What does one-day fasting do and how to do it: doctors’ opinions and expert advice

From this article you will learn:

1. Features and phases of fasting
2. The benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting
3. Indications for one-day fasting
4. The harm of one-day fasting
5. Preparing for a one-day therapeutic fast
6. 4 rules for one-day therapeutic fasting on water
7. Recommendations for dry one-day fasting
8. The right way out of a one-day fast

Many stars practice one-day therapeutic fasting and note only the advantages. Indeed, even doctors have proven the benefits of this kind of diet. During the day spent without food, a person is literally transformed. He feels lighter, his headaches go away, and his mood improves.

There are different types of one-day fasting - dry and water. We recommend the second option, as there will be more benefits. Water, as we know, is extremely necessary for our body, so it should not be removed from the diet. Not only the type of fasting is important, but also the preparation for it, because you cannot simply refuse food. We have described all the rules in detail below.

Features and phases of fasting

Features and phases of fasting
Intermittent fasting, the 16/8 method and the 5:2 diet - the goal of all these schemes is to recover from short-term food restrictions. Jennifer Aniston, Kourtney Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon have tried these methods on themselves. You can’t call this just another trend, because scientists have proven that intermittent fasting has a beneficial effect on the body’s condition. It's time to find out how to get rid of ailments in a day and allow your body to cleanse itself.

A healthy body's ability to fast is limited to 21 days, but you should not fast at home for more than 72 hours without medical supervision.

Independent abstinence from food consists of two phases, the first of which lasts a day. According to functional medicine expert E. Kondrasheva, the first phase is not capable of causing damage. The specialist states in his blog on Instagram: you can devote 24 hours every week to abstaining from food. The second phase lasts from 24 to 72 hours, but you need to prepare for it and not sharply shock your body with prolonged fasting, because this can lead to complications, one of which is hypoglycemia. You can repeat it once every 2-3 weeks.

It is worth considering that any phase will be accompanied by various transformations in the body.

Exit

You need to be able to get out of it no less competently. If you immediately rush to food after unloading, you may end up in the hospital with serious intestinal disorders. Please follow these rules.

1. The exit is organized exactly at the same time that the entry was made.
2. If it was dry fasting, you should start with a glass of warm water, which you need to drink in small sips. You can start eating only after half an hour.
3. The first meal should be as light and low-calorie as possible: liquid porridge with water or boiled vegetables.
4. During the day, you need to carefully select foods so as not to overload your stomach: portions should be small, overeating is excluded.
5. The basis of the diet is boiled or baked vegetables, cereal porridge, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt, a little hard cheese, low-fat chicken or fish broth.
6. From the next day, you can gradually introduce other foods: fruits, fresh vegetable salads, eggs.

In the recommendations scattered across the Internet on how to break a one-day fast, you can also find anti-advice (for example, start with an enema, laxatives or emetics). Carefully analyze the information and be able to filter out such teachings that can provoke serious gastric disorders.

The benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting

• One day of fasting rejuvenates the body for three months.

The benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting
In ancient times, the practice of fasting for health purposes was widespread. This is how Hippocrates, Paracelsus and other doctors treated patients. Nowadays, the beneficial effects of abstinence in food have been proven by scientists. According to research, short fasting helps normalize metabolism and rejuvenate the body.

Surprisingly, the effect of using such methods is similar to the effect of spa treatments.

The benefit of one-day therapeutic fasting is that the body heals both outside and inside. When fasting, it is strictly forbidden to take any medications, and drinking water often and in small quantities is recommended.

Another unusual effect lies in a short refusal of food: the imagination grows stronger, and the desire to realize creative potential arises. For example, the founder of The Beatles, John Lennon, was a fan of short-term abstinence from food and meditation. It is possible that he achieved success in his creative work not only thanks to hard work and talent, but also by abstaining from food.

To stimulate mental activity and rid the body of everything unnecessary, advised T. Toeo, a former representative of the House of Commons of the Japanese Parliament, to fast. The politician has repeated many times that fasting is not just a diet, but a way to improve brain function and become more productive.

• During a short period of abstinence from food, metabolism improves.

Some people think that they will have to experience severe hunger during a short period of fasting, and in order not to suffer and not lose the ability to think sensibly, they need to eat every 2-3 hours. Nature took care of eliminating the need to eat so often, because some systematic fasting, even for long periods of time, accompanied the life of primitive people, but their mental activity and motor activity did not suffer significantly. Otherwise humanity would die out.

The human body is capable of maintaining a certain level of blood sugar. This skill, given by nature and necessary for survival, also works in situations that threaten life and health. A person can fast for 24 hours, then run for 90 minutes, and their blood sugar levels will be the same as when they ran on a full stomach.

