Fasting and Eating for Health
by Joel Fuhrman
(St. Martin’s Griffin, 1995)
Health is the normal sate. Most chronic disease is the inevitable consequences of living s 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.
Page 7.
The symptoms of hunger generally disappear by the second day of the fast.
Page 12.
Drugs, well re cognized as toxic and harmful if ingested when we are well, are suddenly seen as healthful when the body is suffering with an acute illness.
Page 13.
By drugging away their symptoms, people keep themselves sick longer and can even turn a minor disease in a major one.
Page 14.
If we are not feeling well, we should sip water and rest.
Page 14.
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.
Page 14.
The job of fasting is to supply to body with the ideal environment to accomplish its work of healing.
Page 14.
The body functions normally for quite long time when no food but only water is ingested.
Page 17.
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. … Thus fasting is “cleansing” of the internal system.
Page 18.
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.
Page 21.
Almost every medical treatment offered for the chronic disease sufferer today attempts only to control symptoms. There are no “cures.” … They cannot cure because they do not address the cause of the disease.
Page 21.
Patients are frequently told the food they consume has nothing to do with the disease from which they suffer. This is simply untrue.
Page 25.
I recommend eating primarily unrefined plant foods.
Page 26.
Outdated nutritional concepts encourage us to feed our children a diet that promotes premature growth and rapid maturity. … growth acceleration promotes aging.
Page 27.
Disease, dementia, and disability associated with aging are unnatural.
Page 31.
Most diseases of modern society originate from dietary folly.
Pages 32-33.
Dietary fat not only retards the general effectiveness of the immune system, but also encourages the absorption of carcinogens.
Page 37.
Whenever we look at populations who consume high levels of fruits and vegetables, we find reduced levels of cancer and disease in general.
Page 38.
Our present-day diet is responsible for most of the ill health and premature death observed today.
Page 38.
We should be concerned about too much rather than too little protein. … the chief argument used to promote the use of animal products - the idea that they are rich in protein - is a great reason to avoid them.
Page 40.
Animal products contain much higher levels of pesticides than do plant foods.
Page 41.
If dramatic improvement in your health is what you have in mind, then dramatic changes must be made in your diet.
Page 45.
Most of us are physiologically addicted to food and assume it is difficult to change our diet. … We are unaware of what standards of health are possible for us.
Page 48.
Powerful industrial forces driven by economics, not science, are trying to convince us that it doesn’t matter what we eat.
Page 49.
Much of the nutritional information that is given to the public is misleading. Even food labeling is deceptive.
Page 51.
The dairy industry always presents nutritional “education” in nutrient/weight terms to hid the fat content of its products.
Page 51.
The diseases most prevalent in our society will never be prevented just by taking vitamin or food supplements.
Page 51.
The diseases of affluent societies are virtually unknown in societies of lesser economic strength, which live on natural-food, plant-based diets.
Pages 51-52.
We now have a population of miseducated [sic] consumers who think they are on a low-fat diet and wonder why they continue to have high blood pressure and heart disease, not to mention all the other diseases resulting from this outmoded diet.
Page 52.
When food is not in its natural state … it more than likely is a risky food to consume on a regular basis.
Page 52.
The conventional medical community … bases its practice on give drugs to the sick.
Page 55.
The mainstream of modern medicine and the alternative health-care movement, both fueled by a remedy mentality that dominates our society combined with the financial incentive to make profits selling cures and drugs, has generally ignored this minimalist school of healing.
Page 57.
When people live in harmony with their physiological needs, health is the inevitable result.
Page 57.
“Disease care” … does not lead to a healthier society with fewer medical needs.
Page 57.
Disease is so much a part of the American way of life that it is considered normal.
Page 58.
Neither the medical community nor the public has understood the simple concept that the body will not function normally if injurious substances are consumed.
Page 59.
Coughing is a sign of health; the body produces a cough as an effort to keep the lungs clear.
Page 60.
The absence of symptoms is not the same as good health. … most Americans are poisoning themselves daily in one form or another, yet they feel healthy.
Page 61.
All drugs are toxic and we should never forget this.
Page 62.
Improper diet exposes us to many offending substances and is the largest cause of disease.
Page 63.
With the exception of illness caused by direct injury, virulent poisoning, or defects present prior to birth, internal physiology and cellular biochemistry determine an individual’s level of health and capabilities.
Page 63.
The amassing of unwanted and often toxic substances explains the gradual decline in cellular function and therefore body function in general.
Page 64.
We age prematurely when we place our body [sic] under stress and drive cellular machinery to overwork in the attempt to process unessential waste.
Page 67.
Fasting powerfully opposes all the processes that lead to aging at the cellular level.
Page 67.
Longevity studies on humans excluding smokers, drinkers, and the chronically ill illustrate that the leanest live the longest.
Page 68.
Researchers have concluded that resistance to disease is highest on what would generally be considered an inadequate diet.
