Can you drink water when fasting?
Many questions arise when people get into fasting and drinking water is an important point to clarify.
My simple and initial answer to the question is:
“Yes. You can eat, drink and do whatever you want when fasting!”
What I mean is that you really can do whatever you want when fasting and what you do really depends on your goals.
But in general, the answer to the question is YES.
Yes, you can and you should generally drink water when you’re fasting.
Perhaps there are better questions to ask, like:
What kind of water should you drink when fasting?
And
How much water should you drink when fasting?
Let’s start with the first question…
What kind of water should you drink when fasting?
This is an important question because not all water is created “equal”. Think about this and ask:
What kinds of waters are out there that you can choose to drink?
You can get tap water, distilled water, carbonated water, reverse osmosis water, mineral water and spring water.
Now think about your ancient ancestors thousands of years ago… and ask yourself what they drank.
The water they drank came from springs, lakes and streams. And this water contained…
Minerals.
That means that when your ancient ancestors drank water, their bodies were getting important nutrients from that water. This is especially important when you’re fasting.
You need essential minerals to survive. Things like:
- Sodium
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Calcium
as well as Chloride, Phosphorus, Phosphate, Bicarbonate, and Natrium Chloride.
Acute stress can be beneficial to your body.
Remember that when you’re fasting you are intentionally stressing your body so that your body responds and comes back stronger.
This means that some mineral depletion can be beneficial because your body will get better at using both the minerals it has already stored, as well as when you re-introduce the minerals.
But going too low for too long can be dangerous.
The requirements for each of the minerals varies. If you’re going less than two days without food, you may not need to worry about supplementing with electrolytes.
But if you go multiple days fasting, you will want to drink high quality mineral water and also consider supplementing with electrolytes.
How much of these minerals do you need?
You can get most of your minerals and electrolytes from a high quality salt, like a trusted Celtic sea salt – with about 1-2 teaspoons throughout the day.
If you’re fasting for longer than 2 days, you might want to consider taking a pure magnesium citrate supplement (without filler that might take away your fasting benefits) and aim for at least 300 mgs per day.
How much water should you drink when fasting?
There’s no one right answer to this question that works for everyone. It really depends on many different factors.
Generally you want to drink enough water to stay hydrated; however you don’t want to drink so much that you deplete your body’s electrolytes.
As you learned already, you want to make sure you’re getting enough of your important electrolyte minerals which can be supported by drinking quality mineral water.
The best measure for water is to tune into your body.
Are you thirsty? Then drink some water!
On the other hand…
Are you peeing a lot and it’s clear? You may be drinking too much water and peeing out your precious electrolyte minerals!
You can take generally recommended advice…
Health authorities commonly recommend eight 8-ounce glasses, which equals about 2 liters, or half a gallon.
That’s all for this article.
So. My last question to you:
Are you going to drink water when fasting?
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