How To Break A 72 Hour Water Fast

Fasting: New or old?
Brusque vs. long fasts
Ending a long fast
Side furnishings of breaking fasts
Nutrient for breaking fasts
Protocol for breaking fasts
A word about booze
Refeeding syndrome
Summary

Are you contemplating adding intermittent fasting to your depression-carb, keto routine with the hope of intensifying your weight loss or speeding upwards your metabolic improvements?

And so you just might exist wondering how best to break your fasts. What should you eat first? What gives the best results? What do you need to watch out for?

If y'all are new to fasting, or have had trouble in the past coming out of a fast, this guide can help yous plan and execute the best means to begin eating again after brusk or longer-term fasts.

1. Fasting: New twist on an quondam tradition

Historically, the word 'breakfast' described the first meal of the twenty-four hours — no matter when that meal occurred. It wasn't until the 15th century that the word started being recognized every bit the meal yous consume shortly later waking.

Nowadays, with intermittent fasting gaining popularity, the meaning of the word 'breakfast' is going dorsum to its original roots. Breakfast for the intermittent faster is the meal consumed when you choose to break your fast, be it six:00 AM or six:00 PM.

Fasting, specially for religious purposes, has been a common occurrence for centuries. And more often than not, throughout nearly of human history, not much concern was given to how to break the fast.

However, in an age of poor dietary advice, when nosotros are told to eat all day long — and when hyper-palatable highly candy food abounds — it can take a little more planning to resume eating in a style that achieves the most physical condolement and most effective results for your long-term health and weight loss goals.

2. The deviation between short and long fasts

Every night when we stop eating and then get to bed, we go through a short-term fast until our first repast of the next day. Depending on when yous ate dinner and when y'all consume your first meal afterward you wake up, you can easily become through a 12 to 16-hour fast — with no physiologic alter to digestive functions.

Although there is no articulate consensus or accustomed definition about what the cut off is betwixt a short and a long-term fast, Diet Doctor defines anything less than 24 hours as time-restricted eating, fasts between 24 and 36 hours as a short-term fast, and annihilation longer than 36 hours a long-term fast.

Time-restricted eating and brusque-term fasts don't crave specific precautions when breaking the fast. But remember it is a good idea not to binge on highly-candy, sugary, or high-carb foods considering y'all will disengage the advantages of the fast. Plan to eat a wholesome, low-carb, high-fat meal, such equally whatsoever of the meals featured in the Diet Md recipes, and you will be just fine.

3. Ending a longer fast: a quiet gut revs up again

Longer-term fasts are different. Resuming eating after a longer fast takes more planning and care.

Every bit we start to comprise fasting into our routines, our bodies physiologically take a bit of time to arrange to the new regimen, specially if nosotros used to swallow constantly. Every bit chronic eaters, our bodies are constantly spending metabolic energy producing digestive enzymes to procedure the nutrient we're consuming. This changes when nosotros first first fasting. The digestive enzymes are not needed or produced.^ane

4. Potential side effects of breaking a long-term fast

If you've been fasting long enough for your body to slow downwardly its production of digestive enzymes, and then you lot may experience some gastrointestinal distress when yous start to eat again. This often comes in the form of:

Diarrhea or loose stools
Passing of undigested foods
Gas pains
Bloating
In very rare cases, nausea and vomiting

Since your trunk doesn't have the immediately available digestive enzymes and juices available to breakdown your food, the food can sit in your tum much longer. It can take a few hours or more for your body to beginning to make what it needs to break it down. It'due south during this period when you may start to feel unwanted stomach pains.

Apart from shortening the duration of your fast, the all-time style to minimize side effects is to plan the best food to swallow when y'all break the fast.

v. Food choices for catastrophe longer fasts

Until your body understands that you're not in a state of stress but rather just eating less often, y'all might want to avoid eating foods that are tough on your organization. Some people know that certain foods bother their digestive tract more than others. If you accept problem foods, you should avoid them initially when you resume eating.

In general, we've found that these foods (and drinks) are the most problematic foods for people to consume when breaking their fast, although some tolerate them simply fine:

Basics and nut butters
Seeds and seed butters
Raw cruciferous vegetables (cooked are fine)
Eggs
Dairy products
Alcohol
In very rare occasions, some people take difficulty digesting red meat or certain kinds of red meat.

Within six hours of ending your fast, you lot should be able to consume the foods on this list without difficulty.

