How to do a prolonged water fast

After having fasted for 7 days twice and once for 10 days, I became obviously very interested in the topic and studied the benefits and what it does to the body.
After having read several books on the topic and countless articles on the internet, here is my summary of how to approach water fasting to get the most benefits and make it as easy as possible.

Reines, stilles Wasser ist die Grundlage für das Fasten.

The Preparation:

A preparation is not essential but it can make your fasting experience much easier. The best tip I can give to anyone planning ahead for a water fast, is to eat a very low carbohydrate diet leading up to the fast for at least 5-7 days. During that time the focus should be put on protein intake and low carbohydrate vegetables. This will pull your metabolic shift from carbohydrates to fats ahead and out of the fast. That way you go into the fast somewhat adapted to ketosis. Of course not all cells have switched fuel sources, but wasting of lean muscle mass is greatly reduced in this way.

The water fast:

During the actual fast, it's best to consume only pure water. No salt, potassium or any minerals. Of course, depending on the length of the fast, you have to look out for any symptoms of electrolyte imbalances after a longer time period. But for hunger and the actual purpose of the fast, autophagy and to rest the bowels, you want to consume nothing that could stimulate digestion. Drinking herbal teas actually makes the fast more difficult instead of easier. The flavor signals the body to start the digestion process and it makes you more hungry rather than less.

You can decide if you want to use something like enemas or salt water flushed to "clean" out the bowels at the beginning of a fast. I have done with and without it, and both ways I had no issues. But I have found the salt-water flush to be uncomfortable and you run the risk that it does not work, which leaves you bloated and your electrolytes out of balance. Enemas are the most pleasant way to empty the bowels. If you had a lot of fiber in your last meal, an enema is a good idea, otherwise the stool might become hard over the fast if you were not able to completely pass it during the first days.

If you do the fast because you are sick and want to heal something specifically, you should rest and abstain from heavy exercise. I have found though that at least some outside walking daily is very beneficial. I have also exercised (running) during another fast and found it to be no problem. But you can only do that if you have enough fat mass and do not intend to fast as long as possible.

Drink according to your thirst. I actually found that to be difficult, because most of my life I drank a certain set amount per day. Therefore I have found the optimal amount to be when the urine remains only slightly yellow. This gives the kidneys enough water to deal with the increased elimination.
In case you experience pain in the kidney area, first increase your water intake and if that does not help, you can take half a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. This helps the kidneys buffer the acids.

Breaking the fast:

Breaking the fast can be done in several different ways. But in general it is important to start with a reduced amount and eat slowly. Expect to be back to full digestive capacity in about a third of the amount of time that you fasted. If you fasted for three weeks, slowly bring back up food intake over the course of one week.
Most fasting practitioners recommend to start with vegetable and fruit juices. I would only stick with low sugar vegetable juices as the sugar content of fruit juices can overwhelm the body. After vegetable juices I would go to steamed vegetables and whole fruits. After that cooked grains and lastly legumes and nuts.
Depending on which diet you want to follow after the fast, it is also possible to break the fast with high-fat foods. Starting with an avocado or raw nut butters is a good idea.
I have tried both approaches and both of them worked.

Interesting benefit of short 7-10 day fasts:

I have found that the greatest benefit of a 7-10 day fast, in practical terms, is that is completely resets your taste buds. That gives you the opportunity to follow any diet you want after the fast and if you consequently stick to the new diet, you can taste and enjoy foods you didn't like before.
For example, after one of my water fasts I chose to eat the diet recommended by Dr. Esselstyn. A low-fat, whole-foods, plant-based diet, without oil, sugar and salt.
For most people that diet is very difficult to stick to in the beginning. But coming from a water only fast, the taste buds are so sensitive that it is easy to avoid all oil, sugar and salt. You basically compress the adaptation period of about a month down to one week of fasting.

Did I fast to completion? And my low-carb fasting exit!

My fast to completion officially came to an end. I wasn’t expecting for it to be so short. But it is not surprising either. I started out with a low body fat percentage (visible abs) and overall with a BMI that classified me as underweight. Additionally I proceeded the fast with an active lifestyle: Working, walking, ice skating and body-weight exercises.

Why did I end the fast?

