Well I have starved and there's some things I did to survive I'd like to share.I suffered a gradual weight loss from a severe decline in caloric intake one winter in a shack in Wisconsin when it usta get cold,ya hey.If it weren't for the local Lutheran Ladies and some Gov't cheese and cornmeal and such I would have had it really bad.One fact about drastic loss of food intake is brain function is way compromised,right away.Any farmer will tell you hungry cats do not hunt well,but a little chow and there's a mouse in every paw.Anyone defending their little stocked homestead has a distinct advantage over a starving interloper for this reason.
Being upset uses a lot of energy,which in survival mode is wasted energy and potentially lethal.It is very important to eat any food you get as slowly as you can.Gratitude for any scraps helps in both cases here.
I have been there and you can tell if a person has starved,like I lick my plate clean,it's something you never forget,nor the kindness shown in a meal right then.People who have starved will eat off the ground,or at least think about it and might if social considerations weren't the focus,etc.Out of dumpsters I have gotten the best ripest food.Insects are not bad,really,but ought to always be cooked for parasites.It is Tantric to be grateful to your Mother for all and not to despise any.Many times telling myself that the only difference between starvation and fasting is the Devotional aspect.Coffee withdrawl is a four day+ headache so it would be wise to assess the situation to account for that. I say better to quit early,then when things improve you can enjoy it as the drug of high value it is,occasionally.
So what have you done to survive not eating for a while?

I sometimes go 2 or 3 day stints without eating anything, and here's my observations.

Typically I will take a multi vitamin, and down it with a single piece of white bread with nothing on it, eat the crust too. That is my meal for the day.

I have done that 3 days in a row, maybe 4 days once, and its quite interesting. Initially, once the hunger pains subside after day one, and the body begins burning its existing fat supplies, or if none, your organs, you get an energy rush and clarity of mind. This is usually towards the afternoon/evening/night of day two of this.

On day three, the "energy buzz" wears off and you become weak and it becomes hard to think and speak quickly and coherently and rationally.

But there is a portion of time where you feel so CLEAN .. like your skull is opened up and your brain is getting fresh air or something.

I fasted for 4 days once out in the Trinity Alps alone. The first two days were not so bad. The first day was utter boredom. The second day I definitely had clarity of mind and got pretty creative and did a lot of self reflection. The third day the hunger started setting in and my mind began to began to wander to only food how ever clear thought was still possible. By the end of the third day and fourth day all I could do was talk to myself listing all of the things I wanted to eat. There was a group of us that did this. We had all lost a lot of weight of course but everyone's eyes were crystal clear. Was the strangest thing.

I have to agree with this ..I eat one meal a day and have been doing it for 6-7 yrs and I still have all the energy I need to get through anything I decide to do that day. I have not lost any wieght or body mass and I have all the energy in the world.My matabolism is at the point that if I eat too much I actually feel worse than if I didnt eat at all. I normally eat close to bedtime so my body can absorb as much as possible without wasting it moving around.

Just have to be careful if you're doing it by choice.
I definatly know what its like to be hungry and its not fun, nor good for your body if you have low body fat.
I was measured in highschool and have 0.3% total body fat, or so they said. It was unclear because their machine would not go any lower and was inaccurate.
But I can tell a rush from just eating daily food, sorta living on the edge I guess but being anemic and slight mercury poisoned will do that to ya.

I've also starved and there are only two memories of that period of my life that have stuck with me. One was a friend handing me a bag of groceries and another was a friend who gave me a hamburger. For almost two years I was lucky to eat once a week, just trying to keep the rent paid and my struggling business open. I know about those memories trueforger.

It is foolish to suddenly start starving. It is not only bad for the body but it can also leave some harmful long term damage.

The way to a starvation diet is a gradual rationed drop in food. Your body and mind need to know that you will get food but it has to be cut in stages not all at once. That is why you see people in africa and other places living off water and gruel for months on end while walking from one refugee camp to another hundreds of miles away.

A docile American cannot hope to live on that diet right away. Like anything else with the body, it has to be acclimatized to the scarcity in food and water.

When I was young and on the move a dumpster behind a restaurant was bliss.
The gnawing pain of hunger, and the psychological repercussions were - and still are painful.
Then, walking by a McDonalds was sheer agony.
I remember seeing a woman sitting at the outside benches her poodle perched beside her.
The Lady would eat a bite of her burger then pull a piece off of a cheeseburger (I could see the yellow wrapper) and feed it to her dog.
I stopped and watched feeling like some kind of criminal, my mouth watering and my stomach cramping.
She gave me a dirty look and told me to *Go Away* - I broke into tears and just kept walking.
There were days I was *high* from lack of food.
Like I walking just above my feet.
The lights were brighter the sounds either harsher or more crooning.
Every sense was heightened for sure.
Clarity along with the sense of freedom was heady.
Even when a situation become a little *scary* I didn’t feel fear so much as a deep well-being that I could *get through anything*.
I wouldn’t change those experiences for the world.
I do have some food issues now (I hide food and sometimes will get emotional over food) - but those days are growing farther apart and more time in between of peace.

I wonder now what will happen if there’s a food crisis.
I sure don't want to go through hunger again - once was grand, and once was enough.
I do suggest people start fasting and learning to go without.
It’s a good habit to get into - denying your body occasionally and not allowing it to have *power* over your thinking mind.
Also when you go from plenty to eating from the garbage with no preparation in between it leaves lasting harm.


...taps...

In 1972 Piedmont Park in Atlanta , Ga was full of hippies, religious cults, and all sorts of other strange people.

Food was not a priority during time spent there as most people's appetites were severely depressed.

There was an open air type of hot dog place there and I would sit and watch as people would throw their left overs away. I scurried to the trash bins and ate what I could find.

I don't know how I survived except by the grace of God as food was very scarce and not important at the time. What a dummy I was.

By the time I decided to go back south I was skin and bones.

A person can get by with very little food as long as you have adequate water,