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.
Nothing is more fascinating than watching toxins being rapidly discharged from
the system while a person fasts. In fact, fasting has been employed to treat
chemical poisoning by people who have recognized the powerful effect it has on
accelerating the discharge of internal noxious wastes. One such enlightening
use of fasting was the subject of an article in the American Journal of Industrial
Medicine in 1984 entitled ―A Trial of Fasting Cure for PCB Poisoned Patients of
Taiwan.‖ The study involved patients who had ingested rice oil contaminated
with PCBs. After a seven-to ten-day fast, dramatic relief was noted and
improvement in symptoms was reported by all patients.
Fasting also has a powerful effect on improving liver function. This benefit is
not limited to the fasting period but continues after the fast. Medical studies
have tested the ability of the therapeutic fast to improve conditions such as
alcoholic liver injury, damage from fatty liver, and drug-induced liver injury.
Dramatic improvements were consistently reported.
Fasting is a very valuable treatment for psychological disorders. There are
hundreds of journal articles in the medical literature documenting the value of
fasting in improving the function of the entire body, including the brain.
Fasting has been repeatedly observed to alleviate neuroses, anxiety, and
depression.It appears from these studies that fasting improves our ability to
adapt to frustration and external stress. One Japanese clinic fasted 382 patients
with psychosomatic disease with a success rate of 87 percent.
When the beneficial effects of the therapeutic fast were investigated with
various research parameters measuring organ function, it was found repeatedly
that substantial improvements are seen in the autonomic nervous system,
endocrine system, and adrenal function after the fast.
Many who earnestly want to improve their health are convinced that their diets
are lacking in some vital nutrient or other substance that they can buy to
recover their health. Though it may be true that some individuals, especially the
elderly, may be borderline deficient in certain nutrients, the reality is that most
of the chronic diseases people suffer from are not primarily the result of
nutrient deficiencies. Therefore, supplying additional nutrients does not result in
recovery. After a while, those with chronic medical conditions, including
cardiovascular disease, migraines, colitis, arthritis, psoriasis, asthma, and
sinusitis, realize that they still have not achieved a recovery and that they
cannot purchase optimal health at the health food store or pharmacy.
The diets that I prescribe for my patients are abundant in appropriate
nutrients, yet contain no excess of sugar, protein, fat, or cholesterol. Generally,
by following an optimal diet and lifestyle, which will be described in the next
chapter, chronically sick people get well. The rate of recovery from the diseases
that have been mentioned, as well as from many other autoimmune and dietrelated
illnesses, is astonishing. While dietary modifications alone may be
enough for recovery from disease in some cases, to obtain a complete recovery
a physician-supervised fast often becomes the only solution to enable the
individual to achieve the desired healing in a reasonable time frame. A properly
conducted fast is a safe and expedient way to remove excesses from the body
— excesses that are preventing the body from achieving a full recovery.
Medications cannot do this.
Some persons who are suffering from serious chronic ailments can make
great strides in their health while continuing to eat. It is important that these
individuals strive to remove all the possible causes of ill health. This must
include reducing all the stressors on the body, and calls for careful
management of the diet (adapting it to their individual digestive and nutrient
needs), less food, less work, and more rest. This method can frequently take
too long and require infinite diligence and patience. A successful outcome is not
so certain as when a prolonged fast is undertaken.
Sometimes people are not careful enough with the changes in their diet or
are unwilling to make the changes that are sufficient to bring about a complete
recovery from their condition. Then, when their health is restored with a fast
and they see the health potential that is available to them through natural
methods, they develop a heightened ability to conform to a healthy way of life
to maintain their long-sought-after good health.
For those who are not in need of a fast, the very principles behind the fast
are the basis for dietary changes that will lead to recovery and the subsequent
control of health. Throughout this book the concepts of health recovery and
disease causation that apply to both the fasting and the eating state will be
explained. Readers will gain a clear comprehension of the causes of disease
and how to maintain and achieve optimal health, even if they never fast.
