Many thousands of people have restored their health through therapeutic
fasting. Some, ill and distraught from years of discomfort and discouragement,
try fasting as a last resort. Fortunately, the majority of people who undergo a
supervised fast not only improve or recover (often from what are considered
incurable diseases) but also experience physical, psychological, and mental
rejuvenation. Fasting to heal one self can mean the difference between living
life pain-ridden and dependent on drugs, going from one doctor to another for
relief, and living a normal pain-free existence into old age.
Therapeutic fasting is not a mystical or magical cure. It works because the
body has within it the capacity to heal when the obstacles to healing are
removed. Health is the normal state. Most chronic disease is the inevitable
consequence of living a life-style that places disease-causing stressors on the
human organism. Fasting gives the body an interlude without those stressors
so that it can speedily repair or accomplish healing that could not otherwise
occur in the feeding state.
Fasting stops the continual work of the digestive tract, whose activity can
drain the body of energy and divert the healing processes. Each time we take
in food, the body must secrete digestive enzymes to break down the food,
move these simpler components into the cells lining the digestive tract, and
further move these nutrients into the bloodstream for distribution throughout
the body. All of these functions require a substantial amount of vitality and
energy — energy that might otherwise be used to fuel the healing process.
Each time we take in food we take in not only nutrients but also additives
and other toxins. The digestive tract, the liver, the kidney, and other organs
must work to remove these non-nutritive substances from the body. These
wastes include by-products of digestion, bacterial by-products from the
decomposition of inadequately digested foodstuffs, and excess nutrients the
body cannot use. All these as well as the waste products of normal cellular
metabolism must be actively eliminated for us to maintain excellent health.
Food, therefore, while providing essential nutrients for life, also introduces
toxins. Fasting, particularly when we are ill and the body is already
overburdened with self-produced wastes, can provide a welcome relief by
halting the introduction of further toxins and waste products. Without this extra
burden, the body is finally able to heal itself.
Individuals who suffer from chronic disease often have weakened or
abnormal digestive function. Indeed, this is often the reason they are ill to
begin with. In these cases, fasting allows the digestive tract to take a much
needed break to restore itself to normalcy.
When a person's appetite and hunger disappear, especially during an acute
illness, the loss of appetite indicates that the body has a much lowered capacity
for digestion. Forcing this person to eat can result in the absorption of partially
or improperly digested food, which will impede a quick and complete recovery.
Fasting, in the strictest sense, is defined as the voluntary abstinence from all
food and drink, except water, as long as the nutritional reserves of the body
are adequate to sustain normal function. This is a state of relative physiologic
rest. Some of the medical studies on fasting (which we will refer to) have
included the use of vitamins, coffee, tea, and drugs during the fast. Except for
extremely rare instances where some medication may be indicated, it should be
recognized that a total fast, with water only, is both the most effective and the
safest way to fast.
Vitamins are not generally required because within the body's cells are
adequate reserves of protein, fat; minerals, and vitamins that can be called
upon during periods of famine, food scarcity, or fasting. Even in prolonged fasts
(those lasting from 20 to 40 days) no deficiency diseases develop, illustrating
that the body has the innate ability to utilize its stored reserves in a highly
exacting and balanced manner. Today, with modern laboratory tests available,
it is simple to check the blood for levels of every vitamin and mineral, as well
as for electrolytes and other essential factors. Interestingly, these levels of
vitamins and minerals are exceedingly stable during the fast and, if normal to
begin with, remain normal throughout the period of fasting.
