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  1. #1

    How unhealthy is it to go a day without food

    Hi as of today I haven't eaten in almost 21 hours and this happens a couple times a week. I have an incredibly sedentary lifestyle so I don't burn hardly any calories. I'm also a poor college student and like to get fucked up on as little beer as possible so I try to keep an empty stomach by fasting for 6 hours whenever I drink. My question is simple: How unhealthy is it go without food for a 24 hour period a couple times a week.

  2. #2
    The Insane Underverse's Avatar
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    From what you've written that's the least of your worries.

    But because I feel bad for you, fasting for several days is fine, if not healthy.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    It's not exactly unhealthy but you shouldn't. :/

    If you can't afford any decent food atleast buy some cookies and yogurt and dig up!

  4. #4
    Honestly I think if you are prioritising beer over food you have some serious thinking to do about your lifestyle, doubly so if you are a student. Your brain needs energy too, meaning your studies will suffer if you don't eat properly (it becomes harder to think / concentrate when you are running on empty).

    Also you burn a decent amount of calories just by being alive, not replenishing that will do damage over time from what I understand.

  5. #5
    Pandaren Monk Paladin885's Avatar
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    I am like you, in college, poor, saving money by not doing anything or as little as possible because gas = money I don't have and everything goes towards rent and bills with less than $100 for food. But you're habit is worse than mine.... and don't be too surprised, you will lose weight even as a non-eating coach potato.

    it's not bad, but don't expect energy to keep kicking in when you need it. Our bodies can survive without food for a long time, depending on how much fat you have stored.

    With no carbs to fuel your body, it will switch over to it's reserves (fat) and start to burn that. But that has less energy and can make you feel lethargic even... and it will shut down you're metabolism. Expect to gain weight once you start eating again :P.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Quetzl View Post
    From what you've written that's the least of your worries.

    But because I feel bad for you, fasting for several days is fine, if not healthy.
    I will admited I lol'd.

    Personally, I have skipped meals and not eaten for a long period of time every now and again, but it is most definitely unhealthy to not eat for the length of time you have gone without.

    First, when you skip a meal your blood sugar drops dramatically, making you feel sluggish or fatigued at random times, or for no reason at all. With the spike of your blood sugar when you finally do get around to eating, you may be setting yourself up for blood sugar related diseases later in life such as diabetes.

    Next, your body requires adequate nutrition to operate properly. Whenever you eat whatever you ingest is broken down and used as energy for your body to ensure that it can complete all of the mechanisms at its disposal; you know that saying "you are what you eat"? It is very real, and when you eat nothing - what will you eventually become?

    Finally, your metabolism is in charge of breaking down the food you eat. You know how skinny people often boast that their metabolism is excellent? Anyhow, your metabolism is a muscle - and muscles need to be used regularly or else they will not function at full capacity when they are used next. When you skip meals - particularly for as long as you do - you are giving your metabolism absolutely nothing to do; so the next time you eat food, your metabolism is not capable of breaking down that food as quickly. When your metabolism can not break the food down as quickly, more of it is stored as fat. So it is essential to eat regularly throughout the day in order to maintain a healthy weight.

    I hope this helped you, these are only a couple of reasons why it is bad to skip meals.. There are plenty more!

  7. #7
    Mi goreng nuff said

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zorohon View Post
    First, when you skip a meal your blood sugar drops dramatically, making you feel sluggish or fatigued at random times, or for no reason at all. With the spike of your blood sugar when you finally do get around to eating, you may be setting yourself up for blood sugar related diseases later in life such as diabetes.
    O.O

    That is scary, good thing I don't need sugar!

    Here, before someone asks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heredit...se_intolerance

  9. #9
    Pit Lord
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    These people saying its not bad are retards, you might not be hungry but thats because when you fast like this your metabolism down shifts and then when you do eat your body hordes what little food it has access to for as long as possible which at face value sounds good but when youre eating like an idiot all you tend to do is absorb massive amounts of sodium and msg.

    Also everything that Zorohon said was 100% true, he said it in a much nicer way than i am capable


    There's no need to insult users, refrain from doing so in the future please.
    Last edited by mmoc58a2a4b64e; 2012-12-01 at 12:47 AM.

  10. #10
    I randomly don't eat for a day once in a while and I don't think that's harmful, but.... a couple of times a week? Eh probably not healthy.

