Fasting (Detoxification and Glycogen replenishing) (1 Viewer)

I was curious if anyone on the HTF Board engages in frequent water (i.e, no solid food at all) fasts. Some of you who know me relatively well know that I am a long-distance runner. I fast frequently, for physical and spiritual reasons. Fasting also helps me to run more efficiently and trains my body to endure much longer runs since it is directly related to re-storing my glucose levels and especially my glycogen stores. Detoxifiying the body is a very good thing (see below under the various stages of fasting), and prolonged (more than two or three days at a time) water fasting is something that I do three or four times a month. I won't discuss the spiritual reasons, because that would not be in keeping with the rules of the HTF Board. However, I think the medical and physical reasons could be discussed if anyone wishes to contribute.
Over the past several years, I have fasted several times for a day, two days, three days, four days, five days, six days, and one week. The longest I have ever fasted for is fourteen days, breaking the fast on the fifteenth day. I broke the fast on day fifteen by choice (it was my goal to reach fourteen days) and not out of necessity. Interestingly, I was not one bit hungry during day fifteen. I'm currently in the middle (Stage 3) of what I hope will be at least a 21-day no food fast (also known as a water fast). I may go longer than this, depending on how I feel, and if true hunger returns (which I doubt it will since 21 days without food is really not long enough to induce true hunger). It's amazing to me how much the body cleans itself up and heals itself during a fast. The only downside for me is that I cannot run consecutive medium-to-longer distances (meaning more than twenty miles or so on consecutive days) during a fast, but I can still run 5-10 miles at a clip without too much trouble.
Here is some interesting information (at least to me!) on the Stages of Fasting. I am just about to begin Stage 3. Enjoy!
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Stage 1 (Days 1-2)
On the first day of fasting, the blood sugar level drops below 70mg/dl. To restore the blood to the normal glucose level, liver glycogen is converted to glucose and released into the blood. This reserve is enough for a half day. The body then reduces the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The rate of internal chemical activity in resting tissue is lowered to conserve energy. The heart slows and blood pressure is reduced. Glycogen s pulled from the muscle causing some weakness. The first wave of cleansing is usually the worst. Headaches, dizziness, nausea, bad breath, glazed eyes and a heavily coated tongue are signs of the first stage of cleansing. Hunger can be the most intense in this period.
Stage 2 (Days 3-7)
Fats, composed of transformed fatty acids, are broken down to release glycerol from the gliceride molecules and are converted to glucose. The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or even a boil. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. Ketones are formed by the incomplete oxidation of fats. It is suspected that the ketones in the blood suppress the appetite by affecting the food-satiety center in the hypothalamus called the appestat. You may feel hungry for the first few days of the fast. This effect is temporary. The desire to eat will disappear. Lack of hunger may last 40-60 days.
The body embraces the fast and the digestive system is able to take a much-needed rest, focusing all of its energies on cleansing organs and the lungs are in the process of being repaired. Periodically, the lymphatic system expels mucoid matter through the nose or throat. The volume excreted of this yellow-colored mucus can be shocking. The sinuses go through periods of being clogged, then will totally clear. The breath is still foul and the tongue coated. Within the intestine, the colon is being repaired and impacted feces on the intestinal wall start to loosen and are autolyzed.
Stage 3 (Days 8-15)
On the latter part of an extended fast, you can experience enhanced energy, clear-mindedness and feel better than you have felt since childhood, On the downside, old injuries may become irritated and painful. This is a result of the body’s increased ability to heal during fasting. If you had broken your arm 10 yrs before, there is scar tissue around the break. At the time of the break, the body’s ability to heal was directly related to lifestyle. If you lived on a junk food diet, the body’s natural ability to heal was diminished.
During fasting, the body’s healing process is at optimum efficiency. As the body scours for dead or damaged tissue, the lymphocytes enter the older-damaged tissue secreting substances to dissolve the damaged cells. These substances irritate the nerves in the surrounding region and cause a reoccurrence of aches from previously injured areas that may have disappeared years earlier. The pain lasts as the body is completing the healing process. The muscles may become tight and sore due to toxin irritation. The legs can be the worst affected as toxins accumulate in the legs. Cankers are common in this stage due to the excessive bacteria in the mouth.
Stage 4 (Days 16-30)
The body is completely adapted to the fasting process. There is more energy and clarity of mind. Cleansing periods can be short with many days of feeling good in between. There are days when the tongue is pink and the breath is fresh. The healing work of the organs is being completed. After the detoxification mechanisms have removed the causative agent or renders it harmless; the body works at maximum capacity in tissue proliferation to replace damaged tissue. While a short fast will reduce the symptoms, a longer fast can completely heal. Homeostatic balance is at optimum levels. The lymphatic system is clean except for a rare discharge of mucus through the nose or throat. After day 20, the mind is affected with heightened clarity and emotional balance. Memory and concentration improve.
Stage 5 (Days 30 to ?)
The Breath, which during all or most of the fast has been offensive, becomes sweet and clean.
The Tongue becomes clean. The thick coating which remained on it throughout most of the fast vanishes.
The Temperature, which may have been sub-normal or above normal, returns to exactly normal, where it remains.
The Pulse becomes normal in time and rhythm.
The Skin reactions and other reactions become normal.
The Bad Taste in the mouth ceases.
Salivary Secretion becomes normal.
The Eyes become bright and eye sight improves.
The Excreta loses its odor. The Urine becomes light.
The primary indication that the fast is to be broken is the return of hunger; all the other indications are secondary. Often one or more of these secondary signs are absent when hunger returns, but one should not refrain from breaking the fast when there is an unmistakable demand for food, merely because the tongue, for example, is not clean. Inasmuch as all the signs do not invariably appear in each case, do not hesitate to break the fast when hunger returns.
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Addendum: The last paragraph is spot-on as far as the need to break the fast when true hunger returns is concerned. I've never been at this point before, but when it occurs, this means that one is beginning to move from the fasting stage into the starvation stage, and you don't want to be in the starvation stage long at all. When people say they are 'starving,' what they really mean is that they are 'hungry,' since the majority of people (that is to say, those who have a choice) have not really experienced true starvation.
http://curezone.com/faq/q.asp?a=25,1787,2836&q=759
http://starthealthylife.com/page266.htm

