A Man Who Refused to Eat for 382 Days and Lost 275 Pounds

[Music] boy the links people will go to lose weight is sometimes downright scary I'm sure you've heard of those questionable diet pills teas and even body creams that supposedly help you burn fat but one of the most dangerous ways to slim down is prolonged fasting and one man took it to the extreme when he stopped eating altogether for over a year now it goes without saying but I'm gonna say it anyways and probably more than once the following case should not be attempted as a way to lose weight but it is fascinating nonetheless as far as a story about what the human body is capable of in 1965 27 year-old Angus Barbieri checked himself into Merrifield Hospital in Dundee Scotland he was just a normal guy worked at a fish and chip joint with his dad and perhaps a diet of fried foods was what contributed to his obesity in any case his weight at the time was 456 pounds he told the doctors that he was ready to refuse food to lose weight and they hesitantly agreed to monitor his progress so mind you this was all very carefully medically supervised at first Barbieri wasn't planning on fasting for too long and even to this day most doctors agree that short fasts are more effective than long ones so the physicians at Merrifield recommended that he didn't go more than 40 days without food but days turned into weeks that turned into months Barbieri kept on refusing food past the forty day limit because he said he felt okay he had his goal weight in mind and what seems like unbeatable determination to reach it but that wasn't the only thing that kept him going again that's where the doctors help came in for the entire duration of this unconventional weight-loss journey Barbieri took potassium sodium and vitamin supplements since he wasn't getting any nutrients from food and he didn't refrain from drinks either but the ones he had were very low cal they included mineral water tea and black coffee although toward the end he started adding some sugar and mill the vitamin diet seemed to be working all right since Barbieri didn't experience any problems that would require him to remain in the hospital he stayed there in the beginning just so doctors could keep an eye on his health but he was given the green light to go home since his body was adapting to the hunger so well one of the physicians said that patients usually had to stay in the hospital to resist their temptation to eat but Barbieri had shown amazing willpower and spent most of the time at home he only had to go to the hospital regularly to get tests done and the doctors did in fact notice a very low level of glucose in his blood glucose is basically your body's energy source that it gets from food and the low levels confirm that his body really was in starvation mode but surprisingly running on an empty tank didn't interfere with his daily routine and he said that he felt fine the only thing the Scott had to do was leave his job at his dad's fish and chip shop because well that would have been way too tempting on July 11th 1966 Angus Barbieri's headline-making fast finally ended after 382 days the now unrecognizable man had lost a whopping 276 pounds he reached his goal weight of 180 pounds he'd end up with a Guinness world record for the longest fast known in history one year in seventeen days by now you must be thinking I'll bet he immediately wolf down a five-course meal after starving over a year but actually no he didn't and for good reason too that likely would have overloaded his system so chances are a heavy meal would have simply come right back up Barbieri had just one boiled egg a piece of bread with butter and a cup of coffee for breakfast in his words he really enjoyed his small simple meal and it filled his tummy right up he also said that apart from feeling a bit weak he didn't have any major side effects at the end of his fast Barbieri was looking forward to a vacation in Spain and a gradual return to eating with a careful eye on keeping his weight stable he slowly worked himself back up to a normal life with ordinary food and portions the doctors were shocked by not only his unbeatable willpower but also the unusual ease with which he lived without solid food for so long but what really stunned everyone was that he was able to keep the weight off from the very beginning that doctors were especially doubtful about this factor you see most people who try extreme diets like this usually end up yo-yoing right back to where they started that is the body doesn't keep the weight off but once Barbieri went back to eating normal meals he only gained 15 pounds Angus Barbieri eventually moved to England where he settled down and started a family although he holds a pretty incredible world record it's worth noting that Guinness has since stopped recognizing such extreme fasts so that people don't try these sorts of dangerous stunts themselves but from a medical perspective the case is quite astounding how on earth was this man's body able to go so long without food well in 2012 Australian author and science commentator dr. Karl Cruz ole Nicky gave a lecture on the radio where he explained the chemical processes that allowed Barbieri to survive without food for over a year according to the doc after two to three days of starvation energy starts coming from the body's fat stores some fat molecules can be transformed into glucose that fuel I mentioned earlier in theory the human body can live on these fat stores until they run out but after that you get into really dangerous territory because it'll start feeding on the muscles and although these fat stores can keep the body going that doesn't mean the person will be in good health that's why Barbieri was given supplements and monitored very carefully still scientists believe that this starvation mechanism has deep biological and evolutionary roots you see our ancient ancestors didn't have the luxury of a fridge chock full of food or a grocery store right around the corner they had to go days without eating when they were hunting or looking for edible plants these fast could be even longer during winter probably lasting for weeks and the body adapted to these conditions during long periods of time without food all internal processes like breathing and heart rate became slower so that the body doesn't use up and thus require as much energy but winter no matter how long it was wouldn't last for years once early humans would start eating regularly again after the rough periods of little or no food then all those processes sped right back up people who start fasting often notice that at the initial stage they have an unusual clarity of thought almost as if their brains are working more efficiently scientists have an evolutionary explanation for this - it was during hunger periods that a malnourished brain had to think of a way to get something to eat if the brain shut down when the body stopped getting food humanity would have never survived it sounds quite reasonable then that we're not supposed to have unlimited access to food all year round there could be a natural scheme of fasting and eating that's not only safe but also beneficial for our health still it's hardly possible that our ancestors could survive without any food for any longer than a few months and that's why Angus Barbieri is such a medical anomaly to this day there's no scientific proof that fasting for longer than 40 days can do any good in fact there's more proof that it's extremely harmful although those doctors back in the 60s were willing to help this guy on this dangerous path to his goal weight or perhaps they felt they really didn't have a choice since Barbieri had told them he was gonna fast with or without their help it's highly unlikely that such a thing would happen today and that's because there are so many safer options when it comes to healthy weight loss doctors nowadays can set patients up with a nutritionist that'll draw up a diet and exercise plan for safe gradual weight loss over time thanks to long-term lifestyle changes that is starving oneself is certainly not the way to do it but we can see the case of Angus Barbieri's record-breaking fast as proof that the human body is a fascinating mechanism to say the least so what ways do you think are the safest when it comes to losing weight let me know down in the comments if you learned something new today then give this video a like and share it with a friend but hey don't go falling face-first into a plate of french fries just yet we have over 2,000 cool videos for you to check out all you have to do is pick the left or right video click on it and enjoy stay on the bright side of life

Channel: BRIGHT SIDE

Views: 817,828

Rating: 4.7908249 out of 5

Keywords: Angus Barbieri, Angus Barbieri's fast, story of Angus Barbieri, incredible stories, 382 days without eating, 382 days without food, healthy lifestyle, unhealthy lifestyle, no food, what if you stopped eating, experiment, health experiment, fasting, how to fast, dieting, skip a meal, weight loss, excess weight, lose weight, starvation

Id: xJAL5eUBpIQ

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2019