How Long Can You Live Without Food?

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It's important to not skip your meals as food and water are essential for human survival. The food that we consume helps to provide our body with energy to perform daily tasks. In addition, most of the systems in our body are dependent on a varied diet and adequate amount of water intake to function optimally. However, it's possible for our bodies to survive without water for days. We can go days or even weeks without food as our body can adjust its metabolism and energy consumption accordingly. This brings us to our today's topic; how long can you live without food?

Period of time varies

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Starvation is a term that is used when you eliminate food and water intake for long periods. Once you stop taking in food or water for a day or two, your body will start to starve and function differently to reduce the energy that is burned in your body. There isn't any "rule of thumb" on how long you can survive without food as it is unethical to study human starvation in human subjects. However, there were some studies that were conducted in the past that can give us insights to the period in which a person can survive from starvation. An article by Archiv Fur Kriminologie stated that a person can survive 8 to 21 days without food if there's an adequate intake of water.

How is this possible?

Your body can adjust itself when there's a lack of food or water in your diet. This is how people are able to perform religious fast and even try "fasting" diets where they do not eat anything for long periods of time without doing irreversible damage to their bodies.

Water intake is essential

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It's possible for you to survive for weeks or even months if you have adequate water consumption in your diet. This is because your body has reserve to replace food rather than water. Some of your body parts like your kidneys would diminish within a few days if water is removed from your diet. One study has shown that if a person is suffering from starvation, the person would need to drink at least 1.5 litres of water to survive starvation for longer periods.

In conclusion, the human body is rather sturdy and resilient as it is able to adjust according based on your diet. It's possible to go days or even weeks without food and water but it isn't healthy and shouldn't be practiced! Instead, you should have a healthy and balance diet for your meals. Till next time, stay safe!

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