[jermaustin1]

A personal story about fasting:

About 8 years ago, I had a particularly stubborn stomach bug, that just would not go away. After a week I went back to the doctor, and he was reluctant to put me on anti-biotics incase it was viral, and also he was generally anti-anti-biotics if your immune system could do it on its own. So he had me do a 3 day fast. Only water, and once a day a small bottle of Gatorade. Day 1 was easy, day 2 was hard, day 3 was actually easy again. On day 4, I was told to reintroduce food slowly and to eat as close to unprocessed foods as possible, so I had a bowl of watermelon for breakfast, a cup of oatmeal for lunch, then for dinner... McDonalds.

The outcome was the bug did die, but I no idea if it was from the fasting or just that it had been 10 days. But the fasting wasn't that hard, and I felt better afterward.

[bfieidhbrjr]

The gatorade sounds horrendous, to dump a ton of sugar on you when fasting. It was probably for the electrolytes, a pinch of salt would have worked without all the junk in gatorade. And then you rarely need it on just a three day fast, only if you're dizzy. And if you're dizzy it means you've drunk too much water.

Glad you're better though!

Reddit fasting sub is ok to learn more, though they have some hangups like dry fasting.

[jermaustin1]

I was just following the doctor's orders. I assume he wanted me to have caloric intake along with salt, but I'm not a doctor, I didn't question him, I don't know anything about fasting, and don't even know if it was necessary.

I've done a couple of 2 day fasts since then, just to see if I can still do it without much trouble, it gets harder as I get older.

[bfieidhbrjr]

When you water fast you excrete salt with the water you're drinking. Beginners tend to drink far too much water to mentally replace the food, and so they lose a lot of salt. Gatorade when it was invented was an electrolyte replacement. Now it has a lot more sugar too. It was probably for the salt.

My longest fast was two weeks, AMA. :-)

[TheJurgen]

For clarification, I take a daily electrolyte tablet with vit. C, magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium when I fast. Generally, you want to take in less than 40 calories to stay in a proper water fast and I don’t think Gatorade fits the bill. Unless you’re doing a Fast Mimicking Diet where you’re allowed to eat up to 700 calories (I think). My longest was 5-day water fast (a few times). I found that Day 5 is better than Day 4. What days do you think are the worst in a 2-week fast?

[bfieidhbrjr]

The transition to ketosis is usually the hardest, which for most people is around day 3.

If you eat keto it isn't a problem.

[IgorPartola]

A small bottle of Gatorade is 140 calories, I believe. Not nothing but also not too much to work through. Also you don’t have to chug it all in one gulp.

[ConfusedDog]

Why Gatorade... I assume for electrolyte? There are so many better alternatives. I had a serious electrolyte imbalance first time trying Keto diet. Took a potassium supplement and immediately got better.

[jermaustin1]

I was just following doctors orders, and can only assume because it has electrolytes and calories.