Prolonged water-only fasting is a highly effective, safe, and sometimes uniquely necessary therapeutic intervention for reversing chronic lifestyle diseases when supervised medically.

“it can be done safely. It can be done effectively and when it's needed, there's nothing else that does exactly what water only fasting does.”

Prolonged water-only fasting carries risks that make fasting mimicking diets a more viable and sustainable approach for most people in the general population.

“the intermittent fasting protocols are just that fasting mimicking diets or fasting mimicking programs trying to reproduce some of the changes that we know occur with fasting without the risk profile or the complications of long-term water only fasting.”

The rapid and sometimes risky nature of water-only fasting requires strict clinical supervision because of potential complications like electrolyte imbalances or rapid toxin mobilization.

“that's one of the reasons why fasting does need to be done in a controlled medically supervised setting. It's not the kind of thing that you do long-term fasting uh in uh at home”