Given the cold weather I was doing the fast in, it was no surprise that I quickly used up my reserves. But I trusted my body to tell me when to stop the fast. First indicator was that my tongue cleared up. It was no longer coated in white and my breath became much less offensive.

Additionally I noticed a feeling in my throat. I was first thinking it is increased thirst. But it was not relieved by drinking more. So from what I have read, this is the beginning of real hunger. I also had the desire to eat, even though I was confused at first. Because this came so early in the fast and I had expected to go for a couple of more days. But I guess my body went through the issues he had to heal and decided that I should better start eating again. I guess that is a good sign with me weighing 51kg at 173cm after the fast. With a considerable amount of muscle left, it indicates my fat reserves are low.

How did I break the fast low carb?

So I broke the fast, but not in a hurry. I purchased celery and white cabbage to make a juice out of it first. Over the course of 5 hours I drank about 500ml of this fresh juice. Approximately half celery juice, half cabbage juice. It is incredible how good and how sweet even this combination tasted. So the end of a fast is a good point to start on a low sugar diet. Your taste-buds are so sensitive you will get a lot of satisfaction from much lower amount of sugar.

Next morning I continued with a green smoothie with spinach, coconut, flaxseeds and avocado and one date. I made a big shake and took it with me to work. I drank about 100ml each hour. It was a whole avocado in total and about 300gr of spinach.

On the side I drank some diluted sauerkraut juice to repopulate my colon with good bacteria.

I think the most important point of breaking the fast, is to keep the amount of food low. And then it might work with almost any food.

The great advantage of breaking the fast low carb

Many people experience uncontrollable hunger after the fast, when they start drinking fruit juices and eating fruit. This is to be expected, because of the huge insulin spike and blood sugar fluctuations. I experienced the same thing after my first two prolonged fasts. It can be a torture to stop yourself from eating when you mind screams at you to dig in. You have basically cut yourself off from the fuel supply you were using during the fast. Insulin inhibits the use of fats and ketones. Therefore your body is immediately thrown into other metabolic pathways. And those need time to properly restart and build all the necessary enzymes.

Breaking the fast low carb is very different. I experienced no such thing as cravings or hunger. I felt very content with the first sips of the juices. The celery and cabbage juice has probably 5-8 times less sugar than any fruit juice. And given I drank it so slowly, it probably did not cause a considerable rise in blood sugar.

Also the smoothie on the next day was very satisfying. I was not craving more. Instead I was happy that it kept my stomach engaged and working on digesting it. I did not even finish all that I prepared, even though it was only about 800kcal for the day. Would it have been a smoothie of 800kcal of bananas you could be certain, to find me drinking it within one hour and ravenous immediately afterwards.

If you consider the metabolic side, I am actually not changing much from the fasted state. I am utilizing the same metabolic pathways, just that the digestion has to be restarted and the energy is coming from fats that originate from outside the body. From there it is the same thing. And body tissue and proteins that were formerly broken down are now coming partially from glucose and partially from ingested protein.

I am glad, I discovered this way of breaking and entering a fast!

Any issues?

The breaking of the fast this was not without problems. Immediately after my bowels started to move again, I experienced some pain. But I would guess this is not so much related to low carb foods as it is to the hardened feces that formed in my large intestines and that I still did not pass. The pain might be caused by the contractions of the bowels in combination with those stones of waste. So nothing really bad happened and I attribute that to the fact that I was easily able to keep my portion size small. In addition I spread my portions throughout the day instead of having a few big meals.

In another post I will explain why I am now more fully in ketosis than ever before and why I will continue to eat a high fat vegan diet for as long as it is suitable. (Summer with all the fresh fruit available here in Germany might be an exception) There are different levels of ketone adaptation. 