Scott,

That is pretty interesting. I honestly wish I could do something like this, but my willpower seems to be at odds with such a thing. The fact that I have a wife and two kids who live at home with me and much of our interaction occurs at evening measl (which, for the most part I prepare) makes this even more elusive. In an event, I salute your determination as well as your motivations.

ChristopherG said:

Scott,
That is pretty interesting.  I honestly wish I could do something like this, but my willpower seems to be at odds with such a thing.  The fact that I have a wife and two kids who live at home with me and much of our interaction occurs at evening measl (which, for the most part I prepare) makes this even more elusive.  In an event, I salute your determination as well as your motivations.

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Chris,
Thank you for the kind words. I fully understand the difficulties that preparing meals and sitting around a dinner table, etc. might bring in attempting a fast. I do sit down at the dinner table with my family, but because I go to martial arts classes about four times a week (these occur in the early evening), I usually do not eat anything at our regular dinner time because I find that I don't train very well after having eaten a meal. I have some planned changes in store once I break my fast. One of these will be to try to eat smaller meals prior to my training, and if I do eat beforehand, what I actually eat will also be much different.
Gosh, preparing meals -- that would not be something I could do when fasting, especially in the very early stages (e.g., days 1-3). It's at this time that the desire to eat is very intense. After this, there are a couple more days of 'psychological hunger' (days 4-5 or so), but by the fifth or sixth day, this passes. I am into my second full week without having had an ounce of solid food (only water and occasional herbal teas), and I have no desire to eat. In other words, I'm at the point where seeing food, handling it, and even smelling it, has no effect on my desire to eat. I take comfort in knowing that by resisting the urge to consume food, my body doesn't have to work to digest anything I ingest, giving it more energy to clean out toxins. The only downside I have found (it's clearly a tradeoff for me) is that I cannot run very well while in ketosis. So, I have to choose, and at least for these three or so weeks, I've chosen to curtail the number of miles I run per week in favor of detoxifying my body. I can't wait for the cellular repair mechanisms to kick in fully -- this should occur after two weeks, although I can already feel the beginning stages of this process occurring throughout various parts of my body.
Once I complete this fast (I don't know how long it will be at this point), I am going to fast only twice a year, but these will be (at a minimum) two-week fasts. I have found that shorter fasts (i.e., two or three fasts per month with none lasting more than one week long) do not really help the repairing process nearly as much as one prolonged fast. There is quite a lot of literature that has been written with regard to intermittent fasting. I am finding that although intermittent fasting is a good starting point (it helps to prepare one for longer fasts), the benefits are not nearly as positive as extended fasts in the long run.

