of fasting without ever having experienced it; simply the idea keeps them from entertaining a breatharian lifestyle. People who complete a fast often recount that it was much easier than they expected, as long as they maintained the right mindset.
Many breatharians undergo one of the known breatharian initiations (discussed in Chapter 7), like the Pranic Living Group Initiation, simply for the experience and then go back to eating normally soon after. Remember, this is not a one-way track and no one expects you to make a lifelong commitment. The process of transformation itself has enormous benefits for personal development, so if you are interested in undergoing the process even just once, I recommend that you continue your own research and find a guide or a group to assist you. The pranic initiation is easier than most people think. The real challenge starts right after, but this lifestyle brings many gifts and is totally worth it! I have categorized these gifts into four sections: Health Benefits, Individual Benefits, Spiritual Benefits and Environmental Benefits.
HEALTH BENEFIT
Longevity—Enjoy A Longer, Better Life!
Caloric Restriction (CR)4 studies show that mammals who decrease their food intake by one third to one half can expect a 20%-30% longer life span. They also experience reduced cardiovascular risks and improved memory function.
Benefits Derived From CR Diets
CR in Primates—An ongoing study on rhesus macaques funded by The National Institute on Aging was initiated in 1989 at the University of Wisconsin. The 2009 results showed that caloric restriction in rhesus monkeys slowed down aging and significantly delayed the onset of age-related disorders such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy. Eighty percent of the calorie-restricted monkeys were still alive at the end of the experiment compared to only half of the controls5.
Lifespan
Seventy years ago C M McCay et al. discovered that reducing the number of calories fed to rodents nearly doubled their lifespan. The extensions varied between species but on average there was a 30–40% increase in lifespan in both mice and rats. Caloric restriction has also been shown to preserve a range of structural and functional parameters in aging rodents.6
Activity Levels
Laboratory rodents on a CR diet tend to exhibit increased activity levels at feeding times, particularly when provided with exercise equipment. In one study, animals on a conventional diet showed little activity by early middle age, while those on CR diet were observed to run around the cage and climb onto and hang from the wire tops throughout their lifespan. In fact, the longest surviving CR mouse was observed hanging from the top of his cage only three days before he became moribund.7 Monkeys on CR diets also appear more restless immediately before and after meals.8 This is because under a CR diet the subject still get hungry, unlike the pranic lifestyle where the subject is not dependent on physical nourishment.
Reduced DNA Damage
Calorie restriction reduces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS)9 which causes different types of DNA damage such as the presence of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG). These indicators are used to measure the level of oxidative damage in DNA. On CR diets, decreased 8-OHdG damage has been observed in the DNA of hearts, skeletal muscles, brains, livers and kidneys in mice. The levels of 8-OHdG in the organs of 15 month old mice was reduced to 81% of the levels in the DNA of mice on an unrestricted diet.10 In rats aged 24–26 months on a CR diet, the level of 8-OHdG in the organs was found to be on average 62% of the level in rats fed an unrestricted diet. In mice of the same age, the damage averaged 71% of the level in mice on an unrestricted diet.11 The scientific explanation is that the body knows how to minimize its energy expenditures, how to reuse, recycle and work more effectively and efficiently and how to use its resources more accurately, and genes alert the body when required.
Being breatharian tops caloric restriction because one’s body is preserved in a highly clean state at all times. It no longer has to deal with the daily struggle of pushing out toxins. Since there are significantly fewer toxins going into the body, it is easier to fight potential intruders such as viruses and negative bacteria. In short, the body has amazing cleansing powers when it is not preoccupied with the process of digestion. In ideal conditions, each cell works as its own power plant; it consumes energy, cleans itself and excretes the garbage. When we fast, one of the first things the body does is start detoxifying and ridding itself of excess dietary remnants.
Living longer does not have to mean humans have to grow old and become senile. We can continue to lead lives of vitality and good health. Breatharian bodies undergo less stress because energy is not wasted on digestion. This promotes stronger and more efficient use of the internal organs in everyday life. Imagine that for every week you spend on a caloric restricted lifestyle, you get to live an extra two days. How much is that worth to you?
To better understand longevity, compare the lifespan of your body to the mileage of a car. A car records mileage, just like the body has a certain lifespan. The car’s inner fuel and oil filters can be compared to the body’s internal organs—they also record mileage and can only last for so long. A car’s filters need to be replaced after a certain time but we have no easy method to replace internal organs when they start to deteriorate with age. This generally means that the more we use our filters, the dirtier they become and our ‘car’ will not run to its full potential and will not reach the longest mileage it is capable of.
Our bodies take in what they need from food and try to get rid of what they do not need. Due to contemporary changes in our eating habits and decreased availability of quality food, our bodies often do not know how to process or get rid of all the toxins we ingest on a daily basis. Diets based on convenience like processed foods, particularly with added sugar, overthrow the body’s natural alkaline balance.
This in turn creates the perfect acidic environment for disease. Furthermore, in the animal kingdom you will notice that humans are the only species on the planet who continue to eat during sickness. Look carefully at nature, look at your pets! When they feel sick, they don’t eat! Instead, they allow their bodies to clean themselves through fasting because it encourages healing. Our children have the same instincts, yet it is often with the encouragement of parents that they are taught to ignore this natural reflex. You may notice that when you feel sick, your appetite decreases.
Reduced Toxins
Research also indicates that diseases are usually derived from a build-up of toxins entering the body from modern human diets. Toxins can be small molecules, peptides or proteins capable of causing diseases on contact via the absorption by bodily tissues interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes or cellular receptors. Toxins vary greatly in severity.
To be completely free of toxins means you have a much stronger immune system. Most of the toxins that accumulate in the body come from our food in the way it is grown and/or processed. The quantity and quality of food we eat—too many ingredients,
