Water Fasting Experiences
WATER FAST #1 - TRUENORTH HEALTH CENTER, SANTA ROSA, CA
My first medically-supervised, water-only fast was in 2015. I went to TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California and worked with Dr. Alan Goldhamer, D.C., and Dr. Michael Klaper, M.D. This was before my cancer diagnosis.
Joel asked me what I wanted for my 44th birthday. I said, "I want to fly to California and do a water-only fast for ten days." He said, "What? Why would you want to do that? Don't you want to go to Fiji and eat food?" It was a funny moment, but he knew I was serious! I had many friends who had been to TrueNorth, and they had shared their experience. I loved the idea of allowing my body a time to rest and re-set. That sounded so good to me! I wanted to take my health to the next level. He said I could schedule an appointment.
I called TrueNorth and they conducted a phone interview to approve a water fast. The interview was done to determine if I was eligible to fast and how long I could consume only water. They approved me to come to the facility and said they would make the final decision upon my arrival; but they estimated that I could only fast for about 6-7 days due to my lower weight. Once I was scheduled, they advised me to eat only raw and cooked vegetables during the week prior to my fast. I had never done this before and I thought it would be pretty easy; but honestly, it was very challenging.
I arrived at the clinic and was escorted to my room in a small two-story building in northern California. It was a very modest bedroom with a bed, nightstand, and television. It was all I needed. I went to the dining room at 5:00 PM for dinner. It felt like my freshman year in college all over again. This was the last supper before starting my fast, and I was a little nervous. They allowed me to eat only a raw vegetable salad. I had never before crammed so much food onto one plate! :)
The next day I started a juice-only fast. I had three vegetable and fruit juices that day, and then I started my water-only fast on day three. I rested and relaxed while drinking my water. There was absolutely nothing to do. It was an interesting time! I felt like the world stopped, and it was so nice to turn my brain and body off.
Each day I drank at least 64 ounces of water. Dr. Klaper came twice a day to check on me, weigh me, and take my blood pressure. While there, he visited with me to answer questions or concerns. I had to completely rest and avoid any rigorous activity, even walking and showering. One of the reasons for not showering was to avoid falling, in case I was dizzy. The key was to put all of my energy into restoring and repairing my body.
After a few days of water fasting, I began to detox. I felt like a truck hit me. I just wanted to stay in bed most of the time and lay quietly. I had a headache mixed with brain fog, a little nausea, all combined with being super hungry. I was tired and slept most of the day and night. My tongue turned completely white for about two days. By the end of day three, I started to turn a corner — my headache subsided, the fog lifted, the nausea went away, and I was less hungry. I started to slowly emerge from my bedroom.
They offered a variety of education including health lectures and cooking classes, and they had a whole library of videos that could be checked out. I attended almost everything, and I watched almost all of the educational DVDs in my room. I never missed a cooking class (even during my first few days of detox!) I wanted to learn all I could so I could prepare healthier food for my family when I got home.
I learned about the S.O.S. diet — no Salt, Oil, or Sugar — along with how to prepare S.O.S. food. TrueNorth teaches that a healthy formula for each meal is "salad - soup - steamed greens - starches" and to add legumes, which they call protein stars, such as chickpeas, lentils, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds to any of these categories. They encourage keeping your stomach full of vegetables — both starchy and non-starchy. Visit the Diet page to learn more.
Every day they served breakfast, lunch, and dinner for guests. Whether you were doing a water fast, juice fast, or beginning or ending a fast, you were welcome to come to the dining room. One of the reasons you didn’t want to miss mealtime fellowship was because all of the doctors and other patients were there; I learned a lot listening at meal times. At each meal, including breakfast, there was a salad bar, soup, steamed vegetable, and whole grain. Legumes were the protein stars that were weaved into these foods. The salad bar included a tray of condiments such as rice vinegar, seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. There was also fresh fruit like apples, oranges, kiwi, and bananas. I took photos each day of the food even though I couldn’t eat. There were large buffets of both raw and cooked plants.
