Have you ever heard of something called
water fasting?
Well, it’s a type of fast
that restricts everything
except, well, water.
Most people only water fast
for 72 hours at most,
but what if you did this
for the rest of your life?
You’d be fine, right?
Haha, yeah, not so much.
Hey, water is pretty important.
And when I say pretty important,
I mean absolutely essential.
Your own body is 60% water.
That’s a big chunk if you ask me.
Now, drinking water
can have some pretty big perks.
It can lower the risk of heart disease,
diabetes and even certain cancers.
It sounds great, right?
Well, do you think you could try
this water-only diet?
You could?
Well, hey,
I love your energy,
but I’ve got some bad news.
You’ve got 70 days.
Tops.
You start your water-only diet
and you’d be feeling OK.
Good even.
You’d start to feel hungry and angry,
or as the scientific community
calls it, hangry.
That’s because your body
would be running out
of its glucose supply.
Glucose is your body’s
primary energy source,
and you stock up on it
when you consume carbohydrates.
But now that you’ve sworn off food,
your body would be
frantically searching for its next
glucose fix.
You could lose 2 kg (4.4 lb) every day.
This is due to the one-two punch
of dehydration
and electrolyte imbalance.
So what happens next?
Your body would have adjusted
to the lack of food
and would be in a state of ketosis.
This is where your body
would start breaking down fat for energy
instead of glucose.
You might even feel a little better,
but don’t be fooled.
You’re a hurting unit.
Now, the more fat reserves you have,
the longer you’d survive.
But once all your fat is gone,
you’d have nothing to break down
but muscle.
And in case you forgot,
your heart is an organ made of muscle.
This can be incredibly dangerous.
When your heart lacks fuel,
your pulse and blood pressure will tank.
That’s because you can’t
pump blood normally anymore.
Your proteins would all be
broken down at this point,
and you’d be barely able to think.
That’s because you’d be starving.
Your gastrointestinal system
would be wrecked.
This would cause stomach pain,
vomiting and, my personal favorite,
bacterial infections.
Things would be looking even worse.
Your body would be
in a state of malnutrition,
and you’d feel weaker than ever.
You can look forward
to various health problems,
like dizziness,
headaches and difficulty concentrating.
As the days went on,
you’d continue to deteriorate.
you’d experience more severe symptoms,
such as extreme fatigue,
rapid weight loss and muscle wasting.
And you’d also have to worry about
serious health problems like
kidney failure
or sepsis.
You, uh, you don’t look so good.
You’d be extremely weak
and unable to do much on your own.
You’d also be at
high risk of death from organ failure
or infection.
Did you know that most people die
not from starvation,
but from infectious diseases?
Yeah, your immune system suffers
while you’re perpetually starving
because of the deficiency
of vitamins and minerals.
This leaves you open
to all sorts of nasty germs.
It’s unlikely that you’d survive
much longer on a water-only diet.
You’d be severely malnourished
and reeling from
a greatest-hits compilation
of health problems.
But hey, you did it!
And we’re sending the medics
to you right now.
Was it worth it?
Well, no, not really.
A water-only diet
is not sustainable in the long term.
A balanced diet
is essential for maintaining
good health.
It’s kind of fascinating though, right?
Despite being on the brink,
you still made it to 70 days.
If the human body is that resilient,
what else can we try?
Well, what if you only drank
Coca-Cola for a month?
Well, grab yourself a soda from the fridge,
because that’s a story for another WHAT IF.