Reasons for fasting to completion

Why fast so long until the body has used up all its reserves? Here are a few reasons I have come across so far and that I find make some sense:

1. The body will have completed autolysis: In theory, when your body’s fat reserves are mostly used up, you also have gone through all damaged tissues and either repaired or used them for energy. This leaves no damaged dysfunctional cells. Making the body efficient and disease free.
2. From this point you can start building healthy tissue. As only health cells remained, you will only generate healthy cells when refeeding. As their DNA is still intact proper cell-replication takes place.
3. All stored toxins have been released from the body. Fat tissue stores most toxins. And once it is gone, with it are the toxins. If you continue to watch your toxin exposure after the fast, mainly through a healthy diet, you should be able to maintain this clean state.
4.  Addictions to coffee, alcohol and unhealthy food have been broken. If you are careful not to engage in them again it is very easy now to stay away from them.
5. Your body has reached maximum efficiency. And if your goal was to get to a healthy bodyweight, then this is a good starting point. You can reap the benefits of caloric restriction after the fast, if you slowly increase your calories again.
6. You are highly adapted to a ketogenic state. This could be the ideal time to start a ketogenic or low carb diet(plant based of course).
7. Probably for the first time in your life (and maybe the only time) you will experience true hunger. This in turn will lead to the awareness that skipping a meal does not cause hunger.
8. When breaking the fast earlier, the body is actually not yet ready to take in food. The process of cleansing and healing is not yet finished.

Water Fasting to Completion – Day 7

As I did not sleep as much last night, this night was considerably better. I slept at least 7 good hours. Without waking up in between, feeling very rested. But then I fell back asleep just before my alarm went off. Again not the best start into the day. And my motivation to get up was extremely low.  And that is actually interesting to notice. I now see how much of a motivation booster food is for me. Especially when I was eating only one meal a day and ate it in the morning. I was jumping out of bed, because I knew after my workout food would wait for me.

But on the water fast, with probably many more days without food ahead, motivation to start the day is much lower for me.

Working day and metal energy

But as I went through my working day, I felt extremely focused. I work a desk job that is mentally engaging. Putting on some music and working on the tasks brought me in a hyper focused state very easily. Time was flying by much more quickly. I would say this is called being in the zone. And sadly I do not experience it very often. My theory is that fasting (or a ketogenic state?) lowers the level of engagement, required to release positive neuro-transmitters. Or they are generally more elevated. This is also why you do not need to do much. Boredom arises but I still find it easier to handle than usually. I just feel content and happy.

Body weight

As my body weight is probably extremely low, I am wondering how much longer I can go. I am aware that I am probably losing a lot of lean mass. But my experience of previous fasts has shown me that I do not need to fear that. After a fast, the body acts like a dry sponge. Absorbing and utilizing everything with incredible efficiency. Coupled with training, it is easy to gain back a lot of the lost muscle very quickly. Might be worth tracking, for a good before-after comparison.

Mental tip to last you through a long fast

After this days experience, my recommendation would definitely not go against working while fasting. If you are not having a very stressful job, it might even make the fast easier. Keep mentally engaged but relaxed and see the time fly by. Do not count the days and take it day by day. To look at all the fasting days ahead can be daunting. I have found it to be much easier to stay in the present moment and feel the present moment. If you can stand the feeling of fasting right now, you will also be able to do it the coming days. The feeling in the present moment is probably not going to change. Whether you are on day 4 or day  14. Given you have enough reserves left.

Celery juice is good to break a water fast

Mineral Deficiencies?

Today I technically broke my water fast. I am continuing with a juice fast. But not the typical kind where you drink fruit juices. I am having celery juice and cabbage. In minor quantities as well. I will have two glasses of this a day. Amounting to about 50kcal. In addition I will start drinking herbal teas.

The reason for that are muscle twitches. I had them now continuously for several days. I hope they are related to electrolyte imbalances or deficiencies. Therefore I drink the vegetable juices throughout the day. In the hope that they will supply some minerals. 

Water Fasting to Completion – Day 6

This day was actually more difficult mentally. I was reading negative things about long term fasting on the internet and obviously started doubting my approach. I was thinking about quitting it before hunger returns. Or if I should switch to juice fasting, etc. 

Determination

But I am determined to do this experiment and also complete it. I have now been through the hardest part. If I quit now I would regret it later, because I do not know what it could have done for me.

If I want to be successful, I have to find a way to deal with the boredom. Just getting my thoughts away from food. If I fall into the trap of eating out of boredom, I have not broken with my previous habits. They have already improved on the one meal a day diet. But I would be going back to regular smaller meals first. In order not to overtax my digestive system after it has been resting for so long.

