NationStates Jolt Archive

Inspired by the "Only if starving" option in that other thread on food (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=552817) I'd like to ask you a question.

How far have you ever advanced towards actual starving?

On one hand, the abundance of food in the first world countries makes starving a rare condition, on the other hand, it sometimes induces forms of eating disoder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa) that can lead to extreme undernourishment and even death.
My personal experiences are limited, once when I was 10 years old I did not eat neither supper nor breakfast and that 16 hour stretch of fasting was enough to make me ill (vertigo, cold sweat, tunnel vision, stomach pain). And one little pie was enough to cure me.
When I was 20, I was admitted to a hospital with symptoms of stomach ulcers and had to fast for three days. On day three I felt much safer walking if I could support my weight against the wall. The unsalted rice porridge on day four tasted absolutely delicious.

I've skipped breakfast and lunch but usually if moms strike gets to that level I will just order a takeaway :p

I've gone 4 days without eating and 5 days without successfully digesting anything. But of course I was sick at the time, so I didn't want to eat anyway, and I was going to already be puking and feeling like shit, so I don't know how much not eating added to that. So really I have no clue. The longest I've gone without food under normal circumstances is less than a day.

...when I was sick in my twenties. I had a horrible sinus infection and no healthcare benefits from my job, so I sucked it up as long s I could (about a week) before I called out sick and lay around on my parent's couch for three days unable to taste or hold down anything I ate, barely able to hold down fluids, and incredibly weak. I really had no appetite at all. After the second day with no appetite, I asked my father to take me to the emergency room, which he did. I was prescribed an antihistamine/decongestant, I think, and within two days I was up and walking, though twelve pounds lighter (I was close to two hundred pounds before, under 190 after and at 6'1" tall, it was noticeable).

For the first ten years of my life a meal was a rare occurrence. My parents made a combined total income of $9,000 and between the five of us that didn't leave room for much of anything.

After that when my father finally received his degree and his income grew into the six-digit territory, a meal was any damn time I wanted it. :)

Now that I'm on my own I am without food every other week, and it would have been much harder to cope with that if I hadn't had such a hard childhood, but because of it I'm not going crazy like a normal person may, still a week is a long time to go without much (if any) food at all.

So yes I know hunger, I know starving. It is horrible.

Nothing more than missing the odd meal. :)

I don't know starving. I do know going on little food, at least comparatively, going for stretches of time on one meal a day, but that was as much due to being busy as not having the money.

Nowadays, I eat regularly, and I get the shakes if I don't eat.

Let's say I know what starving feels, and it is not pleasant at all.

I have chewed on leather belts and keychains, that is a proof by itself.

The salivation provoked by the chewing of leather when you are starving is both disgusting and amazing. Filling your stomach with ridiculous amounts of water or other liquid is a temporary solution to starving, however, when you start failing your steps, and watching purple lights in your field vision, it is time to worry.

Sure... when I have to fast for 12 hours before a blood test because my doctor is a sadist.

I've been malnourished a lot in the past. I don't know if I have ever been starving to death, mostly just sick from not enough nutrition, very sick, but not near death, just really sick. Even when I was homeless I ate at least once a week and had plenty of water so I didn't dehydrate. I've been pretty lucky, things could have been much worse.

Well I've been on a lot of diets for my entire life. I've tried liquid diets and those were painful. I'm overweight and basically addicted to food. Most people don't feel the kind of hunger I feel. But no I've never starved and I don't want to try it.

During my first semester of college there were days when I only ate lunch. I wasn't really fasting because I was so busy working I hardly noticed being hungry. I pulled some all nighters also. I must have shortened my lifespan by a few years. Everyone told me college would be easy... yeah right.

Gone 24 hours w/o food more than once (Yom Kippur).

I've gone two to three days without food of any kind on several occasions, and I've gone as long as six months eating incredibly little to the point of starvation.

I've not eaten for three days in the past. I may starve myself for a while soon... mind you, it might make me ill if I do that and continue smoking... we'll see.:p

On one occasion, I went eight days without consuming anything other than a few glasses of juice and water. It was not pleasant.

