No food for 10 days: The lessons learned

April 22, 2012 |

Today, no matter how carefully you select your food, it is nearly impossible to avoid chemical contaminants unless you grow your own garden on the backyard. I know only two grocery stores in America where you can shop without risk of paying for a mixture of starches, fats and sugars modified with a bunch of artificial colorants, preservatives and flavors: Whole Foods Market  and Trader Joe’s  stores.

Therefore I have found it’s healthy at least once a year to give my body 8 to 10 days break from any food by drinking only pure water (yes, yes: pure water only; no juices, no lemonade) to zero extra blood sugar,  burn fats, lose 10 to 12 pounds and to cleanse my body out of toxins and corrupted or malfunctioning cells, including tumors.

Weight loss by 3 and 10 daysWeight loss by 3 and 10 days

First of all, our body uses carbohydrates, including sugar, as a quick source of energy that, however, lasts no longer than 2 days. When all the carbohydrate supply is fully depleted our body starts burning fats which are twice as higher in energy content as carbohydrates. And fat burning mechanism is so energy-efficient that an average healthy person may safely stay out of any food for as long as 30 to 40 days burning fat like a camel before entering the dangerous starvation phase. Now, here are the three lessons I have learned:

    • Because I loose a pound a day, I conclude, this is approximately what my body needs plus water, to normally sustain the active life. The same conclusion has been made by Herbert Shelton in his The Hygienic System. This time I have lost 12 LBS starting from 184 to 172 LBS by the day 10th.
    • When my fast was over and on my 11th day I had a glass of freshly made beet, carrot and apple juice diluted 1:1 with water, I felt such a profound energy boost that it immediately gave me another reason to believe that almost all of us habitually overeat. Two meals of nutritious food are definitely more than enough to make it through a busy day. Why so many young Americans heavily rely on energy drinks?
    • To debunk a common myth that water fasting makes you groggy and incapable to properly perform physical and intellectual work, I demonstrate that on the days 9th and 10th of the water fasting I still have enough energy to do 225 pound squat for 10 reps:

  • I wonder why young Americans need energy drinks? Perhaps if we eat right, we will not need coffee to wake up in the morning, 5 Hour Energy shots in the afternoon and sleep aid pills at night.

Here is a picture of me on the day 10th of my water only fasting:

On the 10th day of water fastOrganic vegetables for juicing:

Organic vegetables for juicingMy first glass of watered beet, carrot and apple juice I drank in the morning of the day 11th:

My first glass of watered beet and carrot juiceAfter having it drunk, I run 1.5 miles breathing freely through my nose only; I didn’t need to gulp air with my mouth. For now, two weeks later, I stick to mostly vegetarian diet with some fish in it and feel a lot younger. If you have any questions please write in comments or contact me through the Contact Us page.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Category: Energy drinks, Water fasting, Weight loss

Comments (8)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Maria Moskaleva says:

    Very interesting! But at what age should people begin such a diet? For example, would it be just as healthy for a 25 year old?

    • DyeDiet DyeDiet says:

      Got it. In general, we all overeat. Personally, it is much more complex. Young people shouldn’t consider any fasting, unless incurable health conditions. However, what young people really need is eating right and this, in turn, takes self-education.
      Good luck!

  2. Petrovitch says:

    Wonderful! You’re a strong boy. Keep it up!!!

  3. Karen says:

    hi, I just wanted to say that if you can you should probably edit this to take Whole Foods’ name out as a trustworthy outlet as I think after some recent revelations it seems they no longer fit the bill? thus making the statement misleading and no longer relevant. On another note, thank you for all the great stuff on this site, it’s much appreciated!!

  4. Jane says:

    On a ten day water fast, is it okay to eat vitamin supplements? or drink green tea? Also how can you maintain the weight loss after you come off, of the fast?

    • DyeDiet DyeDiet says:

      I do not take vitamin supplements during my fast. They are not very efficient in the first place because they come as artificial mixtures from which they are not well absorbed (low bio-availability)by human body. Real food is the best source of all vitamins needed. I do not drink tea or coffee because when you fast your body is much more sensitive to everything including psychoactive stimulants like caffeine. Perhaps it is good to take potassium as potassium chloride (Walmart); that’s what I did lately. Normally you have enough vitamins in your body to last for some 30 days. To keep the weight low is the hardest part. The number of days you were on fast is the number of days you slowly returning back to the solid diet. You start with diluted vegetable juices, proceed with vegetable soups and later – grains and fish. From my experience, I have naturally reduced meet consumption simply because my body did not want it anymore. Look, fast may change you and your attitudes for better. After several fast courses you may develop unbelievably strong control of how much you need to eat. That is what happens in my case. But people are different and so are the reactions to fast. As a general advice, you may want to stick to vegetarian (not vegan) diet or simply increase percent of vegetables in your normal diet. All the above was said under assumption that you stay away from fast food and soda.