In some cases a liquid diet, such as fruit or vegetable juices, has been
considered to be a fast. This may occasionally be appropriate for a person who
requires relative bowel rest, whose health condition would make a fast
inappropriate. One cannot, however, achieve the powerful benefits of complete
fasting if juices are part of the fast. ―Juice fasting‖ is not truly fasting;
biochemically the body does not enter the ―protein–sparing‖ fasting state. In
this state the body conserves its muscle reserves and fat is preferentially
broken down. This does not occur with juice fasting. Juice fasting also does not
have the powerful anti–inflammatory properties of the pure water fast that are
essential for recovery in autoimmune illnesses. Other benefits of total fasting
include decreasing platelet aggregation and promoting other biochemical
changes that help to prevent the formation of blood clots, which could cause a
heart attack. These beneficial changes, so essential in the cardiac patient, as
well as the significant lowering of blood pressure, also do not occur if even a
small amount of carbohydrate in the form of juice is taken.
Occasionally claims are made for special powders, vitamin preparations,
herbal mixes, or drinks that are intended to detoxify the liver more effectively
than fasting. Obviously, this is wishful thinking. The powerful detoxifying
effects of the fast cannot be obtained by following a restricted or supplemented
diet. Only when there is total abstinence from all calories do we observe waste
products being heavily excreted from the breath, the tongue, the urine, and the
skin. Plus, the fast does not merely detoxify, it also breaks down superfluous
tissue — fat, abnormal cells, atheromatous plaque, and rumors —and releases
diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for elimination.
This kind of dramatic detoxification cannot occur with supplemented eating
plans. Toxic or unwanted materials circulate in our bloodstream and lymphatic
tissues and are deposited in and released from our fat stores and other tissues.
An important element of detoxification is mobilizing the toxins from their
storage sites. This occurs best and most efficiently during total fasting.
I have observed many sick patients who have tried these ―detoxification―
powders and not achieved results. I have seen how easily these same people
recover when they go on a complete fast. We can't buy magic in a bottle. A
supplemented powdered drink food plan may sometimes be helpful for a person
with food sensitivity or a very poor diet, but I find that in these cases, where
total fasting is not necessary, changing the diet alone almost always achieves
equally good results, and adding supplemental nutrients is practically never
needed.
To think that we can buy an herb that will detoxify us is also an illusion.
Herbs do not detoxify. They merely are a source of nutrients or natural drugs.
For example, they do not detoxify the liver or kidney when they increase
urinary output. Diuretic is the name given to a drug that can increase our urine
flow. When a drug functions as a diuretic it does so because of its ability to
block or poison the ability of the cells that line the kidney's collecting ducts to
reclaim fluid. When a natural herbal diuretic is taken, it works via the same
mechanism. Instead of accurately referring to it as a diuretic, its proponents
call it a kidney strengthener or detoxicant. Obviously, the profit motive
encourages claims made for many so-called ―healing‖ substances. It is
attractive to think we can buy good health in a bottle, but unfortunately it is
not that easy. There is nothing that can be taken that will ever accomplish the
biochemical changes that occur when we undergo a complete fast.
The human body has been designed to fast safely. Certain biochemical changes
take place when no food is taken that enable the body to fuel itself by burning
up its fat reserves and conserving its vital tissues. As this book illustrates, the
design of the human system is so masterful that it has built into it the blueprint
to change its fuel consumption to fast safely.
The innate intelligence of the body is remarkable, as represented by the
biochemical changes that occur in the fasting state. Glucose is a simple sugar
that supplies the necessary fuel our body needs. Normally, if we don't eat for a
day or two, we start to utilize muscle tissue to make the glucose needed by the
body, since glucose can be manufactured .from amino acids stored in our
muscles. If we continue to fast, however, the body senses what is occurring
and attempts to conserve its lean muscle mass by a few different mechanisms.
Fats are broken down to fatty acids that can then be utilized by the muscles,
heart, and liver for energy. The brain, however, is the major utilizer of energy
when the body is at rest. The brain cannot be fueled from fatty acids; it
requires glucose to fuel its operations.
A special adaptation occurs in the fasting state whereby the brain can fuel
itself with ketones instead of glucose. By the third day of a total fast, the liver
starts generating a large quantity of ketones from the body's fat stores. As the
level of ketones rises in the bloodstream, the brain and other organs begin to
use these ketones as their major fuel, thus greatly diminishing the utilization of
glucose by the body. This significantly limits muscle wasting. These keto acids
are utilized for fuel primarily by the brain, muscle tissue, and the heart.
