Have you considered doing a 72 hours water fast? I did a 3 day water fast four times in the last two years. Today, I want to share the benefits of a 3 day water fast and help you understand what to expect from fasting on water only for 3 days. You can detox, reduce body fat, reverse aging, and even improve your genes! Autophagy, ketosis, and epigenetics will be discussed in detail here to encourage you to use water fasting tool for health optimization, anti-aging, and to promote longevity. Also, I’ll share with you my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough.

Introduction

Before I tell you my story of fasting for 72 hours, I want to encourage you to read an incredible, thought-provoking, and life-changing scientific study called “Effects of a 72 hours fasting on brain metabolism in healthy women.” This research reveals how positively fasting for 3 days affects not only your physical health but mental health, as well, improving your mood significantly.

The first time I was introduced to fasting on water was when I was a child. My grandma would fast to have everyone admire and adore her. She was extremely pretentious and evil, so I associated fasting with manipulating the outside world. I was never ever interested in water fasting because of that childhood experience.

I grew up very sick. We ate lots of fat, lard, butter, sour cream, butter, milk, mayonnaise on everything, meat, and fat-filled soups. We cooked at home, which I loved and appreciated. It was just all loaded with fat and soaked in cheap vegetable oils. I had many gastrointestinal problems and was hospitalized regularly.

I was slim, size zero, 5’10”, 46 kg, or 101 lb.

We never ate out. I was never introduced to burgers, chips, soda, cookies, none of the typical crap, on which people gain weight and binge. However, there were always Russian meats, salo (lard), loads of potatoes, mayo added to every salad, salads with four types of meat in them, and rich Russian cakes. My mom baked, and her cakes were divine.

In 2008, I moved to America. I was shocked to see what people here ate. In my vlog video below, I share with you my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough where I considered for the first time what food meant to me and what eating meant in America. It was the time I realized how much stuff I eat that I do not even approve of.

A few years into my American journey, and I was binging on pizza and burgers covered in various cheeses. That was not a problem in my 20s, and I remained size zero. At that pint, I had been eating relatively healthy still: never any kind of cereal in my house, no chips, no cookies, none of that. I ate healthy grains, however, eggs, steak, and cheeses came with everything, and don’t forget the heavy-rich Russian mayo! I learned to snack while in America. My snacks were cottage cheese, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and cheese. I never deep-fried anything, and I ate no processed foods whatsoever.

In 2016, I got married. That man was on a journey from being morbidly obese to slimming down through exercise. His habits were snacking on chocolate milkshakes and heavily-processed cheese sticks while eating sugar-loaded cookies all day long. He was a coffee addict, as well. He would load on various pizzas after exercise, and I wanted him binge-eat from a kitchen counter many times. He carried a lot of belly fat and stored massive fat on his neck, so sleeping with him in the same house was torture because he snored loudly and unstoppably. That was the season when I began gaining weight. Eventually, I gained 20 lb!

When I look at the picture above, I can see how fragile we can be as humans, easily influenced by someone’s bad habits, and unstable in our own health values. That marriage was the most negative experience of my life. I was in my early 30s. During that time, I experienced narcissistic relationship abuse and was even manipulated into a deep dark depression. Not only did I gain weight, but I was binge-eating, I was diagnosed with Complex-PTSD, and I was suicidal. I was extremely sick, constantly used dangerous drugs to help me breathe, and ear infections, as well as sinus problems, were an everyday battle in my life.

After my divorce, I wanted to get healthy.

So, I embarked on my first 5 day water fast!

In one of the vlogs below, I share with you my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough. You can hear that my desire was also to seek God and abide in Christ instead of living in my own power and seek others’ approval. I was able to lose weight and optimize my overall health. Also, I was able to learn how to completely surrender to my creator.

That was how I fell in love with fasting on water.

In the last two years, I did nine water fasts!

Some of my experiences were documented as vlogs and others as journal entries. I’ve learned so much from my health journey! This year, I committed to sharing my lessons learned and benefits experienced.

My hope is to help you optimize your health.

I Did a 3 Day Water Fast Four Times

First, I started fasting because I wanted to stop eating animal products, yet, I had severe cravings. Fasting on water helped me reset my palette. I realized that it was impossible not to be depressed while consuming the flesh of dead animals. So, I transitioned to a plant-based diet.

