Dry Fasting. Is there any science to this?

(Dan Dan) #69

Are you allowed to chew gum to help with the production of saliva and prevent dry mouth :thinking:

(Ethan) #71

@gruia, I have a lot of potassium in my diet from leafy greens and avocados. I have a congenital heart defect and take medication to stave of (prevent completely I hope) open-heart surgery. This medication actually causes potassium retention, so I have to watch my intake. It probably would not be wise to be incredibly dehydrated either because of that. I am not so worried about 18 hours of water fasting. I am not sure I know of anybody who does 90h water fasts. I haven’t seen limits of safety recommendations.

(Ethan) #72

This is where interpretation comes in, right? The general consensus is that you cannot chew gum, eat salt, etc. You should only be putting water in mouth for necessary things, such as the cleansing ritual for prayer, but in that water is not even swallowed. Many feel that it is ok to brush teeth, though, during the fast–as long as you don’t swallow the water. This is based on historical practices of using a miswak to clean teeth (a twig used for cleaning teeth) and on spitting out the water used for cleansing prior to prayers. Others would say to generally avoid brushing teeth though to be sure.

(Brian Ernst) #73

I don’t know if this is off limits for a dry fast, but try sucking on a rock of pink sea salt. It’s something I do when I don’t have access to electrolyte water, and other people here have used it to get them through fasting periods.

(TJ Borden) #75

Just make sure to keep posting. If we don’t hear from you again, I doubt anyone else is going to try it. :smile:

#79

Are you saying you think you could dry fast 2-3 more days after a 5 day dry fast? Because I think you would die. When they eliminate fluids to end someone’s life in the hospital the doctor told me it takes 3-5 days. He explained that the person does not experience thirst as the brain switches off the drive for thirst. If I were you I would tread cautiously here, I’d research the effect of 7days dry fastingon your heart. And not what some guy on the internet says, actual clinical findings from people who survived 7 days.

#81

Apparently, this guy, dry fasted for 8 days.

(Robert C) #82

I think the big problem with dry fasting is that it has so many limitations and issues that it is not worth it compared to a non-dry fast (if weight loss is your only goal).

  • You can’t easily decide on a length of time. A non-dry fast lets you target a 10 day fast and that is virtually always attainable (i.e. you’d probably only have to stop if you felt ill). But, a dry fast is a different story – if you are staying in a somewhat humid cool room and pretty much still all the time – you can probably dry fast for quite a while. If you live in an arid region and have to go to your office, shopping etc. to the tune of 7,000 steps a day – you would really probably have to stick with a shorter dry fast.
  • If you want to do a longer dry fast – you probably shouldn’t exercise beyond slow walking. Hitting the gym and sweating the first afternoon of a multi-day dry fast wouldn’t make much sense. Not hitting the gym might be impacting your social life and may lead to light depression (if you believe that exercise generally helps mood).
  • You probably need to be monitored. Someone that has done several 5 to 10 day non-dry fasts could probably safely continue to do more of them – the physical side has been proven and the mental side won’t have issues (in fact mood usually improves). I think most people would want monitoring for all of their multi-day dry fasts.

With these (and I am sure there are more) kinds of issues – even if dry fasting was shown scientifically to be a more “powerful” form of fasting – I do not think it could be as effective overall. You can simply and safely do many more days of non-dry fasting (while continuing to exercise) than dry fasting.

(Dan Dan) #83

Really? :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I Dry fast almost every day, OMAD, OM2D and sometimes OM3D and find it easy, enjoyable and very comfortable but I am cautious while performing it just as I would be if water fasting :smiley:

(Robert C) #84

If you are getting good results at your age and doing it daily - great. I was speaking more to the responses about doing several days in a row without water. I just think that any gains won that way will not be as good as gains won by doing non-dry fasting for a much longer time.

(Dan Dan) #85

Each day of dry fasting is equivalent to 3 days water therefor no need to for a “much longer time” :smiley:

(Robert C) #86

The guy in the first video linked above said that dry fasting is 3 times more effective than water fasting “as far as autophagy is concerned and as far as overall cleansing of the cells is concerned”. But, the “click bait” type text outside of the video mentions burning 3 times the fat.
That’s the part I am not too sure about. If I do a non-dry fast and burn about 3,5000 calories in a day (about a pound of fat) then if I simply dry fast instead, my body would burn 10,500 calories of fat in a day - seems questionable. It seems - from all of the other things he said that, if you were really careful, a dry fast might have some real benefits. But he also says you shouldn’t remain dehydrated all of the time. If I were going to try this, I think I would do it once every 3 or 4 months at most so that there would actually be some things around to be cleaned out. It seems like doing it too often would mean you’d run out of the junk cells that need to go - and then I don’t know what would happen.

(Dan Dan) #87

Only if burning fat and calories are the same thing which they are not :thinking:

(Jennifer Kleiman) #88

Any scientific evidence to this “burn fat 3x faster” thing? There is none I’m aware of.

(TJ Borden) #89

I’d be curious too, but I’m also more inclined to believe it because I can’t think of anyone that benefits from selling the idea. At least bottled water companies could TRY to make a buck pushing water fasts. I can’t think of anyone that makes a buck from a dry fast.

(Robert C) #90

The “Dry Fasting: Burn Fat 3x Faster (Use Extreme Caution)” video has had over a half a million views. He’s making money from it (following the “I have a secret - watch and I will tell you” approach - then saying, “entertainment only”, medical supervision required etc.). Even if it is difficult to determine who is (and how they are) making money from something - I would not use that as a criteria to believe something (but the opposite is definitely true - I would have difficulty believing some big-sugar-paid-off scientists claiming soft drinks are okay).

(TJ Borden) #91

See, I feel like I missed the boat on that. I’m either too old or just not tech savvy enough. I don’t understand how people make money on free videos.

(Robert C) #92

I’ve looked around a bit just now and cannot find it. I would actually love to find it! Mostly what I see is that a pound of fat a day is pretty much the limit. I think Richard Morris has talked about this and about some maximum fat loss capacity. It had to do with how much fat was on the person. Basically a 110 pound 5 foot female isn’t going to be able to drop nearly as much as a 240 pound 6 foot male. But, if anyone found a method to triple that loss - I think it would be on the front page of a lot of newspapers.

(Robert C) #93

Advertising - if you use YouTube you fall into 1 of 2 categories:

Either you watch for free and receive advertising - which the advertisers are paying for and the content person gets their part
OR
You buy “YouTube Red” and pay a monthly fee to go directly to videos without advertising (which I do and it is a great experience!) - again, the content providers get their part of your monthly fee.

YouTube is very dependent on the content providers to help bring in both kinds of revenue. Content providers are dependent on you watching their videos to make money (the number of views determines how much they get).

That may not be a perfect explanation because I am not a content provider - it is just my understanding up to this point.

(Dan Dan) #94

@RobC

I think you misunderstand :open_mouth:

Faster does not equal more :thinking:

If I run a mile 3 times faster I’m still only running a mile :wink:

That said Dry fasting can burn more fat because fat is needed for both water and fuel :smiley:

Dry Fasting is more stressful and deeper and a powerful form of fasting and should be approached with great care its not for the weak or uninitiated :thinking::open_mouth: