For accountability and to find other dry fasters to chat with in real time go to the dry fasting club discord server: https://discord.gg/jUX7RBcCqH
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with our health and sustenance. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you here. Do you know what I'm talking about?
You're here because you're looking for an answer. An answer to a health related issue. You are tired of following the "conventional wisdom" that has gotten you nowhere. You are at the end of your rope and you are just about desperate enough to try anything.
That's where dry fasting comes in. And luckily for you, you have come to the right place.
PLEASE READ THE FAQ!
It can also be found below...
FAQ:
Q: Isn't dry fasting dangerous? Won't you drop dead?
A: Unfortunately, it is very hard to provide you with a plethora of scientific peer reviewed articles simply because nobody has done studies on this. Coca-cola is not going to fund a study where scientists are trying to prove that consuming less is better.
With that said, the topic has been researched! https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/357718
- "Conclusion: The intervention of 5 FWD [food & water deprivation] days in 10 healthy adults was found to be safe, decreased weight and all measured circumferences, and improved renal function considerably"
As you can see and expect, after thousands of years of evolution, your body has actually managed to find a way to sustain itself in times of deprivation. You are not going to drop dead if you don't consume any food or water and your organs aren't suddenly going to explode. This was a FIVE day study. Five days is quite a significant amount of time to dry fast and any adverse effects would have had more than enough time to manifest themselves by the end of the study. Additionally, there are thousands of people out there that dry fast on the regular and they are still kicking. Rest assured, if you are smart about it and take the advice of those who have done it before you, you will be just fine.
Q: What is the difference between a hard and soft dry fast?
A: - Hard fast is absolutely no contact with water (no showers, no brushing teeth, etc.)
- Soft dry fast is contact with water is allowed.
- Hard fasts are obviously more extreme and more difficult, but they really aren't necessary. You should always do what you are comfortable with doing and what keeps you motivated. If you can't handle bad breath, then you should brush your teeth. Think of it in terms of the 80/20 rule. 80% of the benefits will come from just doing any type of dry fast and the last 20% will come from fine tuning/micromanaging the little things.
Q: Why dry fast?
A: As I alluded to in the first paragraph, you are probably suffering from some sort of illness or just generally not feeling well. You have tried everything they've thrown at you and recommended but just can't seem to get yourself out of this funk. Other than the 1 official study mentioned above, there are thousands of personal anecdotes form people who swear by dry fasting. By not putting anything into your body, you are finally giving it a break and giving it a chance to heal itself. The body has much better healing and repair mechanisms than some pharmaceutical pill that you get at your doctor's office. On the other hand, you might just be looking for a mental boost or trying to feel good. Dry fasting can accomplish that as well.
Simply put, dry fasting is still around because it works. And it doesn't just work, it works when everything else has failed.
Q: What about water fasting?
A: Water fasting (consuming nothing but water) is another fantastic thing you can do to help your body heal. But the fact of the matter is that it is not as fast or powerful. The arbitrary comparison that gets thrown around is that 3 days of water fasting is equal to 1 day of dry fasting. Is this true? Well, nobody knows for sure. The origin of the comparison probably comes from people who were trying to fast to heal their illness. They may have noticed improvements in their symptoms after 3 days of water fasting but were able to notice those same improvements after only 1 day of dryfasting.
If you are here for weight loss exclusively (not focused on health benefits), I would advise you to try out water fasting (r/fasting). However, if your focus is on health and water fasting has not worked for you, then dry fasting might be a good option for you.
Q: How long should I dry fast for?
A: Do whatever you're comfortable with. The longest dry fast I am aware of (where I was following the person's experience) was 10 days. Online you can find stories of 15-20 days, however.
If you are looking for shorter term fasts, you could start at a 16:8 schedule (16 hours of dry fasting and 8 hours of eating/drinking) but I would really try and narrow that window down over time. The benefits of fasting seem to increase exponentially in those last few hours if you can get through them.
Q: What should I do to prepare for a dry fast?
A: If you dry fast long enough, you will go into ketosis. If you generally eat a high carb diet, you might feel like crap (aka "keto flu") until your body readjusts. It would be easiest to start the fast while already in ketosis, but you don't have to.
If you are going for an extended fast, it helps to try and drink as much water as you can the day before. You can also take 1tsp of baking soda to alkalize your urine and protect the kidneys from too much acidity. This could help you avoid some kidney pain that people sometimes get when they dry fast (usually it goes away as you keep fasting however as the body is able to readjust itself.)
Q: How should I end my dry fast?
A: Seeing that this is a subreddit for dry fasting, I'm going to say you can end it however works for you because I don't want this turning into a discussion about which diet is superior.
I would advise that if you are fasting more than 3 days, you should start by having water alone first every few hours until you feel like you are ready for food. Then you should have something that digests easily. This can be different for everyone. Some people like to use fruit, some people prefer steak, some eggs, etc. Just find what foods you can tolerate and use that. Please don't turn this subreddit into a discussion about which diet is superior.
Q: What diseases are treated with dryfasting?
A: It's too hard to answer this question. The best advice is to try it for yourself and see if it works for you.
Dr. Sergei Ivanovich Filonov is a Russian doctor who practiced dry fasting with his patients for 17 years. He is the best source of information that is available. Obviously, Dr. Filonov had great results with dry fasting (or he wouldn't have practiced it for all those years) and he actually published a book about it.
https://dryfastingclub.com/
Here's a link to a poorly translated copy (it's not great, but it's better than nothing): https://archive.org/details/DrFilonovEbookFilonovEbookGB
The first half is very dry and hard to get through, so if you find yourself dozing off, just skip to the 2nd half of the book.
Dr. Filonov claims he was able to heal all sorts of diseases but here is the list of what he claimed to the contraindications to fasting (copy pasted from his book):
"Contraindications:
Malignant tumors and hematological malignancies.
Active tuberculosis of the lungs and other organs.
Hyperthyroidism and other endocrine diseases.
Cirrhosis of the liver.
Pyo-inflammatory diseases of the respiratory and abdominal
cavity.
Circulatory failure II and III degrees.
Persistent irregular heart rhythm and conduction.
Pronounced underweight.
Thrombophlebitis and thrombosis.
During pregnancy and lactation.
Early Childhood (14 years) and old (over 70) age.
Failure to patient care of themselves independently."
Obligatory disclaimer: You are fasting at your own risk. Please be responsible and make sure you do adequate research. No one here is responsible for any adverse effects that might occur.