Only 84 hours of fasting or longer would change the amount of glucose and cause it to affect brain function. Even this effect is not permanent, because the brain gets used to it. He begins to use ketone bodies to produce energy. Two days of not eating or severely restricting calories does not affect brain function or blood sugar levels.

In this regard, the myth that one-day therapeutic fasting activates the fasting mode is dispelled.

The benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting

According to the discoveries that were made during the study of this topic, the first symptoms of a decrease in metabolism due to cessation of food intake appear after 60 hours and amount to 8% of the resting metabolic rate, however, information from other researchers shows that metabolism does not change for 72 –96 hours of abstinence from food. Important experiments and conclusions on the topic of fasting belong to George Cahill.

Giving up food for 36 hours did not provoke changes in the metabolism of people who were under the supervision of scientists. It was even concluded that food does not have a strong effect on metabolism in principle.

During a one-day therapeutic fast, metabolism increases.

Studies have shown an increase of 3.6–10% after 36–48 hours of fasting (Mansell PI et al and Zauner C et al). From an evolutionary perspective, this is not meaningless: epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/norepinephrine) stimulate mental activity and encourage action, which is necessary to search for food and hunt.

The result is that the possibility of survival increases. After a person has fasted for several days, the stimulation of metabolism changes to conservation of energy, since the second option is more beneficial for survival, but the metabolism increases during fasting for up to 60 hours.

• Refusal from food was used not only to restore health and rejuvenation, but also for spiritual enlightenment.

Almost all known cultures and beliefs have references to the use of fasting in spiritual life. Many spiritual educators abstained from food:

• Moses abstained from food on the sacred mountain for 40 days many times. Subsequently, he achieved truth and divine revelation.
• Christ refused food for 40 days before starting large-scale preaching activities. The scriptures say that Jesus fasted for 40 days in various forms.
• Buddha abstained from food for 40 days before his enlightenment occurred.
• Mohammed and Ali , the founders of two branches of Islam, also abstained from food for 40 days.
• Mahavir is the founder of Jainism. He fasted for 12 years and sometimes during fasting he abstained from any food.
• The founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui , did not eat for 21 days while in a place of power, after which he acquired the gift of healing.

Christians fast several times a year according to the rules of limiting the consumption of certain foods. That is, fasting can be called a method of restructuring eating habits and getting used to healthy food. During fasting, fasting is prescribed every Wednesday and Friday, and some Christians do not eat even for several weeks during fasting.

Christ himself told his closest disciples that one must abstain from food in order to cleanse the body and soul. He called the body the temple of the soul.

Muslims also refuse food for several days.

If we turn to the everyday life of ancient times, we can find out that abstinence from food was practiced as a preparation for rituals. For example, in order for a young man to be considered a man in many tribes, he had to undergo various restrictions, including quite a long hunger and life away from people.

Hunters and warriors made amulets that gave strength. They could only work if the men cleansed themselves by abstaining from food for a while.

Abstinence from food was widespread in shamanic cultures. Shamans left people for places of power and went hungry in order to make contact with the gods and become seers.

Shamans practiced “vision searches” in this way: a person retires to a place of power, for example in a forest or mountains, for one to three days, while fasting. There he acquires the skill of understanding nature, realizing what makes it powerful, and comes to an agreement with it. A person is attentive to everything he sees, hears and feels.

Refusal of food is also practiced in qigong and yoga. This method was used by Paul Bragg. He regularly practiced yoga and cleansing pranayamas, explaining his abilities in the form of flexibility of the body, developed intelligence, and the benefits of abstaining from food.

• It has partially become clear why one-day therapeutic fasting prolongs life.

The benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting
In the 50s of the 20th century, scientists realized that refusing food helps to increase the life expectancy of both single-celled organisms and primates, that is, regardless of the form of life. But why such an effect occurs at the cellular level was unclear.

US scientists have concluded that the benefits of one-day therapeutic fasting lie in changes in the functioning of mitochondria.

Scientists from Harvard, Cornell and the American National Institutes of Health, led by Harvard Associate Professor David Sinclair, discovered two enzymes. These substances stimulate the work of mitochondria, which are sometimes called “energy factories,” during periods unfavorable for cells. This effect increases the lifespan of the cell.

Mitochondria are cellular organelles that enable the process of cellular respiration. Due to the second, energy is released, or it is concentrated in the form of adenazine triphosphoric acid (ATP). The content of the article, which was published in the journal Cell, tells that scientists provided an illustration of the effect of short-term refusal of food on the activation of a protein that ensures the saturation of mitochondria with molecules of the coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), which is on a par with the main energy carriers in the cell.

