Please let me know what foods to eat after a water fast. Especially for short fasts like 48- 72 hours. Mostly the focus is on longer fasts and recovery periods. But the shorter fasts are not addressed in detail. Thanks
Refeeding after water fast
Hello!
I never did such a short fast, but to be on the safe side, I’d simply suggest you to make vegetable juices for two days, then eat salads (to train your stomach to not eat too much) and finally eat normally again.
This short period shouldn’t wreck your system, so you don’t need to be as careful as people fasting for a long period of time. However, it’s good to start again with juices then salads just in order to not let you indulge in food.
For me I usually have a Vegetable & Beef soup, then 2 hours a more substantial meal. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your response. I want to be able to build up to longer fasts as safely and healthily as possible. I was anxious to read that if you do this refeeding process wrong after long water fasts (5 days or more), it could at worse result in death. I had no idea how serious it was. Thanks for the suggestions.
Thank you for your response. I want to be able to build up to longer fasts as safely and healthily as possible. I was anxious to read that if you do this refeeding process wrong after long water fasts (5 days or more), it could at worse result in death. I had no idea how serious it was.
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Most people don’t know much about water fasting, so they tend to go to the extremes.
If you water fast and only drink water at all (for a long period of time), then after finishing your fast, you should not intake salt for example. If your fast wasn’t long enough, it’ll only make you feel nauseous. But if your fast was quite long, your body will swell. You won’t really be able to walk properly for some days. That’s the kind of outcome there can be. However dying is very extreme.
You shouldn’t need to worry. Hence, just water fast for a few days and train yourself to not indulge in food. Then you can try again for longer. The healthier you are, the easier it’ll get. Just keep in mind that the first days are always the most difficult ones: past that, you won’t feel hunger anymore. Another point to take note of is that if you have any kind of diseases (as a broad term) even if you’re healthy, it might get more difficult the first days. But really, you just have to hang on and it’ll pass.
Thank you. I’m learning alot from these threads.
Refeeding is extremely important during prolonged fasts. It requires small portions of easily suggested foods like watermelon for extended time periods (ideally half the length of the fast). But for short 3-4 day fasts.1st day after fast diluted juice and simple salad (one food like romaine) 2nd day after fast fruits or steamed /raw veggies (but not too much variety). I wouldn’t eat meat or pasta until 4th day of refeeding. This is a conservative way to go.
Thank you. I have learnt alot from this thread; What is pleasing is that you all have first hand experience on water fasting that we newbies can learn from.
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