Dry Fasting and its powerful benefits

Today I found this interesting article about Dry Fasting. I'm sure there are a lot of sceptical people out there when comes to Dry Fast. Instead there's a lot of science behind the benefits of Dry Fasting and Fasting in general. Everyone should incorporate a type of Fast in their life - I strongly believe that our bodies were not created to be repeatedly fed during the day.


A TRUE LIFE OR DEATH SCENARIO
On extended dry fasts the first few days are the roughest as the body is still optimistically holding out for food or water but once it figures out that water and food are not coming and that death is imminent if it doesn’t adapt and fast to given circumstance it switches gears into survival mode— this highly adapted state IS the magical key of dry fasting. Survival of the fittest. All weakness is eradicated. The option of supporting the diseased and parasitic is no longer viable. All non essentials are eliminated and recycled to sustain the essentials. This IS cellular renewal at the deepest level— unattainable by any other means.

RESTRICTION OF FEEDING TIME — WHY?

**It’s not what you eat so much as WHEN you eat**

“Feeding schedule has been shown to have a significant impact on health and survival. In studies, time-restricted feeding had profound effects on neural, peripheral, and cardiovascular physiology and improved sleep, body weight maintenance, and delayed signs of cardiac aging, under UNCHANGED caloric intake and activity.”

Reloading my Fast-2019

To be honest, I do not recall why I broke my fast. Sure, Dry Fasting cannot be done for too long but I was thinking of keep on going with regular salt-water Fast. What did I do to change my mind and reefed I can't tell exactly. Nevertheless I wasted, as my usual, all those nicely done Dry Fasted days. I'm back again now, with same weight as I started - hopefully not more than that. During these past few days after breaking my Dry Fast I had my TOM and I even got a bad flu with annoying cough. I'm still recovering from my flu but I am beginning a new Dry Fast and I know it will help me feeling better in just two days, given the time to my body to heal itself.  
I don't know the precise time when I stopped drinking, I think I woke up in the middle of the night coughing and I sip a bit of water last night, maybe around 11:00PM. So, for measurement purposes I would assume my Dry Fast started at midnight, and here's my journal.
Dry Fast Day #1 - 11.5hrs - 73.8 Kg
So far I have a mild headache, I felt extremely hungry this early morning, just for a couple of minutes, but it was a strong hunger wave. Now I don't feel thirsty nor hungry. I'm thinking that the cause of my morning hunger was my yesterday's high carbs meal. High fat food would have been a smarter option. I have to admit I feel very vulnerable at the moment, anything could jeopardize my Fast; same reason why I had to wait two weeks before trying again and Fast. I need to stay away from food and food-related thoughts or I will be wondering why I broke my fast....again! I want to add that I got delayed this time around, so the fault is not 100% mine, maybe just 95%! I had this crazy idea to find a weight loss buddy, to feel motivated during my fasting journey and for accountability purposes I thought that could help all of us. So I found a girl, very nice with similar goals as mine - maybe not fully into fasting but ok on trying and doing some IF here and there. Well she kept on postponing the day for our first check-in and I kept on setting my mind as that would be Day #1 for me and my fast. But she never wanted to meet me seriously so I gave up on her eventually and I started fasting alone - believe it or not I'm more reliable alone!
Dry Fast Day #1 - 14hrs - 73.8 Kg
My headache is a bit stronger now, temptations of eating are a lot, I'm trying to be strong but it's not easy. It's not the actual food the temptation for breaking a fast, it's all psychological. After all I'm not hungry, I have just headache. Sometimes I think if I could lose weight differently, without fasting but I personally can't. I tried many times, I can be disciplined for few days, a solid week and then a weekend or 2/3 days can screw up all my sacrifices in no time and I'm back to square one. Plus the weight loss is so slow and I'm always starving and feeling deprived. It is not sustainable for me long term. I really admire people that can do it for months and months. Kudos to them. I have to endure this pain through the first few days. I need to reach day 7/8 for me to be super strong about refeeding.
Dry Fast Day #1 - 15.5hrs - 73.8 Kg
This morning I checked my weight and it was on a scary 73.85Kg, now I have this new scale that tracks also BMI and BF% - but I don't think is very precise. I don't check my weight when I'm not fasting and this is a bad thing, because I let myself go, I don't want to know how much I weigh, but instead I should face my fears and be honest on how fat I'd become. My stomach is growling a bit now, I don't feel much hungry and definitely not thirsty, but it's just few hours into this Dry Fast. Yesterday I wan mentioning to my mother that I will not go with them to Italy if my weight doesn't change. I don't feel comfortable to see anyone like this. It's something that nobody can understand but me. If I don't go my parents will be very disappointed because they're counting on my help to reach the destination city there. Every day my goal seems so far away and I don't have enough time to reach the weight that I want to be in. I hope I'll have enough strengths in the next weeks to persist in my diet journey. After all nothing happens overnight, I need to be strong.
Dry Fast Day #1 - 17.5hrs - 73.8 Kg
Today is not the day of when I quit! Today I will keep on going. Today I want to be determined on starting for good this new 2019 Prolonged Fast. I want to be strong and keep on going. I know it's tough in the first few days, but it's even harder for me waking up so fat every morning and coming to work with nothing in my wardrobe that fits. I don't want to give up on myself, I do not want to quit. I'm not hungry, there's no reason for me to break this Fast. Days will pass and so my KG on the scale. I want to see myself skinnier again, I hate myself in this way and every time I wonder how I let my body becoming like this without stopping and fasting earlier!?!
Dry Fast Day #2 - 37hrs - 72.7 Kg
The first day has passed, not without issues but it's gone and now I have to focus only on keep on going. I don't feel thirsty nor hungry at the moment, I do not have headache fortunately. I slept very well last night and I don't feel any sign of the Fast - like weakness or dizziness. I'm aiming for a week or so but, maybe keep on the open-ended side for now. It depends on how I feel. In any case, if a rehydration on water is required I'll do it for a max of 24 hours and then back into Dry Fast. If you think about, there's nothing better than Dry Fasting when fighting fat! The fat cells are mostly water, and when we Dry Fast that water is used as metabolic water to hydrate the body. I'm working towards my goal of eliminating this fat and also hydrating myself! I think... 
Dry Fast Day #2 - 43hrs - 72.7 Kg
I'm almost at the end of my working day and I cannot wait to go home and rest. I don't feel tired but my lower back hurts a bit, I'm wondering if it could be related to the need of releasing something from my GI tract. I had some vaginal discharge today, I think is because I'm a bit dehydrated, not sure though. I really don't feel hungry, not even thirsty. My mouth fortunately is still in good shape (regarding the white-coated issue) nothing so far, and I hope it will stay like this for long.

