WATER FASTING & SALT: Should You Consume Sodium While Fasting? *IMPORTANT*

as the number of people doing extended and prolonged fasting for fat loss and health promotion has grown so to have the number of different opinions on what it means to truly fast well some people fast just for part of the day some will go weeks well I only ever fast for a few days at most to maintain peak physical performance the information in this video can apply to both longer prolonged and extended fasting and shorter intermittent fasting as well well almost everyone agrees consuming water is okay during fasting the arguments surrounding electrolytes despite being found to some level in nearly all the water on earth becomes a lot more heated specifically there's a lot of fasting confusion surrounding sodium chloride this granular white powder which we call salt generates a wide range of opinions despite the biological importance of these dissolved minerals usually these arguments go something like this [Music] you drank salt that officially broke your fast why because salt is inorganic so is water but you still drink that water is different what-o water is natural salt is just rocks oh wait here now that you broke your fast I got you a snack so what's the verdict is consuming salt in your water during a fast a good idea is it okay to consume salt when fasting and beyond just being okay to consume could it actually be important to consume or on the flip side could consuming salt during fasting be hurting our weight loss or health to answer all our questions about salt during fasting we're gonna take a dive into what the research papers and medical literature have found as well as touch on some basic biology once we get through this video you'll realize that the topic of salt during fasting is no joke this is one of the most dangerously misunderstood topics around fasting and I think it's critical that anyone who fasts takes time to understand the rule salt plays in the fasting picture that's why when I realize that this video could potentially save someone's life I took extra care to clearly explain and cite all of the research while I respect differences of opinion on more benign topics such as coffee or diet soda when it comes to salt I take a stronger stance as there are some serious health implications still I've tried to leave opinion out of this and let the logic speak for itself also remember this video isn't a substitute for personalized medical advice you should also always consult a physician before changing your diet or routine to tell the story of salt we first must understand electrolytes well sometimes people get the percentage wrong it is in fact true we human beings are mostly water well there is a bit of a range from about 75% of body mass in infants to about 50 to 60 percent in adult men and women it is true we are mostly water if you're a single celled organism being made mostly of one thing isn't much of a problem as we evolved though our bodies developed more complicated structures well the development of different groups of specialized cells like muscles organs and blood allowed us to move think and feel it also came with a problem since all of these cells need water to function their walls the membranes need to be semi permeable to allow water to flow in and out but here's the problem all of these different areas of the body need different concentrations of water not just on a cellular scale you can also see the different water requirements of entire organs for example your brain and kidneys are 85% water your teeth are only eight to ten percent water the evolving body desperately needed a way to control how much water would stay in certain areas if water just filled every space in the body equally every single cellular function would immediately fail the liquid in a cell is called intracellular fluid while the liquid a cell is surrounded by is called extracellular fluid imagine a red blood cell floating in your blood the fluid within it is intracellular fluid and the liquid outside of it the extracellular fluid is no liquid in your blood known as plasma these different contained areas are also known as fluid compartments too much water traveling into the cell would cause it to burst and die and too little water in it would cause it to become dehydrated and die enter salts salts are minerals which are comprised of positive and negative ions join together in solid form the charges cancel each other out when they dissolve in a liquid solvent though the stable combination of positive and negative breaks apart these individual electrolytes carry their positive or negative charge as they float around separately so in this case with electrolytes they're dissolved in the fluids of your body something key to understand about water is it will always be attracted to areas with a higher concentration of these dissolved solids remember how I mentioned the membranes are semipermeable allowing water to flow through while the seam doesn't go for these dissolved minerals these dissolved solutes can't flow through the membranes so dissolved solutes can't get through the membranes but water is highly attracted to them at some point very early on the bodies of early organisms figured out that the world around us is filled with these minerals so as long as we ingest them and transport the right minerals to the right places we can use water's attraction to them to in turn control a water balance in different compartments by adjusting the concentration of these positive and negatively charged