1) TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California is led by Dr Alan Goldhamer and Dr Michael Klaper. This center has been conducting medically supervised fasts for decades. Both doctors are friends with John McDougall who runs the Dr McDougall's Health and Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California. John McDougall is one of the top 6-7 doctors who advocate the Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet.

2) Tanglewood Wellness Center in Costa Rica conducts guided fasts.

3) The "Science of Fasting" documentary mentions two institutes that conduct guided fasts: Goryachinsk Sanitorium in Russia (see this link as well), and the Buchinger Clinic in Germany.

4) Dr Gracie's Wellness Clinic in OH, USA conducts multi-day water fasts.

1) Science of Fasting (56 mins, 2016, Documentary, on YouTube) — Amazon (free with Prime). I'd recommend this documentary to everybody, not only those interested in water fasting. Towards the end, they explain why 1-day or 2-day fasts are being introduced as a preparatory step for chemotherapy in US hospitals. Overall, this documentary presents an overview of water fasting and the (limited) science behind it. It does not go into details of what happens day by day, or week by week, or what symptoms arise, and so on.

2) Fasting - Safe and Effective Use of an Ancient Powerful Healing Therapy (DVD, 55 mins, 2011) by Dr Michael Klaper. I watched this DVD way back in 2012, the year I first learnt of Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet. From this DVD, I remembered that if we're healthy (disease free), then we can do a 7-day water-only fast comfortably by ourselves; anything longer should be supervised by a qualified doctor. Of course, if we are on any medication, even the first day should be supervised.

Why Do You Recommend Water Fasting? (YouTube, 25 mins) by Dr Klaper covers some of the main points in the DVD above. Very helpful!

3) How and When to be your Own Doctor by Dr Isabelle Moser & Steve Solomon (1997, 192 pages). The authors have made it freely available online. A printed copy is available at Amazon. Chapter 3 of this book has a fairly detailed description of water fasting. That's the chapter I read. Of particular interest to me was a section called The Stages of Fasting which outlines what happens to our body, day after day, week after week. In the third week of the fast, when I experienced inflammation and swelling around my right big toe, I was drawn to another section: Retracing.

4) Articles and videos by Michael Klaper and Alan Goldhamer: Both are from TrueNorth Health Center, Santa Rosa, CA. This center has conducted guided fasts for decades. Dozens of YouTube videos in the form of interviews and lectures are available. For example, see this interview with Michael Klaper. A general overview of water fasting is presented here: Benefits of Fasting by Alan Goldhamer. Why Do You Recommend Water Fasting? (YouTube, 25 mins) by Dr Klaper covers many key points in Q&A format.

5) Benefits of Fasting (1977) by Paul Martin traces the history of fasting in various cultures. This article helped me realize that fasting has been practiced worldwide for ages.

6) Misc articles & books: Many more are listed here: 26-Day Water-Only Fast.

Information on Internet: When I was doing an extended water-only fast, I used the Internet to search for information. I realized that over the years, people have disovered myriad variations of a pure 'water-only' fast by introducing liquids like {teas, broths, honey}, enemas, colon cleansing, salt water flushing, coffee or other substances. Many of these are to be consumed in response to symptoms that arise. I realized that these variations do have their uses, depending upon the person and their circumstances.

In January 2019, I finished a 26-Day Water-Only Fast — it was a tricky experience. As I was experiencing different symptoms during the fast, I was also doing Internet searches to interpret them and seek guidance. Every time, I simply decided to forge ahead with a pure 'water-only' fast, without any other intervention. Later that year, I learnt of New Diet System (NDS) by Shri B V Chouhan in which enemas are highly recommended. When I started experimenting with NDS, after some initial hesitation, I adopted enemas. Now I realize that enemas would have been a helpful intervention during my extended water-fast — they would have eased my journey quite a bit.

Mental Calmness: In the modern world, many people gravitate towards Water-Only Fasting for weight loss or for curing themselves from a grave physical illness. Another reason for water-only fasting is spiritual: it makes us calmer inside. I can vouch for significant boost in mental calmness through various fasting protocols. Unfortunately, we have no scientific studies exploring this theme! I hope that in the next 20 to 50 years, some money if devoted to studying this phenomenon.