Guest guest Posted August 13, 2002 Report Share Posted August 13, 2002 I have read 2 posts on this list that made me think: Am i weird? Firstly, about Kefir and Yoghourt. john roberts said: " I suspect raw plain yogurt is likewise un-appealing " Are you kidding? It's delicious! I LOVE the clean sour taste of fresh, un-mucked-about-with yoghourt. I really think it's delicious. I must admit that i have never tasted Kefir, and will have to investigate it (must look up that Kefir.net site), but if it's anything like similar to Yoghourt, i reckon it will be good. If making Kefir is easier than making Yoghourt, it should be ok, as i have had some experience with Yoghourt making, and found it fairly easy to do: Mix milk with a spoonful of the previous batch of Yoghourt, keep it warm (about body temp.) for about a day, and voila! (Although i have to admit that i like the stuff i buy in the shops better than the stuff i have made myself. Better texture, mainly). Starting it off is the hardest part, you have to make sure you buy a LIVE yoghourt to seed your first home-made ones, or you will get the wrong bacteria in it, and you _won't_ be happy. Taking the Yoghourt theme a bit further, I have found that low-fat or no-fat Yoghourt, a couple of bananas and a small amount of something alcoholic (Jamaican Rum is good), blended together and frozen to be a great dessert. Keep stirring it every once in a while until it's frozen to get a good texture. Maybe i should be posting this in the recipes section of the website. How do i do this via email? Anyone know? My second point is about fasting. The question was: how do you fast? Mike Hester responded to this one with a good description of his fasting routine. He said that he didn't have anyone else's experience to compare it with, so i thought i'd contribute my totally different experience (different in almost every way). I felt that Mike's post might possibly put some people off the idea of fasting, as it seemed a bit involved. I'm not trying to criticise or anything, just present a contrasting view. My one experience of fasting (bear in mind that this was when i was about 17 yrs old) was remarkably easy, and my immediate reaction to the original question was: " It's easy. You just stop eating! " Which is exactly what i did. I fasted for an entire week. In my youthful enthusiasm, i figured that a week was not likely to be harmful, as it usually takes more than a month to actually die of starvation (yes, i looked this up). As it happens, i was ok (please understand, i'm NOT advocating that anyone tries to fast for a week. I am a long way from 17 now, and i wouldn't even consider trying the same thing again). On reflection, maybe I was lucky that i didn't harm myself by fasting for such a long time. But my point is, i didn't do anything special except stop eating, and it was very easy. I ate normally the day before the fast, and the next morning, simply had a glass of water instead of breakfast, and continued like that for the whole week. I was hungry for a day or so, (although not ravenously), then i just simply forgot about food. I don't remember feeling weak or faint or anything. I continued my normal daily routine (nothing strenuous, as i was a student at the time, and loafing was pretty high on my agenda), the only thing different was that i wasn't eating. And if anyone is wondering, No, i wasn't cheating by getting calories via alcohol. After the week was up, i started drinking small amounts of fruit juice, then small amounts of solid food, working my way up to my normal eating habits gradually over the next day, so as not to shock my digestive system too much. I was rather surprised at how easy it was, no uncontrollable urges to eat, no stomach cramps or cravings or anything, so i just kept on until the week was up. I believe i did have a bit of a gnarly breath for a little while, but a bit of brushing and mouthwash soon coped with that. I certainly didn't get people rearing back from me when i said HEllo. Oh, and now i think of it, i did have a bit of headache on the first day, but that went away quite quickly. The reason why i never repeated the experience was because i didn't really feel any different for it, and i like eating, so basically i thought what's the point? (I had never heard of CR back then, and to be honest life extension is probably going to be the last thing on the mind of a seventeen year old male. I don't even remember why i tried it in the first place. Just an experiment, to prove to myself that i could, probably). I think the message is that everyone IS different, so there is no single answer. You have to find out what suits you for yourself. My opinion is that if you don't eat for a day or two, it's no big deal. Our bodies are quite capable of coping with short periods of no food without trouble. Our species wouldn't have survived otherwise. So if you think fasting might benefit you, try it, is my advice. Just make sure you don't dehydrate, or you _will_ be in trouble. Don't be afraid of it, but do be cautious, and watch for warning signs. My experience was probably the opposite end of the spectrum to the woman that Mike mentioned, who passed out. Most people will probably be somewhere in between. And do bear in mind that i was young when i did this, and even though i wasn't particularly robust (two pints of beer used to be enough to give me a major hangover the next day), i think that my youth at the time probably had a lot to do with how easy i found the experience. Any more fasting stories, anyone? BEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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