Some people say: "People can live without food for a long time to maintain their health." Others say: "If you don't eat for seven days, you will die." These two seemingly contradictory statements, which one is correct? In fact, both statements are wrong.
What we understand as "fasting" means fasting, that is, not eating. Indeed, fasting for a period of time in ancient times was considered to have a health-preserving effect, and modern science has also confirmed that light fasting can Activating autophagy has certain positive effects on physical health. But the fasting or inediting mentioned here refers to "a period of time", or "a short period of time", and the statement that "people can fast for a long period of time" is absolutely wrong. Since people cannot fast for a long time and do fasting, why are there records in ancient books about Taoist priests who believed in fasting for a long time? There is actually a difference between the "fasting" mentioned here and the "fasting" we understand.
The earliest term "bigu" did not refer to fasting, but to "not eating grains", so early bigu was also called: removing grains, eliminating grains, or resting grains.
In other words, inescaping in the early days did not mean not eating anything, it just meant not eating whole grains and eating food and medicine to satisfy hunger. If you really don't eat anything for a year and a half, no one can bear it. Since people cannot stop eating, what is the limit of human hunger? Is it true that "if you don't eat for seven days, you will die"? "If you don't eat for seven days, you will die" can be regarded as an experience summary of the ancients. That is to say, during famine, many people died without eating for seven days. When people saw this phenomenon, they summarized it as experience. But ancient times are different from modern times. Due to low productivity, people's daily dietary nutrition and caloric intake are low, so their physical condition and energy reserves cannot be compared with modern people, and their ability to resist hunger is naturally inferior.
In modern society, a healthy person will generally not die if he does not eat for a week. Of course, there are examples of this.
As early as 2003, the famous American magic master David Blaine went on a hunger adventure by the Thames River in London. He locked himself in a transparent glass box and performed 24 hours a day. During the live broadcast, he only drank water and did not eat anything. In the end, he successfully stayed in the box for 44 days. After completing the challenge, his physical indicators were basically intact and he only lost 20 pounds. This fully demonstrates that as long as people have water, they can survive for a relatively long time, more than 7 days, even without eating. So how long can a person go without eating? Does long-term hunger have any impact on health? This question is not difficult to answer, because as early as 1944, humans conducted a starvation experiment.
In 1944, Dr. Case from the University of Minnesota recruited 36 volunteers to conduct an unprecedented hunger experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to study the physical and psychological effects of people in an environment of long-term hunger. What changes have occurred.
There is no doubt that this experiment is dangerous for the volunteers participating in the experiment, so when selecting the experimental subjects, all healthy young men aged 22-33 were selected. , and they were also required to sign an agreement not to be held responsible for the experiment. The experiment lasted for a year, with participants receiving a normal diet for the first 3 months, gradually reducing their food intake for the middle 6 months, and returning to normal again for the final 3 months. food supply, and participants can withdraw from the experiment at any time.
In the first three months, the diet of all volunteers was adjusted to the same state. In addition, each person had to complete prescribed study, work, social and exercise tasks every day.
The three months ended soon, and the experiment entered the second stage, and the diet began to be restricted. The initial food supply was moderate, with potatoes, cabbage and whole-wheat bread, but gradually became harsh. After a month, it began to imitate the food structure of the concentration camp during World War II, with each person having only a small piece of bread and some bean soup per day. But this was not the end. As the experiment progressed, the diet was further compressed, and in the final period, only water could be consumed.
At the end of the experiment, only 11 of the 36 volunteers who participated in the experiment were left. Don’t get me wrong, they did not die, they just withdrew from the experiment.
At this time, the remaining volunteers were already very skinny. Even though they returned to a normal diet in the last three months, their bodies did not return to what they were before the experiment began, but instead produced a large amount of fat. . It can be seen that the body's ability to store fat becomes stronger under long-term starvation. The physical changes are not the scariest thing. The scariest thing is psychologically. These volunteers all showed severe depression tendencies, and for many years after the experiment ended, they could not tolerate the feeling of having nothing in their mouths, or smoke. Or chewing gum without stopping for a moment. If they stop, they will feel uneasy. It can be seen that long-term hunger is very terrible, and it will cause serious damage to people's body and psychology. Moreover, it is not wise to try to lose weight through dieting, because the body will be more likely to accumulate fat.