I am always looking for additional ways to help my clients reduce their depression and anxiety using natural methods. I have been hearing lately how beneficial fasting is to one’s health. I was impressed what I learned about water fasting in a documentary called “The Science of Fasting”. You can watch the documentary here.
(Note: I would not advise anyone to go on a water fast over a day without supervision from a health practitioner and preparation of shorter fasts with a clean diet.)
The documentary starts in the Soviet Union at the Therapeutic and Health Clinic in Sibera, Russia, where over 10,000 people have received treatment from 1972 to 2012. They are still open. This center uses water fasting, the most difficult kind of fasting there is. They admit it can be a difficult experience especially the first 3 days when people experience acidosis. After the first week, the staff said the fasting usually gets easier. (I believe they glossed over how hard it can be according to other people’s experiences I have read about.)
The documentary stated that the water fasting triggers hormonal and endocrine changes that produce therapeutic effects such as improving glucose levels, insulin, and lowering cholesterol. Massage, colonics, exercise, hot springs and other methods were used to help the bodies detox during the fast. The patients stayed an average of 25 days but some stayed up to 40 days. The treatment was covered by state health care. A whole building was reserved for fasters.
The Russian doctors for this fasting center reported that people who suffered from depression, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia experienced “marked improvement” for 70 percent of the patients. Six years later 40 percent of them still had marked improvement.
A psychiatrist, Dr Gurvich, was part of the research team for this institute. He noted the following patterns that were seen with patients who had mental conditions: During the first week of the fast, people reported that their senses sharpened. After the acidosis phase, people experienced euphoria as well as a sedative calming effect. Sometimes they felt as if someone had given them a stimulant. The first week after the water fast people experienced a lift in their depression. Some patients who were so mentally ill they had been unable to function normally before the fast were able to go back to working and support their families. One of the doctors doing the research said that fasting had an impact on “the entire personality”.
The documentary covers more than how fasting helped people with mental problems. The staff noticed fasting helped people with serious health conditions such as digestion disorders, gastro- intestinal disorders, cardiovascular disorders, asthma and others. They said nearly 2/3rds of the patients with these conditions saw their symptoms disappear after 1 or 2 stays at the fasting center. I can imagine such improvements in physical health would reduce anxiety and depression also.
I read many of the reviews of this documentary on Amazon. Many of the people writing reviews wrote how much fasting has helped them. I found this review particularly interesting:
“I’m a nurse working on a busy medical-surgical unit. Daily, I witness geriatric patients not eating for long periods of time, not from choice but, from instinct. It’s an innate mechanism that overwhelms our system in an attempt to gain homeostasis. It works! Shocking to see 90-year-old patients walk out of a hospital inpatient setting after not eating for weeks at a time. I am a fan of fasting and all the power it offers.”
Wouldn’t it be great if our medical health system paid for therapeutic fasting? Instead the one fasting center I read about in California called True North Health charged over $4000 for one couple who did the water fast for 12 days.
Fortunately you don’t have to go on a 25 to 40 day water fasts to obtain beneficial effects. Many people have found ways to fast at home. If someone is interested in fasting at home, I would suggest learning more about intermittent fasting and fresh juice/bone broth fasting. I think both are promising if one is careful, informed, and gradually increases the length of the fast.
Chiropractor Dr Kyle D. Christensen has written a book called Allergy Elimination and Healing the Gut that has a section on juice fasting that has much helpful information how to successfully fast. The book can be bought at his website: http://drkylechristensen.net. Dr Mercola has written numerous articles about intermittent fasting found here.
Mercola writes that intermittent fasting improves cognitive functioning, and boosts brain health. He states, “Growing evidence indicates that both fasting and exercise trigger genes and growth factors that recycle and rejuvenate your brain and muscle tissues. These growth factors include BDNF, as just mentioned, and muscle regulatory factors, or MRFs. These growth factors signal brain stem cells and muscle satellite cells to convert into new neurons and new muscle cells respectively.”
I am experimenting with short fasts up to 4 days using juice and bone broth. So far I have experienced enhanced sense of well-being, increased energy and increase in mental clarity.
If you would like to know more how I help people with anxiety problems, go here
If you are having trouble eating a healthy diet and letting go of junk foods, I can use EMDR and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) methods to help with your emotions related to letting go of eating unhealthy food. Just call me or text me at 586-799-2399 for a free 15 minute consultation.
