The Benefits of Fasting

Fasting has been a part of religious and spiritual practice for many years, but fasting is also known to produce some healthful benefits for many people. Fasting has helped many overcome the inability to lose weight, reduce inflammation and reduce the effects of many other types of illnesses. With fasting being so beneficial, why isn't it used more frequently to help patients overcome illness?

What is Fasting?

Fasting is most commonly known as when one would abstain from food and drink, and mainly fasting does incorporate drinking pure water only. There are fasts in which people have been known to abstain from food and water, fasts that include vegetables only, fruits and vegetables only, hot teas and water, or just giving up sugars and starches. In many religious groups today, fasting could mean abstaining from anything that someone enjoys including activities rather than food. However, for the sake of this article the focus is simply on diet and the health benefits derived from it.

Fasting has been proven over time to show tremendous health benefits for those who are trying to lose weight. This type of fasting typically has phases in which one would start on a liquid diet then slowly incorporate foods back into the diet. This type of diet is being used by hospitals and doctors under supervision to help patients reduce their weight quickly, especially in cases where the patient has hypertension, edema (swelling), and severe inflammatory processes.

According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Fasting and Eating for Health, the American diet has contributed to many illnesses and disorders, simply because a majority of the American diet consists of processed foods, refined sugars and other toxins. With these toxins and hormones being a part of the diet, it has caused women to overproduce estrogen and men to overproduce androgen. The ill effects of the overproduction of estrogen for women include all sorts of ailments, ranging from PMS and anxiety to breast cancer and uterine fibroids. With women getting these conditions at an earlier age and cancers cropping up more and more each year, there is no doubt that it is linked to our foul American diet.

Almost any doctor will encourage a healthier diet, but Dr. Furhman says that unfortunately many doctors don't have any nutritional education. He recalls his time in medical school and the coursework that he had before him, and yet only three credit hours were dedicated to nutrition. Dr. Fuhrman suggests that focusing on a plant-based diet prior to a fast is the best way to prepare for it, so that by the time we get to the fast we are more able to sustain during that fast. The fasting portion itself gives the digestive system a rest, and allows our body to stop working so hard to process fat, drugs, chemicals, and allows our cells to renew themselves leaving us energized and in better health. Dr. Fuhrman also points out that following a plant-based diet after the fast is critical to maintain the balance of health, while not creating an environment in which someone will pile on the pounds. It is not just about the event, but about the maintenance as well to ensure long-term benefits.

Those Who Should Fast

Dr. Fuhrman suggests that those who are struggling with an unknown illness or inflammatory process in the beginning stages should consider focusing on this plant-based diet along with a fast to follow. However, he also makes it clear that fasting isn't for everyone, and those who are seriously ill or terminally ill won't reap the same benefits because the body is already in the advanced stages of disease. He encourages us to look into it early on, so that we don't have to suffer and wait until it's too late. No matter what your ailment is, this book is certainly worth looking at, and it never hurts to try. If what your doctor is doing for you isn't making you any better than you might want to consider following this plan and see where it takes you.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Fasting and Eating for Health

1995