Buddha fasted for 49 days. Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days. Throughout human history, men and women have abstained from food for different reasons, but the most common reason was the lack of food.
Most experts agree that in order to achieve health benefits through water fast, you need not to fast longer then 40 - 60 days. Experts disagree on the exact number of days, but many agree that enemas are beneficial during the water fast.
Most experts agree that fasting for longer then 60 days may not be health-wise.
Most experts agree that you should be meditating during the water fast. You should not be lifting weights, running, biking or swimming. Any harsh physical activity could cost you life. That is the main difference between water fasting and juice fasting. People on juice fasting or Master Cleanse are consuming a lot of calories and are able to lift weights, run, bike or swim.
Another important thing for water fasting is that you should not be exposed to cold temperature. It is much easier to water fast in India where people don't need much clothes to keep healthy body temperature, then it is to Water Fast on Alaska where in order to keep body temperature, body need to burn large amount of energy.
Long time Water Fasting during the winter months in central and northern Europe or northern America may not be health-wise. Summer (June, July, August ... ) would be the better time.
Another important thing for water fasting is that you should not be exposed to polluted air. It is much better to live far from any large city, then to fast in the city. People can become extremely sensitive to pollutions during the water fast and any pollution may cause sickness.
Quality of water is extremely important. Natural, live, clean mountain spring water is far more preferable then anything else!
Filtered water may not be good enough. Distilled water may not be good enough. Bottled water (plastic bottle) is not good enough. Glass Bottle may be good enough.
Sunlight is extremely important during the water fast. You should exposed your skin to morning and evening sun (as long as you feel comfortable), but protect yourself from too strong mid-day sun.
Before going on water fast, you should be fasting on a vegan diet for some time.
When you start the water fast, your large intestine should be empty. Enema or colonics are considered better way of emptying the bowel, then laxative herbs.
When water fasting, you should not be taking any medications. If you are dependent on medications, you can not water fast!
Before you choose to go on a water fast, you should read messages posted in Water Fasting forum, and you should read at least one good book about Water Fasting.
http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=335
The average person, not familiar with fasting, believes he will certainly die if he misses a meal. When you hear of a person dying after being lost in the woods or at sea for two or three days. It was not lack of food that caused his death, but it was panic and fear that killed him. Most people in fairly good health can go for many days without food but the body must have water, although there is a fast called "the dry fast" which employs dry bread but no liquid. However, this type of fast cannot be endured for too long a period.
There is general disagreement in the health field on the best way to detoxify the body. The Hygienists, who are mostly followers of Dr. Herbert Shelton, the very capable exponent of fasting, using only distilled water, and enemas are taboo. Dr. Shelton and other Hygienist doctors have fasted thousands of people, many regaining their health, as a result of the fast. Of course, after the fast, it was necessary for them to follow a healthful way of life. The Hygienists are strict vegetarians with the emphasis on raw foods and proper combinations.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/21/wbuddha21.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/21/ixportal.html
Devotees claim that Ram Bomjon, who is silently meditating beneath a tree, has not eaten or drunk anything since he sat down at his chosen spot six months ago.
Local doctors failed to reach a final conclusion, although they were allowed no closer than five yards from the boy mystic, declaring that they could confirm no more than that he was alive.
The popularity of the phenomenon is partly because it resembles an episode in the life of the historical Buddha, who was born 160 miles away around 543 BC. The Buddha achieved enlightenment when he meditated beneath a sacred pipal tree for 49 days.
Ram Bomjon is also sitting beneath a pipal tree, in the same posture as the Buddha is depicted, but his vigil has already taken longer.
Ram's mother, who is called Maya Devi, like the Buddha's mother, admits to anxiety, particularly at meal times. But she tells herself: "God took him to the forest and I have faith that God will feed him."
She said: "He's definitely got thinner. Early in the morning he looks sunken, like there's no blood in him, but as the sun rises he seems to get brighter and brighter."
The fervour increased last week when a snake is said to have bitten Ram, and a curtain was drawn around him.
After five days it was opened and he spoke. "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy. I am at the level of rinpoche [lesser divinity].
"A snake bit me but I do not need treatment. I need six years of deep meditation."
Despite his protestations, "Buddha boy" is famous.
In August 2003, David Blaine requested inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records for a forthcoming feat of fasting endurance: Beginning on September 5th, the famed illusionist explained, he would begin living without food in a clear plastic 7' x 7' x 3' box suspended above the river Thames in London - and would remain encased therein for 44-days. He would be drinking water only.
Guinness judges promptly rejected Blaine's feat as too wimpy: The longest hunger strike, they noted, ended (in 1973) after 385 days, when Dennis Galer Goodwin protested his innocence in Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire, of a rape charge. (He was fed by tube orally.) More remarkable still, Angus Barbieri went without solid food for 382 days (living on tea, coffee, soda water and vitamins) in Maryfield Hospital, Dundee in the mid 1960s (and lost more than 280 pounds). Moreover, Blaine's box was positively spacious by Guinness standards. South Africa's Vernon Kruger, for example, lived in a barrel about an eighth the size of Blaine's box for 67 days in 1997... Blaine, David (1973- ) American magician and illusionist [noted for such stunts as being buried alive for one week, frozen in ice for nearly 63 hours, and standing on a 20 inch circular platform on a steel pillar 90 feet above the ground for 35 hours (without a harness) before jumping into a pile of corrugated cardboard boxes]
[For the record, Guinness does not officially endorse fasting: "We have never encouraged actively claims for the longest time to voluntarily go without solid food for very clear and obvious reasons," Guinness record-keeper Stewart Newport explained. "If you beat the 'record' and then die is it a successful attempt?"]
