Would you like to explore the 15 benefits of water fasting related to autophagy, epigenetics, ketosis, acne, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, weight loss, insomnia, cognition, aging, longevity, and more? I previously shared with you my water fasting results. Today, I want to explain the health improvements you can experience when not eating any food. Fasting on water for me was a life-or-death decision when I became depressed and suicidal after enduring narcissistic abuse in my marriage. To learn more about me and understand my emotional struggles, as well as their origin, read “Getting to know Anna Szabo.”

Water Fasting Activates Autophagy

Autophagy is a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components. This process shows that your body’s cells are eating themselves: “auto” means “self” and “phagy” identifies the practice of eating a specified food. During autophagy, aka cellular self-eating, your body’s cells “clean out” any unnecessary or damaged components.

Clearing away damaged cell parts is essential for keeping cells healthy. If junk builds up in a cell, it can permanently tweak the cell’s genes, alter your DNA, and makes it difficult for your cells to repair themselves and regrow the structures they need for you to survive and thrive.

What activates autophagy?

According to The Diet Doctor, nutrient deprivation is the key activator of autophagy. As we eat, insulin goes up and glucagon goes down. When we don’t eat, insulin goes down and glucagon goes up. It happens in a fasted state. This increase in glucagon stimulates the process of autophagy. Water fasting activates autophagy.

When does autophagy begin?

According to this research on autophagy, food restriction for 24 or 48 hours is a process known to induce fatty change and autophagy in the liver. You want and need healthy cells. Some cells only last in your body for a few days. Other cells are with you for a lifetime. You can keep your cells in great shape, clean, and junk-less, and damage-free if you fast on water regularly.

What impacts the health of your cells?

According to Medical News Today, your cells’ health is affected by your diet, exposure to ultraviolet rays, alcohol consumption, and lifestyle. Stress can speed up cellular aging. Exercising keeps your cells younger.

What could cause cell injury?

According to Science Direct, the causes of cell injury are classified as exogenous or endogenous. Cell injury can occur due to the following factors:

• Excessive or overly prolonged normal stimuli
• The action of toxins and other adverse influences that could inhibit the vital cell functions
• Deficiency of oxygen and/or essential nutrients and metabolites

Cell injury can be irreversible and reversible.

What happens if your cells are damaged?

According to Ted-Ed, the DNA in just one of your cells gets damaged tens of thousands of times per day. Because DNA provides the blueprint for the proteins your cells need to function, this damage can cause serious issues, including cancer. Damaged cells still replicate, and the damage replicates during the process.

Parts of our cells become damaged, and that’s the garbage. Our cells chew up that material and recycle it (autophagy). That’s how they take out the garbage. Autophagy happens while we’re fasting.

Dr. Roberta Gottlieb, Director of Molecular Cardiobiology at the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute

Researchers have linked autophagy to several positive health effects. They also believe that a person can induce autophagy by fasting.

Medical News Today

The increased neuronal autophagy is revealed by changes in autophagosome abundance and characteristics, and by diminished neuronal mTOR activity in vivo, demonstrated by a reduction in levels of phosphorylated S6 ribosomal protein in Purkinje cells. The increased abundance of autophagosomes in Purkinje cells was confirmed using transmission electron microscopy. Sporadic fasting might represent a simple, safe, and inexpensive means to promote this therapeutic neuronal response.

Short-term fasting induces profound neuronal autophagy

Autophagy is the first and most important health benefits of water fasting on my list because it debunks the myth of irreversible diseases. You can reverse your “chronic” disease by fasting on water for prolonged periods of time, regularly.

Water fasting benefits are so many, but this one is Noble-Prize winning! On October 3rd, 2016 The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institut has awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of the mechanisms for autophagy.

What does this means to you?

You can stop and possibly reverse your negative health conditions, as well as optimize your wellness for longevity. Autophagy is also beneficial in the context of infection control, as well as protecting against excessive inflammation. You can have an excellent quality of life if you induce autophagy in your liver by fasting on water for over 24-48 hours.

Water Fasting Impacts Epigenetics

Epigenetics has to do with the activation and deactivation of your genes. What? Yes. Your DNA is not permanent and can be influenced. By what? By kale, your cells can be improved. By junk food, your cells can be damaged. Water fasting optimizes epigenetics and reverses aging.

Dietary factors have become agents of strong interest in the field of epigenetics. A number of bioactive dietary components that appear to have the potential to prevent disease and promote overall health have been identified. In fact, several naturally occurring dietary phytochemicals have been demonstrated to have anticarcinogenic properties and may play a role in regulating biological processes.

Many studies have shown that natural products have epigenetic targets in cancer cells and can act as cancer preventive agents. Compounds found in dietary phytochemical preparations, such as teas, garlic, soy products, herbs, grapes, and cruciferous vegetables are now generally accepted to defend against the development of many different types of tumors as well as acting as epigenetic modulators that impact not only the initiation but also the progression of oncogenesis.

Epigenetic diet: impact on the epigenome and cancer

The term “epigenetics” was coined in 1942 by developmental biologist Conrad H. Waddington. Epigenetics generally refers to heritable changes in gene expression and chromatin organization that are not due to alterations in the DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications typically occur by changes in DNA methylation, histone covalent modifications, or by RNAi.

According to “What Do You Mean, “Epigenetics”?“ the interest in the field of epigenetics has increased rapidly over the last decade, with the term becoming more identifiable in biomedical research, scientific fields outside of the molecular sciences, such as ecology and physiology, and even in mainstream culture. It has become increasingly clear, however, that different investigators ascribe different definitions to the term. Some employ “epigenetics” to explain changes in gene expression, while others use it to refer to transgenerational effects or inherited expression states.

