Ep. 255: Alan Goldhamer, DC - Can Fasting Save Your Life?
Jun 27, 2024
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Dr. Alan Goldhamer, director of True North Health Center, specializes in supervised water-only fasting. He discusses the staggering results of over 25,000 fasting cases, emphasizing the crucial difference between fasting and starving. Goldhamer critiques modern diets, linking unhealthy eating habits to obesity and other health risks. He highlights fasting's benefits for conditions like hypertension and its potential role in disease prevention. The conversation also touches on the importance of a plant-based diet for long-lasting health improvements.
Fasting, particularly water-only fasting, can lead to remarkable health improvements, including weight loss, disease reversal, and enhanced metabolic function.
Recognizing and addressing visceral fat is essential for long-term health, as it significantly increases the risk of diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
Successful fasting must be paired with dietary changes to a whole plant-based diet, as reverting to unhealthy eating nullifies its benefits.
Deep dives
Benefits and Insights of Fasting
Fasting offers a multitude of health benefits, with evidence suggesting it can lead to disease reversal, weight loss, and improved metabolic conditions. Dr. Alan Goldhammer, a leading figure in water-only fasting, emphasizes the importance of this practice at the True North Health Center, where supervised fasts have transformed the lives of over 25,000 patients. Insights from the newly published book, 'Can Fasting Save Your Life?', indicate that fasting can fundamentally change an individual's health trajectory, enabling them to reclaim their wellness. However, the effectiveness of fasting is contingent upon subsequent lifestyle choices, highlighting that reverting back to unhealthy eating habits negates the positive effects of fasting.
Understanding Visceral Fat and Health Risks
Visceral fat is recognized as a significant health risk, contributing to various diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. For instance, every pound of body fat harbors a corresponding amount of visceral fat, which produces inflammatory substances detrimental to health. During the podcast, Dr. Goldhammer points out the alarming statistic that a considerable portion of the population is categorized as overweight or obese, raising their risk for serious health complications. Acknowledging visceral fat is crucial, as people tend to overlook it; an essential step in combating obesity is understanding this type of fat and the negative implications it carries for long-term health.
The Impact of Diet and Lifestyle Changes
Diet plays a pivotal role in the effectiveness of fasting and overall health improvement. Dr. Goldhammer explains that merely engaging in fasting without dietary alterations is insufficient; it is critical to eliminate processed foods high in salt, oil, and sugar from one's diet. During fasting, the body detoxifies and begins to restore metabolic health, but these benefits can quickly diminish if old habits are resumed. Therefore, Dr. Goldhammer stresses the importance of adopting a whole plant-based diet and maintaining a lifestyle conducive to long-term health post-fasting.
Fasting and the Aging Process
Research indicates that fasting may slow down the aging process by promoting autophagy and apoptosis, which help the body eliminate damaged cells and recycle materials. Dr. Goldhammer highlights that fasting provides a way to enhance the body's self-healing mechanisms, making it a potentially powerful intervention for those seeking to maintain their health as they age. The podcast discusses a potential large-scale study, the Navigator Study, aiming to investigate whether periodic fasting can help prevent age-related health decline. This aligns with the growing awareness of fasting not just as a remedy for existing health conditions but as a proactive strategy for extending health span.
Challenges in Implementing Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Despite the clear health benefits associated with fasting and a plant-based diet, Dr. Goldhammer acknowledges the significant challenges individuals face in implementing and sustaining these lifestyle changes. Many people struggle with addictions to high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, often leading to psychological dependencies on food for pleasure. Furthermore, cultural and social pressures contribute to making healthy living difficult, even when individuals are equipped with the necessary knowledge. Dr. Goldhammer asserts that overcoming these obstacles requires not only personal motivation but also support systems to facilitate sustained health improvements.
In 1984, True North Health Center opened their doors in Santa Rosa, California offering an alternative way to heal from disease and lose weight. Since that time, Dr. Alan Goldhamer and his team have supervised over 25,000 water-only fasts – with results that are astounding - disease reversal, weight loss, and a return to metabolic health.
The term “fasting” is all over the place, with intermittent fasting and fasting mimicking diets in the mainstream media. Dr. Goldhamer gives us a quick primer on all of the differences and talks candidly about the importance of diet and lifestyle changes to lifelong health.
As he stresses, a water-only fast – or any fast for that matter - will do no good if you go right back to eating the salty, oily, and sugary foods that destroyed your health in the first place.
Dr. Goldhamer and his colleague, Dr. Tashia Myers, just released the new book Can Fasting Save Your Life?– and this is what we discuss today.
So, is fasting a good choice for you? Let’s find out with Dr. Alan Goldhamer.
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