Diets

"Because of their remote location, the Fiji islands did not access to television until 1995, when a single station was introduced. It broadcasts programs from the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. Until that time, Fiji had no reported cases of eating disorders, and a study conducted by anthropologist Anne Becker showed that most Fijian girls and women, no matter how large, were comfortable with their bodies. In 1998, just three years after the station began broadcasting, 11 percent of girls reported vomiting to control weight, and 62 percent of girls surveyed reported dieting during the previous months."

"In their world, there is a size zero, and it’s a status symbol. The chronic dieters have been as it since they were eight and nine years old."

"Many medical professionals, too, were trapped in what I’d call the “anorexic paradigm.” They hadn’t yet understood that eating problems take many different forms and inhabit bodies of many different sizes and shapes. Binge eating-a chronic problem among many African American women-is no less a disordered relation to food than habitual purging, and large women who don’t or won’t diet are not necessarily comfortable with their bodies."

"While diets high in protein and low in carbohydrates were shown to be beneficial for reproductive function, they had detrimental effects for health in mid-late life and also led to a shortened lifespan."

"Obesity and diabetes are the two major metabolic complications linked with bad eating habits and the sedentary (lazy) lifestyle. In the worst-case situation, metabolic problems are a causative factor for numerous other conditions. There is also an increased demand to control the emergence of such diseases. Dietary and lifestyle improvements contribute to their leadership at an elevated level. The present review, therefore, recommends the use of the ketogenic diet (KD) in obesity and diabetes treatment. The KD involves a diet that replaces glucose sugar with ketone bodies and is effective in numerous diseases, such as metabolic disorders, epileptic seizures, autosomal dominant polycystic disease of the kidney, cancers, peripheral neuropathy, and skeletal muscle atrophy."

"Men are so imprudent that they take up a diet which, though it tastes sweet, is poisonous."

"I was put on a diet when I was 10. My mother said that women with smaller mouths are attractive, so keep my mouth small, don't talk or laugh so loud. I was taught to observe and listen. I burnt time burning calories when I could have been thinking about other things."

"A new study of Marquette University freshmen who had been randomly assigned to rooms found that women with heavier roommates actually gained less weight on average than those with thinner roommates — a half-pound versus two and a half pounds. The reason? Four of five overweight roommates were dieting and exercising, and those habits often rubbed off on a roommate, regardless of her size, says Olga Yakusheva, an assistant professor in economics at Marquette and a co-author of the study. Even thin women were weight watching, Dr. Yakusheva says, pointing to cultural pressures. Margo D. Maine, a psychologist and specialist in eating disorders, warns that young women age 17 to 19 are at risk of developing some form of eating disorder, and some may be particularly susceptible to a calorie-counting roommate. Why one student wields more influence over another isn’t always clear. But when students first arrive on campus, some may lose confidence, Dr. Maine suggests, and follow the lead of a more self-assured roommate."

"When you think about a better tomorrow, you think about veganism in the world. I don’t need a dead animal or dead piece of flesh to go into my live body. There’s nothing on this planet that doesn’t want to live. I had animals as friends, they were happy to see me in their own animal way. I’m quite sure they did not want to be on my plate. I think hip-hop has become more conscious about diet… You are what you eat, so if this cow who is stressed, dumbfounded, sick becomes your meal, when you eat it, you are eating that stress and sickness. You are eating that fear. My peers and people that are related to me appreciate the vegan lifestyle, it’s really spreading."

"To eat modestly doesn't kill a man, but to covet will murder you. To eat a little is to live splendidly."

"The earliest documented examples of micronutrients’ influencing immunity date from the nineteenth century. Such work indicated previously unappreciated links with immunity and made a strong case that infections did not cause observed disorders and pathologies but were secondary to deficiency in micronutrients. Supported by clinical and epidemiological studies, which show a substantial negative correlation of nutritional deficiencies with immunocompetence and the reverse correlation with the risk of infection and related pathologies, is the idea that nutrition is an important determinant of immunity is now generally well accepted (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, the impact of dietary elements in immune system–related processes is still often dismissed, even when substantial amounts of data correlate diet with immune system–related related disorders."

