I often thought of cravings as hunger. No more. Fasting has taught me what hunger really is.
I learned at a young age, that if I didn’t eat 3 meals a day, that I would be unhealthy. It affected my life (and wallet) in a negative way.
Since learning about water fasting in 2018, I’ve never felt or looked better. Also, after completing my first 5 day fast, I learned that no, I won’t die from not eating. That empowered me. So yes, true hunger is learned from water fasting.
Must be different for each person. I don’t really feel hunger while fasting. I mean the first 24 hours are the worse and then it sorta gets better after and eventually I don’t feel hunger.
Although I do crave the food, mentally, I don’t feel hunger pangs
I see a lot of other commenters already mentioned that the hunger associated with voluntary fasting is nothing compared to the hunger from involuntary fasting (starvation).
I grew up in the richest country in the world but somehow in desperate poverty. So as an adult, hunger has always terrified me. Sometimes I’d get random childhood memories of collecting discarded beer cans in a ditch or shoplifting something at a gas station to try and blunt the non stop hunger.
But voluntary fasting feels like freedom. Like tinkering with something scary but having power over it. I feel like I can enjoy the hunger and cravings since I have the power to stop them anytime I want. Like I am no longer in danger.
So I think we are just defining terms a bit differently based on life experience. If you haven’t felt the desperation of being involuntarily foodless then a voluntary fast probably does seem like a way to briefly experience something resembling real hunger without the fear concomitant with food insecurity
I still think it’s not as bad as actually starving since your body isn’t actually short on key nutrients yet, only calories. Maybe fasting without electrolytes might be a closer to the real thing; mix in the headaches and constant dehydration on your willpower.