A fasting day, 24 hours, is a slightly longer fast than what we practice daily at night or nocturnal fasting. The advantage is that 24 hours are enough time to ensure we enter ketosisthat is, to start burning fat as the main fuel.

To do it, two things are required: be mentally prepared and well informed that the 24-hour fast that is going to be carried out is a physiological maneuverand understand its mechanism to take action.

The simplest thing when it comes to fasting for 24 hours is skip dinner one day and breakfast and lunch the next day. This allows us to enter ketosis, which we can easily verify, since one of the signs that we have started this type of metabolism will be the appearance of acetone in the urine, very easy to measure.

You can do this 24 hour fast once a week, every weekas a hygienic custom. We would be doing, therefore, weekly intermittent fasting.

How to do a one-day fast

The first times Imagine your 24-hour fast as a long-distance race: go little by little and monitor your sensations.

Sometimes they are unpleasant sensationssuch as nausea or headache, but in most cases they are temporary.

The ideal is get up at dawnstretch well and start daily cleaning with water. Wash your teeth, tongue and skin well.

What can be taken

As explained in detail in the video at the beginning of this article, during the 24 hours of fasting we can drink water, diluted juices and some infusion or vegetable broth, as these liquids will not break the fast and will help us maintain it.

The infusions can be adapted if you have a health problem that you want to address. But in general, these are some examples of infusions that can be taken during fasting and that will help you in the process:

• Rosemary and anise grains
• Licorice and anise grains
• Licorice and mint
• Thyme and anise grains

These infusions are mainly aimed at stimulate blood pressure which, in general, decreases during fasting. They are not indicated in hypertensive people.

A infusion alternative for hypertensive people It would be anise grain, lemon balm and orange blossom.

What to do during the day

The rest of the day You can do what you normally do, without missing:

• A walk in the natural environment.
• A while of sun.
• A little exercise, with natural movements: walking, running, climbing, crawling, crawling, doing household chores such as cleaning the room or washing clothes…

He «breakfast», the first meal after fastingit should be vegetable, with fresh fruit and vegetables, cereal or legume, without heated fat or refined sugars.

Benefits of fasting 24 hours

The benefits of these «intermittent» fasts have been described in medicine since historical times, but in recent years many works have been published on their effects. An example: those of the Nobel Prize winner Oshinori Ohsumi on the autophagy, the mechanism that is activated by fasting and high-intensity exerciseand about its therapeutic applications. It has also been shown to be beneficial for inflamed or infected intestines.

In fasting, The energy stored in fat cells is used for cellular repair, resistance to stress and rejuvenation, so that day of fasting will have a revitalizing effect. This is a benefit of 24-hour fasting that we can all benefit from.

Fasting too facilitates weight loss and the elimination of body fat.

fasting It is also used for therapeutic purposes, For example:

• In rheumatic diseasesimproving the symptoms, or drug-resistant epilepsy.
• Has potential to delay brain agingas it modifies nutrient sensory pathways in the brain and increases synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis and neuroprotection.
• During fasting there is a reduced insulin and leptin levelsan increase in insulin sensitivity and diabetes resistance, reduction in resting heart rate and blood pressure, and increase in heart rate variability (as a result of increased parasympathetic tone).
• There is also a decreased inflammationan increase in resistance of the brain and heart to stress and improved functional outcome in models of stroke, myocardial infarction, and atherosclerosis.
• Also helps fight infections. In fact, the body almost always reacts by losing its appetite until the infection passes.
• Finally, thanks to the work of Valter Longo, it has been seen that, in cases of tumors, fasting provides additive and possibly synergistic effects when combined with drugs used in standard cancer treatment.

Scientific references

Ohsumi, Y. Historical landmarks of autophagy research. Cell Res 24, 9–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2013.169