Surviving on one meal a day

[pezar]

Ascetic noted that when he was living in the wild in Wyoming, he was surviving on one meal a day. I'd like to try and follow his example, partly because of the rising cost of food and partly to see if I have the fortitude. Ascetic, would you care to tell us how you survived on one meal a day, and what you ate in Wyoming?

[bobenns]

This is just my 2 cents worth on this subject. There is a big difference between surviving and living healthy. We can survive for periods of time on less than the needed amount of nutrition, but we are slowly starving while doing it. If we do it long enough or often enough we can suffer serious health problems or death as CM did, right? Eating a healthy diet is vital to a healthy life. One meal a day is not a healthy lifestyle, it is harmful. Your body does best on 5 small meals a day, balanced nutrition spread out evenly through the day.

When we are young we think we can get away with abusing our bodies with malnutrition etc. But it does do harm and we pay dearly as we get older. If we deprive our bodies of the necessary nutritional requirements to stay healthy on a daily basis, it only makes sense that we will become unhealthy. A personal aquaintance has lived on one meal a day for most of his life, he is very unhealthy and severely crippled with arthritis and other problems. His one meal is never balanced, he has always hated vegetables for example. I'm sure he would be much healthier if he ate 3 squares a day instead of one junk meal. His problems have multiplied because of his poor diet, including mental health.

Google "Survivorman". Canadian film maker Les Stroud produced 3 seasons of episodes based on his solo survival a week at a time in many different environments from the Arctic to the jungle. The guy was amazing, but after 3 years he gave it up citing the significant physical toll. The first year he made 10 episodes, the second 7 and the 3rd only 6 episodes. He took no supplies and lived off the land practically starving on every episode, often eating things like bugs, small raw fish, tree bark etc. There is a lot can be learned by watching his series, and a lot about what not to try doing.

One can eat quite well on a budget if one is willing to spend the time learning how to and planning. Just google "eat healthy on a budget" for starters. I tend to buy a lot of food stuff on sale and in quantity to save money. There are many ways to eat well for cheap. We have food banks that give out healthy free food to those that need it. There is no reason to suffer from malnutrition. Starvation does not improve ones stamina, strength and durability, it weakens you and leaves you susceptible to diseases and health problems including mental health.

At 18 I went to live on the streets of Vancouver for several months. My budget allowed for $1 a day for food so I had one inexpensive meal a day or less. When I returned home I weighed 115 pounds, down from 155 when I first set out. Had I dropped down to less than 100 I would have been at serious risk of illness or death, but at the time I had no idea. I didn't even feel all that hungry, my stomach had shrunk and it wouldn't hold very much at a time. Really I had no idea how to care for myself and had a lot to learn. I'm still learning, but no longer starving.

[Ascetic]

Pezar,

Bob makes some good points: it's not a wise thing to allow yourself to become malnourished.

That said, I managed by eating one full meal, but several small snacks throughout the day. I took a big bag of cashews with me, mixed with dried fruit, and I also stocked up on Cliff bars. My big meals were usually freeze dried Backpacker's Pantry meals. They're high in sodium, but not more than a day's allotment, and they're also packed with protein. A few small cans of Bush's beans are yummy too. I was probably burning more calories than I was consuming, but I wasn't in any real danger.

I also took Uncle Ben's boil in bag rice with me. It's cheap, and very lightweight. Individual packs of peanut butter are a real treat as well, and they keep necessary fat in your system.

If I were you, I would start by fasting during every day life. I fast for religious reasons, but on Fridays, and other days throughout the week, I skip lunch. I eat a Cliff bar in the morning and a banana for breakfast. At dinner, I eat a regular meal, but I don't eat excessively (my body always wants more food at dinner to make up for the lack, but I don't overdo it).

I hope that helps, let me know if I can give you any more info.

I keep a pretty rigorous exercise regimen, running almost 4 miles a day, and I'm lean and in shape (6'1 about 163 lbs.).

[pezar]

I have to note that I'm coming off a period in my life where I exercised zero self-control when it came to food. I ate at fast food all the time, etc. (This was of course before I read Into The Wild.) I believe that part of this was due to medication I take, but I took it to the extreme. Anyway, I'm almost up to 320 lbs on a 5'8" frame, so as you can see I'm pretty bad off. My grandfather and mother were both obese, so it does run in the family, and they too had no self-control, with my grandpa eating huge tubs of ice cream AFTER being diagnosed with diabetes. So I have a great interest in learning self-control when it comes to food. That's why I asked. I can't travel at the moment so I signed up for a local fitness center and plan to work out. But food is also an important part of that equation, so I want to eat maybe two meals and two snacks a day. I really hate being sedentary.

