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More isn’t always better when it comes to fasting. Dr. Barrett breaks down what actually happens in your body across different fast durations — from the first 12 hours through deep ketosis and autophagy at 72+ hours - and introduces a 5-factor framework (metabolic health, nutritional reserves, stress/sleep, muscle mass, and medical considerations) to help you decide if you’ve actually earned the right to fast longer. He covers who’s a good fit for a 24-hour vs. 3-day vs. 5-day fast, why sodium matters more the longer you go, and - critically - how to break a fast properly without wrecking the benefits.
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Watch the episode on YouTube here!
DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
. . .
Watch the episode on YouTube here!
- (00:00) - Intro
- (01:17) - What Happens in Your Body During a Fast
- (04:27) - Benefits of a 24-Hour Fast
- (05:00) - Benefits of a 72-Hour Fast
- (06:58) - What About 5+ Days?
- (07:48) - Who’s Right for Each Fast Length
- (09:19) - Situational Fasting: The 5 Factors
- (13:12) - Male vs. Female: Does It Matter?
- (15:00) - How to Break a Fast Properly
DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
Creators and Guests
What is The Real Health Podcast?
You've tried everything: extreme diets, expensive specialists, and medicine with side effects. Yet you're still stuck. This show is for you. The Real Health Podcast is hosted by Dr. Barrett Deubert, a practicing chiropractor and functional medicine provider who treats patients dealing with exactly what you're dealing with: weight that won't move, energy that never comes back, chronic symptoms doctors can't explain. Each week, he digs into the actual root cause behind things like weight loss resistance, hormone imbalance, autoimmune flare-ups, and metabolic dysfunction. No fad diets, no miracle supplements, no blaming you for not trying hard enough. Just real, evidence-based answers for why your body hasn't been working the way it should, and what actually helps.
On today's episode of The Real Health Podcast, we talk about fasting. Everything from when to fast, when not to fast. Is it... Is there a difference between male and female? We talk about durations of fasting twenty four hours to five days plus.
Dr. Barrett:So we're going give you all the information you need to learn how to fast and how to do it well. Welcome back to The Real Health Podcast. Today, it's all about fasting. And I think it's appropriate. It's been a few months since we've talked about fasting, and I kind of want to dive a little bit more into detail on the difference between male and females and when you should consider doing a shorter fast versus a longer fast.
Dr. Barrett:And fundamentally, I think the question we're going to answer today is, have I earned the right to do a longer fast, right? Because more isn't necessarily better here, right? If you're like, hey, should do a three day fast because I hear of all these benefits. Well, if you're burned out, sleeping six hours, nutritionally deficient, exercising, stressed, it may not be appropriate for you. If your blood sugar's dysregulated, it's probably not appropriate to go three, four, or five days without food.
Dr. Barrett:And so there's a right time and season to be fasting for longer periods of time. We're gonna address that, when you feel like, hey, this is an appropriate time to fast longer. Have you earned the right to fast longer? And then what the difference is, like, why should I even fast longer? So we'll address the benefits between twenty four versus three days, four, even five day fasts.
Dr. Barrett:So the first thing I want to cover is just like what happens to your body when you fast. Because in the first twenty four hours, there's a little bit of change. There's some benefit, but like the first half of the day of the fast, the zero to twelve hours is usually at night. Like I like to start my fast with the end of dinner, the night of, so I'll cut off food. Excuse me.
Dr. Barrett:Around 07:00 and then the fast starts. So by the time I wake up the next morning, I'm already ten hours into my fast. And when you look at the first twelve hours, really, it's not much has happened. Like your blood sugar levels will start to drop and your liver glycogen levels will start to drop and you begin to mobilize fat for energy. Twelve to twenty four hours you really start to kind of grab for stored energy and this is where your liver and muscle have retained a of glucose or glycogen.
Dr. Barrett:And those levels will start to deplete and your body will start shifting into a fat burn, machine. And if you're efficient in this system, it works great. But if you're not, this is where a lot of struggle can happen. And so we get liver glycogen levels start to fall, fatty oxidation starts to increase, which means just fat burning, and we start to generate some ketones. And then twenty four to seventy two hours, there's a big shift where the body can get into a deep state of ketosis.
Dr. Barrett:You're really creating a lot of fat burning. Ketones your primary source of fuel. Fat's your primary source of fuel. And you're now getting into autophagy, which we'll explain here in a little bit, which is where most of the fasting research, I mean, that's the goal. That's the standard, right?
Dr. Barrett:It's getting into that deep state of ketosis, therapeutic ketosis for the purpose of autophagy, which literally means body eating itself. You are recycling, turning over, and repairing damage. And then beyond three days, you're getting into deeper levels of ketosis therapeutically. There's goals there for different health conditions. But most of the time, fasts from an extended period of time are like a twenty four, a seventy two, or potentially even longer, up to five days.
