Our 5-Day Water Fasting Experience - Part 1 of 4

Welcome to Foolish Insights. We are the Foolish Couple, Andrew and Minna, nutrition coaches and success mentors. We created FoCo Academy to guide and mentor people to achieve true health and healthy relationships through nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle changes.

Last week, we were actually separated for almost 9 days. I was visiting my family in Canada and Minna stayed behind.

Typically, when we travel, we tend to eat. A lot. Because that’s part of what makes traveling so much fun. But this time, since we were not traveling together, we decided to do something different.

Actually, we decided to do something drastically different.

We, decided, to stop eating altogether.

(Andrew) We are going to give water fasting a try, for probably 3 to 5 days. Or, in my case, I’m going to water fast for as long as I can, probably about 20 hours a day. Since I was traveling I had some social gatherings where I would have to eat something, so I ate that one meal during the 4 hour window.

(Minna) Well, for me. I tended to stay 5 days without food. You may have heard something about water fasting. Over the last few years there are more and more health advocates that talked about the benefits and risks of water fasting. And since I was all alone at home, I decided to give water fasting a try.

Water fasting is basically eating nothing for an extended amount of time. In my case, over the 5 days, all I would drink is water.

When I told my friends that I am going to stop eating for 5 days, their reaction was ‘I would die!’. Well, I’m still alive.

My decision was based on the potential benefits of water fasting. I have noticed that my body is very carbohydrates dependent.

Let me explain.

For many years, probably ever since I was a teenager, I had this problem where, sometimes, if I skip a meal, or if I did not eat for a longer period of time, I wouldn’t just feel hungry. I would actually feel nauseous. I would get headaches, and felt like I needed to throw up. I needed to lie down and rest until the feeling passed. And I’m not talking about days without food. I’m talking about maybe eating lunch at 2pm instead of 12pm.

And while I have episodes like that, I would crave carbs. I needed to eat rice or bread or pasta, something that would satisfy my cravings. Those cravings are intense and irresistible and there’s nothing that could satisfy me unless I get some of those high processed white carbs into my stomach.

I know that I have a gut problem and I wanted to fix it. I have been taking high quality probiotics and doing other things to heal my gut but I do feel that I need that extra push to reset my digestive system.

Also, I was intrigued by the potential health benefits of water fasting.

There are studies that tie water fasting to a lower risk of cancer, heart diseases and diabetes. So there are some potentially really good things that could happen.

There are some additional benefits:

1. Water fasting may promote autophagy, which is a a process where your body breaks down and recycles old parts of your cells that may potentially be dangerous.
2. Water fasting may also improve your insulin and leptin sensitivity.
3. Water fasting may also lower the risk of chronic degenerative diseases.
4. Water fasting may reduce inflammation.
5. This is a biggie for me. It resets your digestive system. Water fasting basically gives my digestive system a rest, so that it can take a break, and get back to work all refreshed and re-nourished.
6. It may improve brain function
7. It improves skin complexion
8. Helps you sleep better
9. Detox your system
10. In case it isn’t obvious to you, water fasting is the cheapest diet plan out there. It literally cost you nothing and it also gives you back a tremendous amount of time. (Tweet this)

However, there are some risks involved, and some people should not do water fasting. For example, pregnant women and nursing mothers, children, people with eating disorders, people with very low body fat, or people with certain medical conditions such as gout or kidney diseases, should not water fast.

Some of the risks that I’ve researched about are that it may worsen some medical conditions, or it may cause orthostatic hypotension. So, as always, consult your medical professional if you want to water fast and if you have some type of a medical condition. We are here to tell you about our experience with water fasting but we are not medical experts and we certainly don’t know your body.

In our next episode, we’ll tell you about our experience with water fasting.

Till Next Time Love what you live and live what you love.

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