In this blog post about water fasting benefits, I am specifically focusing on the anti-aging and disease-reversing impact of the epigenetics process. I want to show you how fasting on water causes positive modifications in your genes and activates natural healing in your body.

According to “What Is Epigenetics?” the study of biological mechanisms that will switch genes on and off requires you to understand the following concepts in order to be able to comprehend the process of epigenetics:

• Cells are fundamental working units of every human being. All the instructions required to direct their activities are contained within the chemical deoxyribonucleic acid, also known as DNA.
• DNA from humans is made up of approximately 3 billion nucleotide bases. There are four fundamental types of bases that comprise DNA – adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, commonly abbreviated as A, C, G, and T, respectively.
• The sequence, or the order, of the bases is what determines our life instructions. Interestingly enough, our DNA sequence is mostly similar to that of a chimpanzee. Only a fraction of distinctively different sequences makes us human.
• Within the 3 billion bases, there are about 20,000 genes. Genes are specific sequences of bases that provide instructions on how to make important proteins – complex molecules that trigger various biological actions to carry out life functions.

To review the health benefits of water fasting, I want to refer to the scientific research called “The Impact of Caloric Restriction on the Epigenetic Signatures of Aging.” To understand the research, let’s define DNA methylation as a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. 

Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter, DNA methylation typically acts to repress gene transcription.

Aging is characterized by extensive remodeling of epigenetic patterns, which has been implicated in the physiopathology of age-related diseases.

Nutrition plays a significant role in modulating the epigenome, and a growing amount of data indicate that dietary changes can modify the epigenetic marks associated with aging. 

Caloric restriction (CR), the reduction of caloric intake without causing malnutrition, has proven to be by far the most effective intervention that can extend the maximum lifespan in a wide range of organisms.

The beneficial effects of CR occur through an extremely wide range of molecular mechanisms, largely overlapping with aging hallmarks, among which epigenetic factors have recently gained more interest.

The three main categories of epigenetic marks – DNA methylation (DNAm), post-translational histone modifications (PTHMs), and small non-coding RNAs – are considered as central regulators of the aging process.

Epigenetics patterns are greatly remodeled during aging, and this phenomenon has been implicated in the development of multiple age-related diseases.

One important characteristic of epigenetic factors is their plasticity: epigenetic changes are reversible, and they can be modulated by a wide range of environmental factors, including lifestyle habits and dietary interventions.

The Impact of Caloric Restriction on the Epigenetic Signatures of Aging

What does this mean to you?

You can switch off your genetic illnesses, give your genes a total makeover through DNA methylation, and reverse your aging, as well as illnesses. DNA methylation typically acts to repress gene transcription, so what diseases run in your family has nothing to do with what kind of great health you want to have. Your dietary changes can modify the epigenetic marks associated with your aging. You can take action of not eating and enjoy great health if you fast on water regularly while also transitioning to a plant-based diet with a lot of kale and no junk food included. Epigenetic changes are reversible, and they can be modulated by dietary interventions. So… You can reverse your age and illnesses!

Water Fasting Slows Down and Reverses Aging

Water fasting benefits are incredible! So far, we explored mind-blowing science behind our body’s ability to heal itself and even reverse aging. The health benefits of water fasting are so worth the struggle fasting on water requires. It’s a very simple process: don’t eat anything and just drink water. Yet, it’s not easy.

I’ve struggled a lot wanting to fast but being unable to do it for prolonged periods. In my water fasting journal, I shared my many struggles as I was determined to fast, yet I just couldn’t make myself do it. Over and over again, I started and failed, started and failed, started and failed. I tried to fast on water but failed repeatedly until I just did it.

As of today, I have done eight water fasts.

I am almost 40 years old, and, thanks to fasting on water multiple times in the last two years, I’m at my ideal weight and enjoying excellent health. Below is a picture of what I look like today.

Thank God for water fasting!

The latest study to explore the impact of fasting on the human body concludes that it increases metabolic activity more than previously realized and may even impart anti-aging benefits.

Fasting boosts metabolism and fights aging

New research has found that fasting triggers a molecule that can delay the aging of our arteries. The findings could help prevent age-related chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s.

Fasting-induced anti-aging molecule keeps blood vessels young

As people age, their intestinal stem cells begin to lose their ability to regenerate. These stem cells are the source for all new intestinal cells, so this decline can make it more difficult to recover from gastrointestinal infections or other conditions that affect the intestine.

This age-related loss of stem cell function can be reversed by a 24-hour fast, according to a new study from MIT biologists. The researchers found that fasting dramatically improves stem cells’ ability to regenerate.

Fasting boosts stem cells’ regenerative capacity

Biochemist Valter Longo has devoted decades to discovering connections between nutrition and successful aging. He runs the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, which aims to extend healthy life spans and committed to finding ways to prevent and treat aging-related conditions, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Longo is also a professor of biological science at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

Armed with results from the lab – including clinical trials showing that cycles of a five-day fasting diet can reduce risk factors for many life-threatening diseases – Longo calls for change in the kitchen.

How to live a longer and healthier life

What does this mean to you?

You can dramatically improve your stem cells’ ability to regenerate if you simply fast on water for more than 24 hours at a time, preferably for five days. You can get healthy and live longer while also improving the actual quality of your daily life. You can change your future!

Water Fasting Promotes Ketosis and Fat Loss

Ketosis is a metabolic process forcing your body to use up the stored fat it saved in case you’d have no food in the future. Your smart body loves saving fat for later, for the time of famine. We evolved by living through seasons of feast and famine. The problem is that in the modern world, famine never comes. It’s a feast all day long every day for most people. That causes metabolic issues resulting from dietary access. So, you need to force a season of famine on yourself. It’s natural for your body to fast.

