Extended fasting can potentially heal health issues such as type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Prolonged fasting can trigger a metabolic reset and promote overall health.
Optimizing the timing of meals, such as consuming most calories earlier in the day, can enhance metabolic processes and improve health.
Deep dives
Extended fasting offers potential health benefits beyond weight loss
Extended fasting, lasting days or even weeks, can provide striking benefits and potentially heal various health issues such as type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Prolonged fasting can prevent and reverse diseases, trigger a metabolic reset, and promote overall health. While the history of fasting as a medical treatment dates back thousands of years, modern science has recently uncovered its potential. Research has shown that fasting can increase the body's repair mechanisms, such as DNA repair, cell regeneration, and immune system modulation. Fasting may also improve mental health and longevity, as well as positively impact conditions such as cancer, high blood pressure, and metabolic diseases.
Fasting was historically a spiritual practice before being recognized as a medical treatment
Fasting has been practiced intentionally for thousands of years, particularly as a spiritual practice across various cultures and religions. Historical records indicate intentional fasting emerged shortly after the first writings appeared around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. In ancient times, fasting was primarily associated with spirituality rather than health. However, during the ancient Greek period, around 2,400 years ago, fasting started being recognized as a medical treatment by some Hippocratic writers. They believed fasting could be beneficial for certain conditions, such as fevers and acute illnesses.
Research supports the health benefits of daily and prolonged fasting
Scientific findings indicate that both daily fasting, also known as intermittent fasting, and prolonged fasting, lasting multiple days or even weeks, offer significant health benefits. Daily fasting, typically achieved by narrowing the eating window to a certain number of hours each day, can enhance cellular repairs, increase insulin sensitivity, reduce inflammation, and promote weight loss. Prolonged fasting, on the other hand, triggers more profound effects, such as boosting autophagy (cellular recycling), metabolizing visceral fat, promoting ketosis, and modulating gene expression. Prolonged fasting has shown potential for preventing and reversing various conditions, including metabolic disorders, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
Timing of eating within a day shows importance in health outcomes
Emerging research suggests that the timing of meals throughout the day can have a significant impact on health outcomes. Optimizing the eating window to align with the body's natural circadian rhythm appears to enhance metabolic processes and repair mechanisms. Evidence suggests that consuming most calories earlier in the day, such as during breakfast and lunch, when our metabolism is most efficient, can promote better health. Restricting eating to a smaller window of time, like 8-10 hours, and avoiding late-night meals may improve digestion, energy levels, weight management, and overall wellness. Further research is needed to explore the full extent of these benefits.
Medical supervision and individual factors should be considered during fasting
While fasting can offer various health benefits, individual factors, such as current health conditions, medications, and unique needs, should be considered. It is generally advisable for individuals with health conditions, those taking medications, or those with specific dietary requirements to seek medical supervision before attempting prolonged fasting. Medical supervision can help ensure safety, monitor vital signs, and provide personalized guidance. For individuals in good health, fasting on their own for up to a week can be relatively safe, but it is crucial to stay well-hydrated and be aware of potential side effects like fainting due to a drop in blood pressure. Each individual should listen to their body and adjust their fasting practice accordingly.
In the last several years, intermittent fasting — only eating for a short window each day — has gotten a lot of attention, particularly for the way it can facilitate weight loss. But as my guest will explain, going longer than a few hours or even a full day without eating also has some striking, potentially even life-changing benefits too, and may be able to heal a variety of health issues.
Steve Hendricks is the author of The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting. He spends the first part of this conversation offering a thumbnail sketch of the history of extended fasting as a medical treatment. From there, we get into what emerging modern science is showing as to how prolonged fasts lasting days or even weeks can prevent and even cure a variety of diseases, from type 2 diabetes to rheumatoid arthritis. We then talk about fasting's effect on cancer, and how it may address mental health issues by offering a metabolic reset. If you're an intermittent faster, you'll be interested to hear why it is you should ideally schedule your eating window for earlier rather than later in the day. We end our conversation with how to get started with extended fasting.