solutes which we call electrolytes compartments can control their fluid balance through what is called osmotic pressure a type of cell which needs less water can structure itself so it contains a less of these electrolytes a cell which needs more water will contain more once you ingest one of these minerals they dissolve in your body when they get near a cell which needs them they get moved inside cell membranes contain specialized structures known as pumps which actually move the correct electrolytes to one side or the other thus regulating the balance of electrolytes in different compartments in extracellular spaces the spaces outside of cells which includes the blood and the fluid around the brain it is a positively charged sodium and negatively charged chloride electrolytes which control the water levels within cellular spaces it is positively charged potassium and negatively charged phosphate as if this isn't already pretty amazing in addition to regulating water balance across different locations in the body electrolytes do even more electrolytes also maintain an acid-base balance in our body ensuring we don't become too acidic or too basic just as important though they are also directly necessary for the generation of action potentials anytime a signal is sent through a nerve whether it be a thought in our brain a beat of our heart or a muscle flex it is these positive and negatively charged electrolytes which are used to generate and transmit the signal so now that we realize just how important electrolytes are you see why this was so deserving of its own video especially when it comes to fasting because our bodies can't create these minerals we need to consume them from sources within our environment and fasting by definition is an attempt to avoid consuming anything so things can quickly get problematic in the extracellular fluid sodium accounts for 90 to 95 percent of the solid in other words it is sodium which is primarily responsible for keeping water in the blood cerebral spinal fluid and all the other areas between cells which don't have direct access to a blood vessel now you know why that time you cut your mouth it tasted salty so if sodium is keeping fluid in these spaces that should mean that without sodium water would have no reason to stay in these spaces worse yet since the inside of cells contain their own solutes if there were no solute outside of the cell all the water would force its way into the cells just think sodium is so important to survival it even has its own very attractive taste the salty taste specifically designed to ensure we get enough of it sodium levels are measured by sampling the blood the healthy range is between a hundred and thirty-four and a hundred and forty five mil equivalents per liter the term used by doctors when sodium levels get too though is hyponatremia and it occurs when the sodium levels in your blood fall below 135 millions levels dropped below healthy levels into hyponatremia water begins leaving these extracellular spaces this reduces the supply of blood and the fluid around the brain as well as the fluid between cells this loss of water from these important areas is called hypovolemia and remember all this water still needs somewhere to go so it begins forcing its way into cells pushing them beyond their capacity stressing their membranes if levels drop below 120 for a patient becomes severely hyponatremic at which point death will eventually occur as blood and brain fluid volume continues to decrease and cells begin bursting under the osmotic pressure so at this point I think we've established salt is more than just a nuisance there's definitely such a thing as low levels and low sodium levels are no laughing matter with this established we can take our first step toward answering our question of whether you should supplement salt during fasting I think it is safe to say regardless of whether you are fasting for health or weight loss you never want to risk your safety and now we have established that low sodium levels will risk safety so now if we can establish the water fasting without sodium could pose a risk to sodium levels and we know low sodium levels risk safety then logically fasting without sodium supplementation could risk safety too in today's world though salt is often demonized and we don't often think about the dangers of low sodium levels you could say our body's salt strategy while it worked long ago isn't as tuned to how we live today when we evolved to love salty tasting food salt was very rare to come across today though we are constantly surrounded by processed foods high in sodium partly because food manufacturers know people love how it tastes because of this hypernatremia sodium levels above a hundred and forty five mil equivalents per litre is the more common concern these high sodium levels can pull water out of yourself and into the blood causing cells to perform less optimally and raising blood pressure in a world of high sodium levels it makes sense that this anti sodium bias would arise but what is so important to remember is when you are water fasting you are no longer in that same world in Canada where I'm from the government recommends consuming 1000 to 1500 milligrams of sodium per day they want to say anything over 2300 milligrams could pose a health risk if you're strictly water fasting though you're getting zero milligrams each day which obviously is far below even the lower recommendation of a thousand now you might think you know where I'm going with this when you water fast