This past Sunday without intending to I found that I had gone several hours without drinking water. I had gotten busy reinstalling Windows on my computer and did not want to halt the installation. Together with the growing thirst came what felt like soreness around the abdominal cavity. It made me think of dry fasting. I have fasted several times in my life but NEVER without drinking a liquid. So, I decided to purposefully go a little longer without water. There was more than enough to keep me busy as anyone who has done a clean installation of an operating system on their pc knows. It was really difficult to go without water for even a few hours. This coming weekend I will water fast again, starting Friday and ending sometime Sunday around 15:00.
I am even now on the internet researching dry fasting.
I have NO intention to dry fast for more than a day this weekend. I DO think to try it though for at least half a day.
Has anyone every done a dry fast?
Answer By Tom Coghill
Fasting.ws
Dry fasting need perpetration. Directly entering a dry fast is not advisable as the body need water to complete digestion of food. The best preparation is 3 days of juice followed by 2 days on water, then to dry fasting and back to juice or water fasting. You want your body to be fully entered into catabolism before dry fasting. Fat catabolism also releases water.
Tom, thank you for answering my inquiry. According to what I found yesterday on the internet Dry Fasting is also called Absolute Fasting. I don’t wonder why its also referred to as such. It’s REALLY ABSOLUTE. By that I mean the questions that arise sometimes about whether or not juice fasting is actually fasting would never arise about dry fasting.
I say again Tom that I have NO intention of embarking on a dry fast for more than half a day. I have just began water fasting each weekend and its enough for now. My purpose at the start was to lose the “muffin” around my waist. Its been there for years and I was just sick of it. That decision led me to the internet which is where I came across testimonials over fasting. In the three weekends that I have water fasted I know without any doubt that fasting will forever be part of my life. It’s soooooooo much more than losing weight; too much to try to put into words in a single post.
Anyway, I was thinking that since I fast without water and food while sleeping 7-8 hours it would not be too demanding to go a few hours more, say, until midday or early evening.
Do you think such a short duration would need the preparation that you mentioned?
Hi Mxxm
A short dry fast, or absolute fast, (funny story when I came across the idea of fasting without water and tried it , did some reseach and could not find info, so I did an article. I did not know what to call it so I termed it “dry fasting’ , which is now a commonly used word on the internet. But that my be my imagination. ) cannot hurt you.
I am sure that a short dry fast will do me lots of good. I am looking forward to it. I am in no hurry. I will take my time, listen to my body, research the subject on the internet and learn.
By the way Tom, the term “dry fasting” is really appropriate, don’t you think? When I think back to my brief experience last week the word dry is the FIRST word that immediately comes to mind!
I’ve also seen it referred to as an “absolute fast”. Calling it that really makes me laugh! I can imagine someone dry fasting and telling someone about it afterwards and saying, ‘that was an ABSOLUTE FAST’!!
It is now 4:56 in the morning and I am thirsty. I have not had anything to drink since about 20:30 last night. My goal is to go without water until tomorrow morning. I am free from work today and plan to spend the day inside or sitting out on the balcony reading. Yesterday I received a very interesting book that I ordered called The Hibernation Diet by Mike and Stuart McInnes. A short description of the book on the back cover says, “Did you know that the body burns more fat while asleep than during aerobic exercise? How can a spoonful of honey every night change your life? Change your life by listening to your body.”
Its a short book of about 150 pages and should be a nice read while I seek to occupy my mind but NOT my body. My intention is not to be moving around a lot. I just got up from my computer for a minute and I noticed that I felt a bit dizzy. This brings to mind an unfortunate fall that I had a few weeks ago. I was water fasting. I stood up too quickly from my bed and before I knew what was happening I fell. I still have a small lump on my forehead.
I have read a bit on the internet concerning dry fasting and its helped me to prepare.
They say knowledge is power and I think they have it right.
Hi MXXN,
A simple cure for a fasting black out is to set back down or get down on one knee.
Its now about 14:59 and I have yet to drink any water. The weather is warm and dry. The temperature has reached 32 degrees celcius. I have spent most of my day reading, sleeping and surfing on the internet. I haven’t much strength to do anything else. It’s not going without food that is sapping my strength, but rather going without water.
I feel like my stomach area is beginning to harden. There is also a sharpness to the dry feeling at the back of my mouth. Sometimes I am conscious of a foulness to my breath that is unlike any I have ever experienced. By that I mean it does not compare to forgetting to brush your teeth or use mouth wash. I would say its not coming from my mouth but from deeper within.
I have to be VERY careful when rising from a sitting or lying position. I am weak, sometimes dizzy, and sometimes I lose my balance.
Weighing myself doesn’t interest me much anymore. I do it, but not as often. It’s no longer about bodyweight per se but about my health, particularly my spiritual, mental and physical health. I do admit with pleasure that it is my absolute pride and joy to see my six pack abs once again! I haven’t seen them in years though I always exercised them and knew they were there, hidden behind a thick layer of belly fat.
