Hi, fellow fast-ers. I am glad to find this website--by accident while I was surfing the internet two days ago. I prepared for my fast this past weekend by eating much fresh fruit. I am starting my fast today.

I learned yesterday from this website that there is such a thing as “dry fast.” I am starting my fast by doing a “dry fast.” So far I have felt comfortable. But I will switch to water fast when I feel thirsty.

I did a search on the internet on dry fasting. I came upon this assertion: “Dry fasting is at least 2-3 times more efficient than a water one and does not have its negative after-effects.” Does anyone know what “negative after-effects” water fasting has?

Another fasting site said that Herbert Shelton said “don't drink any more water than you really feel like” while fasting. I guess I will take Shelton’s advice because Shelton is a big name in fasting and also because I don’t care much for drinking water anyway.

I have led a fairly healthy lifestyle—no drugs, no medications, little junk food. I had few detox symptoms while I did juice fasts in the past two years. This is the first time I attempt a long water fast. I hope to learn much from the fasting experts in this group.

Joy

It sounds like you look after your body very well Joy and I'm sure you'll have a better time of fasting than some because of that. My first long fasts were done while I was quite healthy too and with little or no major detox crises to speak of.

I much prefer dry fasting and only ever begin my fasts without water now, only switching to drinking a minimal amount of water when I feel the need for it. I am like you though in not knowing what they are talking about when they say water fasting has after effects that dry fasting doesn't. I don't know of anything wrong with water fasting at all except maybe for the fact that it isn't as efficient as dry fasting.

Good luck on your fast Joy! I hope all goes well for you.

Andrew.

Hi, Andrew. Thanks for your response. I did a quite thorough search on the internet on dry fasting last night because I wanted to make sure dry fasting is not harmful. Following are the key ideas I have found from various sources.

1] Arnold Ehret said, "The less you drink the more aggressive the fast works." The process of digestion takes an enormous amount of energy and even the processing of water drains energy. Dry fasting gives 2 times higher efficiency for the body cleaning (excreting) system.

2] It is important to consider that the less fluids you take in, the more aggressive the fast. Do not push yourself beyond the bounds of reason, if you feel dizzy, weary, extremely thirsty, drink a little water and postpone the dry fast for another time.

3] Many people who are dry fasting visit the steam baths for more intensified cleaning of the organism from the excreting toxins.

4] Fasting without any water can last from 1 to 14 days. It depends on some factors. The drier and the hotter the air, the shorter one can stay without drinking. One can spend less time dry fasting when more physical activity
causing perspiring is involved. An ordinary man can stay without drinking for about 7 days. While dry fasting, one should regularly check the hydration of the skin, which indicates amount
of water in the body. The amount of the water (body hydration) can change in the organism within some limits. If it goes lower than the lowest allowed limit (below critical point), it cannot be restored and the body will stop functioning (die). In normal conditions the average person can stay without any drink, not risking passing the critical point, for 4 days. Another important factor deciding how long a person can dry fast is the amount of toxins accumulated in the body that have to be excreted using water (as solution and transportation mean). If, for example, before fasting the person had eaten a lot of salty foods, he/she should not start dry fasting before the body excretes all the excess salt. One can conclude from this, it is better to fast on water before starting dry fasting. It's a good idea to start fasting on only pure water for a week and then continue without any water for another week. Anyway, after fasting on water only for a few days, the need for drinking goes down so much, that one ordinarily doesn't feel thirsty for more than just a few spoons of water a day. During any fasting don't force your body to drink more than it clearly asks for.

5] If you have kidney stones, it is advisable to wash them out before fasting or fast gradually, because long fasting can cause fast stone
eliminating process, which is good as long as the stone doesn't fall into big pieces.

6] (objection to dry fasting) It is with water that poisonous wastes are taken out of the organism — and this is the purpose of fasting. I would recommend that you never fast without water.

I continued my dry fast today and have felt comfortable physically. No detox distress except that I don’t have excess energy for exercise. I do carry a bottle of water with me all day long just in case. I feel intrigued by dry fasting. I will go as long as I feel comfortable or as long as my lips don’t crack due to dryness.

That's a great collection of dry fasting quotes you've found there Joy. Thanks for posting them in here. I think they'd even be worth putting up in the Fasting Info page- hint to David.

Except for the last point, number six, of course. That is just wrong, a fallacy which is proven by the increased- not decreased at all- excretion of toxins during a dry fast.

I used to carry a bottle of water around with me all the time but often forget now and it isn't a big concern. I have been out and about in very hot weather after days without water and also running with sweat pouring off me in warm to hot weather without the need for water too. It's something I'm very used to doing.

Glad to hear all is going well still.