When your body does not have enough glucose for energy, it burns stored fat instead. This results in a buildup of acids called ketones within the body. Ketones are chemicals your liver makes. You produce them when you don’t have enough insulin in your body to turn sugar (or glucose) into energy. You need another source, so your body uses fat instead. Your liver turns this fat into ketones, a type of acid, and sends them into your bloodstream.

On a water fast, you don’t eat any food.

For the first 24-48 hours, your body burns already stored glycogen for energy. After day two of fasting on water-only, you enter a state of ketosis and begin burning fat that your body had stored in case of famine. The health benefits of water fasting related to ketosis are explained by Dr. Michael Klaper, one of the leading plant-based doctors and water fasting thought leaders in the modern western world.

For the first 24 to 48 hours after beginning a water fast, the body burns off circulating blood sugar and sugar stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen.

The “real” metabolic fast does not begin until one metabolizes their blood sugar, in approximately 2 to 3 days. At that time, the body begins to burn fat tissue for fuel. When that happens, molecules called ketones enter the blood circulation. These ketones have some very interesting properties.

For the faster, the main welcome property of ketones is that they suppress hunger. By day four or five of a water fast, hunger is usually gone and is replaced by a feeling of great well-being. 

Why more energy, and not less? 

​So much of the energy that the body uses all day goes to digesting our food including muscular contractions of the intestine, chemical energy used to synthesize stomach acid, bile, and digestive enzymes, as well as the billions of immune cells in the intestinal lining that interrogate the chemical nature of the food going by in the digestive tract.

When that function is no longer required on a water fast, all that energy is freed up and people feel very light and energetic for the first several weeks on the water fast.

Dr. Michale Klaper on fasting

What does this mean to you?

You can activate your already-existing fat-burning mechanism and lose belly fat, thigh fat, knee fat, arm fat, invisible fat surrounding your organs under your skin, and overall body fat. How? Fast on water-only for longer than 2-3 days. It will put you in ketosis and activate your body’s natural fat-burning process. You can lose fat and by doing so reduce your risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, and a host of other issues. You and gain health!

Water Fasting Facilitates Overall Weight Loss

Weight loss is one of the health benefits of water fasting. Why are we talking about it again? Before, we talked about fat loss. Now, let’s talk about weight loss.

When you are losing fat, you may not be losing any weight if you’re building muscles. Muscle is heavier than fat, so you may experience an increase in weight.

Similarly, losing weight on a water fast doesn’t mean losing fat. You may just be losing water weight, not fat weight. But typically, weight loss on a water fast is a combination of both water weight and fat loss.

I personally lost 20 lb by fasting on water, as described in my water fasting journal. With that weight, I lost cellulite, knee fat, belly fat, sides fat, and inner thigh fat, which happened because I also work out regularly. which weight did I lose? Both water weight and fat.

You will lose weight on water fast 100% of the time. It is absolutely most definitely that you will love water weight on a water fast. To lose fat though, you need to access ketosis, which happens after 2-3 days of fasting on water. Then, you begin burning your stored body fat.

Weight loss doesn’t equate to fat loss.

Watch “Benefits of Fasting for Weight Loss Put to the Test” by Dr. Michael Greger. The longest recorded fast was 382 days straight, with the man losing hundreds of pounds and keeping them off long-term. You can lose up to 4 lb of water weight a day. How much fat can you lose by fasting? I depends on your metabolic circumstances.

What does this mean to you?

You can lose weight. You can also lose fat. You are not a victim of the bad and dangerous food environment. You are in charge of what goes into your mouth. You can also put nothing in your mouth, and you are also in charge of that. Permanent weight loss is only achieved through permanent lifestyle changes, so when you lose weight on a water fast, continue with a plant-based diet weight loss. You can change your body by changing your lifestyle – permanently.

Water Fasting Reduces Insulin Resistance and Improves Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin resistance is resistance to the hormone insulin, which results in increased blood sugar. Insulin resistance is recognized as a predictor of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. This is caused by an overwhelmed pancreas, as illustrated here. Sugar tolerance can be impaired in humans by a high-fat diet consumption, according to the best explanation of insulin resistance by Dr. Michael Greger here.

In studies performed as early as the 1930s, scientists have noted a connection between diet and insulin intolerance. In one study, healthy young men were split into two groups. Half of the participants were put on a fat-rich diet, and the other half were put on a carb-rich diet. The high-fat group ate olive oil, butter, mayonnaise, and cream. The high-carb group ate pastries, sugar, candy, bread, baked potatoes, syrup, rice, and oatmeal. Within two days, tests showed that the glucose intolerance had skyrocketed in the group eating the high-fat diet.

Insulin needs your full attention because you don’t want to have diabetes. Diabetes distorts the way in which the body uses glucose – sugar that serves your body as fuel. When blood glucose levels rise, the pancreas normally makes the hormone called insulin, which signals cells to take sugar from the blood. Fat cells store excess glucose in the form of lipids (fats). In the most common form of diabetes, type 2 diabetes, cells lose their sensitivity to insulin.

Decreased insulin resistance and increase insulin sensitivity are some of the most valuable health benefits of water fasting to many people today because of the obesity epidemic in the world.

New research adds to the mounting evidence that fasting may be helpful in the fight against obesity and its related conditions. By increasing certain proteins, the practice may protect against metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and liver disease

How fasting may prevent obesity-related insulin resistance

Fasting is the complete abstinence of all substances except water. It is a unique biological adaptation. It gives the body a chance to rapidly reverse many of the conditions associated with dietary excess. Diabetes happens to be one of those.

