Hi, I'm a long time lurker, first time contributer. I feel like as far as a holistic approach goes, I've read everything there is to read. I'm posting this because I have a very strong feeling that this will work to permanently heal acne in EVERYONE, and hopefully a couple scars. I'd like to go longer than 3 weeks, but I am 5'11" and 166lbs, so 3 weeks may be pushing it we'll just have to see.

I think most of you will just want to know that this does work, but if you want to know WHY it will work to heal acne and scarring, I wouldn't mind discussing this.

If you aren't educated on fasting, please don't tell me how dangerous and harmful it is.

Today is day one.

BTW, I'm easing into this by drinking some juices that I had around. It wasn't part of the plan, but I feel sort of ill from drinking last night, which once again made my skin look better. I think this maybe is because the body is flooded with a new type of toxin; one that can be eliminated more easily thru urine, so it sort of gives skin a rest while it takes care of the priority.

Also, yesterday was thanksgiving. I know that you are supposed to prepare for a fast by eating soley fruit and vegetables for a few days prior, but I just feel that it is time, and will suffer the consequences of an more extreme shift to detox.

I forgot to mention: I'm 19 and have been dealing with acne for 4 years or so. I've done one round of antibiotics, but stopped dealing with "medical authorites" when I heard about the effectiveness of alternative techniques. I had pretty bad acne(cystic), and a few scars(rolling, boxcar, icepick). My acne got sooooooooo much better when I stopped eating sugar, grains, and milk, whic and started drinking more water, and taking chlorophyll garlic and acidophyllis and eating more fruits/veggies which is recomended for a anti-inflamatory diet, an alkaline diet, a paleolithic diet, etc. Currently I have maybe 4 pustuoles and some scarring, which is somewhat improved from doing TCA peel.

Actually, my acne was pretty much nonexistant whenever I would eat only vegetables, but who can live like taht? thats why I want to try and heal myself so that I can process things like grains and dairy.

Best of luck with it mate, but don't make yourself ill now. Mind how you go.

Cheers,
Down in Albion

mctruth, All I have to say is WOW. I just came here to post about this. I have been fasting for about 24hours... Total fasting, which means NO food/water intake. I have realized on the danger it holds and I have Googled(suggest you do also) "water fasting acne" and I feel I am enough educated through wiki and other informative resources.

Time to post the results. I, like you, have been using medications since the age of 17 but sadly my insurance will expire when I turn 22 which is in 1 week. So for the past few months, I have been trying natural regimens with little to no actual result. I encountered this "water fasting" idea from Wikipedia actually. I was doing a research on starvation for one of my projects and found "Fasting" was a crucial part of starvation which led me to this link... (Search Wikipedia for "Medical Fasting") ... What was most striking was this line:

"Dr. Joel Fuhrman maintains that pure water fasting can not only "detoxify" cells and "rejuvenate" organs, but can actually cure such diseases and conditions as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colitis, psoriasis, lupus and some other autoimmune disorders when combined with a healthy diet. He believes that "Fasting is Nature's Restorer." There is some inconclusive empirical evidence to corroborate the beliefs of these scientists."-wiki

I found this to be quite curious and did research on this and coincidentally, I found there are actual regimens revolving around water fasting... who would have thought? So I figured I give it a try.

Now I have very oily skin, and nothing I tried ever got close to getting rid of it. And I have acne on the back and everywhere else. Especially on the face, there is not a day without me having at least 3-5 new breakouts. Now after this 24hours of fasting(reminder: Water AND Food Fast), my face literally reduced its oil consumption by about 90%... WHOA!! And so far, I have had one acne in one of my cheek. I have scars and others which have not cleared. I am not stating that anything is cleared, I am going to continue this Fast until Sunday which would make it 3 days.

The only water intake I receive is the two times I take a bath(morning/night) with Dove soap. I do not receive water by no other means and no nutrients from other place. Also, I must say, I was sleeping most of yesterday into today.

I will post a response to this post on Sunday in the way of an update. Good Luck to you mctruth!

Apples, how come you mention water fasting, but decided to do a total fast? From what I've read, a water fast is the fastest, most efficiant method of expelling/cleansing built up toxins. You don't want your body to recirculate all the bad stuff right? However, while on a total fast the only method of expulsion would be through your skin. I've done short water fasts (3 days) in the past with great ( although somewhat temporary) results. I'm just curious as to what made you decide to do a 3 day total fast as opposed to maybe an extended water fast?

Goodluck to you as well Apples

LoL, the entire fast is revolves around a simple misunderstanding.

I figured the term 'water fasting' meant for fasting without water for some odd reason because the term 'fasting' literally means abstinence from something(mainly food). But the exact meaning is the opposite...

Anyhow, I will stick with it toward the end and gradually arise to a 0.5Liter of water combined with protein powder before going to bed on Sunday night.

It has not been 2 days complete yet(another 12hours to go), but I only slept for 3hours last night and my face looks like it has darkened or something (Am I dead yet?)

No new breakouts, the cyst like pimples have decreased somewhat in the face. I do not notice that huge of an improvement other than the reduction of oil build-up... might be because I am only on the second day?

How long did it take you to see results mctruth? Have you done a total fast before? I have done fasting with the consumption of water before but it was mainly to lose weight and it was long time back...back when I was 16-17, and I did it while exercising and consuming large amounts of Orange Juice w/ pulp whenever I felt the need to eat something.

I suppose this will be a Hit or Miss deal. I wish it would Hit of course.

Apples, ok to avoid confusion I'm going to refer to abstinence from food And water as a Total fast. I've never done a Total fast because I feel it makes it harder to get rid of toxins, which then end up recirculating. Also, since you've been reading up on fasting you probably know the benefits of a daily enema? I know it sounds gross but it really helps.

