Water Fast Coaching and Articles

Introduction:

Most people in the modern world have never gone a whole day without eating. You too? If so, a 36-hour water fast is the perfect way to begin your journey into water fasting.

I remember when I did my first water fast many years ago. The plan was to eat dinner, then fast through all of the following day, breaking my fast with breakfast on the day after this. This format is ideal for anyone wishing to try out a 36-hour fast.

Psychologically, the experience was hugely challenging. Like most people, I’d hardly ever even skipped a meal in my life, and the idea of not eating anything for a whole day seemed almost inconceivable. Every time my stomach rumbled, it felt like the end of the world: I was going to starve! Of course, logically I knew that I wouldn’t, but the rational mind so easily collapses when your deeper, instinctive emotions emerge from out of the subconscious. By the evening, all I could think about was food – and then to make matters worse, I had to go to bed on an empty stomach…

In the end, though, I did it. And so can you. Anyone can survive 36 hours without food!

So why put yourself through such a terrible ordeal 😉 ? (By the way, contrary to my own experience, many of my clients do actually enjoy their first fast, feeling full of energy and without existential worries.)

The benefits of a 36-hour water fast:

There are at least four important reasons to face your fears and reap the benefits of a 36-hour water fast.

1.

The first reason is psychological. Precisely by facing your fears and emerging victorious on the morning following the fast, you become a stronger person. We all have a built-in survival response. By breaking the psychological barrier of no food for a whole day, you’ll find that the next 36-hour fast goes much more smoothly. Equally important, almost all my clients find that this empowers them to move on to longer water fasts in which the body’s healing metabolism can be unlocked more fully.

2.

The second reason to practise 36-hour fasts is physical. You give your digestive system a break for a whole day. It can rest and recuperate. This is hugely beneficial for maintaining health and to prevent aging. To a degree, intermittent fasting (time-restricted eating) elicits many of the same benefits, but 36-hour fasts takes this to the next level. In particular, you give your stomach, liver and pancreas much more downtime from having to synthesize digestive enzymes, a process which otherwise consumes a high degree of biochemical energy. To put it in perspective, a 36-hour fast gives your digestion double the rest time of most intermittent fasting protocols. In addition, this also means that other well-known benefits of intermittent fasting – such as the stabilisation of blood glucose (along with reducing insulin resistance) – can go much further by practising 36-hour fasts.

3.

The third reason bridges physical and psychological factors. A 36-hour water fast gives you the first opportunity in your life to truly experience ‘going to bed on an empty stomach’ on the second night of the fast. Just as it was a big deal for me the first time, so most of my clients find the same. Even people who practise OMAD (one meal a day) don’t really have to face this fully. Although the idea of the proverbial empty stomach may feel a little frightening for the first time, it’s also a hugely important rite of passage. By the second night of a 36-hour water fast, your glucose levels will have significantly dropped after 24 hours of fasting. This is because your body has exhausted its supply of both dietary sugar directly from the GI tract and digestion, as well as energy from a stored form of sugar called glycogen, which is held mainly by the liver and in muscle tissue.

For many people, this depletion of carbohydrates at around the 24-hour mark sets off psychological alarm bells which can make it hard to go to sleep the first few times. If this happens to you too, know that you’re not alone, and that it will resolve with enough practice. For instance, when I fast now, I sleep like a baby at this point – precisely because blood glucose is low, and so there’s not much energy in the body to keep me awake! (continued below)

Beyond this issue, the ‘need’ to go to sleep with a full tummy often relates to deeper psyschological issues relating to feelings of insecurity and safety. Through practising 36-hour fasts, you come to realise that it’s okay: you really don’t need all that food to feel safe enough to fall asleep. In fact, when you’re free of emotional baggage, going to sleep on an empty stomach can actually feel surprisingly quiet and calm, given that there’s no active digestion taking place behind the scenes.

4.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, fasting for 36 hours means you prompt the body to begin unlocking its healing metabolism. First and foremost, the drop in blood glucose levels triggers ketosis: the process through which your body draws on the fatty acids held in adipose (fat) tissue as a source of fuel, now that the carbohydrates which usually power your body have become depleted. (This process is described more fully in the article on the 3-day water fast.)

There are multiple reasons that you can heal while in fasting ketosis. Firstly, the body sequesters and stores many fat-soluble toxins in adipose tissue, where they can’t interact with other cells of the body, thereby causing damage. It is only through fasting ketosis – through drawing on the fatty acids stored in adipose tissue – that these toxins can also be released and excreted from your body. Secondly, after about 24 hours the energy otherwise required for digestion can be redirected elsewhere, which here means towards detox and healing. Thirdly, with no food going in, your body also starts looking for other alternative sources of fuel. This means breaking down both damaged tissue as well as intracellular components which can be degraded and recycled: a process otherwise known as autophagy.

Beyond the 36-hour water fast:

To complete the switch over to fasting ketosis you need at least three days, which is why it’s so important to learn the 3-day water fast at some point. But don’t rush into anything too soon! If you don’t feel ready to fast for three days, keep practising the 36-hour fast. If 36 hours feels too long, then try 24 hours instead. You can begin a 24-hour fast after eating dinner and then break the fast with dinner the next day (lunch to lunch is another option). 24 hours does less to nudge the body into ketosis, but you’ll still benefit from giving your digestion a rest as well as from a level of detox which surpasses anything in everyday modern life. If a weekly or fortnightly 24-hour fast feels too much, then perhaps you should try intermittent fasting instead.

Whatever you do, your body will thank you for it!

There’s always a way forward with fasting, and I’m here to help if you need.

Dietary preparation and refeeding:

One final note: there’s no need to prepare for a one day fast by changing your eating habits beforehand. Likewise, you don’t have to transition gradually back to eating normally afterwards.

Related articles:

• Facing your ego
• Overcoming addictions
• Physical and spiritual cleansing

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