"There is an emergent interest in understanding how the ‘Western diet’ affects immunity. Many people across the globe have adopted this diet, and epidemiological studies have revealed that it correlates with a high incidence of chronic inflammatory disorders, including diabetes, multiple sclerosis and asthma. Nevertheless, because the Western diet includes a large proportion of red meat, sugars, fats and refined carbohydrates and relatively small amounts of vegetables, fruits and fish, it is likely that the causative component of its associated pathologies is not a single entity but a complex array of unbalanced abundance of micronutrients in the diet. However, epidemiological studies have highlighted roles for specific micronutrients in immunity. For example, mounting evidence correlates vitamin A deficiency, which is still highly prevalent among children and pregnant women in several African and Asian countries with a high risk of intestinal and respiratory infections. These observations were substantiated by experimental data as early as 1925, when rats on a diet deficient in vitamin A were found to develop thymic atrophy. It is now understood that different processes require different amounts of micronutrients, with the immune system generally the largest consumer. In view of this, the World Health Organization established a vitamin A–supplementation program, which had a positive effect on morbidity and mortality rates of infectious diseases in deprived children. Interestingly, low vitamin A levels are also associated with reduced efficacy of vaccination protocols, but the benefits of vitamin A supplementation during vaccination are still a matter of controversy."

"A person has not attained his ultimate end until natural desire comes to rest. Therefore, for human happiness which is the ultimate end it is not enough to have merely any kind of intelligible knowledge; there must be divine knowledge, as an ultimate end, to terminate the natural desire."

"Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity."

"Fasting is the key which unlocks the Nature's storehouse of Energy.. Fasting rewards you with increased Energy. Each time you fast, you will make your mind stronger, and more positive. you will eliminate fear and worry... Fasting helps you to a higher life. Fasting elevates the soul, the mind, and body... By fasting you can create the person you have always longed to be. That is, if you demand only the best life can offer... When your body is cleansed by fasting and you are living a natural health life, you will discover that you feel wonderful all the time. This is because Nature intended man to be a happy, well-balanced person, free of fears, of frustrations, stresses and strains."

"The experience of knowing the power of God that comes through the fasting. Fasting and prayer have been a gateway through which God has done supernatural things."

"Fasting is, without any doubt, the most effective biological method of treatment. It is the operation without surgery."

"We were with the Prophet while we were young and had no wealth whatever. So Allah's Apostle said, "O young people! Whoever among you can marry, should marry...and whoever is not able to marry, should fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual power."

"Many people are already deficient as well as toxic. The longer they do without food, the greater becomes the deficiency. The Master Cleanse lemonade diet can more than match all the possible good obtained from fasting and at the same time will rebuild any possible deficiency. Ordinarily with fasting it is necessary to take it easy by resting or staying in bed. On the contrary, with the lemonade diet there is no need to become a useless member of society--you may live an active, normal life. Many workers at hard labor have found they are able to do more and harder work while on the lemonade diet than on their normal diet. After one has attained a clean, healthy body, and then desires to fast for purely spiritual reasons, thirty or even forty days can cause no harm."

"On the manner of fasting a uniform rule cannot easily be observed, because everybody has not the same strength; nor is it like the rest of the virtues, acquired by steadfastness of mind alone. And therefore, because it does not depend only on mental firmness, since it has to do with the possibilities of the body, we have received this explanation concerning it which has been handed down to us, viz.: that there is a difference of time, manner, and quality of the refreshment in proportion to the difference of condition of the body, the age, and sex: but that there is one and the same rule of restraint to everybody as regards continence of mind, and the virtue of the spirit."

"The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and government of the thoughts. For not only is drunkenness with wine wont to intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it weak and uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear contemplation."

"Bodily weakness is no hindrance to purity of heart, if only so much food is taken as the bodily weakness requires, and not what pleasure asks for."

"Let us not believe that that external fast from visible food alone can possibly be sufficient for perfection of heart and purity of body unless with it there has also been united a fast of the soul. For the soul also has its foods which are harmful, fattened on which, even without superfluity of meats, it is involved in a downfall of wantonness. Slander is its food, and indeed one that is very dear to it. A burst of anger also is its food, even if it be a very slight one; yet supplying it with miserable food for an hour, and destroying it as well with its deadly savour. Envy is a food of the mind, corrupting it with its poisonous juices and never ceasing to make it wretched and miserable at the prosperity and success of another. Kenodoxia, i.e., vainglory is its food, which gratifies it with a delicious meal for a time; but afterwards strips it clear and bare of all virtue, and dismisses it barren and void of all spiritual fruit, so that it makes it not only lose the rewards of huge labours, but also makes it incur heavier punishments. All lust and shifty wanderings of heart are a sort of food for the soul, nourishing it on harmful meats, but leaving it afterwards without share of the heavenly bread and of really solid food. If then, with all the powers we have, we abstain from these in a most holy fast, our observance of the bodily fast will be both useful and profitable. For labour of the flesh, when joined with contrition of the spirit, will produce a sacrifice that is most acceptable to God, and a worthy shrine of holiness in the pure and undefiled inmost chambers of the heart."

"Do you know what I mean by fasting? It is not easy. But easy ways do not come from God."

