The Science of Fasting

Dr. Paul Webb was a specialist in calorimetry and metabolic research. He worked for NASA in the 1960s, in the field of aerospace medicine. One of his projects involved developing a suit that could measure the amount of energy the body produces through metabolism.

The findings of Webb’s research questioned the universal validity of Calorie Theory on a fundamental basis. His study reported “the greater the food deficit, the larger was the difference between the theoretical amount of energy produced by metabolism, and what the actual measures were”. (1) In other words, Dr. Webb found that the human body was generating energy from a source other than food. God? Is that you?

More evidence, pointing towards human’s ability to live with no food, comes from India. It was in that country, that Hira Ratan Manek, was reported to live under medical supervision, for 411 days without consuming any food. During this time, he only lost 19 kg.

Of course, Hira’s story is impossible by classical medical standards. The results were published in the Gujarat Medical Journal (2) . Since there was only human supervision and no 24-hour CCTV-control, the study provided only Level-B evidence. For this reason it has never been taken seriously by mainstream scientists. (3)

Now, let’s take a moment to reflect on a simple fact: Many people in this world lie or exaggerate about their accomplishments. There are enough tricksters and scam artists to fill up a few football fields. It’s easy to distrust claims about someone living more than a year without any food.

At the same time, this world has plenty of honest and truthful people, who can achieve extraordinary feats. Every records that was ever set has been broken. Life without food may not be as impossible as it seems.

It is important to know that fasting for long periods of time is intense, dangerous, and should probably be performed under the supervision of someone who has done it before, and knows how to support others going through that process.

It’s also very challenging to live on nothing but water, while living in a polluted city or crowded town. Sometimes the best approach is to visit a retreat center, such as the Tanglewood Wellness Center in Costa Rica, where experienced personal supervises regular a 40 day water fasts.

Water fasting may not be for you. Few people are excited about spending 40 days without food. The good news, you don’t have to do it! There is no need for you to water fast for 40 days, or 411 days, or even for a single day. These examples are only here to show you, that a fruit based diet, has more than enough nutrition to fuel our lives.

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