Re: RE: In praise of the Warrior Diet

[Guest guest]

Hi Warren,

It's a simple question: what are the benefits of fasting? Now fasting for <24hrs is probably not really fasting, but I would expect to find something in Fuhrman's book identifying a benefit other than weight loss or those achieved by weight loss. If you have the book, please point to a passage that says anything about a benefit, particularly one that I can't get with CR or other weight reduction technique. The cover indicates consulting a physician if doing fast for more than 3 days (the old caveat).

Does he ever mention sudden death?

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Warren

Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 3:11 PM

Subject: [ ] RE: In praise of the Warrior Diet

There are many highly reputable medical clinics in the USA and abroad that use *fasting* as their sole method of curing illnesses of all kinds.Their stories to us are anecdotes. To those healed, they are cured.The book "Fasting and Eating for Health", by Dr. Fuhrman was the book that got me interested in CR. Not until I readthat book did I take action to eat less food, eat less frequently,and finally make the leap to try out CR.Dr. Fuhrman is a medical doctor, and has another follow-on text that is outstanding. Check www.amazon.com book section.Used copies can often be picked up for a few dollars.-- Warren========================On 05 Mar 2004, Rodney wrote:Well, if you believe there is "ample" evidence of the benefits [of fasting], could you please supply us with a few serious sources you find persuasive? I am willing, even eager, to be persuaded...=======================On 05 Mar 2004, Suzy wrote:... I would recommend the book on fasting by Fuhrman. In the meantime, I don't feel that it is my job to persuadeyou of anything. I simply put my experience out there and feel free to convince yourself either way...

[Guest guest]

The entire contents of the book by Dr. Fuhrman

" Fasting and Eating for Health : A Medical Doctor's

Program for Conquering Disease "

is available for free online at www.amazon.com .

The preface is a good place to begin. Then Chapter 1.

Fasting works for almost everyone, especially for

those vulnerable to food temptation. No food to

worry about!

-- Warren

=========================

On 05 Mar 2004, jww wrote:

>

> It's a simple question: what are the benefits of fasting?

> ...

According to the book title, a benefit of fasting is conquering

diseases -- the types that *nothing* else seems to cure!

The book is great gift to the health community, and has become

a medical classic, as well as a popular volume for the layman.

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Warren,

I tried that earlier. It wasn't available to search. You can't always search just because it says "look inside"..

So I'll have to check the library.

I've already read the other book. I found continual ref to the word "benefit" with no benefits attached.

Admittedly a weight loss to a 300#er may be justification for a fast, but is seriously doubt it.

Even the rice diet provides 700 kcals per day.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Warren

Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 6:06 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] RE: In praise of the Warrior Diet

The entire contents of the book by Dr. Fuhrman "Fasting and Eating for Health : A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease" is available for free online at www.amazon.com . The preface is a good place to begin. Then Chapter 1.Fasting works for almost everyone, especially forthose vulnerable to food temptation. No food toworry about!-- Warren

[Guest guest]

OK i tried amazon again and got this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/031218719X/103-7609527-9296629?%5Fencoding=UTF8 & resultsPage=2 & keywords=benefits & v=search-inside

37 references to benefits in this book:

1.

on Page 9:

"... person who requires relative bowel rest, whose health condition would make a fast inappropriate. One cannot, however, achieve the powerful benefits of complete fasting if juices are part of the fast. "Juice fasting" is not truly fasting; biochemically the body does ..."

2.

on Page 16:

"... fast to achieve a recovery. By combining the fast with a healthy diet and life-style, the individual can maintain the benefits from the fast and remain healthy. Fasting Is Not New Fasting has been used as a healing modality throughout recorded ..."

3.

on Page 19:

"... and improvement in symptoms was reported by all patients. Fasting also has a powerful effect on improving liver function. This benefit is not limited to the fasting period but continues after the fast. Medical studies have tested the ability of the ..."

What benefit to liver function?

4.

on Page 24:

"... of a specific disease, they must combine the fast with a healthy diet before and after fasting to maintain the benefits they reap from the fast. In many instances the change in diet alone is sufficient to achieve a complete recovery. ..."

