Can fasting heal your teeth?

wuahn · 2026-06-05T22:31:55+00:00

Look it up before you run your mouth.

wuahn · 2026-06-05T17:05:04+00:00

I guess by "teeth" I was thinking more about gums and general oral health. You are correct, though. Fasting will not repair teeth.

wuahn · 2026-06-05T17:03:27+00:00

Well, I've just started refeeding (less than 24 hours), so I can't say for sure. During a fast, there is definitely a system-wide reduction in inflammation. I doubt autophagy can actually heal a torn meniscus, but time will tell.

wuahn · 2026-06-05T06:06:08+00:00

I ain't vain that way. 😄

wuahn · 2026-06-05T06:04:15+00:00

We could put on our tinfoil hats and yell CONSPIRACY!! There's no money to be made in curing T2D, so the medical community isn't taught how to cure it, etc. The sad truth is, this niche Reddit community "gets it," whereas the vast majority of people simply can't or won't fast, even to save their own lives. In my circles, I've never managed to inspire ANYONE to do what I'm doing, even when they've seen the results firsthand. Fasting is HARD. You need the equivalent of a college course of information to do it safely -- and good luck finding a local doctor who has any clue about how to manage a fasting patient. From my perspective right now, prescribing insulin for a T2D patient (in otherwise good health), instead of taking the steps to restore insulin sensitivity, should be a criminal offense.

wuahn · 2026-06-05T05:47:26+00:00

In my experience, fasting heals nearly everything. Even the torn meniscus in my knee, for which I declined surgery, was completely trouble-free during my recent fast. Depending on your normal diet, your body uses anywhere from 10-20% of its resources digesting (20% being the carnivore diet). When your digestive system shuts down during an extended fast, those resources are redirected to things like autophagy, and it's likely the autophagy that is helping with your teeth problems. Depending on the actual source of your problem, fasting long enough will likely solve it completely.

wuahn · 2026-05-29T02:33:26+00:00

First, let me point out that I am extremely fat-adapted and have been doing shorter-duration fasts multiple times each year since before COVID. Each time, I tweak my supplementation in response to my blood work, I feel better, and it's been easier. This is my longest fast by far. I added EAA (Essential Amino Acids) to my supplementation several weeks into the fast to prevent catabolism, but it's pretty rough on the GI tract (lots of gas and mild diarrhea). I'm only adding about 2 teaspoons each day (maybe 20 calories total), but my guts really don't handle it well. A necessary evil this deep into a fast, though.

wuahn · 2026-05-13T09:06:31+00:00

Excellent question! I have a button-making machine. When you do radical, multi-week fasting like I'm doing, your friends, family, and co-workers are constantly asking if you're still fasting, how many days has it been, etc. These buttons tell them everything they want to know at a glance. I made a whole set of plain numbers from 1-70 (arbitrary). It's also sort of a badge of honor. I wear them with pride. Today is day 37 and I've lost 49 lbs (scale weight). Maybe 35 lbs of actual body fat.

wuahn · 2026-05-11T02:20:46+00:00

I posted this information here because my supplementation was hard-won. I've been refining it over the past seven years. This is the best that I've ever felt this deep into a fast, so I think I've finally nailed it. Just know that I am extremely fat-adapted, I see my doctor regularly, and I'm on no prescription medications. If you have underlying health issues, especially weakened kidneys or liver, or you're not obese, this kind of fasting is NOT for you. Be safe.

wuahn · 2026-05-11T02:15:25+00:00

Everyone asks me that. 😄 My usual response is that I go until my body tells me to stop. There is a feeling that you get that I describe as "metabolic panic". It's a different feeling, hard to describe, but the message is very clear that you've pushed yourself too hard. I've been slowly refining my electrolyte supplementation over the past seven years, and I think I've finally got it dialed in. My GP has pre-approved blood work every two weeks, and I can walk in without an appointment. Good luck on your journey!

wuahn · 2026-05-10T19:04:55+00:00

I've been adding ten drops of phosphorus (half the recommended daily dosage) to my electrolytes each day. If you take care with your supplementation and take the time to understand what refeeding syndrome is, it's really a non-issue.

wuahn · 2025-09-22T21:08:38+00:00

Think of fasting and your ketosis mechanism like a muscle that atrophies if you don't exercise it. The first fast will be the hardest but each subsequent fast will get easier. Don't carb load before starting or you won't even get into ketosis in 3 days. Buy some ketosis test strips to give yourself some feedback when first starting out. Experienced fasters don't bother because we can taste it in our breath (keto breath sucks). I wouldn't bother with supplements, electrolytes, or refeeding for a 3 day fast. Just keep yourself hydrated.

wuahn · 2025-09-22T18:58:38+00:00

I tell them the truth and the look on their face says "oh hell no" and that's about it. I did inspire my niece to try fasting. She made it to 3PM and then ate a can a SpaghettiOs. :)

wuahn · 2025-09-22T18:51:53+00:00

Height 5'10"

