1. My grandmother was a doctor who had treated a lot of holocaust survivors, and collected their stories, which she later told my entire family. Several were about "miraculous improvement" in health conditions; some of it was, of course, survivorship bias (no pun intended ...) - those who were killed first where the less healthy and less able. But my grandmother had medical reasons to believe that a big part of it was nutrition (or rather, lack of it for long stretches at a time) -- especially because after the war, with the availability of a variety of foods, many illnesses came back. On that week, I verified with the family that I remembered her stories and conclusions correctly.
2. I found a book by Bernarr McFadden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernarr_Macfadden (can't remember the name right now) that correctly described my experience (it's hard to find descriptions at all; and everyone around has the anthonyb opinion that I'm about to die because I haven't eaten in x days). That book had very old references (from the '30s) about fasting practices in some indian castes - which I was then able to altavista (that was before Google hit the scene) and confirm
3. I consulted my doctor, and a friend who had finished his medical studies and was doing his internship at the time. Both had the immediate anthonyb reaction, but a few minutes later conceded that any of the things they feared would trigger horrible pains, blackouts, etc - and that couldn't be right as I was feeling good.
YMMV. 1) and 3) may not be available to you. 2) was available to me from the university library, but I'm not sure where I can find it today. But it was available to me at the time.
2. I found a book by Bernarr McFadden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernarr_Macfadden (can't remember the name right now) that correctly described my experience (it's hard to find descriptions at all; and everyone around has the anthonyb opinion that I'm about to die because I haven't eaten in x days). That book had very old references (from the '30s) about fasting practices in some indian castes - which I was then able to altavista (that was before Google hit the scene) and confirm
3. I consulted my doctor, and a friend who had finished his medical studies and was doing his internship at the time. Both had the immediate anthonyb reaction, but a few minutes later conceded that any of the things they feared would trigger horrible pains, blackouts, etc - and that couldn't be right as I was feeling good.
YMMV. 1) and 3) may not be available to you. 2) was available to me from the university library, but I'm not sure where I can find it today. But it was available to me at the time.