5.

on Page 30:

"... intestinal tract depends on the presence of adequate fiber. The typical diet is unhealthfully de- ficient in fiber. So another benefit of a diet high in natural plant food and complex carbohydrate is that it's invariably accompanied by more fiber. A ..."

6.

on Page 48:

"... to actually promote heart disease and cause cancer.) Instead, our government spends over $20 billion on price sup- ports that benefit the dairy, beef, and veal industry. -1-5 These dollars are given to farmers to artificially reduce the cost of crops ..."

7.

on Page 53:

"... ternal housecleaning, and yet continue to stress your system be- tween the fasts, you will lose most of the possible benefits. Rational Recommendations for a Healthy Society To summarize, general dietary guidelines are suggested here: 1. Eat at least five pieces ..."

8.

on Page 77:

"... waste retained in our cells. Sometimes this release of waste from cells can be painful; nevertheless, it has a positive benefit to the body. Our cells and the tissues they comprise must continually strive to maintain their purity to prevent early ..."

9.

on Page 82:

"... place these discs under the elastic headband over the area of maximum pain. Almost every patient in the study reported benefit. Twenty-three patients used the band for a total of 69 headaches. Forty of the headaches were relieved by more than ..."

10.

on Page 88:

"... Her headaches quickly disap- peared, and she has not had another problem with headaches since instigating this program. An added benefit was that her periods were no longer painful. These patients did not need to stay on the Phase I diet ..."

11.

on Page 103:

"... a truly low-fat (less than 10 percent of calories consumed), natural plant-based diet, millions of lives could be saved. Added benefits would include the savings of billions of dollars in practically worthless medications, unnecessary testing, invasive procedures, and surgeries. 103 ..."

12.

on Page 104:

"... the combination of fasting and a natural, zero-cholesterol diet would offer even patients with advanced cardiac disease a significant survival benefit. Surgery should and can be avoided. Even if there is some short- term reduction in symptoms, atherosclerosis then accelerates in ..."

13.

on Page 105:

"... about doing interventions that could potentially kill the patient or lead to significant disa- bility. When we compare the potential benefits and risks of these traditional though invasive procedures to the nutrition interven- tions described in this book, these procedures look ..."

14.

on Page 108:

"... to eat or to do everything that you enjoy, but you're not making changes big enough to be of much benefit. Your cholesterol, your blood pressure or your weight don't come down enough. Your chest pain doesn't get better. Worst of ..."

15.

on Page 110:

"... does not work. Cardiac disease invariably worsens. A recent investigation analyzed the data from 16 different trials evaluating the possible benefit of the American Heart Association Step 1 diet. It concluded that this advice is essentially worthless, and that the "Step ..."

16.

on Page 112:

"... for heart disease began in the 1960s. Over the years, reports of improvements ín cardiac status, from fasting documented consistent benefits ranging from reducing blood pressure to alleviating angina and congestive heart failure. 34,35,36 Dietary restriction has for a long time ..."

17.

on Page 114:

"... sugar levels were well within the normal range. I have now seen enough patients who have undergone chelation with no benefit to conclude that this therapy is just like other drug treatments, only minimally helpful, if at all, and more ex- ..."

18.

on Page 115:

"... double-blinded studies that have ad- dressed the efficacy of chelation for atherosclerotic disease have not found evidence that chelation offers benefit over dietary in- tervention.41,42 Since both the EDTA-treated and the placebo- treated groups fared the same, the authors concluded that ..."

19.

on Page 117:

"... of enlarged hearts, slowing of the resting heart rate, and decreased cardiac output, all of which contribute to the permanent benefits achieved through fasting. 49,50 Weight loss, vegetarian diets," and raw foods 52 have all been shown to be effective at ..."

20.

on Page 119:

"... sexual dysfunction who are anxious to get off their medication. When patients are given all the facts, including the real benefits of removing the disease rather than merely disguising its existence with drugs, they almost invariably choose the natural way to ..."

21.

on Page 122:

"... fasts or calorie-restricted diets. Re- member, consuming only juices or any other source of calories will not give the same benefits to the cardiac patient as a total fast. Even the smallest amount of carbohydrate stops the sodium excretion. 62,63 The ..."