Also, I realized after my divorce that I was aging, and weight gain was only one problem. Going through all narcissist abuse examples shared on my blog, I lost a lot of hair and even started balding. I wanted to reset my whole immune system. We go to sleep every night and allow our entire body to rest. However, our digestive track never gets a break. Water fasting helped me accomplish that, and my illnesses disappeared.

From all the stress of the daily abuse in my marriage and from eating like crap while living in the same house with the man who was accustomed to being morbidly obese, I had acne for the first time in my life. It was ugly and very painful. Fasting helped resolve that problem.

I lost weight and started my new life healthy.

In 2018, I was rear-ended in a car accident, suffered some injuries, the most lasting of which was plantar fasciitis, which prevented me from being active due to severe foot pain. I gained weight. Also, I realized: with age, weight loss get harder and weight gain get easier.

In 2020, I embarked on a new water fasting adventure to lose my weight for good and keep it off. It’s worked really well, and I documented my experiences to help others who want to improve their overall wellness.

I’m 37, and here’s a picture of me a few days ago.

My 72 Hours Water Fast Experience

A 3 day water fast is not easy. Let me be honest: it’s really hard. Not only are you going against the norms of our modern society, which encourages you to eat six times a day, but also you go against your temptations for food. We are all addicted to food in some ways. Why? Because the food we eat today is filled with addictive additives.

Fasting on water for 72 hours s torture.

Eventually, if you make fasting a habit, you will adjust, get used to it, and even love it. I thought I’d fast on water once. Then, I loved my water fasting results, so now not eating for a few days is a part of my life as much as eating.

I do not eat six times a day. I do not snack. I eat meals while sitting down at a table. I don’t eat fast food, chips, sodas, cakes, pizzas, milkshakes, none of that. I do struggle with binge-eating. I binge on bread with hummus, sushi, and homemade burritos with veggies. My health goal is to eventually become fully plant-based vegan. But as of right now, I do still eat animal products, especially if I travel places that have no vegan food. I don’t eat butter, milk, cereals, cheeses, mayo, sour cream, etc. I have no junk food of any kind in my house. I do eat a ton of nuts, which are loaded with fat. So, currently, I am using fasting to help me ditch some of the foods I don’t approve of eating. It’s a process, and I’m so grateful to have this incredible tool.

It’s not easy but it’s worth the effort!

Here are my water fasting vlogs and diary.

Water Fasting Day 3 March 2018

In March of 2018, I watched some plant-based documentaries. My eyes were opened, and I was shocked. So, I began my plant-based diet weight loss journey, and within a week, I did my first water fast.

This tool was introduced to me by Dr. Michael Klaper and Dr. Alan Goldhamer, whom I learned about by watching thought-provoking, junk-food-unmasking documentaries.

That water fast jumpstarted my depression recovery.

Water Fasting Day 3 July 2018

July 4th, 2018 was the middle of the week, so my job allowed us to work from home, and I used that opportunity to do another water fast. That experience was different because, on the second day, I started vomiting bile and got scared. I learned so much from that hiccup, especially about a wide variety of fasting benefits.

That time was not the same as my first time because my weight was not an issue. With less weight, I had more detoxification, so I experienced many more side effects of fasting on water.

Water Fasting Day 3 December 2018

By December 2018, I was used to eating vegan junk: vegan cheeses and ice cream and cheesecakes… I was also working at a tech startup and very much relying on my own performance, as well as the approval of my boss. I worked late nights and even didn’t get to sleep often. My 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough changed that, and a few weeks later I quit that job to pursue this Christian ministry full-time.

An unusual experience shook me up and got me thinking. It was a late-night text from my neighbor who asked me to take his wife to the hospital. She just gave birth to their son, so they were eating microwave-ready frozen food loaded with crap. Now, she was in severe pain from passing stones. I heard her scream, so I took her to the hospital and prayed all the way down there for God’s help.

When I brought her in, she was in bad condition.