Andrew.

I switched to water fast this afternoon. I guess I could have continued to dry fast for one more day. I did not really feel very thirsty. But emotionally I felt I preferred to drink water. I am going well physically today. No detox crises to speak of except that I feel just a bit tired. I feel thankful.

Andrew: Thank you for relating your dry fast experience, which gives me assurance that dry fast is not harmful.

My collection of dry fasting quotes actually are far from complete. I put them in this post in hopes of more input from other fast-ers on this topic. I still have unanswered questions. For example, why is dry fasting so much more efficient than water fasting? what is the scientific reason? What about all those natural healers' insistence on 8-10 cups of water a day for maintaining health? In my personal experience I don't have unpleasant detox symptoms after 2 1/2 days of dry fast, so I really don't know if more toxins are released due to dry fast.

Greetings to all fasters...I find dry fasting to be liberating...to actually get 'completely out of the body's way' by not even having to think about water for a while represents freedom to some extent, from the monotonous pattern of eating and drinking regardless of how healthy the food ingested is...

I've only managed 2 days dry so far...and felt really strong both mentally and physically...(no more from sugar and its derivatives!)...I do find personally though that for a successful fast you need to plan activities for the days, weeks or it can be quite easy for...not boredom...but you tend to question 'what am I doing this for anyway?!'...and then you sort of lose your way and eat for the sake of it, not because you needed to!...the reasons for fasting should be kept in the forefront...can anyone relate?

Good luck and positive energy to all those involved in the group fast or otherwise,

God Bless & be well,
Andy

I understand completely Andy, it's like if you leave your guard down your mind comes up with all sorts of ingeneous excuses to get out of the fast and eat again. It's very much like an addiction and that kind of thing to me was like the battle I had giving up smoking many years ago. The old 'I'll just have one more it won't hurt' kind of thing, only the mind can get a lot more devious with it's reasonings.

Joy the easiest way to explain the increased level of detox for a dry fast is the fact that the body needs to break down fat cells not just for nutrition but also for the water content as well. So if we did actually need 8-10 cups of water (haha) then all of that would have to come out of our fat cells while the rest of the contents of those cells were flushed out of our body. Can you imagine losing 8-10 cups worth of fat every day? That'd be awesome I would have gone from obese to a supermodel within a week at the most! lol Anyway, that is certainly one reason the dry fast is more effective or quicker with the detox. I also believe that the balance that the body provides works far better when the body has to provide it's own water as well as it's own nutrients. We don't have to 'guess' how much water our body needs, it knows that quite well and takes what it needs from our stores for the tasks it needs to complete. If we drink too much water while fasting however, the body needs to work harder to eliminate the excess, and too little then it's possible that some detox processes would not get done or would get done slower if the water provided was not enough to accomplish them. The reasoning behind that is that if you eat a little bit you come out of ketosis and the body expects us to provide the right amount of food and stops producing ketones; I believe it is the same with water- drink a little bit and the body expects the right amount of water and won't use excess body fat for water to make up for it, so it will just do the best with what we give it.

I hope that makes some sense.

Andrew.

[color=#008000]Andrew, Thank you for your explanation of dry fast’s efficiency, which does make a lot of sense. I have one more question though: certainly we are not losing close to 8 cups of fat (4 pounds) a day while doing dry fasting. How do you explain that? And did you actually lose more fat in your dry fast days than in your water fast days?

Andy, Thanks for relating your personal dry fast experience. Positive experiences are always encouraging.
I agree with you that persisting in fasting is difficult. For me the physical aspect is much easier to deal with than the emotional need to eat something. Personally I really have to focus on fellowshipping with God in order to gain strength and vision from above to sustain me while fasting.

Day four of fasting for me: I drank about 2 cups of water today, just like yesterday. I don’t feel a need to drink more. I discovered that I am drinking more for emotional satisfaction than for physical need. It just feels very soothing to sip some warm water. This intrigues me. I was aware that I sometimes ate food for emotional need rather than physical need. But I did not know, in the absence of food, even sipping water is comforting emotionally. Maybe I just need to put something in my mouth.

Today I felt weary the first part of the day but felt better later on. I have had no other detox signs to speak of.

Tomorrow evening I will have a tennis game to play. I think I probably will lack energy to run around for the game. I don’t want to break my fast, but I don’t want to become a hermit. I have been thinking of taking a generous amount of green powders one hour prior to my tennis game to supply instant energy. Is that wise? Will that cause my stomach to protest? I am well aware that after an extended fast one can only take juice or juicy melons. But I really don’t want to break my fast by taking juice or melons. I would appreciate advice.