People have adequate insulin, but insulin is not working well because of insulin resistance. Dietary excess is thought to be one of the major contributing causes of that resistance.

Fasting is a useful tool for reversing the consequences of dietary excess. Conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, some forms of cancer, and lymphoma all happen to respond exceptionally well to water fasting.

Dr. Alan Goldhamer on fasting and insulin sensitivity

Among many benefits of water fasting, this one is the most life-saving because so many diseases are caused by insulin resistance, leading to millions of deaths in America and worldwide every year.

What does this mean to you?

You don’t have to have diabetes, obesity, cancer, or heart disease. Your insulin sensitivity is in your hands, and you can manage is successfully by fasting on water regularly while also eating a plant-based diet and avoiding junk food and fat-filled garbage food. Stop dietary access, and your body will stop insulin resistance. Water fast is the best tool for this.

Water Fasting Helps Reduce or Reverse Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is the name of a cluster of risk factors, which, when they appear together, dramatically raise your risk of heart disease, heart failure, stroke, diabetes, and other non-cardiovascular conditions. Most people who have metabolic syndrome already have a closely-related condition called insulin resistance.

According to Hopkins Medicine, the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome comes after the identification of at least three of the following five key risk factors:

1. Too much fat at the waist. Although obesity, in general, raises your risk of metabolic syndrome, excess belly fat (being “apple-shaped”) is the riskiest kind of fat, defined as more than 40 inches around the waist for men, or more than 35 inches for women. Ask your doctor about different measurements for your ethnicity, Ndumele says. “Individuals of Asian descent are thought to have an increased risk at a lower threshold of belly fat, for example.”
2. High blood pressure. This is defined as a reading of 130/85 mm/Hg or higher, or being on medication to treat high blood pressure. Even if only one of the two blood pressure numbers is too high, it’s considered a risk factor.
3. High triglyceride levels. This means a reading of 150 mg/dL or greater, or being on medicine to treat high triglycerides. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood.
4. Low HDL cholesterol (also known as “good cholesterol”). This is defined as a reading of less than 40 mg/dL for men, or less than 50 mg/dL for women. HDL cholesterol helps clear damaging cholesterol from your arteries.
5. High fasting glucose (blood sugar). This means a fasting reading of 100 mg/dL or higher, or being on medication to treat high blood sugar. A fasting blood sugar count of 100 to 125 mg/DL (after fasting) indicates prediabetes , and above 126 mg/dL indicates diabetes.

The metabolic syndrome has been called a “perfect storm” when it comes to heart disease risk. It’s a combination of health problems caused by carrying too much fat around your waist, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels, and abnormal cholesterol levels. These often occur together and raise your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

This clustering of risk factors happens because your body has a hard time regulating cholesterol (lipids), certain proteins, and sugars (glucose). One of the health benefits of water fasting is that it helps reduce or eliminate the metabolic syndrome symptoms because it deals directly with the cause of those symptoms, the actual issue – the food.

Modern humans evolved while surviving prolonged periods without food and have voluntarily fasted for spiritual and therapeutic reasons since ancient times.

Water-only fasting (complete abstinence from all foods and beverages, except for pure water) is now used therapeutically to initiate physiological responses that may promote self-healing.

In a fasted state, increased autophagy (breakdown and recycling of damaged and non-essential tissue) provides a source of amino acids, fatty acids, and minerals, and the energy previously used for digestion may be directed towards cellular regeneration.

The physiological adaptations that occur in the fasted state may produce various health improvements. Clinical evidence in humans suggests that fasting may improve hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chemotherapy side effects, and quality of life.

Dr. Alan Goldhamer on fasting and metabolic syndrome

What does this mean to you?

You don’t have to have heart attacks or belly fat or any illnesses related to the metabolic syndrome. Don’t wait for the symptoms to occur and explode like a deadly bomb on you. You don’t have to be sick. In a fasted state, increased autophagy provides a source of food for your body. Your body can fast for five days without starving because it has a ton of stuff to eat – already stored. Having fat-related illnesses is not required. You can be healthy. Simply fast on water for a few days regularly and, by doing so, successfully mitigate your risks of falling the victim to the metabolic syndrome. You are in charge of your health.

Water Fasting Decreases Obesity Risks

Water fasting is a practice of caloric restriction, which leads to ketosis and fat loss, as well as overall weight loss. This decreases obesity risks, which in turn helps avoid all the deadly illnesses associated with obesity, such as heart disease, cancer, hypertension, sleep apnea, and others..

Obesity is a complex disease involving an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic concern. It is a medical problem that increases your risk of other diseases and health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancers.

Mayo Clinic

What does this mean to you?

You don’t have to expose yourself to the deadly diseases associated with obesity. Mitigate your risks by fasting on water regularly for a few days at a time. This will reboot your body and restore your health while preventing obesity and ensuring your wellbeing longterm.

Water Fasting Prevents or Reverses Chronic Diseases

The health benefits of water fasting are all related to each other: the metabolic syndrome leads to insulin resistance, which leads to obesity, which leads to cancer, and all this can be fixed by autophagy and epigenetics! Fasting on water for a few days is free but can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills and can save your life!

Here are some frequently asked questions answered.

What does this mean to you?

You must view yourself holistically and stop compartmentalizing yourself: you are not a chest of drawers. Whether or not you eat, what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat – all this affects all of you. The whole you is affected by your nutrition. So, fast on water to optimize your overall health and boost your immunity in order to mitigate any and all risks of illnesses. Think holistically.

