48 Hour Fasting: A Beginners Guide

Start fasting but don’t do it too fast. Learn first.

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48 Hour Fasting: Beginners Guide

Intermittent fasting is a famous eating pattern where you alternate between periods of eating or fasting. It became popular recently and has links to many health benefits, such as cell repair, insulin sensitivity, and weight loss.

Most people prefer to fast for a longer duration even though short-timed fasts are more common. The longest duration people commonly practice with intermittent fasting is 48 hours.

While it may have some benefits, you should also consider its drawbacks. This article explores everything you should know about 48-hour fasting, including how you do it, its pros and cons.

How To Do A 48-hour Fast

Doing a 48-hour fast seems easy and straightforward on paper. You simply take a complete two-day break from eating any food. A typical way is to stop after dinner on the first day and start again at dinnertime on the third day.

Despite popular belief, you can still drink zero-calorie beverages like tea, black coffee, and water during the fasting period. You must use a lot of fluids to prevent dehydration, which is one of the top possible complications of longer fasts.

After this, you can slowly reintroduce food to avoid overstimulating your gut. This may lead to diarrhea, bloating, and nausea. Your first meal after the fast should be a light snack like a handful of nuts, followed by a small meal 1–2 hours later.

On days you’re not fasting, you stick to your regular eating pattern. You also need to ensure that you’re not overindulging in higher-calorie foods.

It’s better to do a 48-hour fast once or twice monthly to get the best health benefits it offers. This type of longer intermittent fasting is not suitable for everyone. You can try out the alternate-day method or the 16:8 fasts before doing the 2-day fast. This allows you to monitor how your body reacts to food deprivation.

Health Benefits of 48-hour Fasting

While there are well-documented health benefits of intermittent fasting, specific research on 48-hour fasting is limited. Most…