6. The recommended protocol for breaking a fast

Nosotros've found in our Intensive Dietary Direction Program the following protocol works all-time for those who experience distress while breaking their fasts:

Chicken salad with leaf vegetables and cherry tomatoes

Beginning off well hydrated.
Commencement your meal off with a cup of lycopersicon esculentum and cucumber salad with some chopped up parsley. You can add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil if you like.
To play it safe, keep your protein sources to poultry or fish. They can be cooked in fat and poultry skin can be consumed. Try to limit your protein intake to the size and thickness of the palm of your hand.
Fill the remainder of your plate with non-starchy, above-ground vegetables that have been cooked in natural fats, like avocado or coconut oil, butter or ghee.
Finish your repast off with an avocado if you lot're still feeling hungry.

If y'all follow this protocol and yet experience problems, you can consider a tablespoon of psyllium husk in a loving cup of water. Some find this tin help while others may observe it increases bloating. If it helps you, the side by side fourth dimension y'all are fasting and are well-nigh to resume eating, you may want to endeavor the above protocol but add together in a tablespoon of psyllium in water at the offset.

vii. A word about alcohol

Fugitive alcohol, peculiarly binge drinking, is very of import when coming out of a fast of more than 36 hours. Heavy consumption of alcohol could trigger alcoholic ketoacidosis, in which ketones are very high in the blood, only unlike diabetic ketoacidosis, blood glucose is usually dangerously low.²

The principal symptoms are vomiting and abdominal pain.³ It is most common in people with alcohol addictions or strong dependence on booze who do not eat for a number of days and and so beverage heavily. However, it has been reported in individuals of all ages who accept drunk heavily with piffling or no food intake.⁴

8. Understanding and fugitive refeeding syndrome

Refeeding syndrome is a very rare side effect of resuming nutrient consumption later periods of malnutrition or extended times without eating. It's defined equally the "potentially fatal shifts in fluids and electrolytes that may occur in malnourished patients."^v

The key clinical markers of this are very low blood phosphorus levels, or hypophosphatemia, also as low blood serum levels of potassium, calcium and magnesium.^six These shifts can cause heart rhythm abnormalities, cardiac failure, respiratory problems, convulsions or blackout.

Refeeding syndrome was first described among the severely malnourished Northward Americans who were held as Japanese prisoners of war during World War Ii.⁷ It has also been observed upon the treatment of long-standing anorexia nervosa and alcoholic patients in recovery.⁸

During the refeeding menstruum, insulin and counter regulatory hormones such as cortisol and noradrenaline are suddenly re-activated. This causes the movement of the major intracellular ions like phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium into our cells. However, due to the overall depletion of our body stores, this becomes quite excessive and leaves us with likewise picayune of these ions in the claret. This is what causes the major symptoms of refeeding syndrome:

Fatigue
Weakness
Confusion
Difficulty or inability to breath
Elevated blood pressure
Seizures
Eye arrhythmias
Middle failure
Coma
Death

These symptoms typically appear within two to four days of the beginning of refeeding.

Are yous at risk of refeeding syndrome?

Currently, most of us are over-nourished rather than under-nourished. But that doesn't mean y'all shouldn't exercise circumspection. Sure groups of individuals are at a higher take a chance for developing refeeding syndrome than others:

Your body mass alphabetize (BMI) is less than xviii.5.
You've experience unexplained weight loss in the last 6 months totalling a loss greater than 10% of your body weight.
Y'all have fasted consuming nothing just water for v or more than days.
Your blood work shows you take lower than normal levels of phosphorus, potassium, calcium or magnesium levels.
Y'all are an alcoholic or have a history of alcoholism.
You have anorexia nervosa.
Are taking insulin, diuretics, antacids or undergoing chemotherapy.

How to avoid refeeding syndrome

In that location are several means yous tin reduce your risk of developing refeeding issues when you do break your fast:

Avoid breaking your fast with a meal that is high in carbohydrates; stick to low-carb, high-fat meals. Avoid meals that surge insulin and blood carbohydrate.
Stay hydrated during your fast; Drinking mineral water is practiced.
Supplement with a pinch of natural table salt such as Himalayan salt a few times throughout the solar day.
Consult with your healthcare provider for any extended fast.

ix. Summing it all upward

When doing short fasts less than 36 hours, you don't need to worry too much about what you eat when you break your fast.

Stick to depression-carb, high-fat meals — such as whatsoever of the recipes on the Nutrition Medico site that seem highly-seasoned to you. Attempt not to swallow besides much. Fasting is never an excuse to gorge yourself when you resume eating.

For longer fasts, plan how you are going to stop them. Resume eating with a small meal and eat slowly. Start with a nourishing bone broth or some psyllium husk in water. Eat a small fresh salad of tomato plant and cucumber and keep your protein on the calorie-free side, such every bit fish or chicken, and modest — almost the size of your palm or a deck of cards.

For more resource on intermittent fasting check out the other Diet Doctor guides and videos beneath.

/ Megan Ramos