Fasting and Autoimmune Disease: How Long Should a Fast Last?
In a previous blog post, we covered a lot about the best fasts for autoimmunity. In this new post, we want to zoom in on the timing of fasts and how to go about fasting so that it doesn’t stress out your system, especially if you have conditions like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases.
But first, I want to dive into the question of “Is fasting beneficial?,” so you have an idea why you would want to fast in the first place.
Health Benefits of Fasting
Fasting rests the gut. One of the benefits of fasting is that the gut isn’t having to do all this work breaking down food all the time. Fasting and resting the gut also helps with the gut microbiome, the collection of microorganisms—both good and bad—that live in your intestines. If you have microbial overgrowth, then during a fast you are starving out that overgrowth, which can reduce inflammation, too.
It resets the immune system. Another reason we would have somebody do a three-day fast would be to rest the immune system. If you have food sensitivities or a lot of reactions to foods you’re eating, you can calm down the immune system reaction in the gut by fasting. So if somebody has autoimmunity and food sensitivities, a fast could be a helpful tool.
It cleans house. A major benefit of fasting is the breakdown of old damaged cell tissues. It’s basically like hiring a housekeeper. The scientific term for this internal housecleaning is called autophagy, which allows the body to ditch stuff it doesn’t need anymore.
Who Shouldn’t Fast
First, a word of warning. When it comes to fasting, it’s not a good fit for everyone, especially if you have autoimmune disease and you’re first starting treatment. If your immune system is fragile and you’re constantly having flare-ups, you might want to avoid fasting until your body is stronger.
I look at fasting as more of a down-the-line strategy to use later on in your healing process. You have to get to a healthy place where you can fast safely. Most people we work with are chronically ill and they’ve had problems for a long time. Putting their body into that shock of a fast could do more harm than good when they first start out healing.
That’s why I usually don’t have people starting out with fasting. When they get to the place where their health is more stable, then they can start playing with intermittent fasting or we can move into incorporating a day or two of fasting here and there. At this stage, I put some people on the three-day lemonade cleanse (more about this later). They feel great and see benefits doing that, so I have them incorporate the lemonade cleanse once a month or once every other month. In this way, they can build the habit of giving their body a break once in a while.
Other reasons not to fast:
• You’re not getting the nutrition your body needs before you start fasting. This could be because you’re not absorbing nutrients well or you’re not eating enough nutritious food.
• Your adrenals are burned out or running out of steam. The adrenals make cortisol and help you cope with stress. If they’re not working well enough, you might not be able to handle the stress of a fast.
• You’re underweight and worried about shedding more pounds if you go on a fast.
How Much Time Away From Food Can You Tolerate?
Your stage of healing and the type of fast you’re on can determine how long should you fast. Here are some specific guidelines for the most common fasts:
Intermittent Fasting: Is it Healthy?
The answer is “it depends.” As I mentioned earlier, if you have autoimmune disease or other chronic health problems, you’ll need to ease into intermittent fasting gradually.
What is intermittent fasting? It’s when you only eat during a certain time frame during the day, for example eight hours, and you stay away from food the remaining hours of the day.
It just so happens that a lot of people are already naturally doing some sort of fast overnight as part of their normal routine. Most people aren’t eating all night, so you may already have a 10-12 hour fast going. When you start to extend that normal fasting time it becomes more intermittent fasting. Maybe instead of 12 hours without eating, you go 14 hours. Gradually, you fast a little bit longer. Most of the time you just don’t eat breakfast or you prolong waiting to eat your first meal. Then you stop eating after an early dinner. I have seen other people doing intermittent fasting at night, but most often people on intermittent fasting push forward their first meal of the day.
As you get used to delaying your first meal of the day, then you can move more into restricting your eating to a particular time window during the day.
The most common intermittent fasting times are:
Intermittent fasting 18/6 – This involves eating in a 6-hour window and fasting for 18 hours.
Intermittent fasting 16/8 – Fasting for 16 hours and eating for eight hours.
Intermittent fasting 14/10 – Fasting for 14 hours and eating for 10 hours.
Intermittent fasting 20/4 – Fasting for 20 hours and eating for four hours.
The amount of time you stay away from food on an intermittent fasting diet makes a difference. For example, one study found that people who chose the 16/8 intermittent fasting, where they ate during an eight-hour window, did better than people who ate in a 12-hour window. The subjects who ate only for eight hours during the day had improved insulin levels, significantly lower blood pressure, and decreased appetite.
Some experts on intermittent fasting believe that different durations may lead to different intermittent fasting benefits. For example, for certain people, a short-fasting window may be enough to lead to weight loss, while more time fasting may be needed to trigger your body’s housecleaning process, or autophagy.
Most often, with intermittent fasting, you’re only going to eat two meals a day instead of three.
Is a 72-Hour Fast Safe?
As with other forms of fasting, a three-day fast is safe if your body can handle it. That means you should be far enough along on your healing journey. If you and your functional medicine provider feel your body can handle this type of fast, three days is really beneficial for kickstarting that cellular housekeeping process I mentioned earlier. Most three-day fasts involve eating no food and only consuming fluids and water.
Three-Day Lemonade Fast
Another version of a three-day fast is what we call the three-day lemonade fast. It’s a new take on a water fast. In this approach, people mix lemon water with maple syrup. They’re still getting some glucose and they’re sipping on that throughout the day and it’s keeping their blood sugar stable, so you shouldn’t feel as hungry and tired as you would on a water fast. This type of fast might work better for you than one where you’re just drinking water and not eating any food. You can do this fast once a month or every other month.
Fasting Mimicking Plan
In another type of fast you reduce your calorie intake by a lot but you don’t give up food completely. This tricks your body into thinking it’s fasting. You can do this type of fast safely for at least three days but can extend it out to five or seven days. An example of this type of fasting is the Prolon fast. It comes with a kit that has packets of soup mixes and tiny crackers so that you’re taking in limited calories over five days. The Prolon method mimics fasting because it’s so calorie restricted, but it’s not just water, so you get more sustenance. This type of fasting-mimicking plan has many of the same benefits of other forms of fasting, such as cellular housekeeping to cleanse your body.
The Dangers of Fasting
The one type of fast that may do more harm than good is juice fasting. We don’t usually recommend juice cleanses, because the types of juices people drink during these fasts are usually super high glycemic—in other words, they send your blood sugar soaring. One practice member brought in this green juice to our appointment. Although it had lots of good ingredients, such as vegetable greens, it had 55 grams of sugar in one bottle. And on certain juice fasts you’re supposed to drink five of those bottles a day!
The only time I would recommend a juice fast is if you make your own juice with just greens and no fruit, so that it’s low in sugar.
We Can Show You What Timing Is Right For You
At the Caplan Health Institute, we investigate the root causes of your autoimmune disease and turn them around so that you can feel your best again. Intermittent fasting can be a key tool for optimizing your health, but it isn’t for everyone. We can work with you to show you which fast is right for you and how long you should stay on it based on the stage of your healing journey. Our team can also help with the mental challenges of fasting, cheering you on along the way.
The first step? Schedule a free 15-minute discovery consultation, by phone or video. If you decide to come on board as a practice member, we’ll order the right tests and make recommendations to soothe your autoimmune flare-ups. The goal is to get you to a point where your body is strong enough for fasting. That way you’ll have an important tool for healing autoimmune disease at your fingertips.
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