@RexRed,
In reply to my last post. I wonder how bears cope with the debilitating heart disease after a whole winter of, err, "skipping breakfast"....
And yes I have recently lost another 20 lbs on my starvation diet.
A few notes.
When I started this diet and wrote about it here I had a severe illness.
In reading some of the earlier posts I posted a blip about how some animals fast when they are ill.
Well I was very ill. I had a dead tooth that was pouring toxins into my blood stream. So in fasting it was a way of boosting my immune-system not weakening it.
But no amount of fasting will really fix the toxins of a dead tooth. Especially mine. It turns out I was born with incredible long tooth roots. Much longer than average. Most of my childhood I was in terrible pain with my adult teeth growing in. Each tooth got not only an abscess but also I got earaches.
My mother was such a comfort to me during these times I cannot express my gratitude. I remember just praying to have a single day without some sort of pain.
Well back to my tooth. So the dentist drained out these terrible toxins and literally saved my life. I think I had only a few months to a year left to live at that point.
I have very slowly gained back my health. So I was on this diet through this period.
It is like when you catch a cold and don't eat and feel better for not doing so but as a result lose a few lbs too.
Why have I been on and off this diet? I am a human being too and I fall prey to my own food weaknesses and bodily needs.
I have also had problems with alcohol. Of which since my tooth has been fixed I have actually been more inclined to deal with that problem. But while the toxins were flowing through me I used alcohol sometime to medicate the pain. When I did use alcohol my diet would go all to heck.
So in other words, if you are using alcohol "do not" even attempt this starvation diet.
This diet's main rules are.
No caffeine (other than decaf)
No sugar (candy, soda or sugar in coffee)
An occasional sweet and sour main meal is okay
Cigarette smoking is also prohibited
The main beverage is ice water and occasionally milk though milk is not required on this diet at all. Dairy is perfectly fine if you incorporate it into your meals. Milk is fine too but only with your meals but not required at all.
I talked about getting dry mouth from my multi-vitamins. Sorry folks I am not god and neither were the 10 doctors (not exaggerating) I went to who did not pinpoint the problem as being the dead tooth. So the dry mouth was most certainly that and not my multivitamin nor was it the taking of fish oil.
It was not until I saw a dentist that they made me aware of extremely grave problem with my tooth.
In fact I told all of my doctors about my tooth and they just said absolutely nothing... I had to search out a dentist all on my own without even a single recommendation from my doctors to do so.
It was actually a fluke. I got tired of looking at the dead tooth and decided to see a dentist for mostly cosmetic reasons.
So I took out a dental plan and had to wait almost a year before I could make use of it.
Once I got to the dentist the endontist was extremely surprised at the severity of the tooth. He drilled into the tooth and (sorry this is gross) but this black ooze came out of my tooth. Supernatural hehe...
He has done many of these and I don't think he had seen anything like this (because of my huge roots).
There was a pocket of infection that was above the tooth and in my head!
These toxins were (because the tooth goes into bone) circulating bacteria into my bloodstream but also into my bones. I am just your average Rasputin. It takes a lot to kill me. hehe
The reason why I go into this about the tooth is because it does shed light on how this diet works.
The liver and kidneys not only filter blood but also set the bodies metabolism.
Because of this tooth my liver especially was working at full capacity and still not able to completely filter my blood. Thus, every day I would have the extra amount of toxins to simply have to live with.
I used medications to help cope. For a while I took hydrocodone and also used alcohol to medicate.
The problem was that I had quite bad back pain. This is something I was born with.
I would use either the alcohol or hydros but not together. I could not understand why I would drink alcohol to medicate my pain (because I am a purist I really hated taking the very low doses of hydrocodone) and after drinking a good amount, while on it, my pain would get exponentially worse. ?
I wondered why...
Alcohols is supposed to be a pain reliever.
There was also the vitamin D deficiency problem. My vitamin D level was at 20% and for a person my age it was supposed to be at 65% or higher.
One of my doctors told me why. She said the alcohol was "eating up the vitamin D in my body."
That seemed kinda ridiculous but she was 100% right. She did not know about the tooth though.
So the bacteria was eating up not only the vitamin D but other vital minerals and nutrients. So when I would drink alcohol it would only compound the problem further. And the hydrocodone was only taxing my liver further till its presence outweighed any real benefits. Though I never abused the drug the acetaminophen accumulated in my body also till that in itself was a toxin.
My doctor without even finding out what was really wrong with me said, you can't be on this drug forever, so he took me off cold turkey after four years of being prescribed it in very low doses.
As I said I did not abuse the drug so I had one night of discomfort and after that I actually felt better being off the hydrocodone.
That is because it was giving my liver a rest. The tooth was still poisoning me and I was still using alcohol to medicate which was even worse. I still didn't know the tooth was the root cause.
The alcohol screwed with my diet and was eating up the vital nutrients needed to maintain basic health.
Well it was my dentist that actually saved my life.
I feel like a new man now. It has taken months for my tooth to clear up and the toxins to slowly leave my blood stream.
I have been able to lower my vitamin D doses and now I can take a multivitamin daily without the, err, dry mouth.
I don't take them daily but maybe every other day, mainly because I forget.
My back pain is much less but still there, nothing that an Ibuprofen cannot mask.
I no longer have the need to medicate with alcohol so I am free to try and actually maintain this diet.
Through this all, I have lost dear friends and lovers because of my behavior, terrible grumpiness and occasional over medication with alcohol.
I think I am on my feet now. I can think clear and the ringing in my ears has lowered some. My skin is less rashy from the bacteria and I have learned to take the blame for some of my short tempered fits.
I know why I was that way but do not excuse myself. I have vowed to never lose another lover or friend due to over medication and my fits of anger and pain.
My point in all of this is that one must look at the total picture of your body before you start a diet like this. Yes this diet works and does wonderful things to the body. The problem lies when you try this diet and try to do it with other medications like drinking coffee, sugar or alcohol or drugs (including nicotine) .
They DO eat up the vitamins in your body, sometimes as quick as overnight and ever quicker. For instance, one cigarette depletes the body of vitamin c.
So cigarettes can cause this diet to do irreparable harm too. I guess that is why hibernating bears don't smoke them...
So you must be free of these substance before you try this diet. Yes you will still lose weight but you will also run the risk of organ and/or muscular damage.
My bodies warnings came in the form of heightened back pain and terrible muscle cramps. If you do take these substances on this diet your body will warn you by attacking your weakest organ. For each person this can be different. Mine was my back for some it is their eyesight and even the heart.
When I am not filled with deadly bacteria, drinking caffeine, nicotine and/or alcohol or medications then this diet actually works. That is because what you intake for food i.e. minerals, nutrients and such are there for this diet to use and not be "eaten up" by other things leaving nothing left for the body to sustain itself on.
