Water Fasting: The Hazards

I was bored at work and browsing the internet as one does and I was looking up health videos to see if there was a diet that I could use, but it would not affect the things I eat that much. I came across a YouTube video that described water fasting. At first glance, I thought it was to eat normally, but instead of fruit juices, to replace it with water. After watching it further, I realized that it is for not eating and only drinking water. It sounded like a bad idea, but I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. I looked up the benefits that the video claimed to have: A cleansing of the body and losing weight quickly.

I decided to make a list as to why you should not attempt water fasting:

1. If you go over 72 hours...

Some people have tried water fasting for more than 72 hours and had a hard time stopping, which leads to illnesses such as anorexia or bulimia.

2. Dehydration

Yes, it does sound very weird since you are drinking water, but a lot of the foods you eat actually carry sufficient amounts of water and you might not be used to drinking as much water as you need to once on a water fast.

3. Headaches

You may experience headaches more often; this is your body telling you that you need to eat something with nutritional value.

4. Wrong Weight

You may lose the wrong type of weight, that includes muscle mass, water, and carbs.

5. Orthostatic Hypotension

This happens to a lot of people who water fast. This is a drop in blood pressure. It may cause dizziness when you stand-up or you could even faint. This is one of the most common effects of water fasting. I know water fasting will not work for me because I already have low blood pressure as it is. So it is not recommended for individuals such as myself.

6. Losing Weight Quickly

You are probably considering to do this because you want to lose weight quickly, but that is not a healthy thing to do. Your body needs time to get used to the fact that it is not getting any food and this could result a shock for your body.

7. Getting Back to Eating

This is probably hard for your body after not eating for 72 hours. You can't simply sit down and eat a full steak dinner. You need to slowly reintroduce your body to food by starting off eating smoothies and then let your meals grow as each day goes on.

8. Not Recommended for Teenagers

A lot of teens, especially girls, believe they are too fat when in reality they are not. By believing that they are too fat, they may fall into illnesses such as anorexia much easier than any other group of individuals. Our magazines where celebrities are featured point out the flaws in women, and teens tend to believe that this is a normal thing for people to do. If you are a teen and reading this article, then believe me, those models are realistically not that thin. Photoshop plays a huge part in this, but is a topic for another day.

9. Lacking Nutrition

You might start to feel sick, but that is because your body is telling you it needs nutrition. People are not meant to live on only water.

10. People who have...

Heartburn, have had eating disorders, gout, diabetes, and kidney disease are recommended to not take on this diet. The above illness will increase in risk and will do more damage to your body.

I hope that you read this and seriously reconsider water fasting. This is not for everyone. If you do still wish to proceed then talk to your family doctor first and see what they say on the matter. Do not exceed 72 hours of water fasting.