Fasting issue

[buckeyegirl]

Just an interesting issue at work. We have a young girl who decided to go on a 2 week "detox" type of fast. At first, I thought it was only raw fruits and veggies, which even though not nearly enough for 2 weeks(sometimes I'll do that for a couple of days but no longer), was doable. Well, she has hardly eaten anything. Maybe a few carrots or celery during the day. She is on day 8 and looks like total crap - all sunken in and gray. We all are telling her it's time to stop, but she is still doing it. I think there may be some religious basis to it so I sure haven't touched on it with her since that's a touchy subject and not one that should be discussed at work - especially when emotionally charged. When one of my coworkers told her that no one would judge her if she stopped, she said that she would judge herself and God would know. So, I'm staying out of that! She's lost 12 lbs in 8 days and I guess is only going 10 days now.

I'm just so afraid I'm going to find the girl collapsed in a heap on the floor. I seriously don't know how someone can survive on that for 10 days. Crazy. I can't wait for her to start eating again so we can all stop worrying.

Heidi

 

[janie1234]

Well, . . I personally think that you are awesome to show some concern. My hope is that it is not because of an eating disorder, . . or some stupid article in a magazine that said that Beyonce did it for a movie role or something like that. All you can do is gently offer her your support. It may be for religous reasons which if it is you can only respect her wishes for privacy and not judge her. It is her choice. I hope all goes well for her.

 

[dixiedog6]

I hope she is OK

 

[buckeyegirl]

I really don't think it's an eating disorder. I've really not seen any hints at an eating disorder prior to this, but then I guess you never know. I'll just hope she hangs in there and then moves on and eats!

Heidi

 

[kathryn]

Fasting can be very useful as a way of allowing your body to use its resources for healing (see Joel Fuhrman's book on it, for example), but what she's doing doesn't sound like fasting to me.

"Fasting" usually is abstaining from solid food (either using juices, or---more rarely--just water) for a limited time (for example, water fasts of 3 days, maybe a juice fast of 1 week. Eating solid food can be counterproductive to this.

Eating exclusively raw foods can serve as a detox as well, but it's not just "a few carrots or celery."

Sounds to me like she's just made this up on her own, maybe, because it doesn't sound like it's following any regular protocol.

I would be worried about her as well if, as you say, she is starting to look sunken in and gray. I'd also be worried that (since she says "God would know") that she's trying to emulate some kind of Biblical fast (didn't Jesus fast for, what, 40 days?--it's been a while since I've read a Bible!). 40 days of unsupervised 'fasting' eating just a few carrots or celery does not sound healthy, but I don't know what you and your colleagues can really do except express your concern as you already have.