A couple of months ago, my aunt practiced a month-long water fast. In essence, she only drank water throughout the day. No food, no tea, no coffee, no milk and not even coconut or lime water. In short, it was nothing but just water!
When I got to know of this I was initially taken aback. I rushed to my aunt and asked if she was alright and what was the need to punish her body in this manner. To which my aunt replied, “I am doing this for religious purposes”.
Does Water Fasting Actually Help?
I am aware that fasting is an ancient, spiritual practice in many religions across the world. Also, fasting gives inner strength and confidence. But, like most of the traditional remedies, beliefs and practices have scientific reasoning and benefits attached. I was pretty sure water fasting would have some too. I researched on the benefits of ‘water only fast’ and was astonished to see multiple articles on the same that stated the various benefits of ‘Water Fasting’. Broadly, the benefits lie on the basic belief that the human body has self-healing abilities.
Water fasting gives improved energy and vigour. It removes mental blocks and gives clarity of mind. It also eliminates toxins from the body and can go a long way in preventing future illnesses. Water Fasting can improve immunity and has anti-aging benefits. The digestive system gets a break. All the energy that is used by our digestive system to break down foods, beverages, toxins, fats, and sugars, gets channelled to actual cleansing, detoxification, and repair of our vital organs, cells, and tissues. Many report a certain euphoria after a day or two of water fasting. You’ll likely feel a certain increase in energy as well, as you lose that slack, logy feeling.
After all the research and understanding about ‘Water Fasting’, I was naturally prompted to attempt water fasting for a day. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try just for a day and then post some tips from my personal experience which can be guidelines for others who wish to take this up for a day or two.
It was not easy for me or let me put it this way, if you have never attempted to do any kind of fast, this is going to be a little tough. Hence, I would like to share some tips and my personal experience which might inspire or support you to take up this challenge once in a week or probably a month.
Tips for Water Fasting
- The right day to take up this fast would be to choose a day when you have lesser activities planned. If there are excessive activities, then they consume a lot of calories and that will make you hungry
- Fasting should ideally start in the morning by drinking about two glasses of water which will clear your bowel movement
- Simple pure water is the best. Boiled or cool water will also do. Drinking 1 ½ liters to 3 liters of plain water in one full day depending on individual capacity is good. You can drink more if you are up for it. I honestly did not count mine
- Few bodily reactions which may seem scary but are considered normal and you all will experience as well if you are water fasting for the first time. Some of the signs are weakness, dizziness and nausea and these are common due to the sudden lack of food. I personally experienced a slight drop in blood pressure and headaches during the latter part of the day. The key to this is just lie down and relax whenever these symptoms become intense. The more difficult you find it, the more it means that your body has a lot of toxins to clean out
- Towards mid-day, you will feel a sudden bout of hunger. Just have one or two glasses of water to dilute the gastric secretions. Then lie down and take rest. The hunger should go away in a short time
- After having fasted, learning how to break a fast is important. As there is hardly any digestive activity during fasting, one should be very careful while breaking the fast. The best way to break a fast is with lime juice or orange juice which will make the stomach alkaline. It’s wiser to have few spices and no oily food during this time. Second meal of the day can be normal
All in all, I enjoyed my water-only fast of 24 hours. I look forward to doing this once every month. I recommend this to everyone to self-realize the benefits attached to this. If you can’t do 24 hours start off with 12hrs and then build it up as you get better and used to it. As we always say, take gradual and small steps to reach your big goals sooner. So Good luck! Use nature and natural ways as your best medicine to prevent as well as treat your body.
#BeTheForce
Thank you! Giving it a shot.
Absolutely, you won’t regret. I promise 🙂
You plagiarized your tips for this article
Dear charmi, please check out eat stop eat … It’s amazing and you will know lot more than now for sure and you will find it invaluable. I promise 🙂
I will try this definitely ?
Sure, Hope it went well for you 🙂
Thanks. Will definitely try out. Bit apprehensive though.
Sure, Hope you had a pleasant experience. It gets better with regular practice 🙂
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Thanks for accidentally finding us. I’m sure you will have wonderful time reading our blogs.
Im not eating till tonight as im a bit under the weather an i think eating makes me feel worse , its easy to do if your not feeling very well lol
Very interesting reading will prepare mentally
and try once if manageable and found helpful
to make it part of my life. ..
That’s the spirit Deepak, You sure need a strong mind and will to conduct such a fast. Start slow with just 16 hours water fast to begin with and get that confidence 🙂
Good luck !
Wow! This is really amazing! Thank you Charmi for the tips. I will definitely try this.