This production of ketones, called ketosis, develops within 48 hours in
females and 72 hours in males, and muscle wasting at this time decreases to
very low levels. This is known as protein sparing.
Thus, the human organism responds to the fasting state by attempting to
maximally conserve its muscle and lean body tissue. With severely restrictive
diets, like juice fasts, the body does lose weight, but the brain and other
organs do not subsist mainly on ketones. Therefore, proportionately to weight
lost, juice fasts and severely restrictive diets cause us to lose more lean body
tissue and less fatty tissue than do total fasts
Contrary to what many people believe, fasting is not starvation. Starvation
begins when abstinence is continued beyond the time when the body's stored
reserves are used up or have dropped to a dangerously low level. During the
fasting stage the body supports itself from the stored reserves within its
tissues. When food is eaten at normal intervals, the body stores sufficient
amounts of nutritive matter to last for a rather lengthy time during later
periods of abstinence. Even thin people carry a reserve of nutrients in their
tissues to tide them safely over a period of fasting.
The body will not starve or in general even be hungry while fasting because it
is ―eating.‖ It is consuming the substances the individual consumed last week,
last month, and last year that have been converted into body tissue. In fact,
the symptoms of hunger generally disappear by the second day of the fast.
This illustrates that the body has entered a fasting, and (lean) tissue-sparing
metabolism. Of course, there is a limit to the body's reserves. When they have
been used up, specific symptoms occur that indicate the fast should not be
continued. The time required for a fast to reach completion varies from
individual to individual. The trained physician can easily denote symptoms that
indicate the ending of the fasting period and the beginning of starvation. In the
vast majority of fasts, the physician will end the fast many weeks before the
nutrient reserves of the body have been exhausted. The average individual (not
overweight) would have to fast approximately 40 days or more to exhaust
nutrient reserves.
Such a prolonged fast is almost never recommended and, therefore, we are
not remotely considering the biologic processes of starvation during the fast of
average length. If the fast was continued beyond the point when the body's
nutrient reserves were exhausted, starvation would begin. If not eating was
continued past this point, damage to the body and even death could result.
Most patients are fasted one to four weeks depending on their nutritive
reserves and the purpose of the fast.
In the animal kingdom, fasting is quite common. Some animals fast during
hibernation or estivation (sleeping throughout the summer in tropical climates).
Some animals fast during the mating season and in many cases immediately
after birth and during the nursing period. Animals instinctively fast when sick or
hurt. The ill or wounded animal finds a warm secluded spot where it can lie
quiet and undisturbed to rest and fast for a period of time until health is
restored. The ill animal sips only water until well again. Nature, with her
superior wisdom, has provided the animal world with an instinct to do that
which will facilitate optimal physical well-being.
Most people do just the opposite of the animals when they are sick. They
maintain their hectic work schedule, continue to eat a rich diet, and take
anything they can find to gain comfort. Any drug advertised to hide their signs
and symptoms is ingested. Drugs, well recognized as toxic and harmful if
ingested when we are well, are suddenly seen as healthful and healing when
the body is suffering with an acute illness.
Many people are unaware that symptoms such as a runny nose or fever are
the treatment the body has prescribed to remedy the condition. Increased
mucus production is the body's means of washing away infected cells and
removing virus particles from the body. Fever aids in the body's immune
defenses, activating the white blood cells and inducing interferon secretion
from the brain. Interferon is a powerful substance that stirs the fighting arm of
the immune system into action. Typical cold symptoms that people attempt to
suppress with drugs are nothing more than attempts of the body to restore
homeostasis and remove the disease itself. By drugging away their symptoms,
people keep themselves sick longer and can even turn a minor disease into a
major one.