At the ER, I watched the doctor selling her a gallbladder surgery, which she didn’t want to do. From watching me eat plant-based, she knew she could reverse her kidney stones. We even watched a plant-based food documentary together prior to that. When she called her husband in tears asking if they could change their diet from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a plant-based way of eating, there was silence…

The doctor was a great sales man and applied commonly-known mind-manipulation sales tactics, which I saw taught even a decade ago when I worked in sales back in Russia. Here in America, I got to work with a team of 2400 physicians at the largest healthcare system in Georgia with seven hospitals, and a $10 million budget spent on marketing surgical procedures. Each of the 72 service lines my healthcare employer promoted had revenue annual goals to hit. How? By selling patients on surgeries…

So, my neighbor stayed in for the very expensive and needless gallbladder surgery, and I went home in tears, begging her husband to go there and stop her from giving in to the clever sales tactics of doctors needing to hit revenue goals. She ended up losing her gallbladder.

The gallbladder is a small storage organ located inferior and posterior to the liver. Though small in size, the gallbladder plays an important role in our digestion of food. The gallbladder holds bile produced in the liver until it is needed for digesting fatty foods in the duodenum of the small intestine.

Years later, my neighbor gained a lot of weight without her important gallbladder. That experience enticed me to fast on water that Christmas. In the video below I share my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough.

Water Fasting Day 3 May 2020

Below is a journal entry from day 3 of my water fast this year. Before I was able to fast for a longer time, I failed and failed and failed. The experience prompted my willingness to go back into my childhood trauma and explore my relationship with food: how it formed, how it evolved, what eating means to me, and why I struggle giving up food, even though it’s though we as humans evolved by feasting and fasting.

It’s 1:15 am, I woke up to pee and take my ice to the freezer. My knee pain is gone and so is my hunger, vomiting desire, and headache. I’m 125 lb, my legs slimmed down a lot and so is my belly. I walked to the fridge normally, no dizziness. My eyes are sensitive to bright light though.

I feel good, no stomach screaming! 

I got up at 9 am, massaged my legs, stretched them with Theraband, drank water, and now I’m pooping after 28 min of some activity. It’s just a little bit of poop. I woke up several times at night to drink and pee.

I had never done a water fast on my period, I’m bleeding heavily and feeling weak. I put olive oil on my face and hair as they both were very dry. In a few moments, I’ll try to shower, brush my teeth, wash my hair, and go back to bed. I have a little headache and a little background nausea. Yet, I am 100% in and fully committed to this journey.

It’s noon. I talked for two hours on the phone with my friend María and shared some of my struggles related to food. I’m still keeping my water fasting adventures to myself, so I did not tell her. But I did cry…

I took a shower before 10 am, washed my hair and face, and I feel better. My stomach is making noises again. I’m hungry and have a little headache but I’m committed to this fast. Food is not my master!

I will rid my body of its cravings and give it a new fresh start on whole-foods plant-based nutrition. I will eat at 6 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm when I go back to eating. I will practice a simple “no thank you” when it comes to food. I will stay true to my values when it comes to food.

I will not subject myself to bad eating habits, which have such negative all-encompassing health consequences. I will honor God with my body. I will avoid the sin of gluttony. I will cherish my physical and mental health with good food only. 

It’s 2:27 pm, and I just woke up from a nap. I’m taking a little slow walk to the mailroom to pick up my delivery from Julieta. My stomach is making so much loud noise, it was my stomach that woke me up after two hours of napping. Outside, neighbors are wearing swimsuits. I’m wearing my winter coat on top of pjs. I’m so cold! Under two expensive thick comforters and a blanket, I was shaking in my warm pjs. Wow! My mouth tastes like a dead rat. My belly hurts from menstruation. 

It’s 2:40 pm. I got my package and I’m back in bed now to watch more food documentaries. I drank water when I woke up from the nap and after getting the mail.

It’s 4:41 pm, and I just finished watching “Forks Over Knives” for the fifths time. I’ve started watching “Game Changers” but now I’m crying again. I’m crying when I see people say: “It was easy for me to change to a whole-foods plant-based diet.” Not for me! For me, it’s all very difficult.

I have an addictive personality and a lifetime of history of various addictions. I described my sex addiction here in detail, on this blog. But food addiction… This one has been tough…

There’s a huge social component to this: I don’t want to offend my friends, neighbors, and colleagues by rejecting the food they serve or want to eat. Yet, I hate eating junk.

Every time I say yes to the food served in the office or professional associations’ networking events, neighbors’ homes, or church parties, I say no to my own personal values. I betray myself.

I say no to my health. I say no to Anna, whom I live with day in and day out and with whom I have to maintain a good relationship, which requires integrity and strong boundaries.

