Fasting as Medicine for Cancer and Chronic Disease
Why hunger triggers repair without poison
For all those battling cancer, Crohn’s, cholesterol.
Note: I’ve researched the topic extensively, studied under fasting experts, and fasted with them for weeks at a time, but I am not a medical expert. Please consult your doctor about any changes to your diet.
Warning! The end of this post contains:
butt stuff (medically supervised)
one (1) ten-pound turd, verified by bathroom scale, and
crap vacs, flying off shelves
Reader discretion is advised. So is a bathroom scale.
Melina had been nagging for years, so I finally caved and went to the stupid retreat. I did it to appease my wife, but I left that cabin without any inflammation or pain around my bulging C-5 disc.
For some, it’s about getting into a state of ketosis and losing weight. For others, it’s a spiritual thing. One lady at our retreat canceled a major surgery because it cured her back pain. Some researchers estimate that up to 80% of all major human diseases are mediated by inflammation. It’s amazing how simple it is to treat, but most people want a pill. They want something easy. Because doctors are always right ... right?
Trust Big Pharma. OBEY.
Or OPEN your mind.
Why fasting?
Fiber is great, but when you strip it from fruits and veggies, the juice is MUCH easier to digest. The energy usually devoted to digestion is used to speed up an incredibly powerful detox called autophagy. The detox simply flushes dead cells out and generates new ones.
Juice (minus fiber and especially from the peel) contains highly concentrated doses of macro and micronutrients that you’d never get in a normal diet. And this high concentration of “medicine” gives you countless benefits.
For all my guys:
Y’all need to dissociate the word “juice” from:
hot goat yoga
fermented tofu sprouts
spiced pea-milk lattes
hipster soul patches
… or whatever stereotype you avoid to feel tough. Hating juice doesn’t make you more masculine. It just makes you thirsty … and wrong.
Truth: Fasting is masculine
Hunter-gatherers fasted ALL the time. Not because they wanted to, but because they had to. We didn’t always have a hog on the smoker. Kroger’s and freezers weren’t always a thing.
When hunters went hungry, it actually gave them super manly-man powers. Evolution rewarded hunger with increased focus so our arrows would fly straight and true, so we could hit the hog and see another day. Survival. Maybe we should occasionally tap into the things we evolved into and practiced for hundreds of thousands of years.
Dr. Valter Longo is the man. As the Director of The Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, Longo has conducted the longest clinical research on fasting. Longo has spent 35+ years studying the following benefits of autophagy:
Fasting increases focus
Autophagy increases Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), i.e. miracle grow for your brain. If you take a brain out of the skull for science and squirt it with BDNF proteins, the brain will literally grow in size. The reason it can’t grow inside our head is because … we have a skull.
I had more mental clarity and focus than ever on days two to six of my juice fast. I stopped on day seven, not because I was hungry or loopy, but because the pain and inflammation in my neck was gone. It felt like discovering magic. Since then, I’ve fasted a few times whenever the pain comes back. I just listen to my body and give it the answer it seeks.
Fasting is also highly effective in treating
High cholesterol, blood pressure, heart disease
IBS, Crohn’s, diverticulitis, acid reflux, GERD
Pancreatitis, gallstones, kidney stones
Asthma, sinusitis
Aggressive mutating cancers (before systemic spread)
All of this has been clinically studied in the lab. In fact, the U.S. government has done the best research (double-blind, placebo-controlled). It costs billions to do longitudinal (decades-long) studies, but it’s all mostly buried in the Library of Congress. Big Pharma won’t promote it because their stakeholders say it’s bad for business. I love the free market, but that’s crapitalism for ya.
Longo both exposes and validates Uncle Sam’s research. In fact, he may be the first doctor (with 50K others to back him up) to get the FDA to approve food and fasting as prescribed medicine.
Juice fasting or the Fast Mimicking Diet (FMD) is by far the best fast. It’s “mimicking” because it mimics traditional fasts. A water fast is dangerous ’cuz it kills your energy, but FMDs give you the glucose and protein levels you need to function during the day.
As I mentioned, my focus went through the roof. By day two, both hunger and brain fog subsided. The timing is different for everyone, but do your research. Find out what works for you.
Juice to veggie ratios and recipes
Breakfast and lunch should be 70/30 fruit to veggie juice. There are a million recipes a Google away, but here’s a simple recipe that works wonders.
Green juice for inflammation
3 large handfuls of kale
2 stalks of celery
Fresh mint & ginger (to taste)
1 cucumber
1 apple
1/2 lemon
Dinner is the reverse — 30/70 veggie to fruit — more of a veggie soup. You can buy veggie broth at any grocery store to make it easy.
The video podcast at the bottom explains the science behind it all. I watched 30+ videos to find the best interview and info, so please take the time to watch. It’s incredibly enlightening. The science behind it is already saving lives and could save yours one day. It takes some willpower, but do it for yourself and for those you love.
The interviewer asked Valter to pitch his FMD product, but he was like, “Nah.” Longo’s more about the science than making money. And he doesn’t try to convert anyone to be vegan or vegetarian. He recommends cutting the typical American’s meat consumption in half to mirror the same diet that we evolved into for 100’s of thousands of years.