Water Fasting Reduces or Eliminates Sinus Issues

Sinus infections are painful, expensive, annoying, and long-term immunity compromising. I used to have sinus infections, unable to breathe every day, sometimes at all. Afrin was everywhere: in my purse, in my car, in my speaking bag, in my bathroom, in my night stand…

Everywhere I looked – there was Afrin as a reminder that any time, I could stop being able to breathe. Between 2015 and 2016, I had five prolonged episodes of bronchitis.

I know first-hand about the desperate need for a breath, sleepless nights, exhausting cough, missed work, long visits to the doctor, immunity-attacking steroid shots, and genuine suffering.

Every visit to the doctor took hours, I had to take off work, pay $75 per visit, $10 for parking, plus all the medications, which made me sick, dizzy, and cognitively-impaired. I was told by the ENT of GA that if I came back one more time that year, they’d force surgery on me.

Today, I don’t use Afrin nor do I go to any doctors. However, there’s one thing I do every day very well: I breathe! I threw away my inhaler and all the poisoning meds. I breathe fully, deeply, all by myself!

Of course, a nose is not an independent entity… There’s so much more going on when the symptoms are nasal and accompanied by a terrible cough that hurts. Ear infections, sinus headaches, and tooth pain are all intimately familiar to me. My life used to be exhausting.

I used to feel so miserable: green nasal drainage, unstoppable cough to the point of peeing on myself, debilitating headaches, intense chest pain, mucus in my lungs, and endless tears.

Fever, insomnia, fatigue, sweats, and just hopelessness – those things I remember, all accompanied by the misery of useless doctor visits and a ton of money wasted on medical bills and dangerous drugs.

Today, I fast on water.

It’s free and thousands of times more effective.

I am healthy, I run 5 miles a day up and down the hills often, I kayak, I hula hoop, I do pushups, I take trips to the beach and run barefoot there for hours enjoying breathing in the ocean breeze, and I love every single day and every single breath I take! One of the health benefits of water fasting is life-giving and so essential – it’s my ability to breathe.

Fasting forces your body to rely on its energy stores to sustain normal function. Your body’s first store of choice is glucose, which is mostly found as glycogen in your liver and muscles.

Once your glycogen is depleted, which generally occurs after 24–48 hours, your body starts using amino acids and fat for energy. Using fat as fuel produces ketones, which your body and brain can use as a source of energy.

Interestingly, one particular ketone called beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) was observed to benefit the immune system. Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine observed that exposing human immune cells to BHB in amounts you’d expect to find in the body following two days of fasting resulted in a reduced inflammatory response.

Recent research showed that fasting for 48–72 hours may also promote the recycling of damaged immune cells, allowing for the regeneration of healthy ones.

Can Fasting Fight the Flu or Common Cold?

What does this mean to you?

You can ensure the health of your sinuses by fasting on water. You don’t have to be a victim of bronchitis, common cold, nasal drainage, sinus headaches, exhausting cough, and constant ear infections. You can let water fasting heal your sinuses and improve your immunity. You can breathe freely and deeply without the help of doctors or drugs. You don’t have to poison your body with Afrin and other dangerous and ineffective temporary solutions that only address the symptoms of your sinus problem. Address the problem itself! Fast on water periodically.

Water Fasting Normalizes High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease. Blood pressure is determined by both the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure (Mayo Clinic).

If your arteries are clogged, it causes a problem with your blood flow. What clogs your arteries? Whatever you put in your mouth! It’s explained in the article by Medical News Today called “This is how a single high-fat meal can lead to heart disease.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that a diet high in fat and cholesterol raises your risk of heart disease and cardiovascular illnesses, such as atherosclerosis, a disorder in which arteries can lose their elasticity.

The process is well-explained in the scientific publication called “Every single junk food meal damages your arteries.” All roads lead to Rome: it’s the diet! What you eat can kill you or heal you.

If you eat deadly high-fat junk-food, you are killing yourself by clogging your arteries and causing yourself high blood pressure. This is a lifestyle condition and is completely reversible. You don’t have to have it.

An interesting finding was published also by America’s leading expert on heart disease – Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn – called “Resolving the Coronary Artery Disease Epidemic.” He revealed that coronary artery disease is virtually absent in cultures that eat plant-based diets, such as the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, the Papua highlanders of New Guinea, and the inhabitants of rural China, and Central Africa. Hundreds of thousands of rural Chinese go for years without a single documented myocardial infarction. Modern North America and Europe pride themselves on having the world’s most advanced medical care but also have the worst diseases associated with obesity, which all result from the bad food people consume in enormous amounts.

So, high blood pressure is the outcome of your poor eating habits. The best news is that eliminating the problem is 100% in your control. Take charge of what goes into your mouth and what doesn’t. Eliminate junk food, processed food, crap-filled food, and ditch sweet drinks, sodas, and whatever other crap people drink, I don’t know. Instead, try a plant-based diet after you give yourself first a fresh start by fasting on water.

According to the article called “The Rediscovery of Water-Only Fasting” published by Dr. Alan Goldhamer, who is the leading authority on water fasting in the United States, high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is the leading contributing cause of morbidity.

Our study involved 174 high blood pressure patients, all
of whom were admitted to the Center for treatment involving water-only fasting. The results of the study were astonishing. Every patient experienced blood pressure reductions sufficient to eliminate their need for medication, and over ninety percent of patients achieved
completely normal blood pressure.

The Rediscovery of Water-Only Fasting

Research shows that fasting can help lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, control diabetes, and reduce weight.

Fasting: How Does It Affect Your Heart and Blood Pressure?

Hypertension reduction or elimination is one of the most exciting health benefits of water fasting. It gives you full control over your own health.

What does this mean to you?

