Fasting Quotes

You may wonder who else has fasted.

In the weight loss industry, celebrities always talk about how they stay slim, stay young, stay healthy.... Whether they've been paid to say so, I don't know.

However I've just come across some fasting quotes from some previous fasters. I don't think they've been paid to say what they said. Here they are:

"I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency."--Plato, 428-348 B.C., Greek student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle; helped lay foundations of Western philosophy

"The best of all medicines are rest and fasting." --Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American founding father, statesman and inventor (bifocal glasses, iron furnace stove and lightning rod)

"America badly needs to go on a diet. It should do something drastic about excessive, unattractive, life-threatening fat. It should get rid of it in the quickest possible way, and this is by fasting." --Allan Cott, M.D., author of Fasting-The Ultimate Diet


Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Fasting Quotes

Fasting to Overcome My 17-year Digestive Problems

Why 17 years? This is the question I have been asking myself. Intermittent fasting cured my pain, but why waited so long to kick off?

My Fasting History
At the beginning when I felt unable to eat, I thought I might be having some serious illness. I went on body checks, seeing gastroenterology specialists, doing stomach endoscopy, seeing dietitians and whoever I thought could give me a hand. After all, I was confirmed to have no ulcer, no cancer and nothing had noticeably gone wrong. I have therefore diagnosed myself as digestive problems due to slow metabolism.

This process was a little lengthy but well worth. I suggest you do the same to rule out any potential illness before initiating any nutritional program. But DON’T do the same as to wait for 17 years to take action. I suggest your starting a fasting program immediately after confirming that yours is simply a matter of digestive problems.

I didn’t take action to cure my indigestion pain because I love eating. Every morning when the sun rises, when I’m still in bed, the first thing come to my mind is ‘what to eat today’. I just don’t want to give up eating though at some stage I realize fasting is my ultimate rescuer. I just can’t imagine how I survived through these 17 painful years.

In March 2006, my tummy was like a blown up balloon. If you take a look at my pre-fasting photos, I just looked like a pregnant woman. One evening after a social dinner which I really didn’t want to go because my stomach was just was about to explode. After dinner, I couldn’t explain how uneasy I was feeling. I told myself “Anna, it’s time to do something”. So I took a photo for myself and kicked off my juice fasting the following day.

Why Juice Fasting?
I went for juice fasting rather than water fasting because juice offered me sweetness, vitamin and glucose. I replaced my lunch and dinner with a cup of juice and drank water through rest of the day.

More information about juice fasting: How to keep slim, healthy and young with juice fasting

Why Six Days?
I’ve heard people went through a 21-day water fasting. But I won’t ask you to do that because I personally don’t have that experience. I would say a one-week juice fasting is good enough to correct any indigestion problem. It doesn’t matter its 5, 6 or 7 days. I gave up at the end of the 6th day and ate some congee the next day just to give my body a grace period to resume solid food.

My Fasting Week – Feeling Great
Actually throughout my juice fasting week, I have been doing my morning and midday calisthenics as usually. Except I was feeling a little tired (psychologically only) for the first two days, I had never felt that great in the past 17 years. My fat belly shed six pounds after the six days of juice fasting, i.e. one pound per day. This amazing result gave me duo benefits of relieving fullness pain and weight loss. The miracle feeling told me that “Anna, you DO NOT need to eat that often to maintain your energy level”.

My Fasting Years - Re-arranging Eating Schedule
Since the third week of March 2006, I have re-arranged my eating schedule to once a day. I have continued with this intermittent fasting program through now and have been feeling great, as I don’t have to carry on a big fat tummy everyday. I have decided to stay that great for the rest of my life.

Why Intermittent Fasting Success Report?
To reiterate, this blog is to tell the world the benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting. I just want to alert more people that they can relieve their digestive problems and stay healthy like what I did.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Fasting History
Intermittent Fasting Success Report

Four Years of Intermittent Fasting

2010 is my 4th year of intermittent fasting (IF). Ever since 2006 when I kicked off my ‘belated’ fasting program, I love my new lifestyle. I have found a long term lasting and easy way to eat and stay healthy. I plan on feeling this great for the rest of my life!

Historic Eating Problem
My story all began with my historic eating problem which date back to 1989. This problem started bothering me soon after I turned 30. Perhaps due to slow metabolism, but no one could explain the reason. There has been a serious conflict between my natural desire for food and my body’s saying ‘no’. However I have been pleasing my mouth, and ignoring my body’s refusal of food. So my stomach is always full to overload like an airborne balloon. In March 2006, just before I turn 50, I took an important step in my life as to change my eating habit.

Lose Weight As A Result of Fasting
Actually over the past 20 years, doctors, dietitians and friends suggested hundreds of ways to correct my problem. Somehow I found only one way work for me – fasting. At the beginning, I went on a 6-day juice fasting. I lost six pounds out of that. And most of these six pounds were shed off from my belly fat. Over the course of the next six months, I lost a total of 20 pounds. My body weight has been stable since then. Fasting had greatly improved my appearance and made me feel great.

The Magic of Intermittent Fasting
At the beginning, I was thinking that I could resume my normal three-meal-day after the initial juice fasting. But I was wrong. The miracle feeling told me that ‘Anna, don’t look back; look forward, you’ve found the right way to eat!’ The feeling was just like I’ve been temporary disabled and got fully recovered. I would never want to be disabled again. As a matter of fact, I don’t really need that much food to survive. However I cannot give up food forever, so I target for one meal a day, just to balance my psychological and physical need of food. There marked the beginning of my intermittent fasting program.

I set up a food diary to record my eating history and at a later stage set up a food blog to record what I eat. On average, I skip 18 to 23 meals in a month as in some cases I cannot avoid eating due to business and personal social commitments. In some days, I replace a meal by snacks, a fruit or a glass of juice.

Overcoming Fasting Hurdle
Talking about my fasting experience, the most challenging bit was the first two days of juice fasting. I need strong determination to suppress my natural desire for food. I told myself its time to do something towards a better quality of life as I have been suffering for 17 years. From the third day onward, the feeling was really good. Though it was a bit tired but I still continued with my morning calisthenics and midday workout. These two sessions of daily exercise has been part of my life. Even now, I’m still doing them without breakfast and lunch and I’m still energetic enough to deal with my daily work.

While practicing intermittent fasting, the other hurdle to overcome is on the social side. I have to alert people of my change in eating habit and that they need to reserve my diary in advance, in case they want to eat with me. Luckily I have my family members’ and friends’ support by respecting my new eating habit. Food wise, I don’t really have any restriction. I just eat as usually, except not as frequent as before.

One meal every 24 hour is just good enough to keep me healthy and energetic. Unlike other weight loss program asking people to focus on low carb, low calorie, fat burning, ab exercising etc. intermittent fasting enables me to lose weight naturally and gradually. It is not an overnight weight loss program, but a long term lasting health program. I create this blog to spread this message and hope that more and more people can enjoy the benefits of IF and improve their quality of life and stay healthy.

More about intermittent fasting: Eat Stop Eat

Anna's Fasting History

Intermittent Fasting Success Report