Page 68.
Fasting is very different from chronic malnutrition.
Page 70.
Every level of health, which extends on a spectrum frim optimal health and vitality to the disease states of chronic illness, is directly related to and governed by the law of cause and effect.
Page 70.
What we commonly refer to as being cured is usually the diminishing of symptoms through pharmacology or the removal of diseases tissue through surgery. This is always a short-term solution, does not leave the body in better shape, and sets the body up for a reoccurrence of the same set of symptoms or, in the case of surgery, affliction at a future date elsewhere in the body.
Page 71.
Improper life-style and primarily improper dietary habits are responsible for the majority of chronic diseases, as well as being the major causes of death in our country.
Page 72.
Sometimes people initially feel worse when they make positive changes to improve their health.
Page 73.
Our excessive consumption of dietary fat is a modern phenomenon.
Page 73.
Animal food consumption is more of a risk factor for an early death than even cigarette smoking.
Page 75.
Most people mistake feeling good for health. But anything that quickly makes you feel good is likely to be harmful to your health.
Page 81.
Anything that rapidly takes away symptoms of ill health or makes you feel stimulated is likely to be a health risk.
Page 81.
Human are designed by nature to consume a low-protein diet; they lack the equipment of a large liver to detoxify uric acid and other proteinaceous wastes. We frequently suffer unknowingly from our modern dietary practices because our bodies re not adapted to handle the foods we eat.
Page 84.
The body takes the opportunity to accomplish self-cleaning, or detoxification, when it is not busy digesting and assimilating food and nutrients.
Page 94.
As human animals we are not biologically adapted to a high-protein diet. Metabolically there is little difference between humans and the great apes, sho are predominantly vegetarians. Like the ape, we are not adapted to function optimally on diets that are high in protein and fat.
Page 95.
Not only is rapid growth a poor indicator of the value of a food, but foods that promote rapid growth in animals and humans are the precise foods that promote premature aging of our body [sic] and even cancer.
Page 96.
The liver is the major organ of detoxification.
Page 97.
Heart attacks are virtually unknown in societies that follow natural plant-based diets.
Page 102.
Surgery should and can be avoided.
Page 104.
Deaths from heart disease increase gradually as populations gradually increase their consumption of animal-based foods.
Page 109.
Fasting, in conjunction with optimal nutrition before and after the fast, offers the ability to undo the damage done to the body by the rich diets of modern societies.
Page 111.
After World War II studies of populations that underwent semi-starvation during wartime rekindled physician interest.
Page 112.
Fasting rapidly and effectively lowers blood pressure without medication.
Page 115.
Fasting treats the entire body.
Page 120.
All animal foods are rich in fat and protein and deficient in fiber and the antioxidant nutrients that protect against heart disease and cancer.
Page 129.
Type II diabetics [sic] is a disease of insulin resistance, not insulin deficiency.
Page 130.
Insulin increases the rate at which cholesterol-laden plaque builds up on arterial walls. The abnormally high levels of insulin produced by all overweight individuals, diabetic or not, is an independent risk factor for early cardia death.
Page 131.
Insulin blocks cholesterol removal.
Page 133.
Giving a type II diabetic insulin is like giving an alcoholic more alcohol.
Page 135.
I can only view today’s treatment of diabetic patients s malpractice
Page 135.
A large green salad, eaten daily, is the only food that has shown a significant correlation with longer life in scientific studies.
Page 137.
A diabetic patient who is not a strict vegetarian is either ill-informed or foolish.
Page 137.
Merely adding supplements to an inadequate diet will never suffice.
Page 138.
Type 1 diabetics should not fast.
Page 140.
With the dietary modifications alone, type 1, or childhood-onset, diabetes are able to reduce their insulin requirements by almost half. But more important, they can improve their overall health, retard the destruction of their bodies, and significantly reduce complications and the risk of early cardiac death.
Page 142.
The excess of fat in the diet from either animal fats or excessive vegetable oil can impede the ability of the body quickly to clear immune complexes from the bloodstream. Excess fat hinders immune function.
Page 149.
The underlying cause of disease must be treated whenever possible
Page 163.
The exposure to cow’s milk (a food obviously designed for infant cows, not humans) increases the risk not only of adverse reactions to this milk, but also of developing allergies to other foods.
Page 165.
There is no particular diet that is just right for everyone.
Page 169.
The human body contains powerful self-remedying forces. If we can unleash this healing potential by removing the causes of illness and remove all impediments to healing, the results can be truly remarkable.
Pages 169-170.
Treatments build complications and prolong the illness so that the sufferer now has multiple reasons for systemic toxicity.
Page 170.
Through healthful living and avoiding suppression of early symptoms with drugs, we can avoid the development of chronic disease or the return to the former disease condition once a recovery has been achieved.
Page 170.