I don’t want to eat animals. I don’t want to have cancer. I don’t want to have diabetes. I don’t want to have heart diseases. I don’t want to be on chemotherapy or have my chest cut open for a bypass surgery. No, thank you! I want to be healthy, active, drug-free, and live a peaceful life, not harming animals, myself, or my planet. In the last 12 years since I arrived in America, I’ve been influenced by burgers, hotdogs, lamb gyros, sweet pecan pies, cheeses of all sorts, coffee filled with cancer-promoting junk, chicken smelling all over each grocery store anywhere, and meatballs pasta on every corner. I want to be free from slavery to my food addiction. Food is not my master!

It’s 6:53 pm, and I’m icing down my knee and my back, which hurt from so much lying down. I just finished watching “The Game Changers” documentary. I’m crying again. I’m so emotional today.

I’m crying because I see people who decided to go plant-based and never relapsed. I saw people who never ate animal products in their entire lives. Why is this so painful for me? Because I want to be a part of the American community, and here in the South in America at family, networking, and holiday tables you’re served deep-friend, sugar-loaded, oil-fueled, cancer-inviting crap. It kills the heck out of people, and I hate eating it, yet, sometimes I do, then I hate it even more because I compromise who I am, and who I am comes home with me, so me, myself, and I have a conflict…. I must decide once and for all to commit to three simple words: “no thank you!” to avoid the pleasure trap. 

I’m watching another video about fasting. I’m bleeding heavily, this is day three of my period, and the blood is dark, it comes out in pieces. I don’t know what this means.

It’s 8:04 pm. I took another shower and I’m going to bed. I read several devotions and I’m not hungry anymore. I’m bleeding heavily and may start refeeding tomorrow. We shall see. Like Dr. Klaper said: take it one day at a time. I am so glad that I’ve been able to do this water fast for three days now. My weight is 123.5 lb.

I actually ended up curious about my intense back pain and watched this video, which helped me understand that the back pain is from kidneys as it is cleansing the products of detoxification in my body.

I learned that I feel nauseated because of the bile that’s being dumped out thanks to detoxing. These are all positive responses of the body trying to clean itself. That’s very good.

When I did water fasting before, I didn’t rest much. In fact, I felt too good and it was because I didn’t rest, so my body actually didn’t mobilize what needed to be eliminated. So, I am really miserable this time because I’m in an environment of complete rest, and the very symptoms that make me feel awful are the indication that my water fast is going really well. 

I’ve learned that my habit of overeating is actually shortening my lifespan. That’s why the Bible condemns gluttony as a sin, basically saying it’s better to kill yourself than to overeat, binge-eat, and be addicted to food. Wow! This is good to think through. God surely doesn’t want us to have food as our master…

and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

Proverbs 23:2

My 3 Day Water Fast Results

Fasting cleared my head from depression. It cleared my skin from acne. It helped me lose weight. Most importantly, it drew me closer to God. Let me give you a breakdown of all my 3 day water fast results.

Below are the three categories of results.

Physical Health

1. Cravings reduction. I had regular temptations to consume for chips, steak, eggs, milk, sour cream, and other food that in 208 I decided to stop eating. Water fasting helped me get rid of my cravings.
2. Fat loss. My lower belly pooch disappeared after I fasted on water. I was bloated and felt heavy but at the end of my fast, my stomach was flat and defined.
3. Feeling of lightness. I was feeling light and comfortable in my own body after fasting. Carrying extra-pounds was not adding to my confidence. Once I lost weight, I felt confident again.
4. Acne cure. I began suffering from acne after I got married in 2016 and endured abuse. Acne was caused not only by stress and hormonal challenges due to depression but also by dairy. During water fasting, my acne disappeared.
5. Binge eating relief. Overeating and binge-eating became a problem for me during that abusive narcissistic marriage. I’m working on a separate blog post dedicated to emotional eating but for now, I want you to know that fasting on water helped relieve my binge-eating tendencies. Though, after the car accident, they returned, and you can witness my current situation with binge-eating by reading my water fasting diary.