Digestion and sour stomach

My stomach is still not shut down completely. This is annoying. Many other fasters mention that they do not feel any hunger in the stomach after day 2 or 3. But for me I still get the regular sour feeling.

My explanation for this is that bile is expelled into the stomach to release toxins from the liver. And this starts the process of digestion. I can also feel that some matter has accumulated in my large intestine. But it is too small to trigger a full bowel movement. So I would like to get rid of it before it hardens up too much. But I do not want to take a laxative again. I am going to buy an enema and try to get of it that way. As one of my goals is to get rid of hemorrhoids through the process of water fasting, passing a hard stool at the end of it, might be counterproductive.

Sleep and energy levels

I did not sleep very long this night. 4-5 hours at most. And felt tired therefore in the morning.

Energy levels are generally more even. Without food demanding energy for digestion there are no ups and downs during the day. This can make it more pleasant for some. Or more challenging for others. If you are tired at times, where you can relax that is a welcome and worthwhile feeling. You do not have to think about what to do, when you do not have enough energy anyways. Having the same (high) energy all day long gives much more room for boredom and requires more creativity on your part ;)

Water Fasting to Completion - Day 4

Today things got even easier for me. I slept again wonderful and felt more very energetic when I woke up. So much that I put on several layers of clothes and went out into the park to go ice skating. Ut I still ended up getting cold when I was outside. But mainly on the hands.

The experience of ice-skating was nice and I did not feel weak. And it definitely feels good to move around a little and get some fresh air during the fast. In general I can say that my outlook on life and mood has improved in general.

Molded by hardship, animals and man became the beautiful beings they are today...

Hunger wise, I do not have any desire to eat and the thought of ending this beautiful state I am in right now, is not very appealing. I hope it stays this way for several more days.

Towards the end of the day I got a severe pain in my leg for about half an hour. Which got better when I massaged it. According to some people this might be a symptom of the release of toxins. But I am not putting up with any theory here. I will probably never know what the cause was. Another peculiar symptom resolved itself. I had very cold and red knees for years. Before I went to bed, they were intensely red, but in a more light color. Before they were bluish-red. And today the redness is completely gone and my knees look normal again for the first time in years. I hope this will go hand in hand with reduced pain while running. Sadly I do not have taken a before picture. So an afterwards picture of normal looking knees won’t tell you much.

The most enjoyable thing is still lying on my heating blanket and listening to audiobooks, reading and just relaxing. This is also nice about fasting, because it is the only time you can allow yourself to be entirely lazy and do nothing physical at all if you like. No excess food energy that needs to be exercised off… 

I also have been observing a change in my urine. During the first three days it smelled and looked differently. Now it is lighter in color and smells more pleasant. My water intake has probably not changed much. I am still drinking according to thirst. Probably around 1 liter per day.

Water Fasting to Completion - Day 3

This morning I realized for the first time, that I am now truly fasting. I was feeling slightly better on day two, but now I feel completely empty and this intimidates me a little. I am not afraid, but definitely curious to see how this fast develops.  I think that from now on I can fast without much desire for food.

On a successful fast your body might tell you, that it does not want you to eat this.
Not even the cookie on the right ;)

Food even puts me off. Here goes a small experience/story showing how strongly 3 days of fasting has turned my desire for food complete upside down:

I tested myself today at work. There were cookies lying around that were free for everyone to eat. I took one and smelled it and seriously tried to evaluate my desire for it as openly as possible. Kind of like you would consider it as a “normal” person, not fasting, not being on any special diet. The result really amazed me. There was not only zero desire for it, I even got slightly nauseated by the thought of putting this into my mouth and then having to deal with the digestion and the feeling it gives me. It smelled good though. And I would have enjoyed eating it at other times. This shows that my fears before the fast, that it will be a drudgery,  requiring all of my will power, turned out to be ungrounded. It was based on my (and usually everyone’s) experience of being dependent on the stimulation from food rather than it’s nourishment.

In my opinion this is a clear sign my body is sending me. I am sure if my digestive track grew a voice, saying something like this: “Hey you deaf consciousness up there. Can you finally hear me? Great, because I want to do some serious house cleaning down here. I wanted to rebuild your intestines and stomach already for a long time. But you kept throwing unnecessary stuff in there, so my little workers couldn’t go to work. Now keep some water coming as I demand it and do not worry about all else. We have all the raw materials already available.”