You don’t have to suffer from hypertension. You can fast on water and by doing so completely normalize your blood pressure by allowing your body to clean out your arteries and improve your blood flow. You are not a victim of your genes, which we already discussed in the chapter on epigenetics. You are in full control! You can be healthy!

Water Fasting Improves Sleep and Helps Both Insomnia and Sleep Apnea

Insomnia is a sleep condition that causes your inability to fall and stay asleep. This condition can be short-term (acute) or last for a long time (chronic). Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. It is primarily released by the pineal gland.

One of the most notable benefits of water fasting is that it causes your insulin levels to drop and melatonin levels to rise. I want to share with you a study revealing the impact of insulin on melatonin.

The study of melatonin–insulin interactions has revealed an inverse relationship: an increase in melatonin levels leads to a down-regulation of insulin secretion and vice versa.

Interrelationships between Melatonin and Insulin

So, decrease your insulin by fasting and you’ll increase your melatonin so you can sleep better. In addition to insomnia from low melatonin, sleep may also often be disturbed by sleep apnea.

Below, I am sharing with you scientific research on the role of excess body weight in sleep apnea causation, as well as provide you with two testimonials from a man and a woman testifying how weight loss cured their sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a sleep condition that causes your breathing to repeatedly stop and start. It’s accompanied by loud snoring and the feeling of tiredness. Obesity and metabolic issues are the causes of sleep apnea, according to science.

Weight gain can cause fat to accumulate in the neck area, obstructing breathing and leading to sleep apnea. For this reason, weight loss is one of the first lifestyle remedies that doctors recommend when treating sleep apnea.

The Sleep Foundation

Obesity and particularly central adiposity are potent risk factors for sleep apnea. They can increase pharyngeal collapsibility through mechanical effects on pharyngeal soft tissues and lung volume, and through the central nervous system–acting signaling proteins (adipokines) that may affect airway neuromuscular control.

Specific molecular signaling pathways encode differences in the distribution and metabolic activity of adipose tissue. These differences can produce alterations in the mechanical and neural control of upper airway collapsibility, which determine sleep apnea susceptibility.

Obesity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

I wanted to share with you a few stories from people who helped themselves with snoring, sleep apnea, and obesity by losing weight through fasting. Here are their stories in their own words:

• A story of an obese woman who cured sleep apnea by water fasting which caused weight loss
• A story of an obese man who cured his Type 2 Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Sleep Apnea, and Obesity by fasting on water

As for me personally, I was sleep-deprived in my marriage with a man who would come home at 11 pm and open garage door, close it, open, close it repeatedly, which caused the entire house to shake. At 5 am, he’d be opening and closing the garage door again repeatedly, which would shake the house.

In addition to depression and panic attacks from the narcissistic abuse in my marriage, I also experienced what’s called “sleep abuse” aimed to break me and leading to total sleep deprivation and severe weight gain for me, all accompanied by intense suicidal thoughts. Sleep abuse is a commonly-used narcissistic cruelty tactic discussed here, here, and here.

It’s been a few years since my divorce, and I live a very peaceful life. On my journey of narcissistic abuse recovery, fasting on water allowed me to reset all my health functions and optimize my entire holistic wellbeing, so all of the aspects of my health improved. I sleep like a baby today for 8-9 hours at a time and feel energized, active, joyful, and peaceful. I am at my ideal weight.

Water fasting is a tool I use regularly now to reset, renew, refresh, recharge, and restore my health.

What does this mean to you?

You don’t have to be sleep-deprived (unless someone is imposing sleep abuse on you, in which case my tips about water fasting won’t help you and you just need to get the heck away from your abuser). Fasting on water can help regulate your insulin and melatonin and promote healthy sleep in your life. Losing weight will help improve your sleep, and improving your sleep will help you lose more weight. It’s possible for you to enjoy excellent health. You deserve to be healthy!

Water Fasting Helps Transition to Healthy Living

I know first-hand how you feel if you do not like your body, habits, and lifestyle. I have dozens of pages of journals begging myself to change, yet I couldn’t. Why? Here’s the truth… I felt stuck.

You get stuck in your ways and feel like to change would be too hard. For me, it was depression, suicidal ideation, and a host of anxiety attacks, all accompanied by overeating and lack of exercise. For you, it may be something like this… You go to the same junk-food place in the morning, eat the same garbage-filled lunch during the day, and crave excessive amounts of the same deadly crap at night.

You want to change but it’s too hard.

I get it, trust me!

One of the benefits of water fasting is that it resets everything back to normal: your organs, arteries, brain, and palette. You can build new habits from scratch because at the end of the water fast, all healthy food will taste great and you will enjoy an organic apple as much as you once enjoyed that killer ice cream. Eating an apple a day will entice you to walk around the block, then you’ll be inspired to read a book, next thing you know, you’ll be hiking and taking my 100 squads self-care challenge.

If your goal is to get healthy overall, fasting on water is the best tool to allow you to transition to a brand-new lifestyle because at the end of your prolonged fast you will be brand-new.

Here’s how Dr. Alan Goldhamer, who provides a medically-supervised water fasting treatment at True North Health Center, describes this renewal process and results.

Typically, the conditions that we treat are the ones that are determined to be the most responsive to fasting: the diseases of dietary excess. These conditions are caused by excess consumption of calories, particularly animal fat and protein and refined carbohydrates. So, we are talking about high blood pressure, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.

Fasting patients are put through an intensive educational program. Every patient who fasts goes through a refeeding, which means that they have a period at least half the length of the fast for refeeding.

If you treat high blood pressure medically, they tell you, “You must take these drugs the rest of your life.” If you have diabetes, they’ll tell you, “You’ll be on these medications for the rest of your life.” If you have an autoimmune disease, like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, or eczema, you will be told, “You must be on medications the rest of your life,” because medicine guarantees you will never recover. They promise you, if you follow their advice explicitly, you will be sick for the rest of your life.

