Rheumatoid arthritis, adult
diabetes, essential hypertension, fatigue, asthma, rheumatism, allergy, chronic
pain... there are few "diseases of civilization" that do not improve
thanks to the benefits of fasting.
That is why some clinics and
hospitals offer different types of fasting as a good way both to restore health
and to gain inner clarity.
The Benefits of Fasting in
Chronic Diseases
Life expectancy is increasing in
Western countries in parallel with many chronic diseases, which continue to
rise, despite new drugs' appearance.
Many of these drugs' low actual
efficacy or side effects encourage patients to seek therapeutic alternatives to
pharmacological treatment. If we consider the pharmacological treatment of
chronic diseases, it is clear that we are in a dead port in many respects.
To overcome these and other ailments, there is a very personal therapeutic option: the ancient tradition of fasting, endorsed by religions, ignored by science for a long time, and generates mistrust in a large population sector.
Science Is Rediscovering the
Benefits of Fasting
But for more than a century, it
has been followed in countries such as Germany and the United States, where it
is being studied in depth by different methods and where a growing number of
people are adopting the practice of periodic fasting.
Researchers investigate what
happens in our cells during the caloric restriction of fasting, and also: by
what mechanisms can fasting cure, in what pathologies is it effective?
How Is Therapeutic Fasting
Carried Out?
The treatment seems biblically
simple: drink only water or at most a little juice, broth, or infusion for a
little more than a week, although, in practice, a fast usually lasts between
one and three weeks depending on who performs it.
During fasting under medical
supervision or in a specialized clinic, the intake of drugs for chronic
diseases is gradually discontinued, and the person's vital signs are monitored
daily.
The Hardest Part Is Getting
Started
Those who have experienced it know that the most challenging thing is not to stop eating - since the sensation of hunger disappears after the first two days - but then return to eating. Then the habits that led to fasting seem ready to regain lost ground at the first sign of weakness.
Overcoming the Discomfort of The
First Few Days
An additional problem would be
the appearance of an acidosis crisis around the third day, which can be
experienced as a feeling of weakness, nausea, or headache.
These crises are due to the body
mobilizing its fatty deposits to live off its reserves.
However, for medical experts in
fasting, such a crisis may or may not occur - usually marks a turning point in
the process.
The discomfort worsens, and
intense pain may even appear, such as migraine or joint pain if you suffer from
gout or osteoarthritis. But this lasts no more than 24 hours or 36 hours and
indicates a profound transformation in the organism.
The Body Regulates Itself
If our bodies cannot feed themselves
efficiently from their reserves, our species would have disappeared from the
Earth by now. Permanent access to food is still a novelty for humans, and
unfortunately, not yet for many of our fellow human beings.
Of course, the body compels us to
feed ourselves daily - it is the most sustainable system - but it can preserve
its physical and mental capacities until a new opportunity to obtain food
arises.
Glucose Reserves Are Consumed
In the absence of food,
circulating glucose is consumed first, followed by glycogen stores in the liver
and muscles, which provide energy for 24 to 48 hours. This process involves
hormones such as glucagon, glycogen metabolism, and cortisol, which have an
anti-inflammatory effect.
Both are responsible for the
organism's self-regulation and a large part of the effects of fasting: glucose,
cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin decrease, respiratory and heart rate
slow down, and blood pressure drops.
Fat Reserves Are Consumed
The second phase of fasting is characterized by body fat consumption, which is precise to store energy. Hypoglycemia triggers the mechanisms that activate this process.
One kilogram of fat supplies
9,000 kilocalories, which provides the body with energy for several days. During
this phase, which can last two or three weeks - as long as there are fat
reserves - appetite disappears, and the level of serotonin, a hormone that
increases calmness and confidence, rises.
The mental clarity and stability
of mood experienced are surprising. The reason is that to ensure the brain
functions without ups and downs, it gets its energy from ketone bodies and not
from glucose.
A reduction in pain and an
improvement in the sensitivity of cellular insulin receptors are noted. Some
proteins not essential for the organism are also consumed.
The Limit Not to Be Crossed:
Proteins
As fasting progresses, to obtain
glucose, the primary fuel for the body and the brain, we rely primarily on body
fats and very secondarily on proteins, which, by forming the body's structures,
perform much more vital functions.
Therefore, in the third phase of
fasting, when the organism has already metabolized its fats and begins to
consume its proteins, the process must be interrupted to avoid starvation.
During this period, one does
experience real fatigue and weakness, but this is an extreme that should never
happen. This would be the situation of people who may die of starvation due to
war, misery, or climatic problems.
Animals as An Example
In the animal world, examples
abound of animals that fast while facing unique physical challenges. Migratory
birds capable of crossing an ocean without ceasing to flap their wings for days
at a time benefit from the fact that their weight and subsequent effort
decrease as the journey progresses.
The emperor penguin spends more
than 100 days fasting in the harsh Antarctic winter, a process in which it
loses half its weight and has the same three phases described above for human
fasting.
Dr. Ivon Le Maho, a researcher at
the CNRS in Strasbourg, has studied the percentage of protein consumption in
the penguin's metabolism during its fast: it accounts for only 4% of its energy
intake, the remaining 96% coming from fat.
The End of The Fast
The return to feeding should be
gentle and gradual. Examples of recommended foods are: oat or spelled porridge
with fruit compote, raw or boiled vegetables, millet or brown rice, potatoes
with skin, legumes, or eggs.
Concentrate on eating slowly.
Straightforward flavors can be extraordinary.
Contraindications
Fasting is contraindicated only
in poor nutrition or malnutrition, anorexia, diseases with loss of reserves,
such as active cancer and tuberculosis, renal and hepatic insufficiencies
(including chronic hepatitis), insulin-dependent diabetes, and thrombophlebitis.
An Aid to Finding Physical and
Mental Balance
Digesting food consumes energy,
which is saved, and involves a remarkable work of the immune system,
responsible for identifying functional elements and eliminating pathogens.
This frees the body from tasks
derived from the exchange with the outside world and allows it to focus its
energies on rebalancing itself internally.
Therefore, the lack of appetite
caused by certain diseases often has a curative purpose and should be respected
within certain limits. As in sleep, our being is at rest, and the organism's
self-healing capacity is enhanced.
Thorough Cleansing
The fasting person evokes in a
certain sense a person who cleans his house thoroughly, cleaning out the pantry
or the storeroom, making a choice between what is feasible to get rid of and
what must be valued and preserved.
The remarkable thing is that this
physical process has its correlation at the mental and even spiritual levels.
After fasting, people want to adopt a healthier lifestyle and are more explicit
about what they want to do and do not want to do.
We Can Trust Our Own Body
During fasting, we discover that
we can fully trust our bodies. There is wisdom and resources in it that we
would never have imagined.
It can live on its reserves and
generate substances that maintain high morale better than many external agents.
The brain functions and decides with notorious lucidity; for survival, it could
depend on that.
But since it is a voluntary abstention from food, not forced, we can reverse these fantastic powers of the organism for two often postponed processes: cleaning our body tissues and better understanding who we are and what our vital priorities are.