because you're ingesting no sodium levels might begin to fall a bit make sense well that is partly true but the reality of the situation is actually worse as it turns out fasting is especially detrimental to sodium levels during the onset of a water fast a phenomenon occurs where the body actually goes into a steep negative sodium balance excreting large amounts of sodium in the urine far more sodium than you would lose if you simply cut your intake down to zero the initial high rate of loss of sodium lasts about a week after which the negative balance still remains but the rate of loss is much slower the initial steep negative sodium balance is so prominent that it even has a name the natural your recess of fasting this rapid loss of sodium was discovered somewhat by accident when you fast you may have noticed you usually lose weight more quickly over the first few days researchers investigated and realized that the additional weight loss at the beginning of a fast isn't actually caused by extra body fat being burned rather it is caused by a rapid loss of sodium through the urine which makes sense because remember sodium is required to hold water in these extracellular spaces when excreting large amounts of sodium the body is also forced to begin letting go of large amounts of water that it can no longer hold in these spaces after about a week rapid loss of water weight slows and stops along with the rapid loss of sodium why does fasting cause the body to drop large amounts of sodium the reason is the same reason the fasting is so popular you see when fasting your body is consuming no carbohydrates or proteins so the body switches from burning glucose sugars to burning it's stored fatty acids to do this it shifts into what is called ketosis ketosis simply means the body is running primarily on fat fuels when the body is in ketosis negatively charged ions are generated and their levels in the blood and urine increase in order to get rid of them the body must match these negative ions up with a positive ion now usually it would prefer to use the positively charged electrolyte ammonium for this task but since the demand was so sudden it doesn't have enough ammonium on hand so in a pinch it turns to the next most available positively charged electrolyte sodium so it begins ramping up ammonium production and in the meantime uses sodium instead after several days ammonium production is ramped up enough and it comes in to replace sodium and when it does so sodium lost drastically slows but it never fully stops so naturally your recess leads to a sudden and rapid loss in sodium levels studies indicate that during this period water fasters will typically lose between 50 and 250 mil equivalents each day of this critical electrolyte for up to the first seven days of fasting it doesn't stop there though well loss is an unsub limited individual slow they still persist at a rate of about 15 mil equivalents each day so with constant losses in no replacement fast for long enough and you are certain to fall into unhealthy levels how long before this happens well there are two crucial factors which make this estimation nearly impossible without a personalized blood test because everyone's dives in physiology are different prior to beginning fasting there's no way of predicting where an individual's sodium levels will be at the start of the fast for all we know they are already in a hyponatremic state and the rate of loss well studies give us an idea of the range there is no way of knowing where an individual will fall on this spectrum these are two huge variables even just going off averages though the answer to our question is becoming even clearer if the healthy sodium range is between 134 and 143 Milic wyverns per liter and studies have shown individual fasting subjects who weren't supplementing sodium can go through level drops of up to 10 points even in a normal individual with healthy and Nishal sodium levels to start the natural ureases of fasting combined with the elimination of dietary sodium carries a substantial risk of putting the individual into hyponatremic levels if you are water only fasting for long enough sooner or later your sodium levels will hit hyponatremic levels whether it will take 1 day or 12 it's impossible to say to be clear I'm also not saying once someone reaches hyponatremia clevis they instantly die WebMD lists the symptoms some of the more mild symptoms our headaches nausea and feelings of weakness these can gradually worsen ending eventually in loss of consciousness and eventually possibly death also because sodium regulates blood volume the drop in sodium can lead to a sudden drop in blood pressure as well bringing with it the potential for dizziness and lightheadedness to throw it an example in one particular study a subject fasting without supplementing sodium reached hyponatremia on day 11 by the third week though the lightheadedness led to him having troubles even just sitting up in bed the purpose of this video though was simply to determine whether supplementing sodium during a fast was okay and perhaps even beneficial we've now seen that low sodium levels pose a health risk and there is a real chance of a fasting person falling into those levels so for supplemental sodium to be beneficial it just needs to have a net positive impact on sodium levels during fasting but first could it hurt your fast bowl since sodium has no caloric value in no way would supplementing sodium affects your fat loss but if you're watching this and for some reasons set on pure