This approach offers people an option to make lifestyle changes, eliminate the cause of the problem, and stabilize their conditions to the point where the medication is no longer needed.

So, it is a very different approach to managing these diseases of dietary excess than conventional medicine, which is more about the suppression of the symptoms associated with the disease, rather than removing the underlying mechanisms by which they are caused.

Dr. Alan Goldhamer on: Water Fasting – The Clinical Effectiveness of Rebooting Your Body

What does this mean to you?

You can give yourself a fresh start with health and transition to a much healthier lifestyle so that you can live longer and better, not be on medications, but instead, enjoy high energy, an active body, and true vitality instead of just mere daily existence. You can have a better life, enjoy better health, and look forward to a better future! Water fasting helps you reboot your body and build better habits.

Water Fasting Improves Cognitive Functioning

Cognitive functions are mental processes that allow you to carry out your daily tasks. They allow you to have an active role in the processes of receiving, choosing, transforming, storing, processing, and retrieving information, allowing you to navigate the world around you. The most important cognitive functions are attention, orientation, memory, executive functions, praxis, language, social cognition, and visuospatial skills (NeuronUp).

Personally, I struggled with depression when discovering fasting. I was also diagnosed with Complex PTSD after I got married in 2016 and endured narcissistic abuse, examples of which I shared on this blog in detail.

One of the benefits of water fasting I personally experienced is a restored ability to focus, think things through, start and complete tasks, organize, plan, and of course, the list goes on. Fasting on water helped my depression recover and restored my overall health, including my brain health (cognitive functioning).

Fasting is deeply entrenched in evolution, yet its potential applications to today’s most common, disabling neurological diseases remain relatively unexplored. Fasting induces an altered metabolic state that optimizes neuron bioenergetics, plasticity, and resilience in a way that may counteract a broad array of neurological disorders. In both animals and humans, fasting prevents and treats the metabolic syndrome, a major risk factor for many neurological diseases.

Fasting as a Therapy in Neurological Disease

Studies suggest that diets low in calories and rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) are beneficial for cognitive function.

Caloric restriction improves memory in elderly humans

I love Jesus and I love science! Did you know that I went to college at 15, graduated at 19, went to two universities at the same time, graduated with a business degree and a doctoral in Criminal Justice, and then got my MBA in 2013, as well? So, yes, I love science. Also, I believe that the Bible is God-breathed word and is 100% true. So, when Paul askes me to renew my mind, I believe it’s possible. And I’m not the only one who believes that. Brain neuroscience proves the plasticity of the human brain. It’s called neuroplasticity! We can renew and change our brains.

The most progressive Christian brain neuroscientist Dr. Leaf talks about the benefits of fasting to cognition and the overall brain health. She is an author of several books on brain damage and food, mental performance, and how, using many holistic techniques, to switch on your brain.

What does this mean to you?

You can switch on your brain. You are able to improve your brain health and cognitive functioning by fasting on water and renewing your mind as Paul asks in the Bible. This will not only be a short-term benefit but a long-term health optimization for longevity and quality of life.

Water Fasting Clears Off Acne

Acne represents the occurrence of inflamed or infected sebaceous glands in the skin, in particular, a condition characterized by red pimples on the face. I started having acne for the first time in my life when I was 34 years old, married to the narcissist, and enduring mental cruelty daily. I shared about my severe levels of toxic stress in the article called “What Narcissistic Abuse Feels Like.” Stress is a strong factor in causing acne. Toxic stress changes hormones and messes up the body and brain. I never had acne and overnight, boom, I was covered in acne in my fourth decade of life! Acne is ugly and very painful.

Increased stress severity was found to strongly correlated with increased acne severity, and this relationship was statistically significant (r=0.23; p<0.01).

Study of 144 female students shows that stress may increase acne severity.

Another strong factor in causing acne is dairy products consumption. When I got married in 2016, I moved in with my new husband who was had a history of obesity, ate cheese sticks and pizza all day long, snacked on chocolate milkshakes from Starbucks, and consumed cow milk. He struggled with binge-eating and ate all day long, being very heavy on highly-processed cheese sticks. I soon fell for the same thing.

Dairy cows are treated with artificial hormones that affect their milk supply. Researchers suggest that those hormones may throw your hormones off balance when you consume milk products. This can trigger acne.

Is There a Link Between Dairy and Acne?

Inflammation can lead to acne and eczema, which can be reduced by fighting bad gut bacteria. In an article for The Telegraph, Dr. David Jack, a renowned aesthetic doctor based in London, said that by just regulating blood glucose levels and insulin sensitivity, damage of collagen on the skin and elastin proteins found on the dermis, which is supporting layer of the skin, can be entirely prevented. He also advised people trying to better their skin to watch their diet. According to him, anti-inflammatory foods and antioxidants are needed to maintain healthy-looking skin. He recommended a plant-based diet.  

Fasting for medical purposes (fasting therapy) has a long tradition in Europe and is established as a defined therapeutic approach in specialized fasting hospitals or within clinical departments for integrative medicine.

Fasting has shown beneficial effects in various chronic diseases with the highest level of evidence for rheumatic diseases. Data revealed recently show that the mechanisms of fasting and caloric restriction produce beneficial effects of fasting in chronic conditions, such as metabolic diseases, pain syndromes, hypertension, chronic inflammatory diseases, atopic diseases, and psychosomatic disorders.

Fasting can also be applied for preventing diseases in healthy subjects.