[Ascetic]

Pezar,

My advice probably isn't worth much, but I changed my diet and lifestyle about five years ago after reaching almost 200 lbs. I've dropped 35-40 lbs., and I'd be happy to share with you how I did it. It's not impossible, and you might save some money instead of blowing it on a gym membership.

First, cut the junk food down to an absolute minimum, especially at first. Once you achieve a healthy weight, sweets and fats in moderation are fine. But until then, cut out all fast food, and start buying healthier foods (whole grain breads, pastas, etc.). Replace sweets with fruit. My food intake in a given day starts with a banana and Cliff bar for breakfast, a light lunch consisting of cheese, nuts, and fruit, and for dinner, usually whole wheat pasta, or lean meat once in a while with boiled veggies (carrots, and maybe a few potatoes). I eat as much natural foods as possible.

Second, start exercising. Buy three free weights: two ten pounds, and one twenty pound. Begin doing curls, and butterflies. If you're able to, start walking every day (for at least a half hour before your big meal of the day). I was a smoker for years, and had never been a runner. And once I started shedding the pounds, I decided to start running. Now, I can run 4 miles flat without stopping, and I'm averaging about a mile in 7.5 minutes. You would need to lose more weight though before trying running. But the walking and weight lifting will burn calories. Try doing crunches as well: tiny sit ups where you bring your fingers to the tips of your knees.

Third, be motivated and consistent. I'd say 90% of the struggle is willpower. If you can get into a routine, and make up your mind, the rest is easy.

I can give you some more pointers as time goes by, but these steps are not at all difficult, and could save you a lot of money.

[oxygen]

It's no secret that everything has gone very expensive the last few years, but I agree with what other people are saying here that eating one meal a day is detrimental to your health. Our body needs nutrients to survive. It's better to eat 4-5 small meals a day instead of eating one big meal. What you save on food will eventually go to your medical expenses.
Also, stay away from fast foods, junk foods, foods high in sugars and processed foods as much as possible.

[Jd18]

surviving on one meal a day is incredible challenging to say the least. To get the amount of nutrients the body needs in a day from one meal is probably the most challenging part. It gets even harder when you try to survive and find your own food. What chris did was very impressive because he did it for two months. He found ways to survive on very little food. He understood what plants ad berries gave him the necessary nutrients for survival. Not being prepared for situations like that would be deadly. Even a little knowledge of the plants in a region would be very effective for any hiker. Living off one meal a day is also a very effective way to lose weight.

[Ger87]

Living off one meal a day is also a very effective way to lose weight.

Pezar,
I sincerely hope you dont take this advice. Azcetic has his head screwed on so if your gonna listen to anyone let it be him.

[sorrel]

Living off one meal a day is actually ineffective for weight loss. If the body goes into starvation mode its going to actually SLOW DOWN your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight. When you're not getting any food your body will start to think it needs to preserve whats left. This is a really ineffective and dangerous method of weight loss. Things that boost your metabolism would be eating 5 or 6 small meals a day (instead of 3 big ones) and exercising.

But overall, if weight loss is your goal just listen to what other people on here said. Throw out all the crap processed food. Eat as much fruit and vegetables that you want. Familiarize yourself with basic nutritional science if you aren't already familiar. Losing weight healthily is a slow process (usually about 2 lbs per week, although more in the beginning if you have a large amount to lose). So that could take you a year to lose about 100 lbs. But a year is going to pass by either way, so why not just make healthy decisions instead of trying to starve yourself?

BTW, when I changed my diet I felt like a new person with so much energy. It shouldn't come as a surprise but what you put into your body really affects your outward state.

[pezar]

Since I posted this, a lot of people have expressed concern. I never actually tried it. I found a book called Wheat Belly by a Dr. William Davis that says that genetically modified wheat causes a "false starvation" reaction in our bodies that, if followed, results in rapid weight gain and metabolic disorders. I tried cutting out all wheat from my diet and immediately lost 8 lbs. With my current location and resources, it is very difficult to sustain a completely wheat free diet, since I have no way to grow/raise/forage my own food, forcing me to rely on processed food that universally is full of gluten proteins (food companies do it deliberately, so as to make you hungry, what assholes). I hope once I move to Oregon and start living off the land that I'll be able to maintain a healthier diet.