I had an intense karate class last night. I was fatigued by the end of it, especially in my lower legs. From what I've read, this is the area where the majority of toxins reside before being flushed (keytones leaving the body via ketosis) through the urine and (to a lesser extent) sweat. It's really no surprise that I would be fatigued, since I have no glucose in my body, and very little (if any) glycogen stores in reserve for fuel. In other words, the keytones are backing me up, baby!
After having read the lengthier of my two links a few more times, it occurred to me that I should have included more reputable sources, or at the least listed medical databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, etc.) from which more authoritative sources could be found. I believe that much of the content listed in the second link is spot-on; however, some of the treatments of various fasting patients leaves (IMO) something to be desired. I just happened to post two of the most recent articles I found because I loved how the 'stages' were described, and because I know first-hand that much of what is written in them is currently occurring in my body, and has occurred several times over the years. In other words, the 'proof is in the pudding,' and I have experienced it and know that it works very well for me.
Several medical journals I have read over the years assert that toxins are one of the leading reasons we have the various cancers, diabetes, etc. in our bodies today. The evidence clearly shows that what we eat -- especially processed foods -- definitely has an effect on what toxins are in our bodies. Just the other day, I read how many pounds of refined sugar the average American eats in a year. It's no wonder that the heart (and other organs), which was not designed to purge our body of an unnatural amount of sugars, often fails over the long haul. Although the body does have a 'circulation pump' (i.e., the heart), so to speak, we don't have a 'lymphatic pump,' so to speak, so toxins will stay there until they are purged, or until they destroy our cells systematically. Rebounding (designed by former olympian Al Carter) provides the body with a lymphatic pump, which is probably the primary reason I engage in it at least fifteen minutes every day (that and the fact that Bob Hope did as well, and he lived to be 100!)
I work with various medically-trained people at my university, and some of those who work with me offer advice based on their credentials and experience. One of the women I work with said that the articles I have found in PubMed (a very well-respected database, filled with peer-reviewed and authoritative articles on the subject) as well as CINAHL and Medline, echo much of what has been said in the two links I have posted here. (I'm speaking of the medical evidence of fasting, not the way a particular person has treated another during a fast nor any of the religious implications included in either article.) I've fasted several times in my life, and what has been posted in many of these articles has been born out in my own personal experience.
When researching the topic, I have often come across various discussions regarding organ failure. The authors are most often speaking of starvation, not fasting. I have spoken to doctors about this because it concerned me years ago, and they said that organ failure (unless you are predisposed or have an illness that ought to have been supervised in the first place) is not going to occur with fasts for the lengths I am speaking of here. Researching what actually occurs when the body goes into ketosis, and starts to produce keytones (our phenomenal reserves at the cellular level), is fascinating. As a long-distance runner, glucose and glycogen have been household names for me for about thirty-five years.
In summary, I'm convinced, empirically, physically, and spiritually, that it is the correct thing for me to do. As I said, I've been doing it for years, and it has helped me feel much better, perform better, and (once the fast has ended) eat much more nutritionally. We know our own bodies very well, and are very often the best judge of them. Then again, this is the same 'crazy' guy [ ] who wanted to be a cardiologist before he decided to become a musicologist, and the same guy who has to date run over 32,000 miles in his lifetime. The second time around the earth is always the most difficult.

Ockeghem said:

I .
The body embraces the fast and the digestive system is able to take a much-needed rest,

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And the body embraces cardiac arrest so the heart could take a much-needed rest. It embraces the vegetative coma so the mind could take a much-needed rest. And it embraces starvation ...
I appreciate the ascetics / spiritual reasons for fasting. And I could believe there's training benefit to a restricted diet as there is with oxygen-restricted training at high altitudes.
I don't know where the science ends and the quackery begins on the matter of fasting.

