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Comment by aviv | Hacker News Reader

Fasting is the best gift you can give to your body. It's a shame more people don't know or trust this. Good job mainstream for hiding the truth.

I water fast about 90 days out of the year (~25 consecutive days each time) and dry fast for about 30 (8 to 10 consecutive days each time).

People eat too much (and not even "bad" foods, just anything really) and more importantly - too often. Digesting food matter is a great way to get sick and maintain sickness.

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"Dry fast" means you consume neither food nor water, correct?

How can a human possibly go "8 to 10 consecutive days" with no water?

Correct, no food or water.

In fact, there is also "soft" dry fast and "hard" dry fast. With the latter you also avoid any contact with water, such as washing hands, showers, etc.

I wouldn't recommend anyone should have a 8-10 day dry fast as their first fast, that's for sure.

But your body is capable of doing far more than you give it credit for. The concept of no one surviving 10 days without food or water is simply false. In fact, I have more energy on the 7th or 8th days of a dry fast than I did when I used to have a conventional diet.

How much weight do you lose? Is your local climate dry or humid?

You lose as much as you need to. Many people who struggle to gain weight, actually do post-fast.

I meant, how much weight do you, ~aviv, personally lose on an 8-10 day dry fast?

Also, still wondering if you're in a dry or humid climate. And come to think of it, whether you're in a hot or mild climate.

Because I know of people who've been drinking water, but still reached a point of dehydration requiring medical attention, in hot or dry environments after moderate-to-extreme exertion. So my hunch would be that an 8-10 day "dry fast" might require minimizing activity in a cool, humid place.

The breezy vagueness of ~aviv's responses makes me somewhat skeptical of the reliability of his self-reports.

It's easy to just continue believing in your own path. I could not care less if a random HN user finds my answers vague. My comments here get flagged the majority of the time so I put very little effort into the responses nowadays. And to answer your question, I live in very dry climate.

Thanks for the climate moisture answer. Still wondering, is it hot or mild? (Do you engage in any activity that requires sweating during a dry fast, or do you minimize physical activity?)

And also still wondering: how much weight do you personally lose on each of the 8-10 day dry fasts you practice 3-4 times a year? (I find it strange such a simple question hasn't been answered.)

Of course I minimize my physical activity during dry fasts.

Hot. Arizona hot.

I don't track the weight anymore, about a pound a day, maybe a bit more. Early on it was nearly 2 pounds a day. Regain 75% of it on the scale rather quickly because I eat mostly fruits due to their water content. The weight loss is not what I'm after, as I said before, any weight loss during a dry fast is normal and expected. Those who need to put on weight generally do shortly after a fast is completed

This is one of those "remarkable claims require remarkable evidence" situations. If you're being genuine and seriously want the world to take notice, have you asked anyone to study the effects of a week-long dehydration in which you claim to have more energy by the end? Medical researchers would jump at the chance.

This is incredibly naive. Sadly this is not how the world actually operates. Entire industries and economies would be disrupted and vanish completely if majority of people were healthy. Millions of jobs rely on people continuously going through the cycle of disease.

Medical researchers would never jump at a chance to prove that fasting, something no one can patent and turn into a recurring revenue profit center, is the cure for many diseases they currently sell maintenance drugs and "treatment" for what they tell people is incurable.

Have you actually tried asking them?

University medical researchers in particular would chomp at the bit to get a study like this, with the potential to get into Nature and boost their reputation. Trust me, I've been an academic.

I assume for your 25 day fasts you are taking some sort of supplement? Otherwise you are flirting with scurvy. Which typically sets in around 4 weeks of low to no vitamin c intake.

Aside from B12, I would never take any supplement, fasting or not.

With regards to your scurvy comment: https://chestofbooks.com/health/natural-cure/The-Hygienic-Sy...

"Digesting food matter is a great way to get sick and maintain sickness."

So our bodies doing what they have evolved to do is a way to 'get sick'?

Yes. Our bodies were not meant to consume processed man made food, pesticides, meat from diseased animals, excess protein, soy, genetically modified foods, processed sugars, vegetable juices, sea food from contaminated oceans and pools, the list goes on and on.

So yes, most of what you eat is getting you sick whether you realize it or not.

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