Water fasting: what is it for and how to practice it?
Is stopping to eat for a few days to deeply cleanse your body or to lose weight a good idea?
Let me enlighten you on the objectives and benefits of water fasting
Intermittent fasting, dry fasting, water fasting … for the past few years, fasting has become popular and this voluntary food deprivation can take different forms and there are several types of fasts intended to lose weight, eliminate toxins or simply to feel better in your body and in your head. As you will see if you keep reading, Fasting is quite an adventure!
What is water fasting?
As the name suggests, water fasting involves stopping eating for several days. Unlike dry fasting, with water fasting you continue to drink plenty of water, and sometimes even herbal teas and broth as seen with the Buchinger type fast. In dry fasting, not only do you eat nothing, but you don't drink a drop of water either, but we don’t recommend this type of fasting for various reasons.
Water fasting however, to be effective, must last at least 5 days and the objective is twofold: to stimulate the process of self-healing by inducing digestive rest AND to cleanse the body in depth by bringing it into autolysis or autophagy.
Water fasting to stimulate the self-healing process
You should know that digestion is energy-intensive. While the body is busy digesting, it cannot take care of another major function: cleaning the body or eliminating what needs clearing (toxins, worn out or diseased or abnormal cells, foreign pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, etc.), and repair what is damaged. The body has the ability to repair and maintain itself if we allow it. We see this in the event of an injury or accident, when the skin heals from a cut or when bones re-solidifies after breaking. The processes of recovery and maintenance of the body can only take place efficiently when it is at rest. This means that the continual ingestion of food (hello snacking!), stress or lack of sleep for example, can gradually induce clogging up of the body tissues and organs, a weakening of the immune system and ultimately chronic pathologies.
By fasting, we offer ourselves a digestive rest, and therefore we give the opportunity and the time to the body to accomplish its action of maintenance and repair. It is a great way to take care of ourselves that looks like a big spring cleaning for the body! In the past, fasting was a practice integrated into the lives of men and women, particularly through religious practices. Today, these ancestral practices have become rare, even obsolete and many consider them eccentric!
Water fasting a way to deeply cleanse the body
Fasting, and therefore depriving the body of food, will force it to draw on its sugar (glucose) reserves. Glucose is essential for the functioning of the body and in particular, the brain. When water fasting begins, the body will use the sugar currently circulating in the blood. Once it is exhausted, a process taking no more than a few hours, it will draw on its second reserve, that is to say the liver. After about a day, this reserve will also be depleted if eating is not resumed, and the body will therefore look for an alternative supply of glucose in its fat reserves!
To simplify things - the body will use its reserves of lipids and therefore fatty acids to manufacture its required glucose. After 3 to 5 days depending on the individual, the body will go into autolysis or autophagy mode: it will “eat” its own cells for lack of glucose. Fortunately, the body is intelligent and will not attack vital organs. It will use the diseased (abnormal/damaged/worn out) cells of the body as a priority. This leads to a deep cellular cleansing and is particularly visible if there are cysts for example. The body will lyse them, that is to say, destroy them to produce energy. The experience of fasting is thus very beneficial for the body, but also for the mind. This deep detox indeed leads to a reduction in cellular stress and overall well-being.
Water fasting - how is that done?
Starting a water fast cannot be improvised and above all, cannot be done overnight. It is essential to follow a strict food protocol which consists of gradually removing different categories of food (proteins, carbs, starches, fruits, vegetables, etc.) several days before the start of the fast. It is also necessary to purge the body of what remains in the digestive tract (concretely, to empty the intestine of faeces). At the end of the fast, it's the same principal … you don't start eating again overnight, it would be too stressful for the digestive system which was at rest. It is therefore important to resume a normal diet gently by gradually reincorporating the different categories of food over a few days.
There are several styles of fasting, with different durations. But to carry out an effective water fast, a duration of 5 days is a minimum (once or twice a year is ideal), so that the body has time to enter the autolysis and cleansing phase efficiently. Additionally, you can do mini-fasts (24 to 48 hours) from time to time to put the digestive tract at rest or even intermittent fasts (which consists of restricting your eating to specific windows in your day).
Which water to drink during water fasting?
Water fasting … but which water? This question is obviously one of the first that comes to mind when embarking on this journey. Many mineral waters are now available to consumers and it is not always easy to find your way around the different brands. The question of which water to drink is obviously even more crucial during a fast. Cleansing of the organs can only be done if there is a difference in concentration of minerals between the water and the organs. It is necessary to be attentive to several things, such as the overall mineral content of the water, to vary the brands so as to avoid drinking richly mineralized water for too long. On the other hand, water with a low mineral content can be consumed regularly.
