Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News
Search our 25,000 free articles and special reports
water

Is It Beneficial to Fast One Day a Week?

Sunday, September 14, 2008 by: Dr. Ben Kim, citizen journalist
See all articles by this author
Email this author

Key concepts: Water, Detoxification and Glucose

Email this article to a friend Printable Version  FREE Email Newsletter

Breaking News for Thursday, January 08, 2009

     See all Breaking News...

FREE Natural Health Newsletter

Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts.
Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews.
Join over 1.2 million monthly readers.



Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed


Products Related to This Article*

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

Nascent Iodine
Miraculous nascent iodine solution
for thyroid function, Alzheimer's, brain func.

* Recommended by the Health Ranger.


Articles Related to This Article:

Pharmaceuticals in the Water: Why Medication Contamination is a Danger to Our Health and the Environment (transcript)

Pure Water, Pure Consciousness: Finding a Water Filter That Works

The Poisoning of America's Water Supplies
(NaturalNews) Is fasting one day a week good for your health? To answer this question, let's take a look at what happens in your body when you begin to eat and drink nothing but water.

After your cells use up the sugar that is in your bloodstream from your last meal or beverage, your body has to find another source of energy for your cells. And the first places that it turns to are your liver and your muscles. Both your liver and your muscles store sugar in the form of glycogen, and when needed, glycogen can be broken down to glucose, which all of your cells can use to produce energy for their ongoing activities.

During a water-only fast, your glycogen stores are depleted within about 24 hours, give or take a few hours. After your glycogen stores are used up, most of your cells begin burning fatty acids for energy -- these fatty acids come from your fat reserves, including fatty tissue that surrounds your organs.

Two groups of cells -- your red blood cells and your brain cells -- cannot use fatty acids to fuel their energy needs. Your red blood cells and brain require glucose, and once glycogen/glucose from your muscles and liver are used up, your brain and your red blood cells get their glucose from two sources:

1. From glycerol, which is a component of your fat tissues.

2. From your muscles -- some of your muscle tissues get broken down, and the amino acids from your muscle tissues are used to produce glucose for your brain and red blood cells.

Clearly, it's not in your best interest to rapidly eat up your muscles to meet the energy requirements of your brain and red blood cells during a water-only fast. Your body knows this, and somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd day of water-only fasting, your liver begins churning out ketones, which during a water-only fast, come primarily from the breakdown of fatty acids from your fat reserves.

Once your liver generates large numbers of ketones, your brain is able to use ketones to fuel itself. At this point, only your red blood cells require glucose that must still be derived from the breakdown of your muscles, but with your brain no longer dependent on breakdown of your muscles for energy, the rate at which your muscles are catabolized will be such that your muscles are spared as much as possible -- this state is called "protein sparing" -- it's a survival mechanism that is built into human physiology to deal with times of famine.

Getting back to the big picture, it should be clear that from about the 2nd or 3rd day of a water-only fast, your body meets it energy requirements by burning through your fat reserves.

Since the bulk of the toxins in your body are stored in your fat reserves, the longer you fast on water only, the more fat you'll burn and the more toxins you'll eliminate from your system.

This is why we see elimination of lipomas, atheromas (accumulated waste in your blood vessels), and other conditions related to toxin accumulation during a prolonged water fast.

Put another way, your body does not experience significant detoxification during the first 12-24 hours of a water-only fast.

Your body begins to eliminate large quantities of toxins only after it begins to burn your fat reserves at a rapid rate. And this doesn't happen until you've used up the glycogen stores in your liver and muscles.

So when you fast one day a week, you deplete the stores of sugar in your liver and muscles, and you begin to break down your muscles -- these are the main things you accomplish during the first day of water fasting. Significant detoxification only begins to occur if you continue past day one of fasting.

This is not to say that there are no benefits to fasting one day a week, or that you don't eliminate any toxins during a one-day fast.

You are eliminating toxins with every breath that you take. And your body will always increase its rate of ongoing detoxification whenever you get more rest and/or eat less food, because less digestive burden and more physical rest always mean more available resources for detoxification.

Rather than fast one day a week on water only, for most people, it makes more sense to do a juice fast one day a week, or even once a month. With a juice fast, you can supply your body with enough nutrients that you don't have to deplete the sugar stores in your liver and muscles, or break down a lot of your muscle tissue. At the same time, because the nutrients in freshly pressed juices are so easily digested, a one-day juice fast can ease digestive burden and enhance ongoing detoxification to some degree.

But let's be clear: the main benefit of a one-day juice fast is not significant detoxification; it's a concentrated period of rest for your digestive organs, and an opportunity for the organs that are responsible for ongoing detoxification (liver, kidneys, skin, and lungs) to do a little extra health-promoting work.