  11. #11
    Fasting has actually been proven to have many health benefits when done properly. I think you are asking for advice in the wrong area though, try searching for fasting on google and you will get the info you need.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by n1ck301 View Post
    Hi as of today I haven't eaten in almost 21 hours and this happens a couple times a week. I have an incredibly sedentary lifestyle so I don't burn hardly any calories. I'm also a poor college student and like to get fucked up on as little beer as possible so I try to keep an empty stomach by fasting for 6 hours whenever I drink. My question is simple: How unhealthy is it go without food for a 24 hour period a couple times a week.
    Even doing nothing, your body burns 1200-1500 calories a day just for doing the things it needs to do like pumping blood etc, so yes, you need to eat every day.

    Also, if you are starving yourself to be able to buy beer I think you need to get some serious help and fast, especially if you are not eating a couple times per week so you can get drunk.

  13. #13
    Titan Yunru's Avatar
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    The best thing for you in that situation is too stop buying drugs (beer, cigs and so on) and just buy very cheap food.

    Some stores have a *special* only their products that are cheaper than other ones.
    For example: A well known chocolate 100g costs 3$, a store version costs 0.50$

    The only downside of *cheap* food is that it doesnt taste so good.
    Don't sweat the details!!!

  14. #14
    Fasting is fine if you've done your research.

    Starving yourself so you can more easily get drunk, on the other hand, is basically a warning sign for addiction.

  15. #15
    Well if you do nothing all day then you will still burn calories, however burning more calories then you take in is not exactly a bad thing over-all (assuming you have a highish % of body fat, but if you're under 10% probably not a good idea). I think the main thing is to make sure you have a balanced diet over-all, a day a week without food would not matter hugely assuming the other days you eat decently.

  16. #16
    Merely a Setback Trassk's Avatar
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    You won't die if you won't but is is unhealthy, the body needs nutrients to keep it working right.

    As a diabetic, I'd be dead within 12 hours of less from not eating, or in a coma.
    #boycottchina

  17. #17
    Its important.Dunno about you but sometimes i played too much and i startet fainting.Didnt even have enought strenght to get downstairs.Ordering pizza helps abit :v

  18. #18
    Stood in the Fire raechuul's Avatar
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    Not healthy. You should eat something on a more regular schedule to maintain your metabolism. For example, some kind of breakfast at 9am every morning, lunch at 1pm, dinner at 5, etc. Snacks are good too. Lighter meals and healthy snacks throughout the day.

    I'm also a college student and I don't have a ton of money for food, but think about your health. At least pick healthier choices when you can.

    Icon made by leia06 from livejournal.com.

  19. #19
    The Insane Underverse's Avatar
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    Many people here are saying fasting is bad. It's an easy conclusion to jump to, however....

    #1 - Decreasing blood sugar is a response to changing the learned habit of eating food at a particular time/a particular number of times a day. Blood sugar (or ketones) will stabilize after a day or so. In addition, low blood sugar is not necessarily bad, because while you will indeed feel sluggish, there is less accumulation of damage by glucose crystals to blood vessel linings

    #2 - Imbalanced gut flora/intestinal permeability/sensitivities and pretty much every other major digestive issue is alleviated when not eating food. Not eating food (or not eating a significant amount of food) for short fasting periods (2-5 days) allows better control of bacterial populations by the immune system and can alleviate many health problems as fewer resources are needed to deal with the gut. It also allows the intestines to heal any accumulated damage (complete turnover takes something like 9 days, don't quote me on that though) and remove any accumulated waste.

    However, fasting does (temporarily) reduce your metabolism (in the beginning) because your cellular machinery is calibrated to metabolize glucose. This returns to (almost) normal when the machinery required to metabolize ketones is upregulated and/or when fat stores are more completely utilized.

    Doing this a lot for long periods of time will obviously lose you most of the benefits (intestines already healed) while increasing stress, and therefore leading to negative results. But is small amounts, it can be very beneficial.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Majad View Post
    O.O

    That is scary, good thing I don't need sugar!

    Here, before someone asks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heredit...se_intolerance
    you do need sugar basic cellular metabolism runs on glucose.
    Gamdwelf the Mage

    Quote Originally Posted by Theodarzna View Post
    I'm calling it, Republicans will hold congress in 2018 and Trump will win again in 2020.

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