anymore either. It was weird....just wasn't a problem anymore. But my mouth felt funny. And .....didnt really lose that much weight....got a survival metabolism.
Oh gosh. To those who don't know hunger, we won't understand the gravity of what happens when we go without. I'm so sorry you had to endure that. And so glad you made it! @LaLumieri