Researchers believe that a high concentration of NAD leads to the use of “youth enzymes” encoded by SIRT3 and SIRT4 in mitochondria. That is, they do not exhibit a natural stop in the functioning of organelles, which provokes cell death. Mitochondria resume their activity with renewed vigor, producing energy. This delays cell aging and almost completely blocks the self-destruction that occurs in old cells.

It is worth saying that stimulating the work of mitochondria compensates for the loss of other sources of cell existence for some time. In situations where its nucleus cannot function at all, self-destruction of the cell does not occur. But researchers still do not understand how mitochondria manage to prevent cell death.

• Fasting and atherosclerosis.

Fasting and atherosclerosis
Among the signs characteristic of atherosclerosis is low-grade inflammation that occurs in the walls of the arteries with a concentration of immune cells called macrophages. In the latter, according to scientists published in the journal Cell Metabolism, there is a violation in the waste processing process. Biomolecules that are in the cell stop working properly over time and require replacement with synthesized molecules. However, the old ones must be contained somewhere after this. For this purpose, the cell is equipped with a special self-digestion mechanism, according to which waste is separated.

Scientists think: stimulating cell cleansing helps reduce the chances of developing atherosclerosis. Accordingly, the pharmaceutical industry can create drugs based on this knowledge, but researchers believe that people, even without the use of medications, can start the process of cell cleansing through one-day fasting. That is, refusing to eat or consuming a small amount of calories will help cells find other sources of energy, which could be waste at the molecular level.

• Fasting for weight loss.

To lose weight, you must act in accordance with the rules of one-day therapeutic fasting. Regular approaches also have an impact.

Scientists from the USA believe that just one day of food refusal per month can be beneficial for the body.

Experts have concluded: people who fast every first Monday of the month are 40% less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases, and asthmatics are less likely to suffer from attacks caused by this disease. Accordingly, during a short refusal of food, the body is in a state of slight stress, which benefits the immune system, and the person becomes less susceptible to cancer. There is an opinion among scientists that you can skip breakfast or dinner rather than fast for a day, but the most important thing is that you need to fast systematically and at the same time drink water.

We can conclude: a short-term refusal to eat is a chance to self-cleanse. The body mobilizes its capabilities to get rid of molecular debris and help normalize organ function. Until now, scientists cannot fully comprehend all the abilities of the human body in this process, and therefore it cannot be said that the term “fasting treatment” fully explains the transformations occurring in the body. This method of self-purification will work in many situations, but it will not be possible to restart the functions of some organs and systems in conditions of progressive diseases.

Kinds

On the water

One-day water fasting is recommended for beginners and people with serious illnesses (which are not on the list of contraindications). It is much easier to tolerate than dry, as it allows you to deceive the feeling of hunger by filling your stomach with water from time to time. Its daily volume is determined individually. Some methods advise drinking as much as you want, without any schedule. Others limit it to 3 liters and small dosages: for example, 1 glass per hour. Try different schemes (you can check them out at the link) to understand which one is best for you.

Another advantage of a water fasting day: if pronounced side effects and severe attacks of hunger occur, you can add lemon juice and honey to the water. This kind of support helps you not to break down and pass the test to the end.

Dry

The practice of one-day fasting should definitely not start with dry fasting. This is allowed only to those who already easily tolerate water and feel good during periods of such fasting. Psychologically it is much more difficult. Such a system requires more careful preparation at the entrance (gradually reduce the amount of not only food, but also water; the enema the day before is canceled) and much longer endurance during the fast itself.

In order not to break, it is recommended:

1. Spend more time outside the home, in the fresh air.
2. Schedule the whole day, load it with activities, so as not to lie idle, suffer from hunger and feel sorry for yourself.
3. Do not watch TV with advertising of goodies and avoid public catering establishments with their tempting smells.
4. Avoid negative thoughts and negative emotions.

Dry fasting with a frequency of 1 day per week is practiced in bodybuilding. It helps start the process of fat burning and replacement of adipocytes with muscle mass. But this only happens if several conditions are met:

• fasting should be weekly, without skipping, always on the same day;
• regular training with proper alternation of strength and cardio exercises;
• special sports nutrition;
• the presence of sufficient mass - both fat and muscle.

Compared to long-term dry fasts, one-day fasts are not so dangerous to health. Their goal is not an acidotic crisis, which leads to deterioration of health and irreversible consequences. Still, it’s worth enlisting the support of a doctor before you arrange one.

You can learn about the principles of dry fasting, various schemes, pros and cons of the method from our separate review.