When I fast on water for 3 days, which I've done a few times, it always goes the same way. First, by the second day it feels impossible to get a breakout. From drinking water I can tell an improvement in tonal quality of my skin, just from being super hydrated. I was reading an article about how most of us are dehydrated, and it takes a while to "teach" our bodies how much water we should really have. On the third day, it feels like every zit that I had is dead, and the healing process begins. By the time I start eating again, which will be vegetable soup and the like, my skin usually will still not have any new blemishes, but your body heals so much faster while fasting, it's a shame to start eating before it can "catch up" with all the healing that needs to be done. How does your skin feel at this point? Have you previously made any diet changes? As I mentioned that also helped me out a great deal.

For me, I feel like water is crucial to my success while fasting. In fact, while eating, I've found you can minimize breakouts by drinking tons of water (100+ oz./day).

Water helps you to maintain body temperature, metabolize body fat, aids in digestion, lubricates and cushions organs, transports nutrients, and flushes toxins from your body. The kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water, and salts out of the bloodstream. If you are dehydrated, the kidneys cannot function properly, and the liver must work overtime to compensate.

I just became a vegan about a year ago, but i;ve been a vegetarian for about 4 years.
Not many of my "long-term" vegan friends have acne problems, and absolutely none of my raw vegan friends have acne.

I've thought about a water fasting before, please let us know how it goes.

Hi, like I said, I will start drinking water on Sunday with protein powder. I think I need the Protein power after this three days of torturous Total Fast. So far, I am not even completed with day 2 yet and the most thing I desire for is some nice cold water. Food has not even crossed my mind at all, the dryness of my mouth and teeth tells me I need some water. But I shall resist and carry out this little experiment.
Do you introduce some kind of protein nourishment to your 'Extended fast'?

so tell me, what do i need to do to do a fast?

just drink a lot of water and eat nothing for three days??

can i put some apple cider vinegar in my water??

i want to try this. but i am a rookie--i dont want to die or anything. help!

Kristen, water fasting in my opinion is the way to go. Basically you only drink water. However, you will probably get a headache due to the rapid detox it causes. If you've never fasted before you might want to try a juice fast (drinking only fresh juice+water) or a fruit fast ( eating only one type of fruit + water). I also recommend using enemas daily.

I would be very suprised if you don't get good results from any one of these, however, if you continue to eat foods that your body doesn't like, your acne will most likely come back eventually. I have had good results from cutting out sugar, grains, and dairy after a fast. Google chlorophyll. It has some pretty amazing healing properties.

-Apples, I don't plan to use any type of nutritional support. I know I'm going to lose a few lbs. of muscle, but nothing I can't build back up. I think my body will thank me later. I have never thought about doing a dry fast. I'm very curious to see your results.

what is an enema? and yes, i think right now would be a great time for me to fast since i just recently cut out gluten, corn, dairy, soy and sugar. i need to rid my body of toxins from previous years of consuming these foods! how long should i fast for?

An enema is a method of cleansing your colon of waste so that toxins aren't reabsorbed. It is sort of like a douche for you colon. You can buy disposable enemas at just about every grocery store I've been to. You can also reuse these "disposable" enemas by refilling with warm water.


As far as how long you should fast, that is up to you. A lot of people would recomend you start small, like 3 day for example. Although that will clear you up a bit, it probably won't be anything permanent. Here's a link about what your body does while fasting stages of fasting
note that it should be fine to drink some tea; should you get a headache or need some variety

That's really interesting. I've considered water fasting before, because I'm 100% positive it will improve my skin drastically (my acne seems to be caused completely by my diet.) It seems like 21 days would be really tough, though. Wouldn't you get really weak and exhausted, or does tons of sleeping and drinking tons of water help with that? I've gone for just two days fasting, but still drank water, and my legs felt weak and I was in a really bad mood, so I quit. I probably shouldn't give up that easily.

Yeah, I know some parts will be tough, but I konw it will be worth it. For the first few days your body is switching energy sources (liver storage, ketosis etc.) so I think thats part of the reason you might feel run down sometimes. On other forums I've read about people having tons of energy a couple weeks into a fast, so I guess I'll just have to see for myself.

Another point to make is that we've been using garbage for fuel for so long, and now that's what we have stored. so when we fast, we are forced to burn up that "dirty fuel" for energy.

McTruth, your plan sounds incredible! I'm confident your skin and overall body functions will improve dramatically. The way you're talking I can tell you're motivated enough to stick with it. A few months ago I did a 26 day juice feast and it really benefited my body and skin. My initial plan was to go between 30 and 90 days, but I lost too much weight and making a gallon of juice everyday got costly and time consuming. Just be careful when you begin introducing foods again; I went crazy with tomatoes and nuts I couldn't stop eating. It was all so delicious. I went from a 2-day to a 26-day though; I should've prepared myself better. I'm on day 2 of a 10 day juice fast and your talk of water fasting intrigues me. I think I'll extend my fast by about 5 days so in the middle of my cleanse I can take a 5 day water fast with only distilled water. I've read it works best when you're on just juice for a bit first. Good luck!!

wouldnt drinking loads and loads of water actually wash out the good toxins?

I've never heard of a "good" toxin, but if you're referring to the minerals and vitamins we need to function, the answer is no. Our bodies are very good at retaining what they need to survive. It begins to cleanse itself systematically, not just dump everything into your urine.

woah woah woah...you need water to survive buddy...you can go for a while without food, but you NEED water or else you will be dead in a couple of weeks, maybe less and majorly dehydrated before that....a water fast means no food, only water. water is good for you!