Water fasting, its benefits, and how to do it correctly
Water fasting has become a popular trend in recent years. Know what it is, experience its benefits and advantages, and how practice it correctly.
What is water fasting?
Water fasting or hydric fasting is a type of fast that consists of ingesting only and exclusively water. Neither coffee, tea, nor any other type of drink or food. Water
Normally, it is usually practiced for 1-3 days, and within the types of fasts that exist, it is one of the most restrictive and difficult to follow.
But by the very definition of “water fasting”, it is also one of the simplest (even more so than juice fasting ) and this is because, nutritionally, the only concern is to ingest enough water to maintain normal levels of energy. adequate hydration.
This is quite different from other types of fasting, such as intermittent fasting, where more strategic planning of the nutritional plan is required because this fast allows the intake of various types of food and drinks.
An even more challenging fast is the dry or total fast , which does not even provide for water intake and is not recommended.
What are the benefits of water fasting?
The water fast diet provides the same or the same benefits as any other type of fast.

These benefits include weight loss, lowering triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and increased insulin sensitivity.
What happens, according to some experts, is that water fasting provides benefits much more quickly than other types of fasting. In other words, all fasts easily lead to the same place, only those paths are longer (and easier) than others (which are shorter and more difficult).
If you want to know more about the benefits and advantages of fasting, please visit our article.
How to do water fasting?
First of all, we do not recommend practicing this type of fasting without expert supervision , especially if you have never fasted before.
We also do not recommend that beginners extend it beyond 72 hours and, for more advanced people, do not extend it beyond 10 days due to the negative effects it may have.
The main goal before starting a water fast is to prepare the body and gradually introduce it to fasting by eating smaller and smaller amounts of food and/or fasting for longer and longer periods of time throughout the day.
It may help to read our article on how to fast correctly , where we give you the basics to introduce to fasting.
And regarding hydration… how much water is necessary to consume when practicing a water fast?
Although there is no universal recommendation that works for everyone (since this depends on multiple factors), ensuring a minimum intake of 2 liters of water per day is a good starting point. In some cases, a minimum of 3 liters of water per day may be necessary .
Some people choose to do water fasting by adding lemon to benefit from the properties of this fruit and/or to give the water a little flavor.
After finishing the water fast, it is recommended not to eat large amounts of food . Since the GI tract has spent a few hours without processing any incoming food, eating heavily just after ending the fast could cause adverse symptoms.
For this reason, we recommend breaking the fast with fruit juices , vegetable broths or any other type of food that is not abundant and easy to digest . Little by little, larger and more complex meals can be introduced according to the tolerance level of each person.
conclusion
As you can see, water fasting is very simple (although not always easy) to follow.
The only rule is: consume only and exclusively water for 24-72 hours (as a general rule) and make sure you ingest sufficient amounts to maintain adequate hydration levels (about 2-3 liters per day).
However, although it is an easy fast to follow, water fasting is not for everyone: there will be people who are inclined to try it and for whom the benefits of this fast are evident, and there will be others who are not. It catches their attention or, if they try it, they feel that it does not work for them.
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