The medical profession's primary method, over the last century, for
combating the effects of improper diet and life-style has been to offer
medication and surgery. This approach has not been effective. Almost every
medical treatment offered for the chronic disease sufferer today attempts only
to control symptoms. There are no ―cures.‖ The current medical treatments not
only have risks, but also represent a Band-Aid type of approach. They can offer
relief from symptoms, but they cannot cure because they do not address the
cause of the disease. Under ―modern‖ medicine, the incidence of most chronic
diseases has increased and the vast majority of people are still dying from what
are preventable, diet-and life-style-induced illnesses.
Obviously, traditional medical treatments can be lifesaving in an emergency
situation and on some other occasions can be appropriate and extremely
beneficial. We certainly have today the best emergency medical care ever
available. But, overall, modern medicine has continued to fail. People are still
suffering needlessly and dying prematurely. This is because treatments don't
eliminate the primary cause: a rich diet that stresses the system and overloads
the body with excesses and toxins.
Imagine if every day I smashed my hand with a hammer. Could I expect a
pain medication or anti-inflammatory drug to heal the wound? Obviously, I
would not recover unless I stopped the daily pounding. Every day our nation's
people are pounding themselves with a rich diet, ill-adapted to the needs of our
species. This inevitably results in the eventual breakdown of our internal
systems and the development of chronic disease.
Fasting, as opposed to the usual medical treatments, helps to remove the
cause of the disease. For example, with atherosclerosis (the buildup of plaque
in the arteries), fasting allows the body to work to actually remove the plaque
from within the blood vessels. In diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, fasting
clears out the waste deposits that are stimulating the immune system and
inflaming the joints. This allows the body to heal itself.
In addition to the consistently positive results of fasting on disease, fasting
enables the disease sufferer to drop weight rapidly to a safer level. Excess
weight in those suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol
levels, or angina can contribute to their premature death from a heart attack or
stroke. While diets of every description flood the media, nothing will remove
these risk factors more effectively, more quickly, or more predictably than
fasting.
A natural foods dietary approach, utilizing superior nutrition, combined with
therapeutic fasting, when appropriate, is the only way our society will be able
to free itself from the hordes of ill people still chronically suffering and taking
multiple drugs as the only option to lessen their symptoms.
The practice and methods described here offer a rational approach that is
not only effective but also consistent with the Hippocratic admonition to ―do no
harm.‖ The results described are consistent with natural laws and logic that
would assume that health will result from healthful living and from removal of
the causes of disease. Likewise, abuses done to our bodies, whether recognized
or not, can result in ill health. Rather than merely reduce the signs of disease,
such as lowering blood pressure with medication, this approach enables the
faster to remove the disease itself and significantly extend longevity.
Doctors leave medical school with the hope and intent of gaining selfsatisfaction
through helping others in need. Doctors and patients both,
however, become resigned and frustrated due to the inherent weaknesses in
today's approach that calls for powerful diagnostic tests, and then leaves the
patient with little option but to take potentially harmful drugs to attempt to
control the signs and symptoms of disease. Rather than hoping for the
discovery of some wonder drug, we are discovering the true wonder of the
healing properties inherent in the human body that can be unleashed by
removing impediments to normal function.
Once you are exposed to the powerful effects the methods described within
this book will afford you, there is no turning back. As a result of reading this
book, you will come to view your own body in a completely different way and
will inevitably take better care of yourself in the future. The clear
comprehension of the causes of disease and how to maintain and achieve
optimal wellness will crystallize in your mind, giving you a powerful tool to
regain control of your own health even if you never undergo a fast.
Modern research has confirmed the folk adage that eating less, and especially
eating less fats and high-protein animal foods, prolongs life.
Our rich, modern diet has been implicated as a causative factor in cancer,
heart attack, stroke, hardening of the arteries, and diabetes, and the leading
causes of death in this country can be prevented or delayed by adopting
healthier nutritional habits. The same foods that cause premature deaths also
subject us to misery and chronic illness in life.
This is the main purpose of this book: to provide a more complete
understanding of the cause of various diseases and to explain how to remove
the obstacles to healing so you can recover your health.