22.

on Page 138:

"... more than 1,000 mg of vitamin C for example. Only time and further research will tell if the diabetic will benefit further from supple- mentation once he or she is eating optimally. If you are on the standard American diet or ..."

23.

on Page 139:

"... "below weight" after the fast and the importance of restricting the quantity of fat in the diet to maintain the benefit gained from the fast were repeatedly em- phasized. The authors stated, "Anyone can readily convince him- self that, in a ..."

24.

on Page 152:

"... progression of the disease. This practice is prevalent even though there is little evidence to prove that it holds long-term benefit for the patient. Although medications can reduce inflammation and pain, the evidence collected so far indicates these drugs have little ..."

25.

on Page 154:

"... and stop the de- generation of the body and joints caused by the attack of the immune system. A definite benefit is obtained when all dietary antigens derived from foods are removed by fasting. When patients with rheu- matoid arthritis are ..."

26.

on Page 155:

"... ability of the immune system to fight infection.21 The studies done on fasting for autoimmune diseases have consistently shown multiple benefits to the arthritic, especially when combined with a dairy- free, vegetarian diet. 24.25 Some of these studies were carefully done ..."

27.

on Page 156:

"... The blood markers of inflamma- tion, including the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and Greactive protein also showed significant improvement. The benefits to the fasting-diet group were still present after one year. The evaluation of the whole course showed significant advantages for ..."

28.

on Page 158:

"... other big guns in our medical arsenal of treatments, it might seem preposterous that something as simple as diet might benefit arthritis. However, in light of the results that are now documented with plant-based diets, I consider statements rebutting the role ..."

29.

on Page 168:

"... sparingly. Later on, after a remission has been in- duced, high-fiber diets have actually been shown to be of definite benefit. 59,60 A physician experienced in caring for these patients through nutritional means can obtain excellent results in minimizing or avoiding ..."

30.

on Page 173:

"... -P. REILE Fasting Is Effective for a Large Variety of Ailments I was fortunate enough to be exposed to the benefits of fasting when I was very young. I have been able to observe its usefulness over the years for thousands ..."

31.

on Page 175:

"... physician who has fasted more than thirty thousand patients, undergoes a two-week fast every few years for the long-term health benefits that accrue from the re- juvenating effects of the fast. I too, plan to undergo another fast in the near ..."

32.

on Page 185:

"... fast and then go back to their former ways of eating, they will eventually regain all the weight and the benefits of the fast will be wasted. Therefore, I do not generally encourage my overweight patients to fast. It is more ..."

33.

on Page 192:

"... and avoid a lifetime of suffering or medical treatments. Sometimes when people try to make major dietary changes without the benefit of fasting they become frustrated. Beneficial changes that can take months or years with careful eating happen quickly if a ..."

34.

on Page 194:

"... ade- quately trained. In this chapter, I will discuss possible side effects and compli- cations of fasting, assuming that the benefits of fasting were ad- equately reported in the other parts of this book. This is not intended to be a ..."

35.

on Page 216:

"... you are under emotional stress. This stress will interfere with the healing process and you will not get the maximum benefit. How Long Should I Fast? How long should you fast? It is probably best to let a physician experienced with ..."

36.

from Front Cover:

"... • Using fasting to lose weight • How to start, what to expect, how to reintroduce food to maintain maximum benefits • How to work with a physician for longer fasts (more than 3 days) JOEL A T - I N ..."

37.

from Copyright:

"... Note to the reader The information provided in this book is intended to describe the potential benefits of a natural diet and therapeutic fasting. However, any decision involving the treatment of an illness should be made only ..."

What exactly is the benefit of fasting that CR or other weight loss does not do?

All these are claimed in other diet programs as well.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Warren

Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 6:06 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] RE: In praise of the Warrior Diet

The entire contents of the book by Dr. Fuhrman "Fasting and Eating for Health : A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease" is available for free online at www.amazon.com . The preface is a good place to begin. Then Chapter 1.Fasting works for almost everyone, especially forthose vulnerable to food temptation. No food toworry about!-- Warren