Dave,
Yeah, I suppose that could happen if one went too long with a fast. That sounds logical. But during fasting (and not starvation, since I would never let my body get to that point), I go with what my body has told me for years, and I weigh what I've researched against the empirical evidence and try very hard to avoid quackery. One thing I cannot stress enough (especially to first-timers) is that they begin very gradually (say, one or two days at first). Then again, I'm not advocating that anyone fast -- I just do it for the reasons already mentioned.
I'm nearing my third week without a solid ounce of food. I've noticed several things going on physiologically. I have no desire for food (not surprisingly), my bruises (from karate and jiu-jitsu) heal much more quickly, and I need less sleep. I am more alert, and my blood pressure has decreased (not too much, though). My heart rate is about the same, for which I'm pleased since my resting heart rate is about 56 when I am not fasting. I do get fatigued when engaging in semi-strenuous exercise, but thus far only in my legs. And it subsides almost immediately when I stop running. During the first week I had less energy during martial arts and running, but this has improved during the second week. (The research said that this would occur.) I was also informed that I would notice toxins leaving my body in various ways. This has occurred as well, more so in the second week than in the first, which makes sense given what I've read with regard to the various stages.
"I appreciate the ascetics / spiritual reasons for fasting. And I could believe there's training benefit to a restricted diet as there is with oxygen-restricted training at high altitudes."
Have you done any of this yourself? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I do hill training, but I've not done a lot of high-altitude training. I'm currently training for a 50-miler, and I know that my first choice of a race would not be (e.g.) in Denver.
Addendum:
Here is more information on detoxification and cellular regeneration if anyone is interested.
http://chuckrowtaichi.com/Fasting.html

I really like this quote from a friend of mine. It applies primarily to fasting in this context, but I'm sure that the principles it contains could apply to other walks of life as well. (N.B.: Looking at my journal this morning, I see that I have fasted for a total of 120 days during the past calendar year, or nearly one-third of the year. And I feel better than I ever have before in my life.)
"The cost of being thin is relentless and takes continuous diligence. This is not easy. Fasting is really for over achievers. If you want to fast you have to deny your survival instincts, the advice of your doctor, friends and family, and reach for the brass ring. It is the ring of freedom and triumph over misery and bad health. With fasting you become the master of your own destiny. You win doing something when so many others have failed. Fasting is the ultimate trip to self mastery and self fulfillment."

I became severely diabetic about six years ago and along with some other issues, kind of the perfect storm and wasn't expected to live. Your original post sounds a lot like the symptoms I experienced when I was either insulin impaired or not producing insulin (the doctors never figured it out, even had differing opinions on whether I was type 1, 1.5 or type 2 diabetes).
I dropped nearly 80 lbs. in three months. Was overweight, but certainly not obese. Five foot nine and went from 225 lbs. to 145 lbs. in three months, essentially using my own body (fat and protein) as fuel.
You mention blood glucose at 70, mine was 750+ and I went straight to five insulin injections daily. Through careful diet, exercise, etc. I've been off insulin for three years, gained some weight back so I don't look like a skeleton and now just carefuly watch what I eat.
I don't fast on purpose, but ever since then, I have absolutely no appetite. I literally have to schedule meals and almost force feed myself. If I don't pay attention, I can easily go 3-5 days without food and never even notice. Maybe it's my body's way of detoxifying itself, just experiencing short 3-5 day fasts once or twice a month.
Many people are overweight, and the human body can do just fine for quite a while without food, as long as you have water. I personally think a lot of "hunger" is just mental or eating out of habit. Most people have plenty of adipose tissue and a good fast could be extremely helpful. 30 days is a bit extreme, but shorter fasts could help a lot.

Stan,
First, congratulations on that weight loss. I lost 112 lbs. in twenty months, but that was without fasting.
I should have been more clear. The blood glucose levels I wrote about above were taken from the links in the same post. Those aren't my words at that point (i.e, from the asterisks forward).
I agree with what you wrote. It may well be that you have been fasting for days on end and have not even been noticing it. There are many whom I converse with on a regular basis who would love to have this mindset! And you're definitely right about the human body being able to do just fine for quite a while without food. I have one friend who recently went thirty-seven days, and one other whom has fasted for forty-seven days (twice). For most people whom I've spoken with about fasting, breaking the fast is where one needs to be concerned, not with the length of the fast.
Yes, hunger is very much mental. Once you haven't had food for about three days, you won't even notice not having it until true starvation were to set it (many weeks later).
I fast just about every week. Currently, I haven't had any solid food since last Sunday, and I feel great. I ran a ten-miler on Monday without any problem. It's around the second week of a fast where I begin to feel fatigue if I increase my running mileage. I just cut back on weekly mileage during periods of prolonged (fourteen or more days at one time) fasting.