If individuals choose to undergo a fast for internal cleansing and rejuvenation
of their system, or for therapy of a specific disease, they must combine the fast
with a healthy diet before and after fasting to maintain the benefits they reap
from the fast. In many instances the change in diet alone is sufficient to achieve
a complete recovery.
Many do not comprehend the relation between their food intake, their lifestyle
habits, and their chronic illnesses, such as arthritis, osteoporosis,
recurrent infections, allergies, acne, asthma, and sinusitis. Ironically, and sadly,
health authorities, most physicians, and dieticians recommend the very same
eating plans that cause these diseases to develop in the first place. Patients and
their physicians generally rationalize that the problems they are facing are
genetic, biochemical, structural, or otherwise beyond their control. Patients are
frequently told the food they consume has nothing to do with the disease from
which they suffer. This is simply untrue. Most chronic medical problems are not
only caused by improper diet and life-style, but also can be reversed by
adopting a more primitive and natural diet, one that our species was originally
designed for.
This information is not a ―new breakthrough‖ or medical discovery. Many renowned physicians, after reviewing the evidence collected over the last few
decades, are taking a new approach to dietary recommendations. For example,
the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, headquartered in
Washington, D.C., has recently asked the Department of Agriculture to replace
the traditional four food groups (meat, dairy, grains, and fruits and vegetables)
with four new ones: fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. The reasoning
behind this change is sound — it emphasizes the foods that protect against
disease rather than those that cause disease.
Unfortunately, we live in a modern society where suffering from preventable
illnesses and chronic disease is the ―norm.‖ Half of us die from the totally
avoidable occurrence of heart disease, and the majority of the individuals who
do not die of hardening of the arteries die of cancer. Millions suffer from
osteoporosis, deterioration of the musculoskeletal system, and chronic back and
joint pain. The majority of people in this country are out of shape and
overweight, and live their lives waiting for some disease to strike.
From hay fever and allergies to hypertension and high cholesterol, all these
chronic conditions can be prevented through optimal nutrition. We do not need
to be a nation of medical dependents, visiting physicians and taking drugs in a
futile attempt to combat the effects of our disease-producing modern diet.
Instead of feeding ourselves in such a manner as to cause our deterioration, I
recommend eating primarily unrefined plant foods. This means eliminating or
de-emphasizing meat, chicken, fish, and dairy products; and avoiding processed
foods, fried foods, fats, and sweets. If these rich foods are to be consumed at
all, my patients are encouraged to limit their use to special occasions (once
weekly or less) or to use animal-based foods only as condiments, in very small
quantity, to flavor a soup or vegetable dish.
Even though these recommendations may be abhorrent to certain individuals
and to the animal agriculture community, it can not be denied that vegetarian
populations live longer and healthier lives than meat-eating populations. Not
only does the epidemiologic evidence from around the globe point to this, but
also the studies on healthy vegetarian populations show that there is a
significant survival advantage when animal foods are eliminated from the
diet.
Meat and dairy products, which have traditionally been our primary source of
protein, have high fat and cholesterol content, minimal fiber, and are deficient
in the cancer-preventing antioxidant nutrients. This nutritional profile of animal
foods is the precise combination associated with an increased risk of coronary
artery (heart) disease, most cancers, diabetes, and obesity.
Plant foods have substantial amounts of fiber, little fat, and moderate
amounts of protein. Much modern research has linked not only fats to cancer
and degenerative illnesses but also the proteins in animal products.
These foods were thought in the past to be appropriate for our species, but now it is
clear that animal-based foods, because of their link to so many of our ills, are
poorly adapted to humans when used in significant quantities.
As a species we are closely related to the great apes, who are primarily plant
eaters. Clearly, the diet for which our species is best adapted is one consisting
predominantly of natural, unrefined, plant-based foods with little if any foods of
animal origin.