It’s now 21:10 and this is my last post for today. Earlier I took a shower which was refreshing and envigorating. There was no temptation to drink any of the water. It did feel quite good though especially because of the weather being so warm.
I have gone to the toilet only twice. There were no surprises. Nothing unusual except for the strong smell and dark color of my urine. The harden feeling in my abdominal area comes and goes. Right now its with me. I had the real urge to do some abdominal exercises. I know it sounds strange but its nonetheless true. I am resisting because I think it would make me even more thirsty.
So far I am doing well. I am a bit surprised that I am not ‘suffering’. I am very new to fasting and the thought that I have gone one whole day and night without food and water without dying is a surprise and a great encouragement.
I have NOT been even a little bit bored. I have spent the day reading (I am almost finished the small book about the Hibernation Diet), surfing the internet, sleeping and I enjoyed very much a spaghetti western that was full of magnificent stunts and gun battles.
I stop now.
It’s now 08:30 Saturday morning. Already the temperature is about 25 degrees and the forecast is that it will get even warmer.
Yesterday evening before going to bed I made a cup of hot cocoa (100% cocoa, NOT the sugary Nestle’s chocolate with ingredients that defy pronunciation) and put a full teaspoon of honey in it. I didn’t do it because of thirst or hunger. I did it because I want to test what I read in the book I am reading. Namely, “The Hibernation Diet”. The title is a little misleading, I think, because the core of what the authors Mike and Stuart McInnes proposes is not to be compared to any of the “diets” you’ve heard of. Its a bit lengthy to discuss here but anyone interested can either google the title and find out for themselves. There is also a short presentation on YouTube by one of the authors.
Anyway, I attribute the very sound sleep that I had to the hot cocoa and honey. After sleeping so much during the day yesterday I was very doubtful if I would sleep at all in the night. I remember lying down and turning briefly from side to side and that’s all I remember. I slept very sound and woke up refreshed. My tongue feels a bit swollen and my mouth is very dry but that’s obviously due to thirst. My stomach is a little sore and I still have the thought to do some abdominal exercises. I think I will as there must be a reason why I am feeling to do it.
I just weighed myself. I am now 75 kilos. When I began fasting yesterday morning my weight was 76 kilos.
I don’t have a fixed time when I will begin to drink and eat again. I am reasoning that because I return to work on Monday that it would be good to begin drinking and eating sometime Sunday morning. That would give me sufficient time to slowly return to normal before having to work.
It is now 12:13 Sunday. I ended my two day dry fast yesterday at about 18:30. I also finished reading “The Hibernation Diet” by Mike and Stuart McInnes.
I am sure that although the fast was of short duration that I have benefited very much from it. For 48 hours my digestive system was on complete shut down; no water, no food EXCEPT for a cup of hot cocoa with honey Friday evening.
The drinking of the cocoa with honey brings me to the real subject of this post. The McInnes’ book has really stirred an interest in honey. I have spent a great deal of time on the internet today googling. My findings have been very surprising. I do not think it fair for me to quote from the book, thereby taking some of its content out of context because I do not know enough about the subject to critique their book. Instead I will quote from this webpage that I think has a much better understanding of what Mike and Stuart McInnes are writing about.
The weblink is:
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/insomnia-cure.html
Here is the quote:
“The Hibernation Diet also advocates the consumption of one or two tablespoonfuls of honey at night to promote good quality sleep. Our body stores ready-to-use energy as glycogen in the liver. When the liver runs out of glycogen at night, our brain starts to trigger stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin to convert protein muscle into glucose. Long term metabolic stress from cortisol production as a result of inadequate liver glycogen stores leads to insulin resistance, diabetes, and risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease. Both short or poor quality sleep and prolonged sleep (ie getting up late) produces similar metabolic responses as the brain seeks to insure sufficient glycogen stores to fuel energy demands. Pure natural honey is believed to be the best food for glycogen storage as it contains the ideal 1:1 ratio of fructose to glucose. When taken prior to bed, it is able to provide sufficient glycogen storage for the necessary fuelling of the liver, ease stress hormones and help us get a restful sleep at night. In the book “Honey Revolution” by Dr Ron Fessenden, it was further explained that restorative sleep is critical for memory, cognitive enhancement, as well as all of the reparative functions necessary for muscle, bone and other tissues. And honey is the optimum fuel for the brain to sustain restorative sleep while preventing metabolic stress during the night.”
Please, I am in NO WAY promoting the book or its contents. As a matter of fact it is because some of what was written is in disagreement with my current belief that I couldn’t let the topic just pass by. The question that is stirring me on, simply put is this: if the liver does not receive sufficient fructose in the night, which it changes into glucose and stores as glycogen, should I be eating honey before going to bed and when I get up even though I am fasting?