Scott,
Congrats on the ten mile run. I used to run but twisted my knee badly in a fall in the late 80s and have had two operations on it, 1996 and 2004, for repairs. After the second operation, the surgeon told me if anything else happened I'd need a total knee replacement, and I was barely in my 40s. Unbelieveable. Hopefully I've broken the eight year cycle and can continue for many more years.
Now my cardio work is strictly treadmill at a very fast pace, just below where I would have to actually jog or run, so less stress on the knee. Totally narcissistic, but it just feels more normal in a gym. The people I see on the streets "speed walking" look like complete dorks to me so I just can't do it.
My only problem has been when I forgot to stay hydrated. Even in an air conditioned gym, I nearly passed out from dehydration and over-heating. Plenty of "fuel" provided by my body, but slipped up and forgot about fluids. You've got to keep up on those.
I've taken a lot of anatomy, physiology and bio-chem classes. It's really interesting to learn more about your body and how it reacts to things. It's actually quite an amazing "machine", particularly how it adjusts to different stresses and the whole "homeostasis" process to deal with heat, cold, blood pressure, etc.
The human body is pretty incredible, just need to treat it properly and not abuse it.

Stan,
Thanks. Long-distance running is a way of life for me.
My father had hip replacement surgery many years ago, and thus far it has held up very well. But he tells me every now and then that he has only so many 'miles' in him when it comes to walking before he needs a 'tune-up' on his replacement, and he doesn't run at all.
I've never run on a treadmill for exercise, but I have done a lot of stationery bicycle work when I was injured many years ago. I did it for about six weeks while a bone (tibia) healed. I actually enjoyed it a lot. I also worked my way up to five miles of swimming per week, but I didn't enjoy that part of training as I really don't like swimming for exercise.
As for hydration, I drink less water when I run during the winter months. I continue to hydrate even while running in sub-zero temperatures, but my body doesn't feel as though I need water as much when I run during that time of year. From reading the literature over the years with regard to hydrating one's body, I know that I need to drink whether or not I am thirsty regardless of the temperature while I am running.
I agree about the human body being remarkable. When I tell people (close friends and work acquaintances) that I often go one week, two weeks, three weeks, etc. without an ounce of food, they look quite bewildered and frankly don't understand the concept. I have found this mindset to be the norm among those who do not fast. But our bodies have enough nutrients in them to go very long periods without consuming any food. Keytones -- the back-up fuel in our body -- provide more than enough of what we need once the glucose and glycogen are depleted, which occurs roughly around the third or fourth days of a fast.

I feel that perhaps I have a responsibility here to warn people
about the dangers connected with the the advice that has been
posted here.

One should check with their doctor before going on a rapid
weight loss plan that includes not consuming any food.

Ronald Epstein said:

I feel that perhaps I have a responsibility here to warn people
about the dangers connected with the the advice that has been
posted here.
One should check with their doctor before going on a rapid 
weight loss plan that includes not consuming any food.

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Ron, sorry if I have mislead anybody. My original weight loss was due to illness, it certainly wasn't planned.
But it did force me to learn a lot about my body chemistry and what went wrong in the first place. I developed new habits and just began taking care of myself a lot better than I had in the past.
Losing 80 lbs. in three months is not something you want to experience, but my body chemistry went crazy and I was literally losing a pound or more a day.
I would never advise people to do something unhealthy, sorry if my posts came off like that.

Stan,

Not a problem. There was just concern raised that
someone could potentially take something out of your
experiences without proper medical advice.

I hope you are doing much better.

Ronald Epstein said:

I feel that perhaps I have a responsibility here to warn people
about the dangers connected with the the advice that has been
posted here.
One should check with their doctor before going on a rapid 
weight loss plan that includes not consuming any food.

Click to expand...

Ron,
Agreed, and thank you.