Mental Health

1. Anxiety attacks replaced with peace. Because of narcissistic abuse, I had developed anxiety attacks and was even diagnosed with Complex PTSD during my marriage with the narcissist. Water fasting is a practice that repeatedly brings more peace into my life. It makes me feel harmonious and serene.
2. Suicidal thoughts of hopelessness replaced with enthusiasm about life. Fasting on water changes the bran, the hormones, and even the genes in a significantly positive way. I was able to soar again after my narcissistic abuse recovery that followed my divorce.
3. Depression replaced with joy. Water fasting boosted my immunity and excitement about life, so that suicidal depression I was suffering from was replaced with genuine joy.
4. Insomnia replaced with restful sleep. During my marriage with the narcissist, I developed insomnia due to sleep abuse imposed on me almost every day. Fasting on water brought peace, serenity, relaxation, and restful sleep back into my life.
5. Fear replaced with faith. Because of my C-PTSD, fear was dominating my emotions, especially because the narcissist threatened me several times and then went around telling people that he would divorce me to date me again. After our divorce, indeed, he sent me a calendar invite to meet 1:1, which I refused to do. His stalker-talk caused my fear to increase. While fasting on water, I had to rely on God and strengthen my faith, which helped conquer my fear and set me free.

Spiritual Health

1. Stronger confidence in God’s promises. While fasting on water, I learned from experience that I can do all things through Christ. In the video above, I also shared with you my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough.
2. Closer relationship with Jesus. As I had to trust in Christ and lean not on my own understanding while fasting on water, our fellowship got stronger and unshakable.
3. Answered prayers. While fasting on water, I had two life-changing events happen, which were God’s answers to my prayers. So definitely my water fasting was life-changing.
4. Increased clarity of mind. As a victim of narcissistic abuse, I was mentally manipulated daily, which caused foggy-mindedness and confusion. Fasting helped clear my mind and improve my overall cognition.
5. Sharper focus of attention. I explained on this blog in various articles the outcomes of the mental cruelty of narcissistic abuse, one of which is a cognitive decline experienced by the narcissistic victim from gaslighting, projection, devaluing, discarding, and other abusive tactics. Fasting on water helped sharpen my focus.
6. Better memory. Water fasting combined with exercise positively impacted my brain’s hippocampus, which is responsible for short-term memory, learning, and other critical cognitive functions, which all improved on my water fast.

Below you can see my before and after pictures.

Frequently Asked Questions

What To Expect from a 3 Day Water Fast

What you should expect from a 3 day water fast are two things: some good things and some bad things. The bad things are bad breath, back pain from deep detoxification, bad body odor, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, heart-pounding, and a headache. These are all normal symptoms of the expected transition your body undergoes on a water fast.

The struggle is real but the benefits outweigh it!

You can expect a 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough.

Expect 15 Benefits (click to explore)

1. Water Fasting Activates Autophagy
2. Water Fasting Impacts Epigenetics
3. Water Fasting Slows Down and Reverses Aging
4. Water Fasting Promotes Ketosis and Fat Loss
5. Water Fasting Facilitates Overall Weight Loss
6. Water Fasting Reduces Insulin Resistance and Improves Insulin Sensitivity
7. Water Fasting Helps Reduce or Reverse Metabolic Syndrome
8. Water Fasting Decreases Obesity Risks
9. Water Fasting Prevents or Reverses Chronic Diseases
10. Water Fasting Reduces or Eliminates Sinus Issues
11. Water Fasting Normalizes High Blood Pressure
12. Water Fasting Improves Sleep and Helps Both Insomnia and Sleep Apnea
13. Water Fasting Helps Transition to Healthy Living
14. Water Fasting Improves Cognitive Functioning
15. Water Fasting Clears Off Acne

Fasting on water for 72 hours can change your life by ridding you of cravings, optimizing your health, preventing or even arresting and reversing disease, making you feel and look younger, and helping you live longer.

I shared with you my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough, and I know with confidence that fasting can help you spiritually, as well. It will draw you closer to God and entice you to rely on Him through surrender and prayer.

Here’s the truth.

Drugs and surgeries have side effects, so is water fasting. Drugs and surgeries never make you healthy. In fact, they make you sick. Enduring the side effects of fasting makes you healthy! Drugs and surgeries never cause you any spiritual breakthroughs but make you dependent on doctors and meds instead of God and natural healing. As you can see from my 3 day water fast spiritual breakthrough, fasting helps your faith grow.

I am not a medical professional.

This blog post is not a medical advice.

Will you be fasting on water?