fasting regularly meaning eating no solid foods but still drinking water is good for your body, physically and mentally. Its like pushing a reset button on your digestive system.
I'd start with three days (maybe multiple times) and then go for seven. Be careful after several days, you might have blackouts for several seconds and fall, especially when standing up too quickly.
As a person that lives in a place where food is not an abundant resource, I find the whole "fasting" idea nonsensical. Still, I would be interested in your results if you choose to try it.
I can't imagine why anyone would willingly go a whole week without food. If it makes you feel good though, have at it.
If it's your first time fasting, seven days may be too much. Try with few days, make sure to limit your physical activity, and use that time for self growth. Your brain is on another level when fasting, so it's easier for you to understand yourself. If your goal with fasting is not only health but also self improvement, there is something called "dopamine fast" which means not only not eating food, but also not using your phone/PC/social media/reading/exercising and even not engaging in social activity. You could try this for one day while you're fasting, it really helps to build up the character and to understand your own desires. If you try dopamine fast make sure to write journal in order to maximize results.
Fasting is a powerful technique for spiritual growth and clarity. Going without food liberates you from your daily routine and removes one of the major means by which you can hide from the tension and suffering which is a daily part of existence. I have fasted for 3-4 days at times. Make sure you drink plenty of water and avoid heavy machinery, intensive exercise etc., I would also recommend you channel what energy you do have into serving others. Creating something, teaching something, whatever it may be. One of my heroes, Steve Pavlina, created a video for everyday of his 40 Day Fast. That's nothing short of heroic. I fasted for four days and took myself into the forest for a Vision Quest. This is a gift for others because it gives you a clear sense of mission and the courage to carry it out. This would be my suggestion. Gather different perspectives. Consider your options. Feel into it. And then decide for yourself.
When fasting only walking is fine. Don't do your deadlifts and squats while doing prolonged fast. You won't have energy for that, and your muscle won't repair properly.
Unless you have some medical condition fasting for a week is completely safe. Anything up to 10 days is generally safe. But the longer you go more careful you have to be. I did fast for 40 days on water recently for mainly spiritual reasons and also detoxification. I'm alive, haha. Fasting for 3 days resets your immune system, longer fasts helps to reset hormonal system (which is part of addiction). I did in 40 days what could have otherwise taken me 140 when it comes to healing PMO addiction - fasting is extremely powerful to cure addictions. There is also this thing called autophagy where your body selectively picks out old and damaged cells to burn them for energy while leaving healthy cells intact. It cleans the body form all disease.
That is really interesting to hear. Could you point me to some resources or maybe elaborate more on how you did it, because I'd like to try that sometime. Should it be done when I'm not very busy, or is it fine to do when I am in school, for example. How careful should I get? Regards
What an interesting topic! Yeah, fasting is a powerful healing tool! My longest was 3 days, but that's just fear that prevented me to go longer. 7 days for the first one may be a bit tough. Just try 48 to 72 hours first. Listen to your body. Don't starve yourself. If a hunger doesn't go away after some water or even a hot tea, and you start having headaches, then eat. I'd say hours 24 to 48 are the hardest. Your body goes into emergency mode. It's ridiculous because we have food around and we won't let ourselves die. It is an interesting experience. If I may add a suggestion, and it could make it easy. Go into ketosis the last few days before the fast. Allow your body to switch to fat burning mode before starting the fast. Reasoning behind this is if you go into keto flu while fasting it might prove harder but not for the good reasons. Go into keto flu before fasting, and once you feel ok when in ketosis, then fast. Man you'll see your waist slimming down like crazy, without even begin hungry.
Well Ideally you would consult a physician who specializes in fasting. And I emphasize - who specializes in it. Because most medical doctors are completely unaware about this, in fact they are not just ignorant on benefits of this but are miscalculated to believe this is way more dangerous than it actually is. I did not consult anybody, but I am kind of arrogant like that. You should not rely on strangers advice on internet. That being said, should you do it when not busy and how to do it? Well, ideally you would lie in bed all the days of your fast. That would give the most healing. Obviously people won't do this, so at least try to be as sedentary as possible. It also depends how long fast. If it's 3 days or less you can do as you usually do, you can even exercise as normally. You not gonna lose muscle as long as you refeed enough after these 3 days. If it's longer than 4 days you can still exercise and be active, but you will need to supplement some electrolytes in your water to do so or else you will get light headed and weak in the knees real fast. At this point exercising will start to not be so good idea cos you might end up actually losing muscle. You can rebuild it afterwards so not a big deal. If it's more than 5 days I would not recommend to exercise. Even though theoretically as long as you get enough nutrition in by the end of a week you should not lose any. But I would still not do it. Anything more than 10 days as you have to start being careful on how you refeed. If your brake you fast with a huge pizza after 10 days you will feel very sick. Might have stomach pain and vomit. If you brkae your 40 day fast with a huge pizza you might die. If your brake your 4 day fast with huge pizza then it probably will not effect you much, might get little gassy. But the longer you go more careful you have to be. Look into refeeding syndrome and proper refeeding protocols. Also make sure to get proper electrolyte balance in your foods. Otherwise if you kick you electrolytes out of balance it can cause, in extreme cases, you heart to stop. Now that all scary stuff is for super long fasts like 40 days. And it's only scary on surface, if you know what you are doing it's not dangerous at all. Anything under 10 days and you should not worry about it much. Generally speaking of course. You should still refeed with light food first (high water content, low fat and protein content) and make sure you do not get tingly hands, legs, face or funny heartbeat - if you do start eating again. Read "The Science and Fine Art of Fasting" by Herbert M. Shelton, ND. Also read "Toxemia Explained" by John Henry Tilden, MD. Two very good books on science of this, old but great! Also google "Autophagy" and look into it, interesting stuff.
I would advise you to watch Steve Pavlina's journey with a forty day fast. https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2017/05/40-days-water-fasting/
Make sure you get some electrolytes (sodium + potassium) so you don't feel like complete garbage. Otherwise, fasting is probably the healthiest thing you can do.