Scott, it's interesting how different people can be.
I used to run, but basically forced myself to do it for the health benefits. I hated it and never once experienced the "endorphin high" you hear so much about.
On the other hand, I love to swim and will be joining a gym or returning to school where I can use their pool in January. Five miles a week is a long way to swim, will probably take me quite a while to work up to that level, but swimming is supposedly one of the best ways to exercise without putting excess stress on your joints. Plus it is essentially a full body exercise, not just building up bigger biceps or triceps, you pretty much use all your muscles.
The treadmill stuff has worked well for me, but I seem to have reached a plateau of sorts. I'm simply maintaining at this point, not really improving any longer.
Also need to work on my diet a bit. No longer on insulin, but I'm still at risk and haven't been as careful with carbs as I was a few years ago. Need to start cutting back on those a bit more again.
I'll resurrect this thread in a few months and let you know how things are going.

Stan,
Yes, I know about those differences. My wife and one of my sons love to ride their bicycles for miles, while two of my daughters love to run. I usually run alone (I have for many years, excluding races, of course). But once some of my children became interested in running, I of course ran with them whenever they wished to accompany me. My eldest daughter (she just turned eighteen) recently worked her way up to running five miles at one time, which was a goal of hers. We often run together through the woods (many desolate acres of Federal land) near our home.
The main reason I began to swim was to work myself back from that injury (this was in the early 1980s). I would swim one mile a day, five times a week. I did this for six or seven weeks just to do something while my injury healed. Like your experience with running, it wasn't much fun for me, but I did it.
Speaking of full body exercises, you might look into rebounding (Al Carter's trampolining). This is a cellular exercise, and in an article I read on it (as well as in one of his books) I learned of some people who would have their various cancers go into remission while they rebounded regularly, only to have them return once they stopped. Rebounding 'stretches' our 60 trillion cells and helps to flush out the lymphatic system. Since our bodies do not have a 'lymphatic pump' per se, the toxins that reside in our bodies need to be dispensed with somehow, and rebounding (and of course, fasting) helps immensely with this. This got me seriously into both fasting and rebounding about four years ago, and I have done both ever since. Constant jumping up and down on a trampoline can be high intensity exercise, and it also doesn't stress one's joints if that is a concern of yours.
I look forward to hearing how it's going for you in a few months.

I had a (great) teacher in high school who was a Mormon and got in the habit of fasting once a week when she did a mission in India, in a place where people fasted due to a lack of food. The habit stuck. I always found that interesting.
As for medical advice, I do have some to share, based on Scott's friend's comments: If you feel you should ignore the advice of your doctor, then you are seeing the wrong doctor!

I am currently finishing the fourth week of my no-food fast, and I feel great. My last meal was on the evening of June 29th. I have been doing less running of course, and I have reduced the number of jiu-jitsu and karate classes that I have been attending during this time, since all of my glucose (first two or so days) and back-up energy (glycogen) were depleted around the fourth day. I have been in ketosis since about the fifth or sixth day of the fast. My plan is to fast for at least two more weeks, completing my first-ever forty-two day (six-week) fast.

This has been thus far a wonderful experience, and one I have wanted to accomplish for quite some time. Although I have done numerous one-week, two-week, and three-week fasts, I have never gone beyond the twenty-third day until this current fast. It is so liberating going without an ounce of food for several weeks, and besides the catabolic, detoxification, and other benefits, it frees up so much time to do other things (play Bach, read, etc.). One of the things I have become very much aware of during my fasts, which I have been doing regularly for about four years now, is how much time people around you (and much of the advertising one sees) think about food. Years ago I came to the realization that adults do not need to eat three times-per-day, and I now know empirically that we need not even eat every day. Our bodies have many nutrients and reserves that are just waiting to be tapped into if we are willing (and of course, healthy enough) to explore new options with regard to our eating habits.

One thing I have been doing during my current fast is reading through one of my favorite translations of the bible (the 1901 ASV). Although I have read through sections of it for many years, I have never done so cover-to-cover. I'm currently in I Samuel, so I still have a long way to go. In any event, at least I know that I can go for several weeks without food if I'm stranded on that proverbial 'desert island' some day.

Ronald Epstein said:

I feel that perhaps I have a responsibility here to warn peopleabout the dangers connected with the the advice that has beenposted here.One should check with their doctor before going on a rapid weight loss plan that includes not consuming any food.

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Gentlemen:

I am just repeating Ron's earlier caution as we have, again, been approached by some members with concerns about this practice.

Thanks and carry on...carefully.