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3 Fasts to Transform Your Health, part 3: 2 to 5 day Fasts

Writer's picture: Hilary ElmerHilary Elmer

The previous two blog posts focused on shorter, easier forms of fasting: Eating in a Window, and One Day Fasts. It is wise to start with those fasts to get your body accustomed to going longer without food before fasting for multiple days.




Your body is an amazing creation, capable of healing itself in ways that you are not aware. Why isn't this common knowledge?


Because frankly, it's not easy.


But it's worth it.


It actually is common knowledge in some cultures. Americans have forgotten the art of fasting. It has been practiced throughout history, and is still practiced by some people today. And it gets easier the more you do it.


Fasting for extended days causes your body to crank its healing into high gear.


Digesting food takes an enormous amount of energy and resources. When there is no food coming in, your body turns its focus inward and uses its energy to get to all those things it's been meaning to do... repairs that were not vital for survival but ought to be done.


If you have come this far into fasting and you are comfortable with 24 hour fasts, then you know that you can do it.


In the past two posts about shorter types of fasting, I emphasized how easy they are, and I meant it. While longer fasts can be easy at times, the second day always seems to be hard. The days after that can vary quite a bit. Sometimes I just coast right through them, other times I feel uncomfortable. Usually there is a mix of both.


I love the results of extended fasting so I do it every few months. I love that I look and feel younger than I did before I started fasting a couple years ago. A torn ligament in my wrist that had bothered me for years healed when I began longer fasts. I never get sick any more. I feel like every time I do a multi day fast, I can check off another box of something that had been wrong with me that gets better.


If you decide to try fasting for longer times, please get a book about it which goes into more detail than I can in this post. It is very important that women (even older women) fast according to their cycles; Fast Like a Girl by Mindy Pelz is great at explaining this. A good book for men is The Fasting Transformation by Dr. Jockers.


Healing High Gear

Longer fasts have all the benefits of shorter fasts, such as...

  • lose weight

  • improve gut health

  • decrease insulin resistance (to prevent diabetes)

  • improve mental clarity

  • enjoy more energy

  • encourage proper body function

  • soothe inflammation

  • slowing aging

...but it doesn't stop there.


In addition to all of those, extended fasting

  • increases stem cell production

  • increases human growth hormone production

  • increases T cell renewal

  • starves cancer cells

  • causes autophagy, where "zombie cells" are destroyed and healthy cells are built to replace them

  • the bad microbes in your gut starve, while the good ones survive

  • gut parasites die off

  • body fat decreases quickly

  • lean muscle mass is maintained (provided you don't fast too long)

  • decreases or prevents aging related disorders such as dementia

  • balances hormones, including in menopausal women



A lot of people worry that they will lose muscle mass if they fast. If you go for too long, then yes, your body will begin to burn protein from your muscles to stay alive. But most well fed Americans have plenty of reserves and can go for days or weeks before this happens. As long as you have body fat, your body will burn it before tapping into muscle. (Please note that I am not advocating longer than 5 day fasts here.)


The first winter after I began fasting, I was delighted to find that I had NOT lost the muscle mass that I had built up the previous winter doing indoor exercises. Prior to fasting, I always had to work back up to being able to do pull ups and such. Fasting actually helped maintain muscles that I did not use over the summer.


What to Expect in a 2 to 5 Day Fast

Hopefully by now you have done a few one day fasts and your body is used to it.


Feel free to drink sugar free drinks including water, coffee, tea, and electrolytes just as you would in a one day fast. You may add lemon juice or raw acv.


As you know from my post about one day fasting, your liver has enough glycogen stored to last about 30 hours. That means that if you do a 24 hour fast, you are still burning an easy fuel source. If you do a 36 hour fast, you have probably used up the glycogen by the time you wake up the second day, but you eat right away so it's not too hard.


There is a term in the running world called hitting a wall. That's what happens if you go longer than 36 hours fasting. Your body has burned through the glycogen and it has to switch to full ketosis where it is burning body fat. No sugar.


It always makes day 2 a hard transition day. Low energy, not a lot of fun.


But it doesn't last. And since you know that you are going to feel this way, you just plan to do it when you can take it easy. Give yourself a lot of space and grace. That feeling will pass.


By the third day, the body seems to be more in the mode of fasting and body fat burning. It may still be low energy, but better than day 2.