Any fruit can be used to break a fast, or juice. Or anything raw basically. Many people like tomatoes, and say that's good for losing weight. But it's important to have high water content food and therefore raw, because you are restarting an inactive digestion system. Solid concentrated foods, cooked or processed can damage the 'new' flesh inside the intestines and cause blockages and worse. Fasting itself is rarely dangerous but breaking the fast can be. Eating the wrong food at this point can lead to serious problems, even death in the worst case if the body is overloaded and can't cope with what we feed it.

We don't need 8 cups of water a day that was my point. And we certainly don't use up 8 cups of fat a day. We use up more fat when dry fasting because the body utilises the water inside our fat cells to survive, then excretes the rest of the contents of that fat cell. I think that the reccommendation of drinking 8-10 cups of water per day just doesn't hold water. (I couldn't resist that pun sorry) But without going into lengthy reasons why it's not a scientific guideline of much worth I will just say for fasting purposes the body uses a lot of water to digest food, so without the need to do that you don't need to drink as much water while fasting as you would normally drink while eating.

And yes I have lost more weight while dry fasting. I don't often record my weight but the biggest loss in one day I've measure was 3 kilograms.

It sounds like your fast is going well. I wouldn't take anything before your tennis game. Your fast won't take long but the results will be with you for a long time, so it's best to do it right while you've got the ball rolling so to speak. I suggest going to the game but letting your partner know that you might need more rests than usual. Then just call a break when you need one, sit down for as long as you need to and then play again. Just keep your water bottle handy and let your body provide the energy you need, and give your body rest when it needs that.

Good luck with it.

Andrew.

Ah I understand now Joy, I did misunderstand that you were talking about just breaking the fast for the tennis match. I'm glad it went well, you'll be able to make up for the lack of vitality at the next match I'm sure.

Great to hear you're still going strong.

Andrew.

Sounds like your fast has been going great Joy. The hunger is interesting as you say. Usually true hunger is described as being very persistent rather than intermittent. What is the actual feeling? Is it in the stomach you're feeling it, or the throat? The other question is how petite are you? I assume you have some fat on you somewhere?

There are two reasons I know of for the tiredness. First is the body takes the chance to rest up during a fast as we often abuse it's ability to go without rest for long periods. The other thing is that with many of us there is a lot of detox and repair work for the body to undertake during a fast. It can be a LOT of work and it's one reason why the body can't do it while it is busy digesting and assimilating and excreting food on a daily basis.

Be careful not to overdo your day off tomorrow. Six days isn't a long term fast but it is significant and the body is in full ketosis. It's great that you are planning to eat fruit in the morning it will still be important to be careful at dinnertime though. The body can be overtaxed by food at this time so just be wary. If you can order a big salad with your meal and make sure you eat at least as much of the salad as anything else that would be good.

Enjoy your day off and I look forward to hearing from you again on Monday.


Andrew.

Hi Joy, great to hear your social outing went well and all is well with your continued fasting.

Most people say that true hunger is felt in the throat rather than the stomach. Feelings from the stomach can be deceptive as lots of stuff goes on in there and just having an empty stomach is certainly no reason to eat- on the contrary our body could be and is overtaxed if we keep our stomachs constantly supplied with food. A lot of people seem to think that gurgling in the stomach area is a sign of hunger too, to me it's just the contents of the intestines moving along as they should, most of the time this noise is hardly audible but sometimes as well, and for some of us, it can be very noisy indeed! But again it's not a sign of hunger.

It makes more sense to feel hunger in the mouth and throat, the same as thirst, that is where the need really is, where the food has to come into the body. The stomach is only one part of it's journey through our body, the mouth and throat are where it all begins.

Andrew.

True thirst is felt in the throat but like hunger that can also be deceiving. For instance if you are breathing through your mouth for a while, say exercising, deep breathing or even while sleeping if you have a blocked nose.. the mouth can become dry, but given time moisture returns proving it wasn't thirst that was making you feel 'parched'.

It's hard to describe, but it's not that your throat actually dries out or anything, you will feel thirsty before that happens, and you can have a dry throat without needing water. As with food I think what you crave for is the difference between just wanting water and needing it. If you feel like a beer or soft drink to parch your thirst then you can pretty safely sit out that craving for a few hours and see if it's real. If you have a strong desire for water though, you could still safely give it thirty minutes or so before drinking to see if the desire for water is still there. It's a matter of safely experimenting and always listening to your body, and always being prepared to err on the side of caution.

I have always felt sure that the true thirst would feel strong enough that a bit of mucous in my throat wouldn't interfere with it. Also I used to be addicted to soft drinks myself so more often than not that's what I crave when my throat is mucousy and dry, if anything.

Congrats on the continued success of your fast! You're doing very well.

Andrew.