Rather, we should do as the animals do. We should listen to our bodies when
appetite is diminished or absent. If we are not feeling well, we should sip water
and rest. It is amazing how quickly patients recover from viral syndromes when
this advice is taken. Recovery in this case leaves the body in a clean and
healthy state, rather than contaminated with toxic medications; we have thus
laid the groundwork for future good health.
In both acute illnesses and chronic disease there is no greater delusion than
that an individual needs ―strength‖ to fast. What is true is that such people
have bodies that are too weak to digest the food they take in. The people who
are most helped by a fast are those who are in most need. Too often the weak
patient is told he or she must eat to regain health or strength. In many cases,
while feeding, the person remains ill and fatigued.
Frequently, even extremely thin individuals who have been losing weight
while feeding themselves rich foods show a tremendous improvement in their
digestive capacity and begin to gain weight and strength after a moderatelength
fast. Fasting enables them finally to reach a normal weight. This
illustrates their weakened powers of digestion or assimilation or the presence of
serious chronic disease such as digestive impairment or autoimmune illness,
which improves or resolves as a result of the fast.
The job of fasting is to supply the body with the ideal environment to
accomplish its work of healing. During the period of a fast the blood pressure
will drop, the level of retained metabolic wastes will fall, and the blood vessels
will begin to soften and rid themselves of hard sclerotic plaque. In a short
period of time the heart and brain, as well as other organs and muscles, will
receive a more adequate blood supply and oxygenation. The tissues throughout
the body's systems will begin to purify themselves and the rejuvenation
process of the fast will have begun.
The goal of the body at all times is to keep the individual healthy. When the
disease-causing stresses are removed, the natural healing and self-repairing
powers of the body begin to work unhindered. Within a short period of time,
allergic and mucus-filled individuals clear their nasal passages, asthmatics
breathe easier, arthritis sufferers report their pain is resolving, and cardiac
patients begin to have increased circulation to their hearts. Healing has begun.
Healing and rejuvenation occur because fasting is an opportunity for the
human body to take a rest from all of the stressful elements of life, such as
physical labor and emotional stress. It is also an opportunity for the internal
organs and digestive system to take a physiological vacation.
In our society, most people eat heavy foods during much of their waking
hours. This not only overworks the digestive tract, but also forces the body to
continue its work of digesting and absorbing foodstuffs and eliminating foodderived
wastes well into the night. This prevents the body from totally directing
its energies toward repair and self-cleansing of its tissues.
To regain normalcy or health, individuals suffering from chronic illnesses
must rid their systems of the burdens of toxic material and excesses, such as
fatty or swollen tissues or atherosclerotic plaque. It may be possible, over time,
to eliminate the excesses while on a restricted diet that calls for taking in foods
that support the body. Fasting, however, offers a much more efficient means of
accomplishing healing that is dependent on the elimination of retained waste.
This is because fasting gives the body an opportunity to focus completely on
the elimination of the waste deposits and the purification of its tissues that are
necessary to reach a recovered state of health.
When no calories are consumed, the body is living off its nutritional stores,
primarily its fat reserves. The innate wisdom of the body is such that, while
fasting, it will consume for its sustenance superfluous tissues, carefully
conserving vital tissues and organs. The body's wondrous ability to autolyze (or
self-digest) and destroy needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel
plaque, and other nonessential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential
tissues, gives the fast the ability to restore physiologic youth to the system. By
removing or lessening the burden of diseased tissue, including the fatty tissue
narrowing the blood vessels, fasting increases the blood flow and subsequent
oxygenation and nutrient delivery to vital organs throughout the body.
Conceptually, fasting provides a comparative rest for the digestive tract,
while, throughout the entire body, from the blood vessels and nerves in the
feet to the noxious retained substances irritating the central nervous system,
the body conducts an internal ―spring cleaning.‖ Fasting enables the entire
system to focus on the elimination of superfluous tissue and the retained waste
that it was unable to break down and remove in the feeding state.
When an individual has a. serious chronic disease, we need to combine a
fast with necessary dietary changes before and after the fast to achieve a
recovery. By combining the fast with a healthy diet and life-style, the individual
can maintain the benefits from the fast and remain healthy.