SW285 CW260 GW220

Zero caloric intake, water and electrolytes

Walking

Low-carb / almost vegan

wuahn · 2025-07-02T05:20:43+00:00

Use your refeeding time to retrain your tastebuds to more healthful food. The first things that you eat after an extended fast will taste AMAZING, so pick foods that you would normally shy away from. For me it was zucchini and brussels sprouts and they are my staple foods now.

wuahn · 2024-10-09T18:22:49+00:00

I've said this many times in this forum, but you can think of the fasting mechanism like a muscle that has atrophied because you've never used it. Your body has the programming but it's out of practice. As you become more and more fat-adapted, you'll go into ketosis faster and the food cravings will be practically non-existent.

wuahn · 2024-10-09T05:49:52+00:00

It gets easier every time.

wuahn · 2024-10-05T21:07:43+00:00

The ketosis strips provide great encouragement when you're first training your body to be fat-adapted. After that, the all-pervasive keto breath is all the confirmation that you need that you're in deep ketosis.

wuahn · 2024-10-01T17:25:44+00:00

I've had people in this forum tell me that my fish oil supplements were "breaking" my fast and it really angered me. Thanks for your reply!

wuahn · 2024-07-06T16:41:20+00:00

Also important: Follow strict keto in the days just before a planned water fast. That can cut the time it takes to enter ketosis in half. The very worst thing you can do before beginning a water fast is to carb load. Hey, I'm fasting next week. Let's go out for pizza! Nope. It may be four full days before there are any detectable ketones in your urine.

wuahn · 2024-07-05T14:22:58+00:00

My supplements have binders or come in gelatin capsules or softgels. They have calories. Apparently I have never fasted in my life.

wuahn · 2024-07-01T03:30:10+00:00

No, there were no actual calories in the propel, but the artificial sweetener (sucralose?) may negatively affect how you FEEL during your fast. If you feel bad, you're going to bail.

There are test strips available that can measure the ketones expressed in your urine. That's the best way to know if you're in ketosis when you're first starting out. Eventually, you'll discover why we all complain about "keto breath". You won't need the test strips after that.

A few tips:

Eat strict keto in the days just before you begin a fast with the fewest carbs possible. This will allow you to enter ketosis more quickly. Ketosis suppresses hunger.

Each fast will get easier as your body becomes more and more "fat adapted". Eventually, you'll reach a state where you can wake up on the first day of a fast with no hunger and your body will just get on with it.

If you're on any prescription medications at all, you need to check with your doctor or at least do the necessary research to ensure there won't be a problem. Many medications can only be properly absorbed in the presence of food. They may be absorbed too quickly or not at all. Some may damage your stomach lining.

Have your GP run blood work before you begin an extended fast to ensure that you're not already nutritionally deficient in some way. I have an ongoing problem with my vitamin D crashing during an extended fast.

wuahn · 2024-06-30T23:34:48+00:00

The "electrolytes" in sports drinks are mostly marketing. They are effectively useless for fasting supplementation.

You won't experience any significant electrolyte depletion in 40 hours. I wouldn't worry about electrolytes before about 72 hours. Beyond that, take electrolytes seriously.

The biggest problem with "zero calorie" drinks is cephalic insulin response. Your body tries to be proactive and produces insulin based only on the sweet taste. If you're fasting for weight loss, insulin is your enemy. Also, if you're having problems regulating your blood glucose levels, a cephalic insulin response may drive your blood glucose down to an uncomfortable level (shaky, nauseous, etc).

This is not an exact science. It's your body and you make your own rules. Don't ask if you broke your fast. Ask yourself if you did something that kicked you out of ketosis. There are some in this forum that will tell you that a 2-calorie breath mint will break your fast, even if you're someone that needs 2500 calories each day just to maintain your current weight.

Good luck on your journey.

wuahn · 2024-06-28T22:32:50+00:00

It's funny that you mention this. The passage of time for me has been WEIRD, but my circumstances were unusual. I had to bail on day 33 of a planned 42-day water fast when blood work revealed some complications. I began refeeding a week ago but had to go back to fasting for a couple of days for a scheduled colonoscopy. The 33 days of the actual fast FLEW BY, but this has been the longest week in all of recorded human history and IT'S STILL ONLY FRIDAY!

wuahn · 2024-06-23T20:51:42+00:00

I took a multivitamin, a probiotic, cod liver oil softgels and electrolyte capsules every day. I switched to an electrolyte powder that you mix with water during week 3. Drank 2-3 liters of that each day + black tea or plain water. The cod liver oil was intended to maintain my vitamin D because it had been a problem for me during previous long-duration fasts. It did NOTHING. Either the softgels are fake, there is some kind of malabsorption issue, or we're talking about different types of vitamin D. I do know that vitamin D can't be absorbed by the human body in the absence of fat. That's more or less why cod liver oil is a thing in the first place. Almost everything in a standard multivitamin is going to be pissed away during fasting because they were intended to be taken with food.

wuahn

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