Given all of the above, it's the author's opinion that it's not good for long term health to fast one day a week on water only. If you want to give your body a period of rest and intense cleansing once in a while, it makes more sense to spend a day eating all raw fruits and vegetables, or drinking nothing but freshly pressed juices. If experiencing this type of cleansing period is of interest to you, please feel free to read a series of articles on how to do a full body cleanse here: (http://drbenkim.com/full-body-cleanse.htm) .


About the author

Ben Kim is a chiropractor and acupuncturist who lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife and two sons. He provides information on how to experience your best health through natural means at his website, Dr. Ben Kim's Natural Health Website.


Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:


Related Articles:

Pharmaceuticals in the Water: Why Medication Contamination is a Danger to Our Health and the Environment (transcript)

Pure Water, Pure Consciousness: Finding a Water Filter That Works

The Poisoning of America's Water Supplies

Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com

Email this article to a friend

Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us

Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/024185.html

Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.

Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):

Green-Lipped Mussel Oil vs. Fish Oil, Krill Oil

The Health Ranger has replaced fish oil and krill oil with THIS. What is THIS? Full details revealed...

Click here to find out more

This is the revolutionary omega-3 oil you've been hearing about. Click the link above to find out more.



Learn how to protect your money, your family and your life in this Health Ranger audio seminar

This eight-CD audio seminar was recorded LIVE by the Health Ranger in October. It reveals everything you need to know to survive the coming economic turmoil.

Click here to protect yourself now

"Guaranteed to deliver the most powerful financial protection advice you've ever seen or your money back!" - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger




Free Special Reports

How to Build Your Financial Safety Net
The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure

Recommended Products Related to This Article*:

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

Nascent Iodine
Miraculous nascent iodine solution
for thyroid function, Alzheimer's, brain func.

Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL
Simply the best juicer in the world
for fast, easy juicing

Additional Products of Interest to All

Paraliminal Audio Courses
Powerful mind-enhancing audio therapy
for reprogramming your mind for a new future

How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
Health Ranger guide to reversing diabetes
for reversing type-2 diabetes

Boku Superfood
High-potency superfood powder
for preventing numerous diseases

Preparedness Tools Natural News Bundle
For preparedness and safety: 60% off
for preparing for natural disasters

Healing Cancer From the Inside Out (DVD)
Amazing, eye-opening cancer documentary
for anyone wanting to know the truth on cancer

Zeitgeist: Addendum - Must-See Movie
A shocking documentary about money
for people who wan to know the real truth

The Genie In Your Genes by Dawson Church
A free, downloadable summary of this book
for learning about the biology of intention

Spirulina Pacifica
Pure, pristine spirulina superfood
for cancer prevention, alkalizing, immune func

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
A free download of Biology of Belief
for learning about the mind-biology connection

Living Fuel SuperBerry Ultimate
Delicious superfood meal powder
for disease prevention, antioxidant boost

The Weiss Method for Heart Disease
How to reverse heart disease naturally
for heart disease, high cholesterol

Appetite for Profit (free download)
Free download summary of this top book
for discovering the truth about food companies

Hair Soap
A pure, simple and chemical-free shampoo
for washing hair without chemicals

Exposed! The Toxic Chemistry of Products
Free summary of this shocking book
for learning the truth about toxic products

Aloe Vera 100
Pure, dried 100% aloe vera gel flakes
for sludge blood, IBS, Crohn's disease

Free download: Selling Sickness (summary)
Read the best book on disease mongering
for learning the truth about Big Pharma

Revealed: Natural Health Solutions (free)
Free summary of book by Mike Adams
for learning censored natural health remedies

Vitamineral Green from Healthforce
Nutrient-dense superfood powder
for disease prevention, body alkalizing & more

Fucoxanthin with PinnoThin
Natural appetite suppressant
for obesity, overweight, overeating

Zyflamend
Powerful anti-inflammatory herbal formula
for arthritis, joint pain, inflammation

Blood Support
Halts growth of cancer tumors
for breast cancer and all cancers

Amaz-a-Power
Amazing wild berry tincture from Peru
for eye & brain protection, cancer prevention

P-73 Oreganol
Potent source of wildcrafted oregano oil
for parasites, heart disease, immune func.

Ocean Minerals Pure Magnesium Oil
#1 product for magnesium therapy
for back pain, heart health, muscle health

MGC-5 Mushroom Extracts
Potent extracts of medicinal mushrooms
for reversing cancer, boosting immune function

Better Than Roasted - Macadamia Nuts
The most delicious raw nut spread ever
for heart health, circulatory health

* Products do NOT pay to be listed here. These are genuine, independent recommendations by the Health Ranger

☯ Products with this symbol are sold by NaturalNews or its affiliates and earn revenues for NaturalNews

Discover on NaturalNews NaturalPedia™

Water
Detoxification
Glucose

Also on NaturalNews:

Streaming Health Ranger Videos
CounterThink Cartoons
FREE Special Reports
Podcasts


This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2008 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.