fasting with only water at the very least I would urge you to speak with your doctor and get your blood work done before going into it you may have seen doctors who advise fasting without added sodium but you should realize they almost always run clinics closely monitor their patients and advocate for complete rest in our clinic before people come out they're able to get a free phone conversation with me well we reviewed in medical history the most important thing is that not everybody is a good candidate for water only fasting we don't give electrolytes during fasting because we use monitoring potassium and sodium as an indicator of whether it's safe to continue fasting if you just give sodium and potassium you may feel better but you aren't monitoring the 200 other things that are rate limited by potassium sodium it's also important to remember that while your sodium levels fall your body is doing everything you can to maintain balance pathways will activate which will make you feel less thirsty in an effort to keep you from further diluting your sodium and worsening the problem additionally your body will actually begin leaching sodium out of bone and cartilage which can actually weaken your bones and joints hypernatremia individuals are at a greater risk for osteoporosis and fractures oh my head is killing me I must be dehydrated better sip some of this good old natural factory distilled water [Music] bruh what I really wish is that he would just take some salt lastly some will bring up concerns as certain studies have shown that supplementing sodium increases losses of the electrolyte potassium the reason for this is theorized to be a result of the kidneys accelerated reabsorption of sodium part of the reabsorption process requires a trading of potassium for sodium as sodium levels are now higher there is more to reabsorb and more potassium is traded however because potassium is found within the cells of the body levels remain far more stable during fasting than sodium levels do as the body clears away damaged cells during fasting potassium is constantly being released personally I always supplement with a little potassium though just for the added insurance so now what about the evidence in favor of supplementing sodium well it's not long into our investigation that we find our first positive sign which is the sheer number of studies of the available Studies on fasting many of them have the subject consume sodium even if that isn't even the focus of the study but simply because the researchers themselves recognize the importance of keeping the subjects healthy in one such study subjects supplemented a combination of sodium and potassium what we are interested in though is their body sodium balance as a result of supplementing because they were supplementing sodium their bodies were less tight on sodium they actually were able to lose a little more sodium through their urine the key though is while they lost a bit more the extra amount they supplemented more than made up for it so net losses were reduced by sodium supplementation the second key difference can be seen in another study which compares quantity of sodium supplemented recall the earlier study where the subject fasted without sodium urinary losses went through a steep drop leveling off to a gradual loss this new study which includes sodium supplementation paints a different story you see while there is still that initial negative urine balance at first remember this is just temporary once the body begins producing adequate ammonium sodium losses reduce unlike in this subject who fasted without sodium in these subjects consuming sodium something amazing happens after day seven the balance begins switching they begin retaining more sodium than they lose as their body re-ups their levels the body here knows what it's doing once levels are replenished we see the ballast becomes neutral the body is now sitting at its happy level thanks to the supplementation and is fully capable of maintaining this level these studies demonstrate that supplementing sodium reduces net initial losses and ultimately actually goes on to switch to a positive balance and replace them so while I wouldn't say it as a substitution for seeing your doctor because I think everyone should still consult with their physician before making any changes to their diet consuming some sodium chloride during your fast certainly reduces the loss of sodium and thusly the chances of the body going hyponatremic which is why to me it is the obvious decision well everyone is entitled to their own opinion I look at fasting firstly as a fat loss tool and secondly as a way to stay healthy there's nothing healthy about having clinically low levels of a necessary mineral based on all the evidence and practices of medical researchers supplementing sodium during fasting seems to be far and away the best course of action while recommendations vary the study we referenced had subjects consuming about 2,000 milligrams per day slightly above the Canadian recommended daily allowance of between 1000 milligrams and 1500 milligrams which may sound like a lot but is actually just between one half to one whole teaspoon of sodium chloride over a day don't overdo it though consuming too much sodium comes with its own range of problems and is definitely not something you want to do something else you may not be aware of is depending on where you live your tap water can contain anywhere from 1 to 1000 milligrams of sodium per liter this information is usually available for public