Dr. Alan Goldhammer is one of the world’s top experts on fasting. For 40 years, he’s supervised 1000s of patients through water fasts up to 40 days. He calls fasting the most effective tool for restoring health & reversing chronic disease. His fasting blueprint: 🧵
First, what is fasting? Fasting is the complete abstinence of all substances in an environment of complete rest. Water only. No supplements, no medications, nothing else. And you must rest completely. Active fasting breaks down muscle. Rest burns fat instead.
174 consecutive patients with high blood pressure came to his clinic. Every single one normalized their blood pressure (BP) without medication with fasting. Average drop: 60 points systolic in about 2 weeks of water fasting. But fasting ain't just beneficial for BP:
Benefit 2: Visceral fat. Fasting preferentially burns the dangerous fat around your organs that drives inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In two weeks, patients lost 10% of body weight, 20% of fat, and 40% of visceral fat.
Benefit 3: Insulin resistance. There’s no drug that directly reduces insulin resistance. Fasting does. That’s why many type 2 diabetics normalize blood sugar during supervised fasts, often getting off medication.
Benefit 4: Brain health. After 24-48h, the brain switches from glucose to ketones. Ketones raise BDNF, a neurochemical that protects against Alzheimer’s and dementia and gives many people sharper focus.
Benefit 5: Cellular cleanup. Fasting activates autophagy, the body’s way of recycling damaged cells and waste. In animal studies, periodic fasting extended lifespan by 30–100%.
Benefit 6: Gut reset. During fasting, harmful bacteria drop sharply. When refeeding begins, the gut microbiome can rebuild in a healthier balance, helping conditions like Crohn’s, colitis, and IBS.
So how do you actually fast? Goldhammer recommends different levels: • Daily short fasts (12-16h) • Annual preventive fasts (5-7d) • Extended therapeutic fasts (10-40d, supervised) Let's take a closer look at each of these:
→ Short fasts: Stop eating 3–4h before bed and wait until morning. This gives at least 12h of digestive rest daily and for most people, it’s enough to prevent weight gain and help with satiety.
→ Longer fasts: For prevention, 5–7 days once per year. Even in healthy people, this reduces visceral fat, lowers cholesterol, and recalibrates taste buds, therefore making whole foods taste good again.
→ Extended fasts: 10–40 days. These are medical interventions for people with high blood pressure, diabetes, autoimmune disease, or obesity. They must be done under supervision, with rest, hydration, and careful refeeding.
Refeeding is critical: People get a day of fresh fruit and vegetable juices for every week of fasting." 3-week fast = 3 days of 600-calorie juices, then gradually add raw fruits, vegetables, then cooked foods.
Why don't doctors recommend this? People think health comes from pills, potions, and powders instead of healthful living. Medical schools teach drug treatments, not healing through abstaining from food.
If you want to try fasting, start small. 12 hours daily. If you’re considering more than that, especially multi-day water fasts, get medical guidance. Fasting is powerful medicine, but only if used wisely.
A bit about me: I've spent 20 years in the health industry learning what mainstream medicine won't tell you. Survived cancer, healed physical conditions through meditation, built a supplement company http://jigsawhealth.com
Thanks for reading! I've spent 20 years researching what actually moves the needle on health. Follow @realPatrickJr if you want the unfiltered truth about health optimization.
@realPatrickJr Yeah fasting is great if you want to look like this
@reecethebrah Happy?
@realPatrickJr Autophagy and ketosis finally switch on. Even short fasts restore energy and clarity.
@UmairSaeedCoach Indeed!
@realPatrickJr @NavalismHQ Fasting is an amazing tool for health and peak performance
@earlyinklings @NavalismHQ Underrated in western medicine, for sure.
@realPatrickJr Fasting sounds intriguing!
@the_monk_ai Indeed!
@realPatrickJr There's fasting and there's #CleanFasting - big difference. https://www.fastfeastrepeat.co...
@NOGreatResetNO Interesting. I’ll have to check that out. Thx for sharing.
@realPatrickJr Intermittent fasting: benefits or risks? Study raises questions about heart health: https://www.bbc.com/news/artic...
@realPatrickJr That’s impressive! Fasting really does seem to have transformative effects for many. Excited to learn more about his blueprint!
@realPatrickJr Fasting can be a game-changer for so many! It’s amazing how thoughtful approaches like this can really restore health. Excited to learn more from Dr. Goldhammer!
@realPatrickJr Read the religion Jainism, people who follow do fasting as part of religion. Some do 1 day, others longer fasting. Max have heard fasting for from 180 days to a year. Imagine, just amazing.
@realPatrickJr Too bad he’s a malnourished vegan
@realPatrickJr How fast he is, does anybody know?
@realPatrickJr Love the “guest” from diary of a CEO ! Fabulous information and insights on many subjects.
@realPatrickJr As someone who has done multiple cycles of fasting (and got cured each time) - a warning: it feels awful. First week is the worst. Many give up. But once your body flips the switch it gets better and the clarity in sensory perception-sight, hearing, smell, touch - is magical.
@realPatrickJr @phishhed44 I've done 15 days. 5 times now. 40 days? Not sure if I have the discipline for that. When I do prolonged fasts, I must have my electrolytes, trace minerals & food based vitamins. Otherwise its Russian roulette.