Our population is nutritionally miseducated. Outdated nutritional concepts
encourage us to feed our children a diet that promotes premature growth and
rapid maturity. Nutritionists have suggested humans need to consume highprotein
animal foods such as eggs, meat, and fowl because these foods have
been noted to promote more rapid growth in rats and other rodents. This is a
tremendous error, as now we have learned that growth acceleration promotes
aging.
Over the years researchers noted that the rodents that matured and grew the
quickest died the earliest. This Nvas tested again and again with all animal
species: the faster an animal grows and matures, the younger it dies.
This is now an established fact in humans as well; for example, early puberty increases
our risk of certain cancers, especially breast and prostate cancer.
It was also noted that if we restrict the calories an animal can eat, by
underfeeding it or periodically fasting it, we can significantly prolong its life. In
fact, periodically fasting animals can double their natural life span.
Utilizing the traditional four food groups as a guide, modern society consumes
a diet with a severe excess of fat, cholesterol, and protein, and that is also
significantly deficient in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Almost any menu that
uses these outdated guidelines would have us consume between 30 and 45
percent of calories from fat. This is more than double the amount consumed in
countries that do not have the high rates of heart attack and cancer that we see
in our country today. Our fiber intake hovers around 10 to 20 grams per day,
less than a fourth of what it should be.
The modern way of eating sets the stage for our bodies to function at low
efficiency, stressing our internal organ systems, leading to chronic disease.
Though all chronic diseases may have genetic factors contributing to their
expression, without the stresses of modern living and modern dietary practices,
these inherited differences, the weak links in our genetic codes, need never
express themselves in chronic disease.
Chronic diseases, more prevalent in modern times, are on the rise not merely
because people are eating an animal-based diet, but also because the grain
products we consume are highly refined and processed to make them nearly
devoid of fiber. In addition, modern societies consume a large amount of added
sweeteners, simple sugars, and refined vegetable fats or oils. These foods rob
us of our nutritional reserves and add further toxic stress to the body.
Rather than eat unprocessed foods as nature intended, most of us consume
large quantities of processed foods that are high in fat, salt, sugar, and
chemical additives and that are deficient in fiber and essential nutrients. Instead
of providing a diet predominating in fresh fruits and vegetables, which supply
the proper nutrients for normal development, most parents allow their children
to consume large quantities of ―empty-calorie― foods. These deficient foods
include bottled fruit juice and other sweet drinks that are high in sugar and
deficient in essential nutrients. Incredible as it may seem, the top three sources
of calories in most American diets today are milk, cola, and margarine, with the
combination of fat and refined sugar occupying 65 percent of caloric intake.
It amazes me that the human body can even survive this onslaught of abuse
that begins at such a young age. Is it any wonder that almost from birth many
children are frequently sick with one infection after another? Then they get
older, develop hay fever, allergies, or asthma, and are increasingly prey to
autoimmune illnesses and cancer. Is it surprising that we have a nation of the
walking sick? Unfortunately, few comprehend the correlation between diet and a
multitude of common diseases such as acne, hyperactivity, anxiety, headaches,
and PMS.
Obesity in children is also rising at an alarming rate. The May 1987 issue of
the American Journal of Diseases of Children reported a 54 percent increase in
obesity in 6- to 11-year-olds since 1960.
The 1992 Bogalusa Heart Study discovered atherosclerotic lesions, the early
signs of clogging of the arteries, in most children, teenagers, and young adults.
Autopsies were conducted on over 60 percent of all children who died, mostly
by accidental deaths. They confirmed that this disease process begins very
early in life, setting the stage for a premature death later on.
It astounds me that parents in our society allow their children to consume the
foods they do — sugary cereals, fast food, pizza, white bread, and other emptycalorie
foods, never wondering why their children are chronically ill, allergic,
asthmatic, or have recurrent ear infections. High-calorie malnutrition takes its
toll, flooding doctors' offices with sick patients of every description.
The standard American diet is centered around animal foods and processed
wheat products, neither of which are ideal foods. Even worse, the typical
modern eater consumes a tremendous amount of extracted vegetable oil. Many
Americans add high-fat dressings or sauces to almost everything they consume
that is not a high-fat food to start with. Yet those familiar with the scientific
research on fats, including extracted plant fats such as olive oil and soy oil,
know that fats increase our risk of cancer.
