Albuquerque Journal

Eat LESS, Feel MORE?
Advocates swear by fasting for clarity, but doctors advise caution
By Eric Billingsley, Journal Staff Writer

Linda Evans firmly believes in the benefits of fasting. She feels pretty good right now because she just finished a 12-day program known as the “Master Cleanser.”

“What I liken it to is rebooting a computer,” says Evans, 48. “I did it because I’m becoming more sensitive and aware of my body and feeling kind of out of balance.”

People fast for health, religious purposes and even as a form of protest. Lengths and types range from abstaining from food and water altogether to simplifying one’s diet for a set period of time. But, local health experts say, purported health and spiritual benefits aside, fasting shouldn’t be done blindly.

“I know there’s a great bit of hype about fasting, but the reality is there are a lot of contraindications when doing it,” says Dr. Anna Nordin, a licensed naturopathic physician in Albuquerque. “Everybody’s different, and there’s not any one fast that fits all.”

The “Master Cleanser” regimen involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper during the day; drinking laxative tea at night; and drinking salt water in the morning to flush the body. Evans abstained from eating solid food for the duration of the fast.

“It’s not something you do to lose weight, because it’s really about cleansing the body of toxins,” says Evans, who fasts two to three time a year. “It’s amazing mentally because you feel lucid.”

Lightening the load

Practitioners of Ayurveda — a traditional form of Indian medicine — use fasting as a “lightening” therapy to get rid of toxicity in the body, says Sonia Masocco, a faculty member of The Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque. It can help alleviate low energy, lack of desire and a feeling of heaviness in the body.

Ayurvedic practitioners commonly use “mono diets,” Masocco says. Some examples include eating just cooked apples with ghee, a clarified butter; basmati rice with ghee; a diet of fresh fruit; or eating a rice and lentil dish known as kichadi, Masocco says. The simplified diet is supplemented with exercise and drinking certain teas to burn off toxins.

“Normally fasting works very well, but it has to be supplemented with something else,” Masocco says. Fasts also differ for each person and should be done incrementally. The signs of proper fasting include having an appetite, feeling lighter, experiencing mental clarity, feeling happy and the bowels moving freely, she adds.

“You don’t just go out and fast for 10 days, because that can be too traumatic,” she says.

Religious fasting is another common practice.

In the Jewish religion, for example, adults without health problems abstain from eating and drinking for a whole day in observance of Yom Kippur.

“It’s to cleanse yourself and refresh your spirit,” says Sally Greenbaum of Congregation Albert in Albuquerque.

“By not following our normal daily routine, it sets it apart. Because our daily routines can be gluttonous at best.”
Religious fasting can also have health benefits.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints who fasted for one day each month were found to have lower rates of heart disease than other Americans, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007.

“People who fast seem to receive a heart-protective benefit, and this appeared to also hold true in non-LDS people who fast as part of a health-conscious lifestyle,” study author Dr. Benjamin D. Home said.
A 2005 study at the University of California-Berkeley showed that fasting every other day may reduce cancer risk, according to the UC Berkeley News.

Healthy mice given 5 percent fewer calories than mice allowed to eat freely showed a significant reduction in cell proliferation in several tissues, considered an indicator for cancer risk. The key was that the mice eating 5 percent fewer calories were fed intermittently, or three days a week.

“Fasting just gives the body a chance to purge,” Nordin says, adding that it slows down the digestive process so the body can eliminate toxins, such as unhealthy antogens and by-products from digested food, and direct energy to other parts of the body.

Beware of the risks

But there are potential health risks.

Local experts have differing opinions about whether fasting is a good idea for healthy adults.

But they agree that children, pregnant women and people with diabetes and other serious medical conditions shouldn’t fast, or at least consult their physician before doing so.

“For religious purposes is the only time I don’t recommend against fasting, but only for healthy adults,” says Shelley Rael, senior clinical nutritionist for the University of New Mexico Employee Health Promotion program. “Other than that I generally don’t recommend people go longer than four to five hours without eating.”
She says carbohydrates are fuel for the brain.

Without food, carbohydrates will run out within about 24 hours, resulting in headaches and lack of energy. Some people also go from one extreme to another by fasting, and then overconsuming.

“People doing it for health reasons are often trying to purge the body of ugly nutrients and toxins,” Rael says, “but this can typically be accomplished by dietary changes” such as cutting out sugar for a few days and eating whole foods.

Nordin says fasting can negatively interact with certain drugs and chronic illnesses. And the potential benefits will be offset if somebody tries to fast while maintaining a high-stress lifestyle.

She recommends doing thorough research before fasting, not relying on partial information from the Internet, consulting a physician and doing it in a peaceful environment.

“Don’t do it just because somebody in the health food store said it’s a good idea,” Nordin says.

Evans says the first few days of her “Master Cleanser” fast are fraught with hunger, withdrawal from caffeine, headaches and sometimes dizziness.

During the middle, she experiences less hunger and more energy. And at the end she begins thinking about food again.

She refrains from strenuous work during the cleanse and slowly begins to eat again by drinking vegetable juice for the last two days.

“Before the cleanse I drank coffee for energy,” Evans says, “but what I realized is that I already have tons of energy. It gives me clarity about myself.”