It is now clear to me that I was not able to listen to my body and especially my digestion before. I had issues with overeating and was clearly not absorbing much from my food. Sometimes I was craving junk food and also indulged in it and then I was thinking I already screwed up and ended up eating even more of it. With sweets I was having a hard time controlling my appetite. With any starchy meal I develop a huge amount of burping and gas in the stomach. Even with those issues I regarded them as normal for a long time. Even though I am a smaller size and often times less active than others I could always eat much more before feeling satisfied. And that without gaining weight. What some might think is a gift, was actually deteriorating my health.

With this fasting experience I want to get to a point again where I can trust my instincts and my hunger. I guess the signals were screaming at me before, but I was not listening. I think the fast will reset me in this regard.

Back to what I experienced today:

I feel clean and light. I like how smooth my skin feels. Fasting can really be enjoyable. I am a little more tired mentally than yesterday. I slept for 5 hours and could not fall back asleep until half an hour before my alarm went off. So I was awoken form pretty deep sleep. Which is never a good start of the day anyways… Next days I will allow myself more rest again. The sleep felt really refreshing and deep though. No major change in my dreams or dream-recall.

During work I felt slightly more absorbed in the activity. But not necessarily in a purely positive way, it also felt like it required more attention and therefore other things had to fall into the background.

After work though I was glad that I could go back to my home and relax. I have an electric heating blanket that I use to stay warm. And on the fast it is the most comfortable thing and I can highly recommend it if you are fasting in a cold climate. So for the rest of the evening I read and listened to an audiobook.

I was thinking about taking a laxative for a few days. And finally I drank half a liter of water with 30g of sodium-sulphate. This cleaned out my bowels for the following few hours. There was still some food residue coming out with that, so it might not have been the worst decision.

Water Fasting to Completion - Day 1 & 2

Day 1:

I spend most of the time in bed and was able to keep warm. But I also went out for a walk to get some movement and fresh air. For heavier individuals I would definitely recommend regular light exercise during a fast. But I try to conserve as much energy as possible. And therefore I will not spent to much time outside, especially now that the temperature in January is below 0°C.

I felt good and less hungry (empty stomach) than I anticipated. I read recommendations that say to even keep mental activity to a minimum, but outside of my meditation practice I cannot stand the boredom of not doing anything for very long. I keep my mind busy with reading, writing and listening to music.

I had two bowel movements this day, which were quite normal. The day before I ate also quite normally, so that was to be expected. 

Overall I probably drank less than one liter of water. I do not have a great desire for drinking water. And even the times I drank where not really because of very strong thirst. The seven and ten day fasts I did before, I was drinking to much water. Probably upwards of two liters per day. Now I see how this was detrimental and its connection to the issues I had during those fasts. For example on the second fast I felt so cold, that lying on a heating blanket was not enough to get me to feeling warm. But I was probably also not adjusted to burning fat, as I was eating a mainly fruit and starch based diet before those fasts. 

From that experience I would now recommend to drink according to thirst and eat a high fat diet. At least a couple of weeks leading up to the fast. This will make the fast quite an enjoyable experience, in my experience ;)

Day 2:

I had another bowel movement of smaller size this day. I was a little surprised about that, as it was about 40 hours after the last meal.

In general I feel really good. I can definitely say that I feel better than before fasting. Listening to music has become different. Kind of like the music is more rich, more saturated and more surrounding. It really sucks my complete attention in if I close my eyes and listen with headphones. It feels similar to listening to music when taking a small dose of magic mushrooms. I am sure the fast is starting to affect my brain chemistry.

During the night I had vivid dreams and some of them were lucid. Even though I did not remember to act out the dream-goal I wanted to achieve, I still was able to remember the dream vividly.

Water-wise, I definitely drank again less than a liter. 

I still feel warm and apart from muscular weakness, I do not feel tired or exhausted at all. To the contrary, I can feel a generally more positive outlook develop in me with an increased desire to do things and get things done. I look forward to the experience of going to work tomorrow. 

Today I bought an audiobook called extinction. I really enjoy the experience of lying bed and getting fully absorbed into the story and once own imagination. This way I can really see a long fast being very enjoyable, even with almost complete bed-rest if that should be necessary. 