Fasting has been used as a healing modality throughout recorded history.
Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, and Hippocrates, for example, all recommended
fasting for various physical conditions.
Our species has survived on the earth for the last 400,000 years partially
because of the incomprehensible design of nature that enables us to survive
under various circumstances, including going without food for prolonged
periods of time. Built into our genetic code is the ability to instruct the body
exactly what to do to survive in a period of famine, food scarcity, or natural
disaster when food is unavailable for prolonged periods. Obviously, the body
functions normally for quite a long time when no food but only water is
ingested.
Extended religious fasts were frequently practiced by followers of far eastern
religions and in the early days of Christianity, especially during the Middle
Ages. Many of us have heard of individuals who have fasted for political
reasons. Mahatma Gandhi, for example, fasted 21 days to promote Hindu–
Moslem unity and mutual respect and tolerance between religions. Gandhi was
actually very familiar with the scientific and health-related literature regarding
fasting and even read the writings of and corresponded with Dr. Herbert
Shelton, who conducted more than thirty thousand fasts on his patients earlier
in this century.
Occasionally we hear of entombed miners, shipwrecked sailors, or stranded
aviators who are forced to go without food for weeks and weeks. People survive
for extended periods of time, until they are rescued, as long as they have
access to nonsalt water.
So fasting is not new. It has been practiced for religious, political, and health
reasons for thousands of years and has been recognized throughout recorded
history as having a curative effect on sickness and disease. Mark Twain wrote
in My Debut As a Literary Person (1889), ―A little starvation can really do more
for the average sick man than can the best of medicines and the best doctors. I
do not mean a restricted diet: I mean total abstinence from food . . .―
For more than ten thousand years fasting has been utilized to heal the sick.
Hippocrates regularly prescribed fasting for numerous conditions. The famous
Hippocratic Oath, familiar to every physician, admonishes us to ―First do no
harm,‖ recognizing that the most important foundation of healing the sick, even
today, is the remarkable recuperative power inherent in the human body. This
power of self-repair is beautifully witnessed during the fast.
The reason many people are so afraid of fasting and find the mere thought of it
so unpleasant is that when they skip even one meal they feel awful. They
assume fasting would be very uncomfortable. These individuals, who exhibit
uncomfortable signs early in the fast, are in greatest need of a fast. Headaches
and other discomforts brought on by not eating are signs that the body has
begun to withdraw from and detoxify waste products retained in body tissues.
When we delay eating or fast, these tissue stores of toxic waste are mobilized
for removal. Thus fasting is ―cleansing‖ of the internal system. These
detoxification symptoms usually do not occur in those who are in excellent
health, with a lower level of retained wastes. When one is prepared properly
with a low-fat, lowered-protein, natural, plant-centered diet prior to the fast,
these symptoms, which actually are nothing more than withdrawal symptoms
from a more rich diet, usually do not occur.
Fasting is not as uncomfortable as many would think. Hunger typically goes
away completely by the second day and the symptoms of withdrawal from food
and toxins typically end quickly, usually by the second day of the fast.
Interestingly, it has been noted by physicians conducting fasts for decades that
true hunger is a mouth and throat sensation, felt in the same spot that one
feels thirst. Gnawing in the stomach, stomach cramping, headaches, and
generalized weakness from not eating or skipping a meal or two are
experienced only by those who have been eating the standard American diet
with all its shortcomings (those most in need of a fast). Those who have been
consuming a healthier, low-fat, low-protein, plant-based diet for months prior
to the fast typically experience no such typical hunger pains when they fast.
Symptoms such as abdominal cramping and headaches, traditionally thought
of as hunger symptoms, are not really symptoms of hunger. The medical books
are obviously wrong here. These symptoms are experienced only by those
eating a diet far too rich and stressful for their own internal controls. These
symptoms are signs of withdrawal that indicate healing is beginning when the
body has the opportunity to rest from the continual intake of food.