access checking this out will give you a good idea of how much sodium you'll already be getting through your water but wait wait I can hear the comments now but dorian won't consuming salt dehydrate you unfortunately most people have a fairly simplified outlook on dehydration of salt we've all experienced dry lips and a Sun thirst after eating a salty snack this leads people to believe that salt and hydration work against each other in truth though this is a misconception remember the body always strives to be in a state of balance if you consume a large dose of salt sodium levels in extracellular spaces will rise this will trigger Osmo receptors within the brain which constantly monitor the saltiness of the blood leading you to feel thirsty once you ingest water balance will be restored remember though during a water only fast sodium levels are falling rapidly not rising as levels fall the body struggles to regain balance Osmo receptors are inhibited which suppresses the release of ADH leaving your body to expel water through the urine and decrease thirst in an effort to regain balance if the subject doesn't drink water their body will slowly become dehydrated as it balances the low sodium with equally low water if someone forces himself to combat this dehydration and continues drinking water they are actually worsening their problem the body will attempt to get rid of the excess water through the urine which will further lead to more urinary sodium loss as you can see it's a vicious cycle as blood continues to lose sodium water leaves and forces its way into cells eventually causing serious damage a similar issue actually arises in infants who have diarrhea a guideline for doctors published by the American Academy of Pediatrics bring specific attention to this explaining how is these infants lose sodium through their diarrhea their parents give them water and juice to make up for the fluid loss but because this fluid contains less sodium than what they are losing sodium levels continue to fall worsening their condition this is why dehydration is actually classified into three categories based on the sodium level in the subjects blood hypernatremia dehydration isometry make dehydration and hyponatremic dehydration in cases of hyponatremic dehydration patients will be hypovolemic as the water in the body leaves the blood and forces his way into cells causing them to appear more dehydrated than they truly are this is why these classifications exist so doctors know how to properly rehydrate them by ensuring that they get the subject sodium levels back up so that the new water they're giving them doesn't also try and force its way into cells which would actually make things worse by replenishing sodium levels they ensure that the pressure on the cells is relieved and new water is drawn back into balance in the extracellular areas oh why am I so nauseous [Music] we live in a time of such abundance high calories high sodium high fat everywhere we turn our survival instinct urges us to consume placing a digestive burden on our bodies which far exceeds anything we evolve to deal with there's something to be said for fasting giving the body time to rest repair and catch up there's nothing natural though about drinking large quantities of water while stripping away the essential minerals just as overconsumption is dangerous so too is under consumption this is why personally I supplement sodium chloride and potassium chloride during my 72-hour fasts I plan to talk about potassium in a future video despite studies indicating typical healthy subjects can survive three weeks of fasting without sodium I don't want to simply survive I want to enjoy life and maintain my health if taking sodium reduces my likelihood of hyponatremia headaches and dizziness while supporting my workouts and protecting my bones from being tapped into the only thing left for me to say is pass the salt also though I was serious you should take my advice see a physician and get your blood levels checked because you know what I care about you fam also this channel just has five thousand subscribers so if you want to make sure you see my next video consider subscribing or you may never see me again also feel free to follow me on Instagram or shoot me a DM like all my pictures if you must insist it's up to you and lastly if you're into science and nutrition check out the kitchen tech startup I work at we sell a device which uses precise heat control to automate cooking and take the error out for consistent results every time the cooking method is called sous-vide imagine programming it to have a steak ready for right when you break your fast cooked just how you like it or maybe a juicy pork chop or tender chicken breast man I'm gonna regret writing such a long script when it comes time to animate this uh until next time d-man signing off [Music]

Channel: Dorian Wilson

Views: 378,630

Rating: 4.8580065 out of 5

Keywords: Water Fasting, Fasting, Prolonged fasting, extended fasting, intermitent fasting, fasting electrolytes, fasting sodium, fasting salt, fasting sodium chloride, fasting salt intake, water fasting salt, snake juice, natriuresis of fasting, fasting water weight loss, no sodium diet, salt fasting, salt water fasting, water fasting danger, intermittent fasting salt, does salt break intermittent fasting, does salt break a water fast, electrolytes keto

Id: p1F9Z81j04w

Length: 29min 14sec (1754 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 19 2018

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