Indications for one-day fasting

Indications:

• intoxication of the body;
• chronic fatigue;
• first stage of cancer;
• atherosclerosis;
• obesity of any degree;
• hypertension;
• neuroses and stress;
• frequent shortness of breath;
• ischemia;
• tendency to increased gas formation;
• hypotension;
• swelling;
• allergic reactions.

Regular one-day therapeutic fasting brings benefits in the form of solving problems with the reproductive system in both men and women; treatment of certain dermatological diseases

Who Shouldn't Fast

Even a short period without any food can be harmful in some cases. There are the following contraindications to one-day fasting:

• severe weight deficiency;
• malignant tumors;
• other serious diseases - active tuberculosis diabetes mellitus ;
• severe renal or liver failure;
• thrombophlebitis;
• thyrotoxicosis , etc.

In addition to absolute contraindications, there are also many relative ones, in which during periods of hunger, undesirable symptoms may occur - fainting , pressure surges, disturbances of consciousness, etc. That is why you need to start fasting in consultation with a specialist.

The harm of one-day fasting

Indications for one-day fasting
It is worth mentioning the negative aspects of a short-term refusal of food. Losing weight occurs faster if you drink a lot of water, and not by burning fat. Alarming symptoms of short-term abstinence from eating include:

• nausea;
• state of weakness;

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• dizziness;
• drowsiness;
• headache;
• decreased performance;
• abdominal pain;
• severe attacks of hunger.

It is imperative to break the fast when these symptoms do not go away within three hours or intensify. However, you need to return to your normal course not abruptly, but in accordance with the rules.

How to get out of dry fasting

One-day dry fasting is a more severe version of food refusal, when not only food, but also drinks are excluded. In some cases, any contact with water is excluded, even showering, brushing teeth, and washing hands. According to reviews, dry hunger promotes the most active breakdown of fat cells and the consumption of accumulated carbohydrate reserves. Coming out of such fasting takes longer and requires a smooth approach:

1. First you need to saturate your body with moisture, so drink 2-3 glasses of water every hour, but in small, leisurely sips.
2. 4 hours after the start of the exit, it is allowed to consume fish broth without spices.
3. In the middle of the day, take a warm bath or shower, and then leisurely eat a light vegetable salad or fruit.
4. Smoothly introduce familiar foods into your diet within 2–3 days after the start of withdrawal; during this period, avoid flour, meat, and fatty foods.

Preparing for a one-day therapeutic fast

In order not to become a hostage to negative consequences and to enhance the positive effects of fasting on the body, you need to prepare before you refuse to eat. Below is a diagram that shows how to properly start a one-day therapeutic fast.

The basis of therapeutic fasting should be laid in the morning, although at this time you can eat a light breakfast, for example, porridge with water, about two pieces of unsweetened fruit or bread with cheese, or drink diluted freshly squeezed juice.

If you need to prepare your body for dry fasting, you should adhere to more stringent rules: reduce the amount of food and liquids for three days. There is no need to do an enema in the evening, since this measure is only necessary in conditions of a water diet.

You should not take medications either before or during a one-day therapeutic fast or other types of food refusal, and you should also not overload the body with strong training, jogging and exercise in the pool. During the preparatory period, it is recommended to do light gymnastics and yoga.

Fasting: benefits and harms

Intermittent (periodic) fasting is a simple secret to health. Only we started returning to it recently, but in the past this method was widespread: our ancestors did not have time for snacks or drinking tea with sweets; they worked from morning to evening, and ate not 4-5 times a day, but 1-2 times a day. And they were very healthy. Is it true?

The benefits of fasting (subject to full compliance with the rules) are obvious:

• The body is cleansed of all existing toxic and harmful substances.
• Diseased cells (including cancer cells) are destroyed.
• Immunity improves.
• Vigor and energy appear.
• Excess weight goes away.
• Metabolism is normalized.
• Hair, nails, skin delight with their quality.
• Mood and well-being improves.

If you really need extra strength to conquer new heights, you lack enthusiasm, you want to be in a great mood, a temporary refusal of food will definitely help you. The benefit of fasting also lies in the fact that a person becomes more aware, his memory and concentration improve.

But with all the above-mentioned advantages, you should be aware that a long-term refusal of food, like a short-term one, is stress for the body.

Serious troubles await you if you choose the wrong method, if you don’t take special measures immediately before starting to cleanse your body, and if you don’t monitor changes in how you feel.

Fasting, in fact, may not be beneficial for everyone. Only if you consider yourself an absolutely healthy person can you practice fasting days. The benefits of fasting will be noticeable in the first week.