Essentially, we’re full of acid because that’s what it takes to break down the large portions of meat we eat. Just reduce your intake, and it’ll pay dividends.
I don’t recommend Longo’s FMD product ‘cuz I’m a frugal bastard, but the benefit of Prolon is that you don’t have to buy a juicer, worry about recipes and clean up a big mess. For some, that’s a big deal. Prolon also includes soup, nut bars and snacks for people who need something more substantial in their bellies.
How long do you fast?
It depends. For me, it took about five days for my inflammation to die down. You stop when your issue is fixed or your body tells you, “Enough already. Where’s the beef?” If you’re healthy and just looking to increase longevity, Longo recommends one three- to five-day fast per year, which is a pretty low commitment.
One short fast gave mice an 11% longer lifespan, plus substantial gains in cognitive performance, immune function, reversing aging markers and age-related diseases like tumors.
If you have cancer or something serious, 2 to 4-week fasts are recommended with the help of a physician.
Edward Norton narrates a great film called Fasting and the Longevity Revolution to get you inspired and jumpstart learning. If you’re looking for a program, Longo’s Create Cures Foundation provides nutritional consultation for people who can’t afford expensive cancer treatments or for those who want to augment traditional therapies. If you don’t have cancer, Prolon has consultative services and programs for everyone.
I learned everything at PRAMA. If you live anywhere near Asheville, NC, the retreat is pretty incredible, rustic, affordable. The yoga and massage were second to none. The staff was awesome. Juices and soups were delicious.
By the way, I don’t make anything from these links. It’s just my way of giving back. I like the idea of my friends and family living without pain. That’s it.
I ended up being a “disciple” for juice fasting for about a year, but my enthusiasm quickly faded. I found that most people won’t accept that something as simple as juice or fasting can heal most ailments. It’s too woo-woo for the masses, so I stopped “preaching” and started asking questions. Occasionally, I’ll meet open-minded people who are curious and disciplined enough to put in the work and turn questions into answers.
And now for something completely different
More clinical research waits at the bottom, but you've earned a treat. I made you drink 1,500 words of kale, so dessert is on me.
Butt stuff
The final part of our retreat included an enema to flush out all the toxins from our detox. Never in a million years would I have agreed to do an enema, but they’re really not so bad — incredibly beneficial for your health. At first, I didn’t think it was working. I didn’t feel anything. So I looked up at the bag hanging on the door, and sure enough, the skin-temperature water was draining fast — all the way down the tube and right into me. So I casually said to my wife:
“Well how about that? Looks like something’s going up my butt after all.”
Hopefully, that’s the last time I’ll say that particular phrase out loud. Next time, I’ll be more certain of what’s going up my butt.
The ten-pounder
One rather large lady approached Ramesh, the leader of our retreat, and told him it wasn’t working. Nothing happened. Ramesh calmly told her to try the enema one more time. She came back later — same deal, no dice. “Give it one more try,” he said reassuringly. She didn’t come back. Instead, she went to Walmart to get a few more enema kits, where she legit converted two ladies in line after they overheard her telling the cashier:
“It took three tries using these kits, but finally I dropped a ten-pound turd.”
Apparently, she weighed herself afterwards and was serious. You can’t make that shit up. Or you wouldn’t want to at least. Who drops a ten-pounder and then tells random strangers at the grocery? But there she was, shouting from the rooftops for all to hear. She told Ramesh the whole story when she got back — said that everyone in the checkout line believed her, because in her words:
“Those two old ladies almost tripped over each other as they ran off to get their crap vacs.”
My favorite podcast with Valter Longo
Clinical research
Clinical trials led by Dr. Valter Longo at USC show that the Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD) — a 5-day plant-based, low-calorie regimen — reduces biological age by an average of 2.5 years, lowers metabolic risk factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, visceral fat), and aids in immune system rejuvenation by promoting cellular repair. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key findings from FMD trials include:
Biological Age Reduction: Three to four monthly cycles of the 5-day FMD resulted in lower blood pressure, reduced liver fat, and an average 2.5-year decrease in biological age.
Cancer and Chemotherapy Support: Studies indicate FMD can make cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy while protecting healthy cells, with potential, to increase survival rates in breast cancer when used alongside treatment.
Immune System Reboot: The, cycles trigger the destruction of old white blood cells and the creation of new ones, effectively acting as an “immune reboot”.
Disease Prevention: Clinical evidence suggests FMD may reverse, or prevent, diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease by lowering risk factors.
Ongoing Research: Large-scale trials are currently investigating the long-term, effects of FMD combined with the “Longevity Diet” on fat mass and overall health. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Sources
[1] Valter Longo’s FMD Program & Diet
[2] Create Cures Foundation webinar with Valter Longo: Advancing Healthspan and Longevity
[3] The Rich Roll Podcast with Valter Longo: What if fasting could help the body regenerate itself?
[4] USC article: Fasting-Like Diet Lowers Risk Factors for Disease, Reduces Biological Age in Humans
[5] National Library of Medicine: Fasting-mimicking Diet and Longevity Diet, Body Composition and Aging
[6] Diabetes Prevention and Potential Reversal
[7] Book Review: The Longevity Diet
[8] Valter Longo website: Cancer research
[9] USC article: Eat less, live longer? The science of fasting and longevity