Thread: SURVIVING WITHOUT FOOD - HOW TO INFO

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Having a premade stock of survival foods that you can rely upon to see you through is important. During many survival situations living without enough food becomes a real problem. With grocery stores and restaurants readily available we may not normally think much about where our next meal is coming from. But when food supplies have been destroyed, are unavailable due to civil unrest, or are not geographically within our reach (as in you are lost, injured, in a remote area, or even imprisoned) we are quick to feel the lack of food and finding our next meal will become a priority.
Symptoms of Inadequate Food Consumption

Although not as critical as going without water, missing even just a few meals can cause a host of undesirable complications for the would-be survivor. Although we will not starve while going without food for several days or even a week, being underfed for even just one day can cause:

* Irritability
* Low moral
* Lethargy
* Physical Weakness
* Confusion and disorientation
* Poor judgment
* Weakened immune system
* Inability to maintain body temperature which can lead to hypothermia, heat exhaustion, or even heat stroke.

Only the survivor with a full stomach can take on the challenges adversity will throw in his way

These symptoms can adversely affect your ability to survive as weakness, sickness, accidents, and mistakes take their toll.

Only a well fed survivor with a full stomach can take on the challenges adversity will throw in his way.


Factors Affecting How Long You can Live Without Food

Though there can be no exact numbers, experience has shown there are limits to how long humans can go without food before unmistakable signs of starvation set in.

How long you can live without food depends upon a host of factors including:

* Initial state of health. Those who are physically healthy and have been consuming plenty of good nutritious food have an advantage. During the start of a food shortage their systems are fully stocked to begin with. During food shortages your body can draw from this supply of nutrients and extend the length of time you can live without eating.
* Amount of muscle on the body. Muscle is broken down by a starving body and used for both fuel and nutrients. On the other hand, even at rest lean muscle burns calories.
* Amount of body fat. Each pound of body fat contains about 3600 calories, enough energy for the average person for about a day and half. During a survival situation when there is not enough food to eat, a few extra pounds can come in handy. Indeed, gaining weight when food is plentiful is an important survival mechanism.
* Your metabolism will be a factor in determining how long you can live without food. Individual metabolisms vary. As you go without food your metabolism will naturally slow, but those people who are already starting from a lower baseline will have an advantage in using less calories and therefore living longer.
* The amount of work we are performing while going without food. Being active requires increased amounts of calories and nutrients. If you are forced to live without food, the less active you can remain the longer you will last.
* The temperature of your environment has a direct bearing on how long you can live without food. Below a comfortable temperature your body will be expending additional calories as it attempts to stay warm. In hot environments your body will expend additional calories in trying to say cool, and your body will be loosing precious electrolytes via your sweat. When stressed by lack of food you are more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
* If you can stay adequately hydrated you can live without food for a longer period of time than if there were shortages of food and water together.

Real Life Examples of Living Without Food

I did some research on people who have gone without food for extended periods of time:

Medical Doctors Commonly cite 4 to 6 weeks without food
10 Political Prisoners in Ireland Lived 46 to 73 days before succumbing to lack of food
12 individual starvation protestors Two lost tongues, 1 lost feet, 7 on kidney dialysis
Many war prisoners Lived 28 to 40 days with no food
World War II concentration camps With only 300 to 600 calories per day, many thousands did not have enough food to survive more than a few months at best.
Terminally Ill patients Live 10-days to 3-weeks without food depending upon initial heath
Obese Can live from 3-weeks up to 25-weeks and more without food depending upon initial health and amount of fat
Mahatma Gandhi

Survived a 3-week fast while in his 70's
The Will to Survive With Not Enough Food

I highly recommend you always have a stock of emergency survival food on hand

There is another important factor in determining how long someone might live when there is little or no nourishing food to be had. The will to survive. With or without food those whose will to survive is strongest will always live longer than those who do not have this all important attribute. Ones willpower can add several days, or even a week to the total length of time you can survive without food. People who are starved and no longer have the will to live will perish much more quickly.
Training Yourself to Live on less Food

Breatharians claim they can survive indefinitely without food. Of course this is a false claim as it is physically impossible to live without any food whatsoever for the rest of your life. Unless of course you follow the Breatharian diet and die from lack of food in a short time (a short rest-of-your-life) while in the midst of plenty!

