Medically Supervised Therapeutic Fast: Why?

Dr. Alan Goldhamer discusses the physiological benefits of fasting.
“Fasting can be thought of as a period of profound rest, during which time your body is free to rapidly undertake a wide variety of beneficial physiological activities, some of which are described below.”

Most people who decide to fast make the decision because they have manifest clinical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disorders, and arthritis. I do not have any medical problems at this time, but I have a strong family history of cardiovascular problems and I am hoping that the fast will allow me to eliminate any sub-clinical cardiovascular problems.

In an article published in 2002 (Goldhamer AC, Douglas LJ, Sultana P, et al. Medically Supervised Water-Only Fasting in the Treatment of Borderline Hypertension. J Alternative and Compl Med 2002;8: 643–650) state that “The present effort suggests that a prolonged water-only fasting experience followed by a plant-based diet, low in fat and sodium, may substantially resolve subclinical abnormalities that result in elevated risk of stroke, congestive heart failure, and other common pathologies.”

My hope over the next few weeks is that this fast will help to resolve subclinical cardiovascular abnormalities.