Buchinger’s modified fasting program is put to the test.
A century ago, fasting—”starvation, as a curative measure”—was is described as “the ideal measure for the human pig…” (Fat is not a new invention in the medical literature.) I have covered fasting for weight loss extensively in a series of nine videos, but what about everything else supposedly benefits? I also have a video series on fasting for hypertension, but what about psoriasis, eczema, type 2 diabetes, lupus, metabolic disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, depression and anxiety? Why hasn’t it been tested more?
A difficulty in fasting research is: what are you doing means with fasting? When I think of fasting, I think of water-only fasting, but, in Europe, they tend to do “modified therapeutic fasting,” also known as the Buchinger fast, which is more like a very low-calorie juice fast with a little vegetable broth. . Some forms of fasting may not reduce calories at all. As you can see below and at 1:09 in my video The world’s largest fasting studythe fast of Ramadan, for example, is when devout Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset, however, interestingly, they end up eating the same amount—or even more food—in total.
The largest study to date on fasting was published in 2019. More than a thousand people underwent a modified fast, reducing their daily intake to about ten cups of water, one cup of fruit juice, and one cup of vegetable soup. They reported very few side effects. In contrast, the latest water-only fasting evidence from a study that involved Half the people reported nearly 6,000 side effects. Now, the modified fasting study appeared to try to do just that undercount side effects by counting only reported symptoms if they were repeated three times. However, side effects such as nausea, feeling faint, upset stomach, vomiting or palpitations were “only observed in isolated cases”, while the water-only fasting study was mentioned about 100 to 200 of each as you can see below and at 2:05 in my video. But what about the benefits?
In the modified fasting study, participants self-referential improvements in physical and emotional well-being, along with a surprising lack of hunger. Additionally, the vast majority of those who came in with pre-existing health conditions reported feeling better, with less than 10 percent reporting that their condition worsened, as you can see in the chart below and at 2:24 in my video.
However, the study participants he didn’t just quickly; They also participated in a lifestyle program, which included a plant-based diet before and after the modified fast. Except the researchers had some study participants follow the healthier, plant-based diet without fasting to eliminate the effects of fasting. Ah, but they did! About a thousand people he fasted for a week on the same juice and vegetable soup regimen and others followed a normal calorie (normal calorie) vegetarian diet.
As you can see below and at 2:54 in my videoboth groups experienced Significant increases in both physical and mental quality of life and, interestingly, there was no significant difference between groups.
In terms of their major health problems—including rheumatoid arthritis; chronic pain syndromes such as osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and back pain. inflammatory and irritable bowel disease; chronic lung diseases; and migraine and chronic tension-type headaches—the fasting group seemed to have an edge, but both groups did well, with about 80% reporting improvements in their condition and only 4% reporting feeling worse, as you can see below and at 3:25 in mine video.
Now, this it was not a randomized study. people chose which treatment they wanted to pursue. So maybe, for example, those who chose to fast were sicker or something. Also, improvements in quality of life and disease status were all subjective self-reports, which are ripe for placebo effects. There was no placebo control group, and response rates to follow-up quality-of-life surveys were only about 60 to 70 percent, which could also have biased the results. But far-reaching benefits are certainly possible, as they all tended to improve their diet, as you can see below and at 4:00 in my video.
These he ate more fruits and vegetables, and less meats and sweets, and therein may lie the secret. “Primarily, the experience of fasting can support motivation for lifestyle change. Most fasters experience clarity of mind and feel a ‘letting go’ of past actions and experiences and thus may develop a more positive attitude towards the future.”
As a consensus panel of fasting experts he concluded“Nutritional therapy (theory and practice) is a vital and integral component of fasting. After the fasting treatment and the refeeding period, the diet should follow the recommendations/concepts of a… whole food plant-based diet…”
If you missed the previous video, check it out The healing benefits of fasting.
