What Happens To Your Body When You Fast?

Fasting is extremely common in many religious groups, and some people even do it as a part of their diet. What happens to your body during this time? Trace breaks down some of the short and long-term effects of fasting.


Read More:
What Happens to the Body During Fasts
“Matthew McConaughey lost 30 pounds. Hugh Jackman lost at least 20. Anne Hathaway lost 25.”

Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
“In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of the Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage — a major side effect of chemotherapy — but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal.”

How Fasting Works
“Eating is an essential part of life. Of course, it provides nourishment for the body, but it also brings people together and helps establish a cultural identity.”

How Long Can You Live Without Water?
“Water is the fundamental building block of all known life forms.”

Benefits of fasting and how to do it safely
“People have been depriving themselves of food on purpose for millennia.”

Fasting and food choices
“I talk to people about weight loss several times a week. People often tell me they skip meals.”

Is Long Term Fasting Safe?
“Long term fasting can be safe, even healthy, if supervised by a trained physician. There are several types of fasting used to both prevent and treat disease.”

Is Ramadan fasting safe in type 2 diabetic patients in view of the lack of significant effect of fasting on clinical and biochemical parameters, blood pressure, and glycemic control?
“The study objective was to determine if Ramadan fasting was safe in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), based upon a determination of the effect of fasting on a broad range of physiological and clinical parameters, including markers of glycemic control and blood pressure.”

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[raritykagamine]

I fast all the time, being broke's a good motivator

[naromngin]

Going on a fast to improve my body and live a healthier life style. I'm trying to lose a couple pounds while boosting my immunity and mental functions.

Real reason: Ran out of groceries

[cindynguyen]

Woow, that Breakfast fact just blew my mind.

[myles]

I fast a lot, mainly just because I don't feel like eating some days.

[Lwoods]

I recently did a 21 day water fast. It was a wonderful experience. Not once throughout the three weeks did I ever feel anything wrong. I always had energy to walk around and do light physical activities. No hunger at all. My stomach growled a total of 8 times in that duration but that was it. Mentally, I had never been more at peace. I was able to enjoy the little things more like simply admiring my environment. I recommend fasting to everyone fit enough to do it, even if it is just for a day. If nothing else, your digestive system will be utterly grateful.

[coomohit]

"fasting is dangerous and you must eat regularly" said every food processor

[danimoosakhan]

I fast not just to maintain physical health of a body, but also to maintain my soul.

[arnisprokopovics]

I fast to seek Jesus. My pride and "I want, I think, I feel" gets lowered.
Because in the end, it's Christ having mercy giving us food. So all glory to Him!

[JaxBlade]

Intermittent Fasting is one of my favorite things to do to get the abs extra cut up and i still have tons of energy :D

[trommelbiel]

I have been fasting on the average 19 hours everyday for the past nearly four years. I will never go back to the NWO 3 meals. I eat just one meal per day. Even my hair is happy. From ugly graying white hair to nearly dark black. I am over 50 and I feel very flattered when young girls approach me obviously having no idea about my age.I suddenly realise that I am looking younger doing nothing except IF.

[afiqzul-star]

Oddly enough, after a few days of fasting, I don't really feel hungry even if I watch someone eating.

[TOC]

Hi, Im 18 and very spiritual. I fasted 7 days water fast straight for the sake of finding GOD even though I know many people deem this stupid or unnecessary. However I was so strong during these 7 days and I did things normally and the reason being I was empowered by the holy spirit. I think that if you really are serious on the things of God, you can fast for a long time and still feel strong because God will send you the holy spirit to guide you.

[skyllerf]

Woah I had no idea that's what breakfast meant! Mindblown

[aliquewilliams]

DNews, if you're going to reference previous videos and ask us to "check it out", please provide annotated links for us to click on.

[bosem]

i had wife who convert to muslim and this is her first time to fest in ramadan, she felt little tried at first 3 days but now she feel great and healthy

[Remrau]

I'm not sure if it counts as a fast, but I tried a "Reboot" for 7 days. This meant that for 7 days I only drank water and instead of meals I drank about 1 litre (per meal) of home pressed veggie juices.

I did this for a number of reasons, but my main reason was for pure experimantation on IF I could do it, and how it would feel.

The end result was great, I became a lot less bloated, lost about 8 kilo's and got much higher energy levels and slept better.

Unfortunately I was so happy with my results I went straight back to my normal food habits, gained all the weight back within 2 months and the other problems..

So, I'm going to try a different approach this time around. I will be having 3 Juice days a week (no food just water and juice) and eat "normal" the other days to see if this is something that would give the benefits I got during my 7 days juice fast but with a more maintanable lifestyle.

[sarfios]

I am very happy that people get more and more familiar with the water fast, I've done 10 days water fast, had plans for 14, but the most hard of doing something like that is the people around you. Your family and friends start fighting with you, that you need to eat. This is way more stressful than the restriction for eating itself. I a lot of people think that if you don't eat 2-3 days you'll drop dead... and that's far away from the truth. There's a starvation stage where the body entrance only after you drop below specific body fat percentage, and then it starts to eat itself and you'll die, if you continue. However, the best thing is that after you do a water fast, you start to know your body way better, also after you finish it, you just care way more about the quality of the food, and you realize that not all calories are equal. And eating 500 calories fruit, veggies will be so much more better than white bread. We really need to kill some taboos and pay more attention on what we're eating. Before I've been thinking that the impact of that kind of lifestyle is minimum, but I was dead wrong... After you start to live the right way your psychology changes too, you're more confident, less stressed, very hard to get moody or depressed. You're positive most of the time.  Don't want to sound like these obsessed folks, but the food matters A LOT.

[dildil]

today is my 4th day fasting.. an i feel amazing the first day was hard mentally hard.. but I'm glad i was strong

[ChileVerdeDavid]

It's funny how the christian's who comment get downvoted and spammed with atheistic comments but the muslim comments all get upvoted as if Islam and Christianity are drastically different religions.

[JakotsuFan]

Primarially for spiritual reasons for me, but I've also experienced great health benefits from it. :)