| | Water Fasting

So what is the process?

In curious what processes occur in the body as you progress into a dry fast, and then what happens as you reintroduce water.

Would love any insight or links to good sources.

Many thanks!

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Answer

You have some data about this in this publication:

Dry Fasting Physiology: Responses to Hypovolemia and Hypertonicity

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a deeper insight into dry fasting (DF) physiology.

Design: Ten participants performed DF for 5 consecutive days.

Methods: The following parameters were monitored daily: cortisol, aldosterone, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), erythropoietin, albumin, uric acid, and vitamin C in serum; vasopressin (ADH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), renin, angiotensin II, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in plasma; hematocrit and erythrocytes in whole blood; osmolality, noradrenaline, dopamine, adrenaline, Na+, and K+ in 24-h urine; waist circumference and body, urine, and stool weight.

Results: The following parameters increased: ADH (60 ± 11%), ACTH (176 ± 34%), cortisol (495 ± 75%), urine osmolality (20 ± 4%), CRP (167 ± 77%), renin (315 ± 63%), angiotensin II (74 ± 21%), aldosterone (61 ± 21%), TAC (80.4 ± 17%), uric acid (103 ± 19%), albumin (18.4 ± 2.4%), erythrocytes (13.4 ± 2.2%), hematocrit (11 ± 1.8%), and the excretion of noradrenaline (40.3 ± 10%) and dopamine (17 ± 5%). The following parameters decreased: waist circumference (8.20 ± 0.61 cm), body weight (7.010 ± 0.3 kg), erythropoietin (65 ± 18%), and the excretion of adrenaline (38 ± 4%) and Na+ (60 ± 16%). The excretion of K+ remained unchanged. Vitamin C decreased, showing a half-life of 4.8 ± 0.7 days. The percent ratios of lost weight components were: urine (52.2 ± 3.7%), insensible water loss (32.2 ± 1.4%), stool (5 ± 0.3%), and respiratory gases, i.e., expired CO2 - incorporated O2 (10.6 ± 5.4%).

Conclusion: The mechanisms underlying the hypertonicity and hypovolemia compensation and the ratio analysis of lost weight components were presented. DF demonstrated short-term antioxidant, anti-ischemic, immune-stimulating, anti-edematous, and anti-inflammatory effects. The results may have an impact on developing new concepts for the treatment of edema, obesity, and inflammatory and ischemic diseases.

Link to the data: https://karger.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Material_for_Dry_Fasting_Physiology_Responses_to_Hypovolemia_and_Hypertonicity/11663145

Answer

stage 0-1 - Gluconeogenesis : Where your body is using muscle glycogen for fuel. This gets depleted with 1-2 days of a dry fast depending on activity level.

stage 2- ketosis - after you burn up your muscle glycogen your body begins breaking down fat for fuel.

Stage 3 around 3-4 days your body kicks into autophagy which gets rid of bad defected cells

all the while your body is breaking down fat for water

stage 5 of a dry fast is transcendence of physical form.

Answer

Any info on the refeed?

My body gave itself a colonic after I broke this morning

Today I’ve had 2L Water, 1L Fruit juice, 0.5L Strawberry milkshake (vegan, frozen strawberries, oat yogurt, some mixed Berry fruit juice, no added sugar)

The afternoon has been fun.

I guess I put too much liquid in too quick and the strawberry shake should probably have waited until tomorrow… Judging by the amount of liquid my body has jettisoned since.

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