What happens when you break a Prolonged Dry Fast

Yesterday, after 4.5 days I broke my Dry Fast. After drinking the horrible mixture with Baking Soda and ACV I was sipping all day on my salt water. I guess I was enjoying the chance to drink again, so I drunk more than 2L of water, I also had 3 decaf coffees with a bit of Stevia. When I weighted myself again in the evening I had gained more than 2Kg! (4.4lb) WTH! My body is retaining water with all its strengths apparently. I didn't drink much in the afternoon/evening and this morning I was down a Kg, so I still have a roughly 2lb of water on me. Well at least I know that it's not fat.
I did like the Dry Fast a lot though; the weight goes away super fast and I don't have annoying trips to the bathroom. I'm thinking on doing Dry Fast cycles every week.
I would like to Dry Fast from Friday afternoon, when I stop to eat or drink till at least Wednesday evening, in the way I can Dry Fast for at least 120hrs. Thursday and Friday I would like to do a small reefed, with liquids and some light lunch, trying to avoid dinner. In this way I can Dry Fast longer. Eventually I can always switch to only Salt Water Fast, which can be protracted longer than a Dry Fast.

After 108 hours I broke my Dry Fast

So after 108 hours (4.5 days) I broke my Dry Fast. I wasn't really thirsty just feeling tired of not drinking I guess. Humans are creatures of habits after all, and not drinking is annoying to me.
I broke my fast with 2 tbsp. of ACV, half tsp. of Baking Soda and I added a bit of water. The solution was terrible, I was barely able to drink it to be honest. After finished to jug down the mix I felt a strong desire of eating or drinking something caloric - it lasted only for few seconds fortunately. After that I started to drink smart water with half tbsp. of pink salt and half of Potassium Chloride. That caused me a urgent BM, my tummy started to feel bad and I had to rush to the bathroom. I had an unpleasant BM - I guess due to the salt. The bad news is that I already had more than 1L of water and still didn't feel to urinate. That means that my body is holding on a lot of water. I'm wondering if I should rehydrate just for a couple of days and keep on Dry Fasting again - it's so much more effective on my body.
The smart water is really good when fasting, and now, after so many years using it, I really like the crisp taste as well.

How to break a Prolonged Dry Fast?

Dry Fasting has impressive health benefits but it is also important how to break the fast properly. I did lots of researches for it, not knowing exactly which method was the right one - focusing on the fact that I will keep on fasting on Salt Water after breaking my Dry Fast.
After all my researches I found the formula below to break the Dry Fast:

• 2 tbsp ACV
• 1 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• a bit of water

This sort of recipe might not be the right one, I will try it with a first sip to see how it tastes and decide going forward.

Dry Fasting - Day by Day journal

Dry Fast Day #3 - 60 hours
My Dry Fast is started, fortunately with just a mild headache on day one, I don't have any withdrawal symptoms at the moment. I'm not thirsty nor hungry, my ketosis this morning was on a good 60 mg/dL, pretty high for Day #3. I'm regularly checking also my blood pressure and it's still in normal ranges - I do feel heart beating faster sometimes and a strange hot-weakness-feeling, but apparently those symptoms are not related to the blood pressure, otherwise I should see a spike somewhere.
I'm aiming on doing at least 7 days Dry Fasting; results on this type of Fast are always remarkable for me.
On Day #1 I also took my glucose level, so I can compare it with the value after a week of fasting. It will be interesting to see the difference between regular eating, dry fasting and water fasting - how my blood glucose level is affected by these types of fast. I feel my arms a bit weak, maybe a bit less than usual, I'm sure I will feel better once I resume water and electrolytes. I'm not urinating often, however, I lost already 2.6 Kg (5.7lb) - which mostly would be liquid I guess. My weight loss will slow down soon I'm sure - but it's ok, I'm always worried when I see my body losing weight that quickly, because I know it will regain back everything at higher speed!