It was definitely challenging to sit in cooking classes during the first couple days of water fasting. I watched the chefs preparing and talking about the food. The food samples were passed around, and my mouth watered like crazy. It was a good lesson in self-control. One of the chefs was Cathy Fisher, author of Straight Up Food and founder of StraightUpFood.com. She is amazing, and she is still a resource for me today.
I heard lectures from many doctors including Dr. Alan Goldhamer. One of my favorite speakers was Douglas J. Lisle, Ph.D., author of The Pleasure Trap. It was fascinating to hear about the psychology of health, and come to understand how susceptible we all are to the pleasure trap. The good news is that once you escape the pleasure trap, optimal health is on the other side.
Once I finished my water fast, I did one day of juicing and two days of re-feeding before returning home. My first juice to break the fast tasted like beets with some added vegetables. It tasted so incredible! I felt like I could taste every part of the beet — flesh, skin, and roots. It was like my taste buds had reset. When I woke up to eat my first meal, I was so excited! The food tasted so amazing! I ate my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a day and a half before flying back home. They even packed meals for my flights.
I learned so much while I was there. The classes and videos gave me a new perspective about health. It was a very interesting experience. I met a lot of people, and they had various reasons for doing the fast: addictions, advanced cancers, low energy, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, autoimmune conditions, people who had a hard time changing their diet and lifestyle, and people like me, who loved the idea of re-setting their bodies.
When I got home, I was very determined to take all that I had learned and implement it with my family. They were great sports! I made every recipe I learned at TrueNorth, and they ate it with smiles on their faces. I learned later that they were eating on their own in between. 😂 They just wanted to be supportive. I continued with the S.O.S. diet for about six weeks, and then I lost a little bit of my motivation and commitment.
WATER FAST #2 - BALANCE FOR LIFE, DEERFIELD BEACH, FL
My second water fast was in 2022 at Balance for Life Health and Wellness Retreat in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The retreat was at a small hotel near the beach. I worked with Dr. Frank Sabatino, D.C, Ph.D. This was about two years after my diagnosis. I would have done a water fast much sooner, but I couldn’t fly to TrueNorth during Covid. I finally found Dr. Sabatino and the Balance for Life Health and Wellness Retreat. The best part about this was that the retreat was less than ten minutes from my home! Unlike TrueNorth, Dr. Sabatino only does week-long, medically supervised retreats a few times per year.
I arrived on Sunday afternoon, drank a couple of juices, and began water fasting the next morning. I was more motivated and confident about this fast for two reasons: 1) I had successfully done this before, and 2) mostly because of the cancer diagnosis. I was more excited than ever to reset my body again. I fasted for almost six days. I was actually the only water-faster. Everyone else at the retreat was doing juice fasts.
The most exciting part was that I felt amazing the entire time. I’m sure there was still detoxing happening and old cells dying off, but I wasn’t feeling the effects like I did during my first water fast in 2015. I felt this was due to the commitment I had made to work on my diet, hydration, exercise, sleep, and most of all, de-stressing. I was measuring my ketones and I know my body was in ketosis for several days. The staff, and even Dr. Sabatino, called me a "hunger artist." :)
Every day we would have several lectures in a tiki hut by the pool, and they were fantastic! Dr. Sabatino is a master teacher. He taught the same S.O.S. diet that I learned at TrueNorth, and he spent a lot of time with all of us. He took us on a virtual shopping tour and shared his favorite recipes. He not only did health lectures, but he explained the why behind his teaching — often drawing diagrams of the body on white boards. I loved every second! He was very patient as I asked a ton of questions. I received great education and met wonderful people. My first meal at the end of my fast was a green juice followed by a bowl of fruit.
After the water fast, I truly noticed a reset — especially with my gut health.
If you are a candidate, a water fast can be a perfect way to jumpstart detox, prepare for or heal from treatment, and reset your taste buds to in order to adapt to a plant-based diet. Some people choose to do them periodically to maintain good health. Visit the Detox page to learn more about water fasting.
In case you are interested in pursuing a medically-supervised, water-only fast, here are some water fasting facilities around the U.S.