Dr. Barrett:Autophagy, we're really going to get into that deeper stage around day three. And so if you look at the twenty four hour fast, the benefits are you get into some metabolic flexibility improvements, right? So if you go without sugar, carbs, food, you're going to be burning more fat, and that creates what's called flexibility in your metabolism. And that flexibility is a key factor in overall health and longevity. Metabolic flexibility is crucial.
Dr. Barrett:The more metabolically flexible you are, then the healthier you are. You'll get lower insulin exposure, so it'll drive some insulin sensitivity. And so twenty four hour fast done repeatedly can drive this flexibility plus lower insulin levels. You get a little bit of ketone production, but the main thing you're getting here is spiritually you're denying the flesh and physically you're creating some flexibility in your metabolism, but that's about it. When you get into more of the 72, this is a deeper metabolic shift.
Dr. Barrett:You're really getting into deep therapeutic ketosis. You're teaching your body how to generate ketones and use those efficiently for fuel. You're getting into autophagy, is the repair mechanism of the body where the cells will repair themselves. Your immune system regenerates. You get, really some deeper healing in the body.
Dr. Barrett:You also get a significant reduction in insulin and insulin growth factor, which as you may or may not know, the more you make insulin and insulin growth factor, the shorter life you'll live. So what is longevity? Longevity is keeping your insulin levels in check. So why do I not suggest eating five meals a day for longevity? Because you're just constantly spiking your insulin.
Dr. Barrett:And the more you spike that, that is an aging hormone. So why do I suggest three meals a day, no snacking? To prevent that insulin. Spike. Why do I recommend regularly fasting?
Dr. Barrett:To prevent that insulin spike and insulin sensitivity. And then we get into some really good metabolic markers. You actually start getting some cardiovascular improvements. Blood pressure can start to lower. And we see that when you get into a three day fast, you start getting into that really the benefit of fasting.
Dr. Barrett:And then five days or more isn't necessarily better. I feel like if you've trained multiple three day fasts, you might be qualified to do a five day. You really need to work with a practitioner when you fast in general. And especially when you get into five days, need to be, working with someone because you're really doing a lot of sodium excretion, so you need proper mineralization of your body and support. Five days is a lot of times for either a specific targeted disease management program that you're working with a practitioner or spiritual reasons, you're just called to go longer.
Dr. Barrett:And you're gonna get even like deeper therapeutic ketosis and enhanced suppression of nutrient signaling, nutrient signals like insulin growth factor we just talked about. And there's some potential immune and cellular regenerative effects that happen as you get into day four and five that you would just get in day three. Because day three really gets you into deep ketosis and then you can kind of carry that out for a few more days and get into some deeper levels of healing for sure. And so if you're thinking about who would be right for each fast, when you look at a twenty four hour fast, this is the person that's never fasted before. They may have tried to skip meals and they feel okay, like they're not going to crash and burn out.
Dr. Barrett:And this is the patient that's probably not metabolically flexible, can't typically go without meals, without feeling like low energy or feel groggy or feel even like hypoglycemic. And they've been there and then you start training your body, and you'll skip a meal every few days. You'll skip a breakfast, or every few weeks you try to skip breakfast and then lunch. And then when you eat dinner, listen, that's twenty four hours. You just went twenty four hours.
Dr. Barrett:And I think most people that aren't diabetic can go twenty four hours. But if you have severe metabolic issues, fasting is not something that... Or you have a bunch of pharma, you're on medications, fasting's really not recommended, unless you're working with someone. You don't want to just start fasting. So that's kind of a disclaimer there.
Dr. Barrett:But most people can handle twenty four hours. Now when you get into a three day, my typical recommendation is you gotta earn your right to three days. So a one day fast once a week every month would be a fantastic starting point. And then maybe on the third one day fast, can go forty eight hours and just see how your body does or thirty six, see how your body does. And then you're ready if you feel okay there to earn your rights to go to 72.
Dr. Barrett:The key is when you start going longer, you need more sodium. And the reason why most people feel off is they don't have enough electrolytes and enough hydration of their cells. When you lose glucose, you lose insulin, you're losing sodium. Your kidneys are excreting a ton. So you got to make sure you're replenishing sodium levels.
Dr. Barrett:I'll consume four thousand or five thousand milligrams of sodium daily when I fast, especially when we get into day two and day three. So earn your right to that three day, and that's mainly appropriate for people that are metabolically healthy. They're screened, they're nutritionally adequate, they exercise and train well, they're metabolically flexible, they go without meals and not feel super groggy, tired, or fatigued. They're not severely overweight, diabetic, their insulin levels are good. And it's like, all right, we are here, we can probably push to three days.
