Fad diets are never a good idea, but this one just might be the most terrifying â and not just because it can definitely kill you if do it for long enough.
It's called "water fasting," which basically means the only thing you're allowed to ingest is â you guessed it â water.
That's right: You're not allowed to eat or drink anything that isn't good ole H2O.Â
While water is obviously great for our bodies, ingesting nothing BUT water for an extended period of time isn't exactly a good idea.
One man tried to "water fast" for â wait for it â 47 days.
A man who proclaimed to have tried "a million diets" tried water fasting for 47 days, relying on only water to sustain him.Â
"The idea is: You could do it as long as you have fat on your body, and thatâs what gives you energy,â Elan Kels, the dieter, told New York Post.
After five days of ingesting nothing but water, he claimed he felt ultra-energetic. However, by day 28, he could barely get out of bed, and chose to stop the diet.
One of the many problems with water fasting is that it forces your body to enter starvation mode.
Because you're not ingesting any vitamins, minerals, or anything that your body needs to function properly, you're forcing yourself to literally starve.
"Most vitamins are water soluble and canât be stored so you need them regularly throughout the day. Then there is no protein, which means the body has to break down muscle in order to recycle the amino acids in to hormones and enzymes to stay alive," dietician Jo Travers told The Independent.
âYou are basically starving yourself and that comes with huge health risks.â
It's also marketed as a "cleanse" or "detox," which couldn't be further from the truth.
Fact: A detox or a cleanse doesn't ACTUALLY clean out your body, unless we're talking about drug or alcohol rehab.
Most dietitians insist that any kind of detox, even a water one, is a hoax. The body and its organs are self-detoxifying, anyway.
However, water fasting is becoming a trendy fad and picking up steam fast.
A quick scroll through Instagram reveals that most of the photos under the hashtag are of people pursuing their "water fast" journeys for "spiritual" reasons, to "lose weight fast," and to detox.
That kind of messaging isn't just harmful, it's terrifying. Starvation isn't spiritually healing. Water fasting is literally a gateway drug to what can manifest itself into an eating disorder. It can also be used as a cover for those with existing disorders.
Instagram has yet to take the hashtag down, but hopefully, it won't take long.
