Why do people use bears and camels as appropriate comparisons to humans in regards to dry fasting?

I did a 42 hour dry fast recently and I enjoyed it. Found it easier than water fasting even. But my question is, why do people think we can last longer than maybe a week dry fasting? What evidence do we have that our body will continue to grab water from fat and not the glycogen stores? I’m just trying to understand this, most of the time people just use the bear or camel example, but although they are mammals, they’re not humans. Thanks in advance!

Answer

Because bears and camels store and use water in a way that helps people understand the process of dry fasting. It’s natural human instinct to use comparisons to help people understand something that challenges their mentality like dry fasting.

We definitely can last longer than a week without food or water - I speak from personal experience, for one thing. The body depletes glycogen first and then moves on to fat. As long as you have fat, you can dry fast. Bears hibernate and survive through the winter by dry fasting - this is why they put on excessive weight prior to winter and then appear much smaller come spring.

Hope that makes sense - congrats on your 42 hours by the way!

Answer

Two clear examples

Bear - prolong fastingCamels - using water from fat cells

Putting yourself in a state of prolonged dry fast will make your body chose water from weaker cells as a source of water. You will no longer use energy from glycogen by then cause you will only have ketones available. (Due to fasting)