Dr. Barrett:And then five days, there's a lot more behind it. It's like, all right, I've done three days multiple times, I fast every quarter three days. And so that's where you work with a practitioner really, really can push. And there's different ways. You can even go three days water and a couple days bone broth.
Dr. Barrett:You don't have to do just water for five days. But the key with fasting is, situational fasting. How do you know when to go shorter or longer? So this may be the most important part of the episode and this is how we're going to frame it. So there's going to be five factors.
Dr. Barrett:So the first factor is metabolic health. How healthy are you metabolically? Are your glucose and insulin levels stable? Or do they crash if you haven't eaten? Right?
Dr. Barrett:So if you're metabolically healthy, you got your first box checked. Number two, what's your nutritional reserves? Have you been undereating too long? So the 35 year old mom who undereats and snacks all day and thinks that less is more and it's gonna enhance their life, and it's wrong. If you're consuming a thousand, 1,200 calories a day, that's a problem.
Dr. Barrett:It's hard to actually have vitality with that metabolic nutrient depletion, and you need to get your three meals a day, 100 plus grams protein a day established first before you even consider fasting. So if you are an undereater, you're not ready. If you've been training your body, eat three meals a day, you're strong, nutritionally reserved, then we're definitely in that category. Number three, what's your stress and sleep? If you're high stress and low sleep, it's not a great time to fast.
Dr. Barrett:If you're low stress, high sleep, it's a great time to fast. What's your muscle mass and activity levels? Do you have a good amount of muscle mass or are you super, super lean, not much muscle, and what we call skinny fat? If that's you, not appropriate to fast. If you're metabolically strong, you have muscle, and you have nutrient reserves, and your stress is low, your sleep is high, then I think we're in a great space to fast.
Dr. Barrett:And the fifth one is, are there any... Are you on medications? Are you diabetic? Are there any reproductive considerations? Because when a female fasts, it disrupts their cycle completely.
Dr. Barrett:And so if you're thinking about like, if you have any of those medical risks or even like previous eating disorder, fasting is probably not ideal for you. The idea of fasting for spiritual purposes deplete your body, although it's a beautiful idea, sometimes you would... I would consider that if you haven't been eating three meals a day with high protein, quality nutrients, and caring for your body in that way, doing that would add more value to you spiritually and physically than going without food, especially if you lean more towards that side of things. So, know, God is not always just asking us to get rid of things. Sometimes the greatest thing you can do is add life to your body.
Dr. Barrett:And eating three meals a day, whole food, nutrient dense, paleo style, 100 grams plus of protein is more honoring to the temple than fasting. So those would be my five parameters and this is your fasting readiness checkpoint. Okay? So here are six boxes to check. And if you check these boxes, you're ready to roll.
Dr. Barrett:I consistently eat enough calories and protein. Number two, I sleep well and recover adequately. Number three, my current stress level is manageable. Number four, my weight and muscle mass are stable. Number five, I have no significant medical or medication related fasting risks.
Dr. Barrett:And number six, I've trained shorter fasts repeatedly over the past few months without symptoms. And if those six bullet points have been checked, you're ready for an extended fast. And when you look at male versus female at this category, it doesn't matter. It does not matter. If not you're concerned about reproductive health in the short term and your cycle may get disrupted, it's okay.
Dr. Barrett:All those six bullet points are checked. You're fine. You're ready. Let's go. Let's hit it.
Dr. Barrett:But here's the key. And this may I already said this may be this may be the more important discussion today. You gotta break your fast properly. And I always say this, forever long you fasted is how long you break your fast. So last night, I finished a three day fast.
Dr. Barrett:So what's my first meal? It's a coconut curry broth based soup. You don't wanna go back and eat a big rib eye and a sweet potato and a salad. Right? Your stomach acid enzyme levels aren't there for it.
Dr. Barrett:So you wanna slowly broth your way, sauerkraut, kombucha, tea, your way back into, a normal nutritional routine. And if you need a guide on this, we actually have a fourteen day fasting guide that if you just follow us on Instagram, message us, we will get it to you. The fourteen day fasting guide is not fourteen days of water only. It's three days of water with transition into the next eleven days of nutrients rebuilding into your normal nutritional kind of flow. So get into broths for a couple days and then go from there.
Dr. Barrett:So it's a full fasting guide. It's a resource available to you. Reach out to us, let us know, and we'll get it into your hands. When think about fasting, so many benefits in the short term and the long term. Not every fast is appropriate to everyone in every season.
Dr. Barrett:It is so dependent upon what may be good for you in one season, for the same person may not be appropriate in the next. Make sure you're checking those bullet points before you even consider long fast. And the most important thing is establish your five foundations. Nutrition, sleep, stress, chiro, exercise, sunlight, of those need to be established first before you even consider fast. Nourish and then you can fast.
Dr. Barrett:Earn the right to fast by taking care of your body today. Thanks for listening to another episode of The Real Health Podcast.