There is a lot of variability of what might happen during the next days. As I said above, sometimes I just coast right through. Other times, I have been so overwhelmed with toxins as my body detoxed that I had to end early.


Some people will feel nauseus, and even vomit bile. I have not experienced that and I encourage you to get a book which will go into more detail about fasting complications. Exercise wisdom to know when it is beneficial for you to continue fasting, or when the best thing is to end earlier than you had planned.


There is no shame in ending early. The goal of fasting is to heal yourself, and at times it may feel like continuing to fast is not beneficial. However long you fasted still counts. If your goal was to fast for 3 days and you end at 2.5 days, congratulations, you fasted for 2.5 days! That did so much good for you!


You can always do another fast later, and any problems that arise one time may not come back later. This was true for my aunt who vomited during her first long fast, but later she was able to do long fasts without problem.


Sometimes just giving your body a tiny bit of protein or fat can ease symptoms and not throw you out of ketosis or healing mode. If you feel like you really need it, you may drink a quart of bone broth, or eat up to 100 calories worth of fat (such as butter, coconut oil, or olive oil), or cheese. Do not drink raw milk because that has natural sugar.


It can also be very beneficial to take supplements during a fast. You might experience heavy detox symptoms, and taking kaolin clay or activated charcoal can help your body process and eliminate it.


Women and Fasting

Fasting has the ability to balance hormones and make your monthly cycle much more pleasant and less painful. It can even make perimenopause and menopause much better. To accomplish this, you need to fast intentionally during the first 12 days once menstruation has begun (please see Mindy's book for details about how to do it if you no longer cycle).


If you do extended fasts in the wrong part of your cycle, rather than balancing hormones, it will throw off hormones and make you miserable.


As Mindy Pelz explains in her book, if women don't get carbs in the later part of their monthly cycles, it depresses progesterone. That causes all sorts of problems including elevated cortisol levels.


During the times that you are eating, be sure to truly nourish yourself. Don't be afraid to eat high quality carbs. (That does not include refined sugar.) While I tend toward a lower carb diet, women do need carbs. We should not do ketogenic diets throughout the month.


Please read Mindy's book to learn more, including how to know when to fast if you have irregular, or no, cycles.


Breaking Your Fast

Fasting for longer than 24 hours causes your gut to go into a deep healing state. Reintroducing food wakes it up. Wake it up gently to avoid the food going right through you.


The best thing to break your fast is bone broth. Wait an hour after drinking it before having solid food. Raw milk is also a gentle way to wake up your tummy.


Now have some gentle, easy to digest food. Yogurt, kefir, applesauce, or sauerkraut are good choices.


Wait another hour, then have something a little heavier.


You might be tempted to binge eat, but be mindful about how much you are asking your gut to process after it has been on vacation. If you eat too much too fast, you can actually make yourself sick.


Frequency of Extended Fasts

How often it is best for you practice extended fasts is highly individual. If you eat in a window and do a weekly one day fast like I do, you might find it most beneficial to do an extended fast only every 3 - 4 months. And you will feel so good after you do it!


It can be beneficial for cancer patients to do a 5 day fast once a month. Cancer cells live and grow on blood sugar. Extended fasts starve the cancer cells of their food, while your body is in deep healing mode, which gives you a chance to beat cancer. But you have to stay on top of it, which is why it's necessary to do it every month. (Obvious disclaimer: I am not a doctor, please talk to your doctor. However, don't expect a lot of doctors to be familiar with the benefits of fasting. Do your own research too and then decide what is best for you.)


If you are trying to lose weight, monthly fasts might also be beneficial to you. Listen to your body. Be sure that during the times when you eat, the food you take in is truly nourishing.



Something that I love about living a fasting lifestyle is that it gives me control over what I eat. I used to feel like food controled me. I like to be in control of my own body.



Lynch lineback cows grazing at Between the Trees Farm.
Lynch lineback cows grazing at Between the Trees Farm.


It's so easy to get swept up in thinking we need MORE. Whether that is money, land, cows, chocolate bars, or shoes, we always think more of something will make us happier. When we get sick, our inclination is to add something to our body. It may be something natural, like essential oils, or it may be pharmaceuticals, but we always seem to think we need more.


Fasting has taught me that sometimes I need less. Sometimes the problem is not lack, but over abundance.


The body has great wisdom. It knows how to heal itself. Fasting allows it to do that.


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