Eighteen days, water only.

Of course, that was by choice. I simply wanted to see how long I could go. So there was no psychological pain like there would be if I thought I *couldn't* get food, and might die. The amount of physical pain was very little after the fourth or fifth day. Hunger is a psychological condition that you can defeat, while starvation is the physical process where your body literally "eats" itself until it dies, which is unpleasant, but not in a "hunger" kind of way. Anyway, I probably could've gone much longer if I'd limited my calorie needs by remaining sedentary, rather than going to school and work and doing routine activities. People have probably gone a month or more.

Do you know Hunger?

Thin guy, encourages not eating?

I've fasted for up to four days for various reasons (4 days was the longest, it was usually 2). I'm not sure I could medically do that anymore, being hypoglycemic, and apparently more severely so as I age. I've been so sick that I couldn't actually keep anything down...I think the worst was about a week, when I was even throwing up water, but I ended up on an IV, so I was still getting nutrients. There were a few times growing up when we literally had no food, but when it got to that point, someone from the community would bring us meat or produce if available. I've been on hunting trips where we didn't eat until we got something, and that was a weird feeling. Usually we'd be told stories about the hard times, when our people had nothing to eat in the winters and started chewing their own boots. That's also when we'd hear the stories of the windigo, cannibal spirits, stories of people who killed and ate their relations and became possessed with an unsatiable hunger. It has a much bigger impact on you when your stomach is gnawing your backbone.

And now that I think about it, the going hungry a few days thing wasn't the hard part. It was going mostly hungry over a long period of time that really wore me down. When I was first living on my own I was extremely broke...so broke that I remember eating raw oatmeal for a week straight because that's all I had, and it would fill you up. Another time, the only food I had was a sack of corn meal, so I ate corn meal porridge for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I remember being extremely listless and tired all the time, and constantly hungry. It was pretty depressing.

once I was poor and had only rice and water for a month = starving

once I was homeless and had nothing at all for three days = starving

I went sixty hours without food, for some sort of charity thing back in the day, but that's not real starvation...I spent most of the time sleeping and filling my tummy up with water. Not to mention the fact that I've got more than enough tucked around my tummy to keep me going for quite some time.

Thus, I was really hungry, but I was not hungry/starving.

Why are there so many formerly starving and poor people on this forum? Maybe I am just sheltered and expect there to be less poor people than there really is.

I once spent about four days subsisting on regularly administered, small amounts of glucose, while recovering from meningitis. Of course, that wasn't really "starving"; I didn't need much more anyway, as I spent most of the time in bed.

The longest I've gone without food of any kind is a little over two days. That was certainly not the hungriest I've been, though--I've gone for a few weeks eating only ~200 calories a day, sometimes less.

EDIT: In light of all the touching stories about poverty and charity, I feel like I should add that my hunger had nothing to do with either of those things. I was just disordered and afraid of food. Oh, and stupid.

Thin guy, encourages not eating?

Heartily. Rides a horse, has three buddies. That's him allright. :nod: :)

On a serious note, I am amazed by the number of posters who had serious hunger experiences and by their recollections of hardship - and that's from people who live in the USA! I was born in Poland in 1969 and went through some hard times like the crisis of 1980s when I had to go hunting for the potatoes with my brother (not every shop had them, some literally had nothing to sell but vinegar of all things) and when I queued with the whole family for four hours to buy butter. But even then nobody we knew had trouble buying something to eat. Granted, that was during the socialist times so everyone had some job. But even now the unemployed aren't left entirely without help.
I think the protective state has some merits - starving definitely sucks.

No. The closest thing I had was a 36 hour no food thing for charity.

It's always been self-inflicted in my case. I've never been without a meal because there was none to be found, though I have taken to fasting every once in a while. It has been enlightening, and has helped me understand hunger a lot more. One things for certain: I'm going to be doing this a lot less often in the future!

no i've usually had food, although i recall one old charity event for school i entered, and i didn't really have an understanding of how the sponsor money thing worked so i waited for 23 hours without food (out of 24) and thought, stuff this i'll have some of those cookies, i'm not going to get paid, oh damn that's not how it works.
so not really no.