"The goal of fasting is inner unity. This means hearing, but not with the ear; hearing, but not with the understanding; it is hearing with the spirit, with your whole being. The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another, but the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of the faculties, and when the faculties are empty, then your whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind. Fasting of the heart empties the faculties, frees you from limitations and from preoccupations."

"I can prove to anybody on his own body there can exist one natural remedy, i.e. fasting and fruit-diet.. Fasting is the master key to mental and spiritual unfoldment and evolution."

"Do not forget that every seventh day is holy and consecrated to God. On six days feed your body with the gifts of the Earthly Mother, but on the seventh day sanctify your body for your Heavenly Father. On the seventh day do not eat any earthly food [...] Renew yourself and fast.. Go by yourself and fast alone and show your fast to no man. The living God shall see it and great shall be your reward. Fast till Beelzebub and all his evils depart from you, and all the angels of our Earthly Mother come and serve you [...] If you will that the living God's word and his power may enter you, defile not your body and your spirit, for the body is the temple of God."

"A feature of all spiritual traditions is the encouragement – sometimes requirement – that their adherents should undergo periods of fasting. Two examples are Ramadan in Islam, and Lent in Christianity. The great eastern religions also have their traditional times of fasting. There are several reasons for this. One of them is that it helps us demonstrate to ourselves that we can control our desires and appetites. Another is that consciously abstaining from food helps to atone for mistakes and sins."

"I can think. I can wait. I can fast."

"When the Great Lord was on Earth, He told His disciples that successful spiritual effort of a healing nature went not forth except by prayer and fasting."

"When I began to think about the work you commanded I guarded my spirit, did not expend it On trifles, that were not to the point. I fasted in order to set My heart at rest. After three days fasting, I had forgotten gain and success. After five days I had forgotten praise or criticism. After seven days I had forgotten my body With all its limbs."

"Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God."

"Dietary energy restriction (DER), either by limited daily feeding (sustained caloric restriction) or intermittent energy restriction (IER) (e.g., alternate day fasting), significantly extends health span and life span in rats and mice. DER can improve cognitive function and delay age-related cognitive impairment in rodents... Recent findings have also demonstrated significant improvement in cognitive performance of nonhuman primates and humans maintained on caloric restriction diets... Neurogenesis is increased in mice maintained on an alternate-day fasting diet, by a mechanism involving BDNF signaling, and increased survival of newly generated neurons."

"Gluttony would prevent any of us from being interested in philosophy and culture, as a result of being incapable of attending to the most divine part of us."

"Prescribed for you is the Fast, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may deserve God's protection (against the temptations of your carnal soul) and attain piety."

"It is much easier to go to extremes and to start exhaustive fasting, to encumber oneself with fetters—in general, to practise austerities—than to achieve vigilance and self-control together with complete preservation of strength. But without self-control nothing is possible."

"Fasting kills the desire of the self and the appetite of greed, and from it comes purity of the heart, purification of the limbs, cultivation of the inner and the outer being, thankfulness for blessings, charity to the poor, increase of humble supplication, humility, weeping and most of the ways of seeking refuge in Allah."

"I have not only found good health, but perfect health; I have found a new state of being, a potentiality of life; a sense of lightness and cleanness and joyfulness, such as I did not know could exist in the human body."

"Since the days of Jesus Christ, who fasted for 40 days, men and women have abstained from food for many reasons; for health, for political ends, an for spiritual enlightenment. However, the average person, not familiar with fasting, believes he will certainly die if he misses a meal... Most people in fairly good health can go for many days without food but the body must have water. Missing a meal won’t hurt!"

"They took all my drugs and threw them away and put me to bed to start my fast. I never dreamt I would go without food so long, but my fast lasted for 21 days on just distilled water. It is during the fast that conditions a person may have, but is not yet aware of, show up, as the body begins throwing off the poisons."

"Fasting possesses great power. If practiced with the right intention, it makes one a friend of God."

"I think that fasting is not only a religious rite, but also a symbol of human rights, as there are many places in the world that are going through rough times, and fasting shows our devotion."

"... For the next week-end ... I ordained for myself a fast on lines ; that is, no food of any kind and only water to drink. Realising the probability and also the inadvisability of hoarding my fæces for the prescribed three days, I took a grain of grey powder on the Friday night and a dose of on the following morning. Then I fasted, secundem artem, until Tuesday morning. On Saturday I felt well but I am told that my conversation was terse in matter and staccato in manner. On Sunday I felt very well, and endured my trial in the spirit of a Christian martyr. I was resigned. On Monday I felt very well indeed, and did my work at home and at the hospital with zest and vigour. ... Since that time, now many years ago, I have frequently repeated the experience, and always with the same result. The first day, craving ; the second, resignation ; the third, rejoicing and rejuvenescence. The result is that I can cordially recommend the exercise to anyone who is obliged to lead a sedentary life."