No true healing can take place unless the causes of ill health are removed. The primary cause of illness can be summed up in one word: toxicosis. The self-pollution that destroys our bodies from the inside out, from wrong living and wrong eating, is a dangerous life-style to continue.
Page 170.
Fasting is the staring point. It should be thought of as the initial preparation of house-cleaning before embarking on a new way of eating and living that will support health and not cause the body to break down again.
Page 171.
Unlike other methods of disease treatment, fasting is not based on giving cures, because to expect a cure or remedy to undo years of wrong living and self-abuse would be the same as believing in magic.
Pages 173-174.
Fasting is based on unchanging biological laws that insist the cause of disease be removed.
Page 174.
Nature heals when given the opportunity.
Page 174.
Too often, scientific experiments prove nothing. Frequently, the source of the money dictates the answer.
Page 175.
If fasting does not lead to complete recovery from a certain condition, it will not hurt you … and will actually improve your health.
Page 175.
Avoiding unnecessary surgery is precisely why many patients choose to undergo a therapeutic fast.
Page 176.
We should not wait until any disease becomes so severe that it is difficult to remedy when a safe and more effective method of restoring normal function, like fasting, can be utilized.
Page 180.
The longer the patient waits to utilize this effective natural approach, the more difficult it will e and the longer it will take to bring about a recovery.
Page 180.
Fasting and natural diet, through essentially unknown as a therapy, should be the first treatment when someone discovers that he or she has a medical problem.
Page 180.
Too frequently patients suffer from lifelong problems that are merely the response of irritated tissues to noxious stimuli.
Page 182.
It is accurate to view inflammation as a corrective attempt by the body to restore normalcy to its cells and tissues. … Inflammation serves to destroy, dilute, or wall off the injurious agent. It is the reaction of living tissue to local injury.
Page 182.
Without inflammation, infectious would go unchecked and wounds would never heal.
Page 183.
Doctors wind up treating symptoms rather than causes, and the patient becomes forever cursed to a lifetime of disease and medical treatments.
Page 183.
If a person is unable or unwilling to make permanent changes in the diet and to follow a healthy eating plan before and after the fast, there really is no point in fasting.
Page 184.
For the vast majority of people, being overweight is not caused by how much they eat, but by what they eat. It is a myth that people get heavy because they consume too many calories.
Page 186.
The food our bodies need more than any other is carbohydrate.
Page 186.
If your diet is deficient in carbohydrates, you will have to consume a great deal more in an attempt to feel satisfied.
Page 186.
Fats in the diet slow down your metabolism. In contrast, carbohydrates speed it up.
Page 187.
Nature tells us to fast. When we have no appetite during an acute illness, fasting is nature’s way to accelerate recovery.
Page 191.
The beneficial effects of the fast are not disease specific.
Page 192.
Fasting is not starvation, and the terms should not be used interchangeably.
Page 196.
It cannot be assumed that every individual can fast safely for a prolonged period of time - or at all.
Page 199.
I taper medication as the patient adopts a healthy diet and postpone the fast until it is safe to discontinue most medication.
Page 200.
Type I diabetics should not undergo a prolonged fast.
Page 201.
Vitamin deficiency attributed to fasting is exceedingly rare.
Page 205.
Tests are expensive and unnecessary.
Page 206.
The amount of water needed while fasting is minimal. The desire for fluid diminishes and may be nil in some fasters.
Page 207.
It is very important not to fast patients beyond their capacity. One cannot simply rely on how much body fat a person has to decide how long to fast that person.
Page 210.
Fasting should be viewed as a natural physiologic process to which the body eagerly adapts itself. For many disease states fasting provides an appropriate condition for the body to recuperate under its own intelligent direction.
Page 212.
Almost everyone can fast. Both the chronically ill and those with acute illnesses, such as viral infections, can utilize the fast to accelerate recovery.
Page 213.
It should be employed as the first mode of treatment before a physician starts you on medication for almost any chronic condition.
Page 213.
The fast allows for self-healing.
Page 213.
When you don’t eat for a longer period of time, the discomfort quickly subsides and you actually feel better and better.
Page 214.
We mistakenly call the withdrawal symptoms from our rich diet “hunger.” Stomach cramping is not hunger; a headache is not hunger.
Page 215.
True hunger is solely a mouth and throat sensation and it is felt in the same area as thirst.
Page 215.
The faster should spend most of his or her time in bed either relaxing, sleeping, or doing gentle activities such as reading, writing, or listening to the radio.
Page 218.
After not eating, one’s taste buds are extremely sensitive.
Page 219.
Rather than experiencing side effects, most fasters experience positive signs Their aches and pains resolve; their smell, eyesight, and hearing improve; and after the fast their ability to taste dramatically improves.
Page 224.
Most patients do so well they aim to convert everyone they know. I advise you not to do this unless asked. … We can help only those who want to help themselves.
Page 225.
We must respect one’s right to choose a lifestyle.
Page 225.