Contrary to what one might think, highly mineralized water will not fill your mineral deficiencies and drinking too much of it can tire the kidneys out and might be contraindicated in cases of disorders related to hypertension for example. In addition, hard water can contain more heavy metals than soft water. A tip is to look at the dry residue of mineral content listed on your bottled water which ideally should be less than 200mg/l. Properly filtered tap water, and possibly low mineral bottled water like Volvic are the waters best suited to the practice of water fasting.
Water fasting - take it easy with exercise, but do participate in gentle physical activity
The principle of water fasting is obviously to consume only liquids. If mineral water is the main liquid to absorb, it can be supplemented by herbal teas without sugar, but also sometimes vegetable broths and diluted fruit & vegetable juices at the very beginning. It is important to hydrate the body regularly throughout the day to help detoxify the body, but also to avoid discomfort. It is also perfectly normal to feel weak at times, especially when practicing water fasting for the first time. This is not compatible with the intensive practice of sport and must rather be part of a rest period that one grants to one's body. Fasting is a time of rest, and the deprivation of food does not allow you to continue the classic activities of daily life which could be the best way to wear yourself out. Conversely, lying down at home all day is just as bad a calculation. Fasting releases many toxins that need to be eliminated. For this, it is necessary to maintain an appropriate, gentle physical activity and to oxygenate a lot. That is why our retreats are designed the way they are, with gentle activities such as walking in nature, gentle yoga, treatments and rest periods during the day. During your retreat with us, you are taken care of by fasting professionals, we modulate the physical activity sessions according to the particularities of each one and care is provided every steps of the way for the cleansing process to be efficient. Our retreats give you the perfect opportunity to tune in, listen to your body, and to take precious time out for yourself.
What are the contraindications to water fasting?
Water fasting is not practiced lightly and we recommend not to embark on this journey alone. The phenomenon of looking for glucose in the liver and fat results in the formation of what are called ketone bodies. They come from the breakdown of lipids. An accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood can lead to symptoms such as headaches, nausea, aches and pains, pimples, insomnia, intense emotional states, etc. which are also know as “keto flu” symptoms. Sometimes this accumulation is very strong as the body is in a state of auto-intoxication. Being able to recognize these symptoms, react accordingly so as to efficiently support the secretory organs of detoxification in order to flush out the toxins, is therefore essential. During your fast with us, you will be accompanied by a trained person (important if it is your first fast) who will accompany you and give you the necessary advice according to your symptoms and state of health.
Water fasting is not recommended for everyone (please refer to our page “Who should not fast?”). In particular, it is formally contraindicated for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as it could be dangerous for the baby. We also advise against fasting for people who are exhausted or on a burn out. To fast, you must have a certain vitality at baseline, otherwise you will not have the required strength. In this case, you will first have to go through a revitalization phase. We also advise against fasting for people who have psychiatric disorders, and eating disorders because this could notably reinforce the disorder. As far as health problems are concerned, this must be studied on a case-by-case basis, thus the reason we get you to fill in a confidential health form. People with type 1 diabetes, certain deficiencies or chronic diseases should also avoid Fasting.
Finally, we generally advise people who are significantly overweight not to start fasting. We have seen that the body will use fat stores to produce glucose. Fat stores also contain a large amount of trapped toxins and waste. The massive re-circulation of these toxins could lead to severe auto-intoxication of the person. The greater the fat reserves, the more the person is exposed to this risk. In any case, it will require monitoring and vigilant support, or at least shorter fasts in several stages.
Water fasting for weight loss: good or bad idea?
Even if the main objective of water fasting is not to lose weight, many people (men and women) practice it for this purpose. But beware, this is not about starving yourself to lose pounds by over stressing your body. The goals of water fasting are quite different (revitalization and cleansing). However, it is true that the practice of fasting leads to weight loss. This weight loss however, will necessarily be regained as soon as the person's eating habits are resumed. Losing weight on a long-term basis involves changing eating habits, setting up appropriate physical activity, but also and ESPECIALLY emotional support. As part of our retreat, we educate people who want to lose weight and/or who have bad diets so that they can come away better equipped to regain their health and to put in place an ideal long term weight loss program. As mentioned before, fasting is not indicated for people who are significantly overweight due to the risks of self-intoxication that this entails. For people suffering from Eating Disorders, the person risks reinforcing the psychological mechanism (in particular, the vicious circle of deprivation and restriction, leading to malnutrition and serious heath issues). If, however, you are looking for a simple weight loss tool, with a few extra pounds to lose, fasting can indeed be a precious help on this path. Not only will it restore awareness of your relationship to food, but it can also reduce overall body inflammation, which is often a parameter that hinders weight loss. This type of fast cannot however be isolated, it will require, as mentioned before, a serious commitment to implement a new healthier lifestyle and a balanced nutritious diet moving forward.
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