10 Vegetable fats are processed foods
that interfere with the normal function of our immune system11,12 and that
contribute to obesity and chronic disease.
When individuals change from an animal-food-based diet to a vegetarian diet,
but then eat mostly processed foods such as low-fat pizza, tofu dogs and other
health food store concoctions, refined cereals and grains, pasta, and bread as
the primary source of their calories, the diet is still inadequate.
Grains, when consumed in their refined state, are comparatively poor sources
of vitamins, especially antioxidants. They are also nearly devoid of essential
fatty acids. The opposite can be said of green vegetables. Green vegetables and
especially the leafy greens are rich in vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty
acids, as well as thousands of other important nutrients that research scientists
are beginning to identify as being essential for optimal health. These plantbased
substances, called phytochemicals, support our immune system and
protect us from cancer.
Just a few years ago, scientists didn't know phytochemicals existed. Today
they represent the new frontier in cancer-prevention research. The reality is
that there exist thousands of compounds that will never see the inside of a
vitamin bottle. Until recently nobody even knew they existed, and more are
being discovered each year. Every slice of an orange, every bit of broccoli,
every forkful of romaine lettuce, contains thousands of these essential nutrients
produced when sunlight hits plants. Only through eating large amounts of many
different natural, unprocessed fruits and vegetables will we obtain these
necessary elements for optimal health.
The normal functioning of the intestinal tract depends on the presence of
adequate fiber. The typical diet is unhealthfully deficient in fiber. So another
benefit of a diet high in natural plant food and complex carbohydrate is that it's
invariably accompanied by more fiber. A diet high in fiber holds fluid within the
digestive tract and moves feces through the system at a faster speed. This is
important to protect against colon cancer, diverticulosis, appendicitis, and
hemorrhoids, as well as constipation and intestinal spasm.
The contemporary diet that most Americans view as ―healthy‖ is a far cry
from that. Those believing they are on a ―low-fat‖ diet are usually consuming
between 30 and 40 percent of calories from fat, roughly three times as much fat
as we should be eating. When the fiber and antioxidant nutrients consumed by
most people are totaled, the result is frightfully low.
In a nationwide survey, only 9 percent of those polled had eaten three or
more servings of vegetables and two or more servings of fruit on the previous
day. People are not following the recommendations by the government to
consume more fruits and vegetables. More important, even if they followed the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommendations to the letter, their diet
would still be inadequate. Though an improvement over the past, the
recommendations of the new Food Guide Pyramid still do not sufficiently
emphasize fresh fruits and raw and cooked vegetables.
The suggested guidelines still encourage a diet too high in fat and protein,
and too low in plant-borne nutrients and fiber for optimal health. Only a plantcentered
diet can provide optimal amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fiber
while keeping fat intake under 20 percent of calories. For example, the diet I
recommend supplies about 1,500 mg of vitamin C daily from food. With the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and the adequate amount of foodborne
vitamin C come the other bioflavonoids and important unidentified
compounds that are present only in whole plant food.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 60 mg a day.
This is a ridiculously low and arbitrary number, as are the RDA's of many other
plant-derived nutrients. These inadequate recommendations are healthy only
for the industrial food giants, so their products don't look as deficient as they
are. Contrary to popular belief, we can get very large quantities of nutrients
such as vitamin C, beta carotene, and vitamin E in our diets without the use of
pills simply by eating a natural, plant-based diet.
Our population has accepted the fact that more than half of us will die of heart
attacks and more than a third will develop cancer at some point in our lives. So
too is it accepted that we live and suffer with medical problems, take
medications recommended by our physicians, and then die or become a
physical or mental cripple in later years.
This common pattern is a tragedy of modern life, but one that can be
avoided. Disease, dementia, and disability associated with aging are unnatural.
