Fasting?

I wonder how other Jedi in the Order feel about fasting. Has anybody tried any of the numerous types of fasting (master cleans, juice fast, religious fast, etc) ?

I bring it up because I had watched this movie called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I recommend it to anyone who has a Netflix account. I won't tell you too much because I would like you to see it for yourself. I did find it fairly profound, though. I've been having fresh vegetable juice since I was little. I had known about the benefits of it for a long time. But this was the first time I had actually seen somebody do a 60 day juice fast and seen the results. Amazing! Your body doesn't starve because what you're consuming is very nutrient dense substance. Yet, you get hydrated and cleaned out at the same time.

It would seem important to me that Jedi at least have an opinion in regards to fasting. Since every other religion in the world seems to. I think it may hold the key at least in some respect to exploring the world that is our mind/body. Forging a clean vessel for the force to reside. Discuss!

Growing up Mormon I remember fasting quite a bit.

Every Sunday you were expected (unless you were a child, or pregnant) to abstain from breakfast and lunch and not eating again until dinner. So if you didn't eat while you slept the previous night, haha, it would be a 24 hour fast. You then would donate the money you would've spent on the food to the church.

The Mormons also fasted to help with physical or spiritual ailments. They believe and teach that fasting shows your humility to God and that God would be more willing to answer your prayers by fasting. There are stories from the Bible of Kings fasting to gain God's pleasure. Jesus also taught that certain devils wouldn't come out of individuals except by fasting and prayer.

Personally, I don't have any problems with fasting. I hear there are even positive effects on the body by abstaining from meals once in a while; it kind of gives your body, i.e. digestive system a break.

Two things come to mind, lack of dietry nutrients (bone strength, muslce mass, immune capability, etc etc!) and possible toxins released from the breakdown of fat tissue. I read somewhere once that fat tissue can store toxins indefinatly, but I guess things like that dont become a problem unless the person has a sensitivity to allergy to them, is already sick or maybe elderly.

Fasting might have some uses though, warning I studied a bit of uni microbiology, may offend Muslims but it is not intended too, a bit yucky:

Also;
"Calorie restriction without malnutrition[1] has been shown to improve age-related health and to slow the aging process in a wide range of animals and some fungi."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction

Some people eat less to try and live longer.

I wonder why people want to live longer. The average life expectancy is already high.

ren wrote: I wonder why people want to live longer. The average life expectancy is already high.

"It is right to live when it is time to live, and right to die when it is time to die"

I'm not afraid to die....

But, if it was deemed I could squeak more time outta my life, I could enjoy the journey even longer...

A few more laughs, a few more tears, a few more surprises...

I'd be ok with that too....

Well, I think people want to live longer for many reasons.

1. Fear of dying; prolonging the living experience as much as possible.

2. Interest in what's around the corner, possibly.

3. Some people have many earthly attachments: friends, family, money, work.. etc

But for me, I have a feeling I'm gonna live to be pretty old. At that point, it becomes necessary to just hold on to your health as long as possible. Most people don't know how tough it is to get old.

"If I knew I'd live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." Mickey Mantle

Otherwise, in terms of fasting, fresh juice it seems might help prolong life in the best way. Being that fresh juice is full of micro-nutrients, you can have an entire days serving of fruits and vegetables in one glass. The most important thing is enzymes. The biological catalysts that move nutrients though the cell wall and also help develop nutrients into amino acids for cellular replication. Your personal enzymes naturally decrease as you get older, so you need more help from the things you put in your body.

Living longer doesnt mean living well. People usually stop travelling on their own around 70, if they die at 80 it's ok, at 90 that's 20 years! So imagine at a 100 or more. What's the point if they're just going to stay in a home/hospoital. Certain things, no matter how good your diet, will go. Some of those things are your brain... Why spend years forgetting your life every 5 minutes.

Why spend years forgetting your life every 5 minutes.

Every five minutes, a "new" adventure....

And that just depends... Why give up because it "could" end tomorrow?

If I break my hip, learning to rock climb at 80, more power to me!!

I think that I would like to get as many minutes as possible in this lifetime. It seems to me that if the here after is eternal, I'll have time when I get there. For now, "I Love The Trees...Remember the Trees".