In: food, drink. Also: dry-fasting.
Backlinks: dry-fasting, vegetarian.
Wet fasting
All known religious faiths in the world have encouraged the practice of fasting.
Fasting is a method of restricting food intake, and has been practiced for thousands of years.
Wet fasting means drinking only liquids for X days. Nothing solid.
Examples of liquids are: water, tea, clear soup, vegetable juice, leaf juice, or fruit juice.
In case you feel very hungry, a smoothie, or a cream soup meal is also allowed to keep you going for a longer time.
This type of fasting can be done for 1 day, up to 40 days. Of course, someone who never tried fasting before should only try it for a couple of days the first times.
What makes it hard is not the body, it’s the mind. The mind will make you crave all kinds of foods that you normally eat, so fasting is an exercise of will just as much as is good for the body.
1 day will be absolutely no problem for any type of body.
It’s not recommended for: children, pregnant women, some serious illness; they shouldn’t fast for long periods.
Personal
Me and my wife fast for 3-4 days every couple of months. We started in spring 2020.
We consume mostly vegetable and leaf juice, but also 1 fruit juice a day, and tea and water as much as we can drink.
3 big glasses of juice are generally enough to keep us satiated.
We don’t eat less food before the fast, but we do eat less the first day after.
What I personally noticed is how my body reacts to hunger. It’s amazing!
I become really sharp and alert, like I’m prepared to go hunting. I can smell food from a mile away, I can recognize subtle notes of perfumes. My sense of smell is really dull when I’m eating solid food.
I’m also super moody and weak after the second day. In my mind I crave all kinds of things and I have to fight it.
I never had any health issues, it’s just normal. The juices have more than enough vitamins to keep me going, they’re probably healthier than my day to day foods anyway.
Why
Our digestive system works without any rest, day and night. A water fast will give much needed rest to the entire digestive system to repair and heal itself.
Fasting can reverse the aging process and boost up immunity.
There’s also a spiritual aspect, as people realize how little we really need to survive.
When there is sudden lack of food intake, you may feel weakness, dizziness, nausea, etc., which is normal.
There may also be a drop in blood pressure and slight headaches.
Links
A nice community:
https://reddit.com/r/fasting/
The Benefits of Fasting
Affecting our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects:
https://allaboutfasting.com/benefits-of-fasting.html
Popular intermittent fasting schedules for weight loss
Which one is most likely to work for beginners
https://womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/a29349587/intermittent-fasting-schedule
Cancer and Fasting / Calorie Restriction:
https://osher.ucsf.edu/patient-care/integrative-medicine-resources/cancer-and-nutrition/faq/cancer-and-fasting-calorie-restriction
http://santosaphuket.com/fasting-water-vs-dry
https://dietdoctor.com/fasting-affects-physiology-hormones
https://neurosciencenews.com/intermittent-fasting-neurogenesis-memory-18522 - Intermittent Fasting Improves Long Term Memory