Well, sickness aside (I'd had some pretty serious surgery on my elbow, of all things, and couldn't hold down food of any kind for a week, had some bad flu stuff where I went a week without anything but milk, juice, and water), all I've done is the 40 hour famine, just charity huger stuff. It was really quite easy. I'm fairly sure its after the 72 hour mark that it becomes difficult.

And never had any long term hunger stuff. We may be (relatively) low on the income side of things in this house, but we always have food. That's something I will always be grateful for.

I've been considering voluntary fasting for longer than 3 days. It would be... enlightening. Plus, I've got the... er... bodily resources to cope ;) However, I don't think mum would let me. Fair enough too, I suppose. It's hardly healthy.

Well, sickness aside (I'd had some pretty serious surgery on my elbow, of all things, and couldn't hold down food of any kind for a week, had some bad flu stuff where I went a week without anything but milk, juice, and water), all I've done is the 40 hour famine, just charity huger stuff. It was really quite easy. I'm fairly sure its after the 72 hour mark that it becomes difficult.

And never had any long term hunger stuff. We may be (relatively) low on the income side of things in this house, but we always have food. That's something I will always be grateful for.

I've been considering voluntary fasting for longer than 3 days. It would be... enlightening. Plus, I've got the... er... bodily resources to cope ;) However, I don't think mum would let me. Fair enough too, I suppose. It's hardly healthy.
Your life your body, you have to get used to using it for odd things, if you feel like starving yourself go for it, i bet your mum would be happy for you. For starters it saves on food bills and cooking costs. then again yes it isn't all that healthy an idea. still if you find a workable solution, then i salute you.
:fluffle:

Your life your body, you have to get used to using it for odd things, if you feel like starving yourself go for it,
But please do read up on fasting beforehand. You might hurt yourself if you don't do it right.

I went 4 days without eating anything of real substance. We only had water. It sucked ass. One's mindset changes into a mindset of one focus which is food. That in itself is dangerous because you start to think irrationally. I don't wish starvation on anyone.

Three days, for medical reasons.

It's defiantly one of those 'Character building' moments.

No, I, thank the gods, have been fortunate not to know hunger.

No, I, thank the gods, have been fortunate not to know hunger.

Indeed. I fasted once for a week or so, but that's not even anywhere close to actually going hungry involuntarily.

Indeed. I fasted once for a week or so, but that's not even anywhere close to actually going hungry involuntarily.

Yes. I can´t even begin to imagine how anguish-ridden it must be for a mother to know she won´t be able to feed her family tonight. I don´t want to even know how it feels to know that you have nothing to eat.

I've gone a day or two without getting hungry before, but I usually eat when I'm hungry, which is generally once or twice a day.

As for the starving, recently, over half the world had more than enough food to eat, which was a turning point for almost everyone. Aside of course, from everyone still constantly on the verge of starvation... But gotta take all the small wins, right?

Yes. I can´t even begin to imagine how anguish-ridden it must be for a mother to know she won´t be able to feed her family tonight. I don´t want to even know how it feels to know that you have nothing to eat.

Personally, I find it hard to like starving women who actually have kids. It doesn't matter that they might not have access to protection, its negligence of a sort. Though I guess in most parts of the world, they don't have a choice, and the husband should be blamed equally. /cynicism

I had to go four days without food (I did have water), but I won't say "I know hunger" because someone will come right behind me and say "yeah, but others know it more than you," which I already know.

Personally, I find it hard to like starving women who actually have kids. It doesn't matter that they might not have access to protection, its negligence of a sort. Though I guess in most parts of the world, they don't have a choice, and the husband should be blamed equally. /cynicism

I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean if women can't support children they shouldn't have them? I agree. But even when it is their choice to bear children (and as you said, it isn't always), people can start a family in one set of circumstances and end up in very different ones. All it takes is a major illness to a family member, or a lost job, and what was once a stable life is now a precarious existence.