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Comment by pmg | Hacker News Reader

Don't know why are being downvoted. This matches my own experiences. Then again, given people's general response when I bring this up it feels squarely in "What You Can't Say" territory[1]. I no longer bring it up in casual conversation.

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html

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The reason is, in my opinion you both are achieving a feat that most people would be in awe of, but shrug it off as easy.

“Anyone can go 30 days without food. No prep needed. No big deal. Gets a bit boring though.”

Extraordinary claims require a bit more of a story and context at least.

The bar is higher online as an anyone can make an internet comment saying anything. Like “I wrestled a bear and won. Just gotta punch them right”.

Someone once said they did 3 days without food and I loved hearing about it. I would be happy if you brought it up in conversation about 30 days.

Oh yeah. That makes sense. Its super counter-intuitive. Running a marathon gets harder as the miles stack up. Huge respect for anyone that can do an ironman. Fasting starts out very hard and gets trivially easy by day 5. The accepted explanation is your body just taps out on making the hormone that makes you feel hungry (ghrelin) after 3~ish days. You don't actually get hungrier and hungrier until you're in supraphysiological amounts of pain. The need to eat just kind of fades away - so you're just literally doing nothing. It feels like a non-achievement.

Ghrelin is not the only hormone involved in hunger, there are many hormones involved in different aspects of hunger. Secondly, even if ghrelin levels were to decrease, that does not mean that someone would not feel hunger, as hunger is not just determined by ghrelin levels.

I did three days fasting and thought I was going to die when I consciously decided I was going to break the fast. It was easy until that moment when it felt like all the hunger I’d ignored hit me all at once.

People are downvoting because it’s actually very dangerous. You can probably go 6 months without calories, but many people die on hunger strikes within 2 months because the body can’t magic up salt etc. This is why starving people will eat leaves and dirt.

You can go way, way longer than 6 months without calories, depending on your fast stores. Yes, if you fast you should still ensure you're taking vitamins.

It takes an unusually high BMI to last 6 months, I doubt the average HN reader would make it.

Food can not legally enter your body if you do not consent. Just say no!

Yeah I know this joke. But 40 days is a long time. After 3 days I felt my mouth ake and my breath went sour and I was irritable. But Hunger wasn't even a problem.

Days 3-5 are the worst then it really is easy (I'm not just saying that). After that, your only limitations are your tolerance for boredom and how much body fat you have.

You need a lot of chemical elements to live, not just glucose.

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