We have control over our health as we extend our life span by making different
food choices. Dennis Burkitt, M.D., one of the world's most renowned physician
researchers on human nutrition and a pioneer who established the value of
fiber, has explained that western man has made more change in his diet over
the last six or eight generations than has been made throughout the whole of
the rest of his sojourn on earth.
Genetically, anatomically, and physiologically our bodies are the same as
those of humans who lived in the Stone Age. What we put into our bodies is
quite different. Refined supermarket food is being fed to our Stone Age bodies.
Much of the food found in supermarkets derives its calories from extracted
sweeteners, sugars, fats, and refined flour. Besides the empty-calorie
drawbacks and fat-producing effects of these foods, they are deficient in the
vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients needed by the body to burn
them for energy. Therefore, the body must continually draw on its reserves of
stored nutrients, thus draining its nutritional reservoir.
Not only sweets, but also all processed foods that no longer carry with them
the essential nutrients endowed by nature are deficit inducing. For example, the
ingestion of processed foods has been shown to induce chromium deficiencies,
even though the chromium levels may have been normal before the
introduction of these refined products.
Diets with a high ratio of refined carbohydrate to total carbohydrate induce various nutritional deficiencies. This form of high-calorie malnutrition causes the brain and nervous system to
become irritable and the immune system to malfunction.
This weakens our immune system and has an assortment of negative effects on our development,
including heightened intraocular pressure and poor eyesight.
The China-Oxford-Cornell Study is one of the largest nutritional research
projects ever conducted. This massive project, called the ―Grand Prix of
Epidemiology,‖ documented the observation that in underdeveloped areas
where populations consume predominantly unrefined plant foods, the
degenerative diseases of modern society as well as the leading cancers are
virtually nonexistent. This study confirms hundreds of other studies that have
documented that most diseases of modern society originate from dietary folly.
Unfortunately, the rural societies examined in the China-Oxford-Cornell Study
are more and more adopting the ―American way‖ of eating and are statistically
beginning to show increasing incidence of disease.
The China Project dramatically demonstrates that if we plot the amount of
animal foods eaten against the death rates from the leading causes of death
(heart disease and cancers), all animal food consumption, even fish and
chicken, raises the rates of cancer and heart disease.
Interestingly, even small quantities of animal foods in the diet were able to trigger higher cholesterol
levels, heart disease, and cancer. The evidence from the China Project and
other confirming studies shows that the animal protein itself, not just the fat in
the animal foods, causes cholesterol to rise and cancer to increase.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, head of the China Project, predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years
research will solidly establish that animal protein is one of the most toxic
nutrients for humans.
Dr. Campbell has explained, ―There is strong evidence in the scientific
literature that when a reduction in fat is compared to a reduction in protein
intake, the protein effect on blood cholesterol is more significant than the effect
of saturated fat. Animal protein is a hypercholesterolemic agent . . . Many
Americans are switching from beef to skinless chicken and other animal-based
foods simply to reduce their intake of fat. However the existing evidence
suggests that this makes little or no sense.‖18
It is clear that one should consume protein in quantities sufficient to meet the
needs of the body, but with no extra. Excess protein affects the body in a
variety of negative ways, shortening potential life span. Animal protein
consumption has been linked with increased cancer rates and tumor formation
as well as the acceleration of at.herosclerosis.
Excess proteins also increase our requirements for other nutrients by reducing the uptake of folate,
pantothenic acid, and pyridoxine, and by washing away essential minerals
through the kidney as the kidney attempts to eliminate the extra nitrogenous
waste.Because our physiological nature is such that we are primates,
equipped with the virtually identical digestive apparatus (comparatively small
liver and kidney) as the great apes, our structure is not well equipped to handle
high quantities of concentrated fats and proteins. Monkeys also do poorly on
high-protein diets and improve physically and emotionally when a highcarbohydrate
diet is resumed.
Relatively high levels of uric acid, ammonia,and other toxins such as phenols, skatole, and indole are formed by proteolytic bacteria, which line our digestive tract when we consume a high-protein
diet.These toxic by-products elaborated by bacteria in our gutcan
significantly add to the toxic load the body must deal with on a daily basis and
can contribute to multiple disease processes.
