Re: Water fasting; how to know if your electrolytes are out of wack?

Good question.

There has been mention of electrolytes off and on within the forum so this could be an appropriate time to explain just what they are and how important they are.
Electrolytes are minerals in the body that have an electric charge. There should be a balance between the electrolytes with "positive charges" and those with "negative charges", and all must stay within a certain range of one another or homoestasis. Water-only fasting strives for and achieves this state of homoeostatic balance of all nutrients but esp' with electrolytes.

If that balance is lost/depleted (in malnutrition for example) or if they stay outside the normal range/depleted, this can be harmful and even dangerous.
The main electrolytes are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, chloride and bicarbonate. Sodium and potassium are important for your nervous system, while potassium is important for your heart muscle. Your muscles need the proper amounts of calcium. Chloride is the major negatively charged mineral in the body.

The problem here is that electrolyte deficiencies can mimic the symptoms of detoxification, such as weakness, leg and foot cramps, nausea, heart arrhythmias, muscle twitching, and so on and so on.
Exercise during a prolonged fast will consume electrolytes much more quickly, (plus other nutrients) as will anxiety/stress, and the reason both should be avoided in my opinion.
The only way which is thought to determine these deficiencies is via urine and/or blood tests, but there is another way not commonly mentioned, even within fasting circles: as a general rule of thumb, after day 30ish of a water-only fast, detox symptoms should be at a minimum, or absent altogether, so if detox symptoms such as those mentioned above are increasing after this time, then an electrolyte deficiency is highly likely, and the fast MUST be terminated.

Chrisb1.