I can feel that I'm already dehydrated, at the end of day one I had some vaginal discharge, very common when I do a Dry Fast. Now it is almost disappeared though, I guess my body is adjusting to the fasting state. This time around my tongue is not getting white coated, or at least not yet; it doesn't even bother me so far, which is a huge plus for me that I could not stand at all the coated tongue feeling, I hated and I believe often it was the reason for me to break a fast.
Dry Fast Day #3 - 60 hours
I went downstairs for a walk during lunch time; at the begin I thought I would not be able to walk much and feel weak. Not at all actually, I felt normal as every other day. But then again, I should remind myself that is not even 3 full days without water/food, it is not that much. I'm sure I have enough fat on me that could be metabolized to create water and food for my body! Sometimes I feel a little pain on my kidneys area, not sure if it's my posture on my chair or my kidneys being stressed by the fast. I should check my glucose tonight, to see how it is - I'm very curious. I don't feel thirsty nor hungry, I didn't have any stomach growling wave today, I believe. My ketosis is helping me a lot I know. I think I can easily go over 100 hours with this Dry Fast, at least right now I feel perfectly normal, not even my tongue is bothering me!
Dry Fast Day #4 - 84 hours
My Dry Fasting is going well so far, I'm starting to feel my mouth a bit dry, but nothing unbearable. Yesterday I checked my blood glucose and was 81 mg/dL, compared to the 85 mg/dL before starting the Fast - not a big decrease really.
My Ketosis was really good this morning, 80 mg/dL, I guess is similar than checking it through my blood. I bought a new scale, with the BMI/FAT % calculation, but I'm not sure it's really accurate, it was showing almost 50% body fat, I don't believe I'm on this high percentage. I am not obese and I workout regularly - but who knows. I'm thinking on doing an enema soon, I don't have any discomfort but just wondering what's doing all that food stuck in my GI tract, I would like to get rid of it. I believe I lost another 3lb since yesterday, my old scale was inaccurate, let's say a Kg less than the real weight (deceiving!) - this scale is precise I am sure, so I will need another few days to see how my body weight fluctuates. I check also my blood pressure afternoon and morning, still in good ranges, I did not see any change after starting the Fast; well it's been only 3.5 days after all. Dry Fasting is great to lose weight, in less than four days I have already lost 9 lb! I wish I could keep this pace; I can see even on my face the fat melting away! Aiming for the full week, wish me luck!
Dry Fast Day #4 - 89 hours
I went for a quick walk today at lunch time, I wanted to checkout a couple of stores to see if I could find electrolytes powder that doesn't have too many ingredients, rather than just Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium and other vitamins. My search failed anyway; I should buy the Snake Juice packages on amazon but I'm not interested yet on spending money. I found in a grocery store a salt with half Potassium Chloride, so for now I'll use that one. My mouth is getting dry now, I don't have a pleasant feeling but I'm not actually thirsty. I'm planning on outmatching my second longest Dry Fast, which was 136 hrs, hopefully I will feel good to reach the 140 hours mark. The results with a Dry Fast are amazing and I want to take this opportunity to shed some of my unwanted fat.
Dry Fast Day #5 - 108 hours
I'm now on over 100 hours Dry Fasting, and still amazed on how much weight I lost so far! Since I started I'm now down 5 Kg (11 lb) in just 108 hours! Sure some of this weight loss is water weight, but there's no way I lost 5 Kg of water, some must be fat. My ketosis is still around 80 mg/dL, which is definitely good, but just wondering if the Ketostix shouldn't be darker since I'm Dry Fasting for so long. Yesterday I did an enema, I really didn't want to leave any unwanted stool sitting in my colon - perhaps poisoning my body. I felt much lighter after, I did not have any feeling of BM though, just being conscious. Today I'm thinking on breaking my Dry Fast with ACV, Baking Soda and just a bit of water; after that I will resume drinking water with the 50/50 salt / Potassium mix that I bought the other day. Hopefully my body won't retain too much water with all this sudden salt intake.