Anorexics have shown that people can voluntarily survive without very much food (as compared to normal food consumption) for extended periods of time. Because they are consuming limited quantities of food their metabolisms attempt to adapt. As the body senses starvation it extracts every last vestige of nutrition from whatever food is eaten. Over time the body is trained to become more efficient in its processing of food and this confers some advantage when a real food shortage occurs.

This brings up the subject of training your body to live on less food than normal. The problem with training the body to live on less food is that when doing so it can be difficult to obtain enough nutrition for optimum health. When a situation develops where you have to live without food, or with only a small amount of food, you want to start out with a body that is fully stocked with nutrients to being with.

Heathy individuals should be able to survive without food for thirty to forty days

In the vast majority of survival situations, you are going to be rescued or rescue yourself within three days. During this time you will be much better off if you have started your ordeal in tip-top shape, with your nutrient reserves tanked up and a little extra body fat. Nature has been helping man survive for many thousands of years, and your body fat is an important reserve of nutrition should you have to go without food for any length of time.
Be Prepared for Long Lasting Food Shortages

Breatharians aside, if you are relatively young, healthy, and have been eating plenty of good food so that your body is fully stocked with nutrients your chances of surviving without food for about 5 to 6 weeks are pretty good. Of course this assumes that environmental conditions are ideal, your physical movements are kept to minimum, and you are not trying to live without water at the same time.

Even without a store of survival foods, there is little reason for the experienced survivor to go without food for an extended period of time. The expert survivor has the knowledge and skills to procure at least some food which will serve to extend the amount of time he or she can live without outside sources.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Our survival plans assume that during a crisis there are likely to be food shortages. While others are attempting to survive without food because they have not properly planned, we will have our MREs, emergency food bars, food caches, and other survival food and supplies previously prepared and ready. Our bodies will be healthy and fully stocked with nutrients to begin with. We have the tools and survival skills to hunt, fish, trap, forage, and harvest the edible plants that grow in abundance around us.

another site for preparedness: http://beprepared.com/article.asp_Q_ai_E_270

THERE ARE PLENTY OF PIGEONS AROUND HERE. I WONT GO HUNGRY. PLUS I HAVE SOME FOOD STORE ALSO. FIRST AID KIT. DENTAL AID KIT. WIND UP RADIO AND LIGHTS. BATTERY OP LIGHTS. HEAT CELL STOVE. FREEZE DRIED FOOD.

IT REALLY TAKES VERY LITTLE TO KEEP YOU GOING IF YOU PREPARE AHEAD OF TIME. STORE WATER. HAVE SOME WAY TO BOIL WATER. STERNO, HEAT CELL. OR OTHER BUTANE OR KEROSENE STOVE.

IF YOU GROW YOUR OWN VEGGIES THAT WILL HELP AS LONG AS YOU HAVE ACCESS TO WATER. HAVE DRIED BEANS FOR PROTEIN. CANNED BEANS TOO IN CASE OF WATER SHORTAGE.

Thank you for a very important post. I have been holding back on buying some items because I have limited space and I'm concerned that certain foods will spoil.

For instance, I have no basement or any place that would be dark and cool. Instead, I have a small spare room on the second floor of my house but it gets very hot during the summer months. (humidity) I can't keep an a.c. running in there all day for obvious reasons.

A few times I wanted to purchase a big bag of rice but how could I store it safely without spoiling? I wish I could have been born on a farm! Farm life is the best way to live. It's all about self sufficiency, isn't it?

We've been slowly preparing. We recently hooked up a rain barrel and bought a Berkey filter. We're growing some fruits and veggies in our yard. We bought bulk food items and some freeze dried foods. I also just bought a solar short wave radio and flashlight. I still have a list of things I need to buy - candles, a large cast iron stock pot so I can make bread in it if we would lose power, lanterns, matches, more canned food and beans, extra propane for the grill. I hope we don't end up needing any of this, but with kids I feel better having some supplies.

Originally Posted by Lynne

We've been slowly preparing. We recently hooked up a rain barrel and bought a Berkey filter. We're growing some fruits and veggies in our yard. We bought bulk food items and some freeze dried foods. I also just bought a solar short wave radio and flashlight. I still have a list of things I need to buy - candles, a large cast iron stock pot so I can make bread in it if we would lose power, lanterns, matches, more canned food and beans, extra propane for the grill. I hope we don't end up needing any of this, but with kids I feel better having some supplies.

OH A RAIN BARREL. GOOD IDEA. I THINK I WILL DO THAT TOO. I HAVE WATER STORED, BUT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO ALSO BE ABLE TO COLLECT RAIN WATER.