Water Fasting to Completion - What it is and how I go about it!

To treat an underlying issue I had for many years I am conducting a water fast. I have not decided about the length of the fast as advised by Dr. Shelton. He advises to finish a fast with the return of real hunger. This is not a hunger felt in the stomach but in the mouth and throat. So I will embark on this water fast without knowing up front how long it will take.
This will be my journal of the experience.

There was once a whole season, where food might
not have been so plentiful and readily available as it is today.
We had to be highly adapted to even prolonged fasting.

Why do I conduct a prolonged water fast even though I do not need (or even can afford) to lose any weight?

As for most people, who embark on the journey of a water fast, my reasons are health related. Nine years ago I have been diagnosed with intestinal disorders called ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease. Yes, doctors diagnosed me with both, whereas the usual reasoning is, that you can only have one. 

Even though I know think that the outbreak of these illnesses were stress related, I did not see that back then. And from a medical perspective it is said to be an incurable condition. And that pervaded my thinking for many years.

About six years ago I switches to a mainly plant based diet and through trial and error found out that I could control my symptoms. But I never really managed to stick to one approach and become completely symptom free for an extended period of time. Most of the times I have done blood test, the marker CRP, showing the systemic inflammation level, was slightly elevated. Thus increasing my long term risk of developing complications in other areas as well.

With the water fast I try to restore completely healthy tissues in the digestive tract. Starving out any harmful intestinal bacteria that might be present. Restoring digestive capacity. Gaining healthy weight, so that I my weight is back into the normal weight range. And increasing nutrient absorption efficiency so that my body is able to digest what I eat. 

In parallel to the digestive disorders I developed a skin condition called psoriasis. It is only limited to my scalp, but there is almost always present. It is not in a very bad condition, but I have to make sure to wash my hair daily, otherwise dandruff will be visible. Additional itching of the scalp makes this a very annoying condition to have in the long run.

Lastly I have three further "injuries" that I hope to heal during the fast:

1. while running a couple of weeks ago in the cold weather and stretching before being fully warmed up, I pulled a muscle in the back of my upper leg. It is quite painful at times and did not heal yet
2. Three years ago I injured my shoulder while training in the gym. Even prolonged pauses from training did not manage to heal it. Every time I resume even moderately heavy lifting with my shoulder I feel pain in that area.
3. When running for more than 3-4 km at a time, my right knee starts to hurt. From an MRI scan I know that it is a small cyst, which is too small to operate. I hope that a fast to completion might dissolve this obviously unnecessary tissue.

What are the specifics of the fast?

I go about the fast with one primary rule in mind: I will listen to my body and my instincts. 

I set secondary rules to ensure I can trust my body, its signals and my instincts. 

What do I mean by that more specifically?

• I am drinking according to thirst and not any set amount that I think I need to drink according to some theory. This is probably much less than the recommended two liters per day.
• I will resist to put food in my stomach based on the feeling of emptiness/acidity in the stomach. This is supposed to last for 2-3 days. 
• I will resume eating once the unmistakable sensation of true hunger arises. This is supposed to feel similar to true thirst, which is felt in the mouth and the throat. And only the desire for pure water is present and strongly sought after

The secondary rules are the following and serve the purpose of creating an environment in which our instincts evolved and can be trusted:

• When breaking the fast I will resist the urge to indulge in unnatural food. I cannot consider to trust my instinct when I allow for unnatural food to be part of the choices that they can safely judge.
• I plan on continuing my high fat whole food plant based diet after the fast
• Being optimally adapted to fat burning after the fast, I do not plan on breaking the fast with carbohydrate-rich foods, as those might not be the foods a fast could be broken with under natural circumstances.
• I plan on drinking half a glass of nut milk at each hour after the sensation of natural hunger returns
• On the second day I increase that to a full glass every to hours. 
• On the third day I plan on having nuts, seeds and leafy greens blended into smoothies, gradually increasing in size
• As it has not been done many times before to break a fast in such a way I have to be extra careful of any symptoms of indigestion

So this is how I plan to go about this fast and what I hope to gain from it. 

I would like to hear about your experiences with fasting and what you think about my approach and the reasoning behind it!