The idea that the major diseases in prosperous countries are related to
dietary excesses is becoming a majority view among those studying the
question. Dr. Mark Hegsted, Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard School of
Public Health, stated before a Senate Committee, ―The risks associated with
eating this diet (rich in meat, other sources of fat, sugar, and refined
carbohydrates) are demonstrably large. The question to be asked is not why
should we change our diet, but why not? Ischemic heart disease, cancer,
diabetes, and hypertension are the diseases that kill us. They are epidemic in
our population. We cannot afford to temporize. We have an obligation to inform
the public of the correct food choices. To do less is to avoid our responsibility.‖
We continue to pretend that the cause of disease is a mystery or is genetic —
beyond our control. Fortunately, this is not so. On the other hand, many,
including physicians and informed laymen, are eager for excuses not to face the
annoying facts so they can continue to eat in ways that are convenient and
agreeable but hazardous to their health.
If we look at breast cancer as a model to illustrate why cancer incidence has
skyrocketed in this century, we can observe that in spite of modern medicine
there has been a slow, steady climb in the death rate from breast cancer.
Efforts to detect cancer earlier with mammograms and breast exams have not
impeded the climb in statistics showing that an increasing number of women
are still dying from this cancer. The failure to prevent cancer has exacted an
increasing toll: as of 1993 the disease attacks one in eight women in America.
The evidence linking diet to breast cancer has been known for years. As is the
case with most other diseases, however, the public is the last to know. In
Japan, for example, breast cancer was rare, but Japanese women who migrated
to this country soon had the same rate of cancer as American women—at least
400 percent higher than in Japan. We discovered that the decreased rate of
cancer was due not to genetics but primarily to the amount of fat in the diet.
In Japan, until about 50 years ago, less than 10 percent of calories came
from fat,compared to 40 percent in the American diet, even in the 1940s.
Today, however, the Japanese eat more and more meat, fat, and fast foods.
Predictably, the rate of breast cancer as well as other cancers in Japan is rapidly
increasing.Similar findings have been made within the United States. For
instance, studies comparing vegetarian to nonvegetarian groups show much
less cancer among vegetarians, especially those avoiding dairy products.
Increased quantities of dietary fat cause an array of negative effects on immune
function. The link between higher fat intake and the increasing occurrence of
common cancers has been well established for years.
The link between fat and breast cancer is also explained because it is well known that breast tumors.
are fueled by estrogens.When women eat a low-fat diet, their estrogen level
drops quickly.Fats not only increase the amount of circulating estrogens in
the body, but also increase the biologic activity of the estrogen. A heightened
estrogen level through life eventually takes its toll — as a cause of menstrual
difficulties and increased bleeding, and as an important cause of breast cancer.
This effect of estrogen on the development of breast cancer is also indicated
by the fact that women who mature early, as measured by when menstruation
begins, face increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Sexual maturation is dependent on circulating estrogen levels. Ominously, the onset of menstruation
has been occurring at a younger and younger age in western societies during
this century.The average age in the United States is now about 12 years.
According to the World Health Organization, the average age at which puberty
began in 1840 was about 17.
The early development of breast tissue and the early stimulation of this tissue
with high levels of estrogen is unprecedented in the history of the human race.
This unnatural stimulation of breast tissue occurs before and during the teenage
years, setting the groundwork for breast cancer later on. Feeding our children a
plant-centered diet predominating in wholesome natural plant foods such as
fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is probably the most important thing we
can do to prevent them from getting breast cancer as adults. We are finally
realizing that the diet we are raised on early in life has profound, far-reaching
effects on our later health.
As modern young Japanese have adopted our ways of eating high amounts of
fatty foods and more animal products, their age of onset of menses has
gradually fallen over the last 50 years from 16 to 12.5 years.
The onset of early maturity is an ominous sign both in males and females. As with estrogen
in women, heightened levels of androgens in men at a young age set the stage
for the development of prostate cancer later on.