Sure Jane ! 🙂
I hope you have already tried this by now, would be eager to hear your experience 😀
Yes, I have just done a 36 hour fast as I started on Sunday night before and went through to today Tuesday morning, I am just having some honey and cider vinegar in water.
Is this OK, as technically you have 8 hours done in bed before you start??
Yes, that’s perfectly okay Liam. Ideally people who fast for the first time plan in such a way that there initial hours overlaps with bed time. However, during water fast you are expected to just have plain water without adding anything to it. No honey, no lime and no ACV.
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hi i decided to fast as I read a lot of articles which basically said the same thing. Its good to allow the body to detox and get rid of excess toxins. I actually had miso soup a couple of times during the day and lots of water and tea. I found that i didn’t get hunger pangs at all and feel much lighter the day after. I am 61 years of age and am overweight. I have been on every diet known to man. I do walk a lot but on the fasting day only did a short I hour walk by the sea. I gave myself time to listen to music and stopped to have a coffee with a friend. I am planning to do this type of fast once a week and also am trying to cut down my meal sizes. I have to have tea and coffee otherwise I get a headache due to caffeine withdral. I know this isn’t perfect but its a start.
I
Yes Cheryl, you said it right, It’s important to detox once in a while knowing that we consume toxins knowingly ( via food ) and unknowingly ( via environment ) and there are many ways to detox. This is just one of the ways ! 🙂
I will do it tomorrow last had my dinner today at 1800hrs
Hope you had a good experience with your first water fast 🙂
Good explanation. Thanks. I am going to fast once a month as well. Its really useful to know the benefits and proper steps before and after fasting. Really appreciate your effort to do this research and article.
Thanks Navaratnam, I’m glad you found it useful. Start gradually and take upto 72 hours for maximum benefits. Good luck 🙂
I just completed my 36 hour water fast, though it included two nights and one full day. I feel great and had no problem. As author said, you need to take plenty of water but I also added two cups of tulsi green tea . Hope this is OK. Thanks for your blog.
Great article, giving it a shot tomorrow, will let you know how i get on.
Sure, I hope it went well Ben ! 🙂
Your comments are very similar to another website, yogicwayoflife.com.
I’m doing it every 15 days ( Ekadashi fast)
Thanks to that I have cured my diabetes.
Thanks for your good work here.
Since I am working Mon__Friday,,I want to go for water fasting on weekends Sat__Sunday.
I just cant avoid morning tea,,so can I have atleast morning tea(milk tea ,,without sugar,,but with sugarfree).I dont like green tea and black tea.
Can I do this above tea//water fasting on all weekends??
Wiser to have spices what spices exactly?
Your article has motivated me to go into water fasting instead of fruits and vege fasting (if I can call it fasting :))) . Thank you Charmi !
Im going to try this .
Hi Charmi,
Is it good for health to do a 72 hrs fasting continuosly ? And what is the difference when we fast for 24 hrs/72 hrs ? What maximum benefits could we get ?
Now I am fasting with water for 24 hrs once in a month and that is on Ekasdasi.
Thank you.
Ramana.
doing it now
For anyone whos never tried this I highly encourage to do a 24 hour fast every other day , this is the way King David fasted and he was the wisest man that ever lived.
Great site by the way , full of information.
I plan to start my first water fast on sunday evening after my meal. I drink a lot of tumeric water with black pepper. Will it be ok to drink this while i water fast ?
Do you think doing the 24 hour water fast on day every week is to much?
Right this minute I am hour 21 of a 24 hour water fast. This is my first water fast in about 10 years. The difference this time, is that I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure almost 2 years ago, so I have been carefully monitoring both my blood pressure and glucose all day. Good news: my glucose level is very stable. Bad news, my blood pressure is as high today as yesterday, so I made sure to take the medication. Does anyone here have any experience with high BP and water fasting?
Hi,
30 years ago, I fasted on water for 15 days. At the time I wanted to try what my uncle did throughout his 100 years of life: fasting annually for 40 days on water. On the 15 th day, I got very nervous so I stopped.
But I noticed that my allergy was gone, my arthritis was gone as well.
Ever since then, I have been fasting on water from Sunday’s lunch till Tuesday’s breakfast. I feel great though I am 79 years old, go for a brisk walk every morning and do some exercises at home.
Thanks for your pieces of advice and I hope many, if not all, will do by them.
George
Is it ok to take water fasting once in a week?
Does it result in slowdown in Metabolism?
Can it result into significant weight loss,, because many are looking to it for weight loss ?
It is really nice
Mahmoud
UJ
Doing it today and it makes me realize one of the true riches of human life , food. 🙂 many of us take the things nature provides us for granted and run after material riches whiich is never enough, fasting makes you realize the true gifts of humanity, enjoying food??♂️