It is advisable to avoid fasting for pregnant girls, those who suffer from anorexia, cardiac arrhythmia, kidney or liver disease.

Benefits, benefits of fasting for the body: benefits of water fasting and benefits of dry fasting

Recommendations for dry one-day fasting

Dry daily fasting is a more severe method, which is characterized by the complete absence of water and is suitable for experienced people. Psychologically, such a measure is more difficult to bear, since from time to time there will be a desire to fill the emptiness in the stomach with at least something. The following rules must be observed:

1. Make preparatory measures a few days in advance.
2. It is recommended to walk more in the fresh air, as this will help speed up the process of losing excess weight and provide a distraction. Bed rest can only be observed if you feel unwell.
3. You need to do something: reading, creativity, do household chores, etc. A daily plan will help. You should not watch TV, especially cooking programs, because you may be tempted to fill your stomach.
4. It is better to retire and limit communication, since sympathy or advice from friends and relatives can ruin a hunger strike.

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Dry fasting is recommended to be done every week. This measure contributes to the rapid process of losing weight and reducing muscle volume, but you cannot refuse food without water for more than a day, because this can result in serious problems.

Fasting Tips

It is quite difficult to withstand hunger, not only physically, but also emotionally. To make the “treatment” more effective, follow a few simple tips:

• To reduce the feeling of hunger, drink warm liquids in small sips. Green tea or regular purified water is perfect.
• We drink at least two liters of liquid per day. Large volumes of moisture help speed up metabolism and quickly remove toxins and waste.
• We are logging out of the system gradually. You should not overuse food, otherwise serious poisoning and digestive disorders may occur.
• Before fasting, we prepare ourselves psychologically. It is important to gain strength and have a good rest.
• We do not draw conclusions about fasting immediately after it ends. Results are visible within a month.

Interesting fact. Despite the positive results of fasting, there are a number of contraindications that prohibit refusing to eat even for a minimal time: rickets, exhaustion, oncology, vascular disease, diabetes, gout.

Rules for intermittent fasting

Please note that until you get used to hunger, you can drink green or lightly brewed black tea without additives. The desire to eat something will be wave-like. As soon as a person drinks water, hunger goes away for several hours. Other rules of the intermittent fasting technique:

• During fasting, monitor your own sensations.
• Enlist the support of your loved ones.
• Drink plenty of water both during abstinence and during your eating window.
• Come out of fasting gradually - do not overeat the next day after finishing the method.
• Do not draw conclusions earlier than after a month of regular compliance with the rules.
• Don't let yourself think about hunger, get busy.

How to do it?

To get the maximum benefit from abstaining from food, you need not only to properly prepare for this process, but also to take into account all the important rules for its implementation.

• You need to start fasting for one day in the evening after a day on light food. You should skip dinner and perform a cleansing enema in the evening.
• It is recommended to spend such days at home. In this case, it will be much easier to resist temptations. In addition, on this day, especially at first, unpleasant manifestations may occur. You may feel dizzy, overcome by weakness and fatigue.
• During the day you should drink clean water - about two liters. Some sources recommend placing a few soda crystals on your tongue before drinking water. This will help cleanse the body of toxins , since the liquid will not be eliminated immediately.
• It is recommended to go for a walk on this day, and to get rid of sudden attacks of hunger, you can do not too intense physical exercise.
• If you experience a severe headache or loss of consciousness on a fasting day, you should drink a glass of water with lemon juice or a teaspoon of honey. But such relaxation is allowed only once a day. You can also drink a glass of unsweetened tea or rosehip infusion.

Mechanisms of autography

Osumi has studied the relationship between spiritual practices and fasting for many years.
In the process, he proved that when there is a lack of nutrients, cells begin to self-destruct outdated resources. This is called autophagy. It is the only way to renew cellular structures. The term “autophagy” was introduced into biology back in 1974 before the discovery of Yoshinori Ohsumi.

It was invented by Christian de Duve, who also discovered autophagosomes, a “transport” for delivering cellular structures to lysosomes. The essence of Yoshinori Ohsumi's research is as follows:

1. The biologist conducted an experiment on mutated fungi that do not have a protein decomposition mechanism.
2. Yoshinori Ohsumi's autograph showed that only cells that did not receive nutrition did not change. Fungi that were in conditions of food shortage began to accumulate autophagosomes and use the resources they already had.
3. Yoshinori Ohsumi's discovery is that cells that do not receive nutrients begin to “eat” unnecessary structures within themselves. As a result, during fasting a person does not feel hungry.
4. Having studied the processes of autophagy in more detail, the Japanese scientist proved that after the access to food is stopped, the fat layer gradually decreases.