this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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[–] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 48 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You shouldn't do this kind of stuff without talking to your doctor and have a blood panel done.

[–] Guajojo@lemmy.world 42 points 9 months ago (1 children)

For water only and 3 days in a row yes, but fasting once a week is harmless and has benefits

[–] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And you should still consult a doctor first. If I did that I would likely die.

[–] L3mmyW1nks@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Genuine question: why?
I mean I can imagine that it's heavy stress for the body but I'm surprised you're sure of death.

[–] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I have diabetes. If I didn't eat for 3 days I would go into a coma and likely die.

[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Another genuine question: is it possible to have diabetes and not know it until you try a fast?

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

My ex only found out she had diabetes because she ate a bunch of candy and slipped into a short coma (like 4 hours) so I would assume the opposite is possible.

[–] sleepmode@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

A lot of people are pre-diabetic or diabetic and don’t know until they’re tested so possibly.

[–] anivia@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Only if you were removed enough to keep taking insulin while fasting

[–] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

You mean rich enough? I don't take meds for it. I control it via diet and exercise.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's not how any of that works: Insulin tells fat cells to leech sugar out of the blood and convert it into fat. Type 1 diabetes means you can't produce insulin (it's an autoimmune disorder attacking the cells producing it), type 2 means that your fat cells have seen so much insulin that they dial down their response to it, to the point where you cannot produce enough to regulate your blood sugar.

In any case taking insulin while fasting will only make you keel over faster as you'll deplete the little sugar that's left in your blood, and also actively hinder the reverse (fat to sugar) pipeline.

Diabetics can fast and type 2 can even be reversed like that but you absolutely need a doctor to take regular blood tests. Type 1s don't want to they're happy if they get at least a bit of body fat onto them.

[–] mugthol@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm type 1 and you can have all of my fat. Isn't ot harder to lose weight with diabetes? Why would it be harder to put on fat?

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Type 1 diabetics can't put on fat without insulin injections. I already explained why, if you don't believe me open any random textbook on metabolism.

As Type 1 diabetic to lose weight all you need to do is stop insulin and live your life, sooner or later all the fat will be gone: Under normal circumstances we're always burning a little, regaining a little, as Type 1s can't gain without injections you'd only lose.

On the flipside doctors will try to make sure that Type 1s do have enough fat on them to survive for a while, mortality rate before insulin was discovered was insanely high: Eat something and lose consciousness because your blood sugar is too high, don't eat enough and you'll starve sooner than later, hard to strike a balance there without any help from modern medicine.

As Type 2 it's not really harder to lose weight than as a non-diabetic, thing is though people who become type 2s generally have lifestyle (and/or other) issues that brought them there in the first place. Correlation, not causation.

[–] mugthol@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah but you can't go without insulin... Even if you don't eat anything your body still needs insulin Sure if you're starving yourself you lose weight but that is not really the point

[–] Clarke311@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

That's not true bro. You can manage your basal rate and not eat for a week. Trust me. Type 1. Almost three decades. There's been two points in my life where I couldn't hold down water, and had to be intubated after a few days.

[–] Hardeehar@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Probably because he talked to his doctor?

[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

The body's metabolic rate and capability of storing and converting sugar is different for every person. Some people actually struggle to maintain a healthy weight because they can lose it too quickly, and it's often a stigma for bodybuilders and fighting sport athletes. Some people's metabolic rate is so efficient that they would bottom out on blood sugar by day 2 and risk becoming comatose, and if they were to eat something like 12 bananas in that state then their natural insulin levels would send their blood sugar through the roof with risk of going into shock.

For most people it's good to very slowly and very carefully ease into new eating habits, stopping changes before it becomes dangerous. For example, water fasting for a day every week for a couple of weeks is fine, and if you're comfortable you can add another day. Jumping straight into a long fast with no minerals or grain breads/crackers is dangerous.

I actually recommend that people choose a high oil diet over a high sugar diet in case they only eat once a day, because while it can potentially send blood sugar up for an extended period of time that also means it has the benefit of a slow release of energy over time compared to sugar which raises it quickly for a short period of time.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

A general rule of thumb is that you can go 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food and 3 minutes without oxygen.

You would not die of fasting for three days unless you're severely diabetic and had a hypoglycemic shock, as long as you hydrate properly.

If you were stuck in a desert though, sweating your ass off, and only had purified water (and in this hypothetical you're on a planet which has 80-hour days so there's no cool nights in between), you would probably die.

But of a lack of electrolytes, not hunger. Sodium is a critical electrolyte that, along with potassium and chloride, helps to deliver water to your body's cells.

So with a few of those single-use salt bags from McD you'd be fine.

I'm a supply-core NCO (in the reserve tho) and my job was literally keeping soldiers fighting fit. We went over a lot of things related to things like these.

Barring any severe medical conditions, people can fast 3 days with water.

But remembering electrolytes is important. During the summer, we'd add a spoon of salt to every 30l water jug, to prevent the troops from dehydrating. Still, despite that, going for a piss got aptly nicknamed "tossing syrup", as the piss had a consistency of maple syrup, more or less. (I lost 10kg in my first two weeks of basic training, which was in July. A hot July.)

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 20 points 9 months ago (3 children)

A non-underweight and otherwise healthy adult can forego food for a week without issue, it's not that big a deal. We would never have survived evolution if we couldn't do that.

[–] dlok@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

It's exactly why we store energy as fat in the first place, so when the getting is good it prepares us for when it isn't.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

surviving and healthy are two different things.

It puts stress on your body. Not a problem for most people, but can still put people in danger if preexisting conditions exist

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Exercise puts stress on your body. Not a problem for most people, but can still put people in danger if preexisting conditions exist.

The thing about stress is that complete lack of it is a stress all of its own. Aside from psychological stress, that is, that one is wholly superfluous.

[–] v9CYKjLeia10dZpz88iU@programming.dev 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)