"I found that religious visionaries such as St John of the Cross, St Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich all recommended fasting as a way to clear the head and concentrate. Gandhi fasted in order to focus his mind. Pythagoras refused to accept anyone into his school who did not know how to fast. The Greeks intrigued me. Our religions are imports from the east where ascetic practice is normal, so I would expect to find a tradition of fasting there, but the Greeks were rationalists, the founders of western medicine. But here are Plato and Socrates fasting for mental efficiency, Plutarch advocating a day of fasting for any minor disorder, and Hippocrates saying that “to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness”."

"It’s important to say that fasting is not starvation. The anxiety and fear that attend lack of food in critical circumstances of famine or enforced deprivation are not present if you are fasting voluntarily. Nor are you beating up your body to get it in line. You are in control, but this is a partnership – your body and you. When I began reading about fasting, before it was my turn to try it, I found that religious visionaries such as St John of the Cross, St Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich all recommended fasting as a way to clear the head and concentrate. Gandhi fasted in order to focus his mind. Pythagoras refused to accept anyone into his school who did not know how to fast."

"So what happens when we stop eating? The body first uses up the glycogen stores in the liver. That might take 12 hours, or 24 hours. Afterwards, the body will have to use proteins (muscles) or lipids (fats) to produce the energy (glucose) it needs. The body is programmed to avoid breaking down muscle, and so the liver turns into a factory to manufacture ketones for fuel... But you don’t need to buy anything; just stop eating and your body will do the work for you... Sick cells, old cells, decomposed tissues, are burned away. This is the ultimate spring clean. It allows the body to eliminate toxins and metabolic waste at the same time as turning them into heat and energy... Next, the body will go for its fat reserves. Most of us have plenty of fat for the body to get busy on – and belly fat is an easy target... the process of ketosis is more than the body eating itself. While fasting, the body goes into repair mode... There is an impressive documentary available on YouTube called The Science of Fasting...the problem: fasting is free. Well, it’s not free, because you need to be medically supervised, at least to begin with, but there’s no money in it for Big Pharma."

"So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer."

"Even now - declares the LORD - return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments."

"Is this the fast I have chosen? A day for a person to afflict the soul, to bow the head like a reed and be covered in sackcloth and ashes—Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Eternal? Is not this the fast I have chosen: To loosen the chains of evil, to undo the bonds of oppression, to free the oppressed, to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your home? When you see the naked, clothe him and from your own flesh never hide. Then shall your light burst out like the dawn..."

"God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men. . .. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

"Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He had fasted forty days and forty nights."

"When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

"But this kind (demon) does not go out except by prayer and fasting"

"Unless ye fast from the world, ye shall not find the Sovereignty; unless ye keep the entire week as Sabbath, ye shall not behold the Father."

"Fat boy on a diet, don't try it. I'll jack your ass like a looter in a riot!"

"In place of such articles as have been condemned, eat fruits, grains, and vegetables. There isa ric variety of these kinds of food, and they are wholesome and unstimulating. Graham flour, oatmeal, and ripe fruit are the indisensables of a dietary for those who are suffering from sexual excesses."

"Message for My Meat-Eating Friends,"

"At last a growing number of physicians, private citizens and even the Federal Trade Commission are beginning to re-examine these long standing and deeply ingrained beliefs in the virtue of cow milk. And even Richard Nixon and John Connally came to realize that cow milk may not be good for you. The fact is: the drinking of cow milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world's population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well; and the possibility has been raised that it may play a central role in the origins of atherosclerosis and heart attacks."

"Those who have studied the nutritional conditions of “primitive” Africans in tropical Africa are unanimous in stating that they show no clinical signs of dietary deficiency. One of the most striking indications of the superiority of indigenous African diet is the magnificent condition of the teeth. One researcher among six ethnic groups in Kenya could not find a single case of tooth decay, not a single deformation of dental arch. But when those same people were transplanted and put on the “civilized” diet available under colonialism, their teeth began to decay at once."

"Some argue that the greater halal is actually avoiding killing animals at all to eat, although this is a tiny minority among those I interviewed."

"A debate on stunned-halal versus non-stunned halal is very prominent and controversial among the halal certifying bodies."

"They acknowledge that the vast majority of Halal is pre-stunned and they seek to ban non-stun for both Halal and Kosher and so do not steer into the targeting of one religious group."

"I asked what difference there was for him between being in Bombay and being in Pakistan. He said that for him, as a businessman, there was no difference; business was business. But when you were in India or some other foreign country you were never sure whether the meat had been slaughtered in the correct way; you had to ask and you couldn’t always get answers; you had sometimes to go without."