Water Fasting

[trust101]

Curious, has anyone tried water fasting?

 

It is simply abstaining from any food or drink with the exception being water, of course.

 

I have done both a 24 hour & 48 hour water fast before. Where I had nothing but water. A 24 hour is also called intermittent fasting. I am thinking of doing a 72 hour/3 day water fast so just thought has anyone else done it?

 

My goal is not weight loss though, while that is a result of this but there are many other benefits (without going into details) such as physical & mental cleansing/clarity.

 

So has anyone attempted this? If so; for how long, what were the effects (positive & negative) during & after the fast, how did you prepare for it, spend your time & how did you get back to your normal routine?

[mhowe]

I have done 48 htlrs in conjunction with prep for a procedure.

 

Any weightmloss will be regained with resumption of eating. I was weak,,grumpy, hungry and totally focused on when I could eat again. I was also irratable and had trouble.focusing.

[lerenard]

I am thinking about trying the 24 hours one, but I feel like I will be like mhowe, pretty much. I get really bad headaches when I am hungry, I get stressed and grumpy too. Because of my fast metabolism I feel good only when I eat small portions every 3 hours, or my stomach starts to hurt. Also, is it allowed if you have a history of gastritis?

I mostly want to try it to see if it really improves eyesight...

 

I read that the more detox you have to do - the worse your side effects during the fast would be. So if you do it every month or even every week it gets easier, and with time it will be just beneficial with no bad stuff.

[happy_snapper]

As far as I have read, the general medical opinion (you know, from real doctors) is that your body detoxes itself and you don't need to starve yourself to get rid of "toxins". Do you know what your kidneys do?

Detoxing is a scam.

 

We don't need to eat as much as we generally do in the wealthy parts of the world, but your body needs nutrients. Yeah, 48 hours isn't going to kill you, but it can't be healthy.

 

Sounds like a fad to me. Why not just eat healthily?

[Batya33]

For mental clarity I would try 24 hours without any processed foods or sugar (other than naturally occurring in fruit) and no caffeine. (Just to be clear -I am not '"preaching" here -I would never be able to do that or want to but I sense that that kind of abstention will get you the results you're looking for mentally and might trigger a more long term change in eating habits).

[agent1607307371]

As long as you have kidneys and a liver that are in working order, detox diets are pointless.

[trust101]

As far as I have read, the general medical opinion (you know, from real doctors) is that your body detoxes itself and you don't need to starve yourself to get rid of "toxins". Do you know what your kidneys do?

Detoxing is a scam.

 

We don't need to eat as much as we generally do in the wealthy parts of the world, but your body needs nutrients. Yeah, 48 hours isn't going to kill you, but it can't be healthy.

 

Sounds like a fad to me. Why not just eat healthily?

 

Just like with anything, there will be pros & cons & different opinions. I am a year shy of completing my medical degree so yes, I do know what our kidneys do.

 

You think it is a scam because I think they have marketed this whole thing poorly by targeting the overweight & as a diet. You are thinking about something else & there is no promotion of water fasting, only information that is available for people to read; about the negatives as well as the benefits. No one is marketing this. It is also the general medical opinion, from 'real doctors' that if you are undertaking this longer than 3 days you do it under medical supervision. There are established clinics accross the states, with 'real doctors.' This is no fad.

[trust101]

I am thinking about trying the 24 hours one, but I feel like I will be like mhowe, pretty much. I get really bad headaches when I am hungry, I get stressed and grumpy too. Because of my fast metabolism I feel good only when I eat small portions every 3 hours, or my stomach starts to hurt. Also, is it allowed if you have a history of gastritis?

I mostly want to try it to see if it really improves eyesight...

 

I read that the more detox you have to do - the worse your side effects during the fast would be. So if you do it every month or even every week it gets easier, and with time it will be just beneficial with no bad stuff.

 

It depends on what your gastritis was caused by & if you are taking any medication. You cannot ingest anything but water so it won't have the same effect.

I do 24 hours as well & I get really bad headaches. For eyesight what's your condition? Eating foods rich in vitamin A helps, also you can get vitamin A eyedrops.

[Cherry009]

There is a lot of info and research here in the UK about intermittent fasting and it is not a fad. A lot of research and a well known doctor who did the 3 day fast himself and improved his health dramatically. Someone also reversed his diabetes by following a fasting diet.

 

Anyway, i have done the 24 hr one, had hunger pangs at times but actually felt ok. I drank black coffee to starve off hunger and actually felt quite refreshed afterwards.

[itsallgrand]

I have done 24 hour and 48 hour water fasts. For what purpose? Spiritual, I guess. I spent my time not doing much physically exerting; no music, no tv, no big distractions. Just visited with friends, took it easy, relaxed, lounged in the pool.

 

What benefits to it? I remember it helped calm me down. And that was the idea of it, for me. Helped to bring me back to the moment, or at least more aware of that, for a while. We had soup afterwards, and I still remember how that soup tasted.

 

To quote Eddie Murphy "best damn cracker I ever ate!".

 

So yeah, I do think there can be some value to fasting. Even if it isn't for a purely medical or physical reason. Depends how someone approaches it, depends if they are well enough to under take it too.

 

Having coffee while fasting would in this case totally defeat the purpose. And have I ever loved my coffee...

[trust101]

Yeah same. I have done a 48-hour one but I think you need 72-hours for some spiritual effect & to let those ketone bodies kick in. The reason I was interested is that I know a guy who quit his smoking habit by water fasting. Because you can't have anything, not even a cigarette. His dentist also informed him that his gums & teeth never looked as healthy.

 

The hardest thing is actually not the hunger I reckon, but ways to pass time. Because once you are in the middle of one you realise how much time you have & how much of it went into thinking about food, eating food, preparing & planning meals.

 

What sort of mental clarity did you have? Better sleep, dreams? Did you also feel more happy or irritated by the hunger?

[itsallgrand]

That is so true...about how aware you become of how much time is spent thinking of food, eating, preparing, thinking of the next meal, etc. Suddenly there is all this extra time. Yet because you aren't eating, you don't want to do anything too energetic. So you can't distract yourself with that either. That's sort of the idea, I think: to challenge the usual distractions and thoughts we may have, or at least, be more aware of them. It's a chance to re-boot. Your physical system and mentally, if you want.

 

The hunger didn't irritate me too much. Perhaps because, it was all voluntary on my part. I knew I could eat at any time if I truly wanted to. And I knew I would eat again.

 

I think the biggest benefit for me from doing it was gaining some calm. I felt more receptive to gratitude; appreciating things I so often take for granted. Very simple things. No real change in sleep or dreams.

 

What was your experience like? What did you gain from it? What did you want out of the experience going in?

[trust101]

My longest water fast was only 48 hours, well 56 counting the next morning. Yeah, suddenly you have all this time on your hands that would have been dedicated to all aspects of food. The hunger wasn't a big issue for me, it was mainly boredom & headaches.

 

What I wanted was the calmness that you just described. I'm normally a calm person but you're right that it alters your perspective on life. All of a sudden the most important things seemed immaterial. It gives you mental strength as well, because for a lot of us we turn to food not because we are hungry but something has negatively impacted us mentally. You realise if you could persevere through this then anything else is achievable.

 

But for these effects to be more enhanced I think you need a minimum of 72 hours. A 24 hour fast is also called intermittent fasting (16-24hr) & it's actually a diet. But yeah, water fasting is absolutely no diet & not for weight loss, though it does help. But you would gradually gain the weight back.

[Cherry009]

I am doing a 24 hour fast now, 22 hours to go haha