Ready to begin my new 2019 Fast

I decided to begin my Salt Water Fast tomorrow. This morning I went to take blood and urine samples to see how are my values on the before-fasting; I’ll check it out again once completed my fast.

I also took some (not so great) pictures last night; I had to do it in the washroom due to my parents being in my place at the moment. I planned on monitoring my blood pressure and glucose levels as well. I downloaded an app where I can add all my entries going forward; it has nice statistic features like the one below.

 

During this Fast I will try to consume Salt Water, so to prevent flushing out all my electrolytes. To be honest, I don’t recall having such big issues during my first 24 days Water Only Fast; sure I was feeling weak and dizzy from time to time, but never had any serious issue that prevented me to continue my fast – and I know I could’ve kept on fasting for another few weeks! The only thing I don’t like of a Fast is the lack of sleep, but apparently it should get better with the weeks if I keep on replenish my salt intakes. Let’s hope for the best.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I planned on starting this new 2019 Fasting journey with a Dry Fast. I didn’t fast dry since long time and I look forward on completing at least a week. Dry Fasting is so much easier than Water Fasting – I don’t have to wake up multiple times in the middle of the night.

Doctors here are really ignorant and – in my experience – most of the times useless! When I went to ask for my blood work, in the walk-in clinic, I found a young doctor (20ish year old girl with a huge ego apparently); when she asked me of why fasting – I don’t think she was actually listening to me saying: for

• the mental clarity
• the autophagy
• to promote blood sugar control by reducing Insulin resistance
• to promote better health by fighting inflammation
• to enhance heart health by improving blood pressure, Triglycerides and Cholesterol levels
• to boost brain function and prevent neurodegenerative disorders
• to aids weight loss by limiting calorie intake
• to increase Growth Hormone secretion
• to delay aging and extend longevity
   

she was just waiting to say: as doctor I don’t agree with this Fast, you can get dehydrated; and then she left saying: have fun! How professional right?