How bad is not eating for you?

[Noble Ire]

Depends on what I'm doing really. If I have a normal, relatively boring schedule, I generally tend to feel sick if I don't eat lunch and dinner (although I almost never eat breakfast, generally have a very light lunch, and eat dinner late), but if I'm doing something out of the ordinary, or simply really occupied, I can go for almost a day without really feeling hungry.

[Jaepheth]

It's probably also worth mentioning that eating too much after a long starvation period can also be fatal.

I've heard many times that in WWII, that's how many Jews died after being liberated from German camps.

[Antares]

Normally eating nothing for 24h is no problem for me.
However, i have to drink something of course.
If i get hungry, i simply supress it and after some time
i no longer feel hungry.
Typically, i only eat one meal (dinner) a day, some fruits and
some chocolate.

[Darth Raptor]

Actually, you can go awhile burning your muscle tissue before death sets in.

Skeletal muscle, yes. I was mainly referring to other organs.

[The Guid]

I should add that they have ceased their starvation, thank goodness. They will use their time towards the creation of their next art peice and it was a useful excercise for them, but I have dissuaded them from their origonal intention.

Thanks for the replies.

[kheegster]

Agreed. IIRC, I thought I had heard somewhere that he fattened himself up before his little 40 day stunt. Also, inactivity in a box is much less toll than the conditions you describe.

You do know how magicians work right? I very much doubt he is going completely without any form of nourishment, it's just not going to be televised or even very noticeable to anyone else who is watching.

He was fed water through a tube. I have strong suspicions that the water is sugared or otherwise fortified to keep him somewhat nourished.

[Sofia]

My aunt adopted a little boy from Thailand. Due to Swiss bueracracy (they thought my aunt was too old to be a mother, she was in her early forties at the time) she couldn't go and pick him up until he was four. Four years spent undernourished in a Thai orphanage left him very, very thin. He's eight or nine now, but, mentally and physically, he's about six. So, yeah, we need food to develop our bodies and brains. Food is good.

What's the point of an art project where you starve yourself, anyway? What was the final product? (Just out of curiosity).

[Darth Lucifer]

[You do know how magicians work right? I very much doubt he is going completely without any form of nourishment, it's just not going to be televised or even very noticeable to anyone else who is watching.

He was fed water through a tube. I have strong suspicions that the water is sugared or otherwise fortified to keep him somewhat nourished.

I was about to say that in respose to Stormin. The Amazing Randi also reveals:

"A number of persons have been asking me why I won't test any more of these claimants who say that they don't eat or drink anything for years on end. There are a few dozen of them out there at this time, and new ones come up every month or so... Such a claim is difficult to test merely because of the time involved and the personnel necessary, and the claimants moan that they can't afford the costs involved.

I've been out on a couple of these expeditions in the USA, and I get bored out of my mind sitting in a car in a parking lot waiting for the claimant to emerge from a Holiday Inn room, sneak down the stairs, and visit the local burger joint for the needed nourishment. There's no end to it. And, the claim is just so obviously silly and frivolous, and I'm a grown man - too busy with serious claimants, to spend time on these nut-cases.

Yes, I'm aware that doctors - trained medical people - have observed a few of the claimants, but I've yet to see any evidence that these learned observers have the correct and necessary qualifications to detect sleight-of-hand. Until that time, those episodes remain as examples of the naive watching the cunning."