Fasting Therapy – an Expert Panel 

Over 70 years have passed since dermatologists John H. Stokes and Donald M. Pillsbury first proposed a gastrointestinal mechanism for the overlap between depression, anxiety, and skin conditions, such as acne. Stokes and Pillsbury hypothesized that emotional states might alter the normal intestinal microflora, increase intestinal permeability, and contribute to systemic inflammation.

The ability of the gut microbiota and oral probiotics to influence systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, glycemic control, tissue lipid content and even mood itself, may have important implications in acne.

The gut-brain-skin axis

So, acne is the outcome of inflammation. Inflammation is the outcome of metabolic issues. Metabolic issues are reversible. To establish metabolic order, water fasting works very well. From my experience, fasting on water is the best way to restore my health, and that includes the health of my skin. Below is an unedited, unfiltered, iPhone-taken picture of my skin from two weeks ago. I am almost 40 years old.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the benefits of water fasting. I am not a medical professional or a certified nutritionist. What I shared here is my personal experiences and science-supported research findings. If you take my advice, you are responsible for your own outcomes.

Water fast is not suitable for everyone. You should consult a medical professional about your specific health situation. I take no responsibility for any changes you make to your diet or health routines.

This article is not medical advice.

A study by the University of Graz in Austria looked into the impact of fasting on promoting overall health. The study concluded: “In addition to weight loss after four weeks, intermittent fasting also had a positive effect on many health indicators, such as cholesterol, blood pressure, abdominal fat and inflammatory parameters.”

In this article, I shared with you a library of science-proved benefits of fasting on water for prolonged periods, which I also personally tried, tested, experienced, and appreciate, so I’m sharing about this new information on my blog.

There’s one more very important thing.

In addition to the 15 benefits of water fasting shared here, I want to mention a significant spiritual benefit: drawing closer to God. My faith grew when I went on a water fast. I even wrote a poem about it. I struggled with food temptations because of today’s dietary access available everywhere. But food is not my master. I belong to God. That is what fasting helps me practice: my commitment to God and not gluttony.

“Water Fasting vs Gluttony” #PoemsFromGod

Water fasting is a tough test for your discipline, fortitude, commitment, and spiritual maturity. 
It rids your body of addictive food crap, chemicals, and fat. And it helps you achieve spiritual purity.

Without food, day after day, you feel deprived, trapped, physically weak, and emotionally unstable.
Only God can help get you through. He gives you strength. God is of divine comforting able. 

Water fasting journey tests your thinking, wisdom, and your willingness to abide in Christ.
Jesus gave up His life to set you free. The least you can do is just a few meals to sacrifice. 

Sacrificing food, your temptations, salt and fat addictions, and mental focus isn’t easy at all.
That’s why to be able to fast on water only, you must every day wholeheartedly on God call. 

You must have strong reasons to fast on water only, not just weight loss, that goal is too vain. 
You must set your eyes on the Lord and desire Him more than food, that’s how you can stay sane. 

During your water fast, you’ll be tested plenty: your faith, your body, your priorities, your will, your strength, your habits, and your mind.
At the end of your water fast, you’ll be renewed physically, mentally, and spiritually: you’ll no longer be weak and blind.

You’ll be able to see clearly that food is no longer your master, it can’t control you, you have one master, you belong to God.
You’ll understand what the Bible means in saying: put a knife to your throat if the sin of gluttony the best of you got. 

You’ll be able to honor God with your body, eat like Daniel did, and flee from the food addiction gluttony sin.
You’ll be able to focus on building mental, emotional, and spiritual strength, abide in Christ, and stay lean. 


5/4/20 © Anna Szabo, JD, MBA

Fasting is a Biblical concept, and not only did Jesus Christ fast Himself but also He expected His disciples and followers to fast after His resurrection.

How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

Mark 2:19-20

Now is that day Jesus was talking about.

Fasting is an ancient spiritual practice known for millions of years. The first mention of fasting in the New Testament is in connection with the presentation of the infant Jesus at the temple. Two godly people, Simeon and Anna, were attracted to the infant. Anna’s constant service to God is called “fastings and prayers” (Luke 2:37). The word “fastings” has the literal meaning of “not having eaten,” “being without nourishment.”

Jesus Himself practiced fasting when He was tempted by Satan. During these tumultuous 40 days of loneliness, satanic attacks, and the presence of wild beasts, “He ate nothing” (Luke 4:2). 

We are called to have one master – God. Fasting on water is a very spiritual experience that rids us of slavery to food and allows us to practice obedience to our creator who called us to die to the Flesh and walk in the Spirit. Self-control is one of the nine fruits of the Spirit.

All things are possible through Christ!

Let’s summarize how fasting on water can help you.

Water Fasting Benefits

1. Activates Autophagy
2. Impacts Epigenetics
3. Slows Down and Reverses Aging
4. Promotes Ketosis and Fat Loss
5. Facilitates Overall Weight Loss
6. Reduces Insulin Resistance and Improves Insulin Sensitivity
7. Helps Reduce or Reverse Metabolic Syndrome
8. Decreases Obesity Risks
9. Prevents or Reverses Chronic Diseases
10. Reduces or Eliminates Hypertension
11. Normalizes High Blood Pressure
12. Improves Sleep and Eradicates Insomnia
13. Calms Down Binge-Eating Cravings
14. Improves Cognitive Functioning
15. Clears Off Acne

READ MORE ABOUT FASTING

• Water Fasting Results
• Benefits of Water Fasting
• 30 Day Water Fast Results
• 5 Day Water Fast
• 3 Day Water Fast
• 48 Hour Water Fast
• 24 Hour Water Fast
• Water Fasting: Benefits and Dangers
• Dry Fasting: No Food, No Water

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