As a facilitator of fasting retreats and someone who has personally used fasting as a way to heal both physically and mentally, the information provided in Dr. Pradip Jamnadas lecture, is brilliant. The science he highlights as to the benefits of fasting, is completely in line with my personal and professional experience, and not at all surprising. What is shocking to me, however, is the science Dr. Jamnadas highlights, also backed by numerous studies worldwide, is not common knowledge (or practiced) within the medical industry.
As I sit here and begin to write this overview, I am still bewildered by the idea that a known cure could exist for hundreds of diseases and illnesses, yet no practitioners are prescribing it as a remedy. Especially because this cure is not only accessible to literally everyone, but also free! But that seems to be the exact reason why no medical professionals are recommending it, because there is no financial gain in a free cure. Dr. Jamnadas speaks candidly as to why this is, and boldly states “there is no financial gain if you get better and younger and live longer”. His words still linger in my mind weeks later. It is a difficult pill to swallow, to think our medical system operates more like a business than a system seeking to heal and cure the sick; no pun intended.
Dr. Pradip Jamnadas MD, the founder and medical director of Cardiovascular Interventions has practiced in Central Florida for over 32 years. Widely known for his lectures on fasting and his skills in interventional cardiology, he has been awarded Orlando Top Doctor by Orlando Magazine for over ten years. After graduating from University of London College Medical School and completing his fellowship at Yale University, Dr. Jamnadas began teaching as a professor at Florida State University, the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, and Florida Hospital’s teaching programs. Somehow, and thankfully, he finds the time between teaching, performing open heart surgeries and seeing patients to also continue his research and gives lectures on a subject not many medical professionals dare to speak up about.
In this lecture with over 6 million views and provided by The Galen Foundation – a non-profit organization that provides educational lectures designed to enhance public knowledge on health – Dr. Jamnadas debunks a number of commonly accepted beliefs about health: from eating five times a day, to breakfast being the most important meal of the day, to the use of protein bars as an energy source. His overview is extensive and dives into the many medical conditions that fasting can cure along with the benefits of incorporating fasting into your everyday life.
History and benefits of fasting
His lecture begins by reminding us that for 2.5 million years we have been living as paleolithic beings eating mostly foraged vegetables, meat and fruits only when in season. Our genes have adapted to go long periods without food and then feasting, drinking lots of water and only eating, at most once a day. About 12 thousand years ago we entered the agricultural revolution, and this is when fasting became a religious practice as opposed to a fact of life. Still, at this stage, we were only eating foods in their whole form.
For the last 200 years, we have been living in the industrial revolution and this has changed our food dramatically. Processed foods are in everything we consume, and foods have become products with lists of chemical ingredients known to cause disease and illness. Food is no longer food, it is a product. We have grown addicted to these products while being led to believe fasting is unhealthy and unsafe. “Eating is unsafe” Dr. Jamnadas passionately exclaims to the audience of medical and health professionals as they laugh begrudgingly.
In 1880 the steel mill was invented, and we began to make flour, this changed the glycaemic index of the grains we were consuming. Prior to the invention of the steel mill, flours were hand ground and made to be a winter food, as they could be easily stored for long periods, ensuring our survival. Now we eat this survival food in almost every meal and our genetics have not had time to make the adjustments required to handle densely refined carbohydrates in such abundance. In addition to constantly eating refined carbohydrates, the industrialization of foods meant that foods became products and companies started designing these products to get people hooked. When fats and sugars are found in nature, they come packaged in perfect quantities with fibre, minerals, and just the right amount of protein to assimilate nutrients into the body. Sugar, vegetable seed oils and refined carbohydrates offer zero nutritional value and are extremely addictive. This addictive nature of combining sugars, refined carbohydrates and fats has the same effect on the brain and body as any other addictive drug. The more we consume, the more we crave and the worse we feel when we don’t get our “hit”. Fasting for most people then results in withdrawal symptoms, making it a difficult process for most.
For 2.5 million years we fasted and then feasted, and this gave our digestive systems a chance to rest, heal, reset and remove toxic waste from the body. Fasting also gave the body a chance to enter a state of autophagy, possibly the most important process taken away by the industrial revolution. Autophagy is the state our bodies need to clear out old cells and repair broken or defective ones. Autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, vasculitis, alopecia areata, endometriosis, and more, are all illnesses that come from a lack of autophagy in the body. Autophagy also is known to reduce cancer cells, and studies have shown that fasting paired with chemotherapy, not only reduces symptoms from the treatment but also increases the effectiveness of radiation. Fasting strengthens healthy cells and weakens defective cells allowing the chemotherapy to target the cancer in a more efficient way. Studies in animals have shown that autophagy starts at 24 hours of fasting and peaks around the 48-hour mark. Dr. Jamnadas speaks about 36 hours being a magical number for fasting as the benefits of autophagy peek along with other healing hormones being released simultaneously.
Fasting is a safe way to heal chronic illness, but it is also a way to prevent sickness from developing as we age. Due to autophagy and the release of other chemicals in the body like testosterone and human growth hormone, fasting can also be used as an anti-ageing remedy. Much more effective than any skin cream on the market, fasting can reduce the signs of wrinkles, brighten skin and also helps with oral health. As the pH levels of the mouth, gut, skin, and entire body have a chance to balance out, you will notice significant changes in appearance. There are many people around the world that use fasting as a way to stay looking and feeling youthful. The beauty industry is predicted to exceed $700 billion in gross sales by 2025, the pharmaceutical industry is worth 1.27 billion in the United States alone and the food industry is worth $8.77 trillion in the United States. If you can imagine the power that these industries have on science, marketing, information, politicians and more, than you might start to grasp the concept Dr. Jamnadas is talking about when he says “we have all been indoctrinated to feed feed feed feed” and why he so passionately explains that no industry will support this science.
Nutrition, lifestyle and hormones
Weight management is one of the many benefits of incorporating fasting into your lifestyle and there are thousands of stories that can be found online about people who use fasting to lower body fat. Although, fasting alone is not an ideal way to lose weight. Becoming more conscious of the foods we are consuming daily/changing previous patterns of consumption, is a major player in weight loss and of course overall health.
When sugar levels are high, insulin is the hormone that is produced in the body to balance out the blood. The only way to burn fat is to lower insulin. And can you guess the most effective way to lower insulin? … That’s right, fasting! Whether that is intermittent fasting, long-term fasting, juice fasting or bone broth fasting, the method is still the same – eat less and have meals closer together so your body spends less time in a fed state. “There is no drug to get insulin levels down, fasting is the only way to get insulin to drop” – Dr. Jamnadas.
Fasting will also change the way your body processes food. When you do begin to refeed, you will produce less insulin, meaning your body will metabolize food differently and continue burning fat even after you break fast. During fasting, metabolic rate goes up, adrenalin, cortisol, testosterone and other hormones all increase, and this is the reason people often experience feeling alert, energized, strong and flexible. The evolutionary purpose for the release of these hormones when we fast are to give you the energy needed to find your next meal.
After just two days of fasting, the body’s senses heighten – your sight, smell, taste, hearing, all become more sensitive so that you have the desire and energy to hunt and gather. If lower energy, brain fog and fatigue were really the result of fasting then our ancestors would have never made it out of the cave to find their next meal. The reason some people feel low in energy when they are fasting is because they are withdrawing from sugar.
Testosterone is one of the hormones released while fasting and contributes to health of body and mind. It is required for maintenance of a healthy metabolism, bone density, production of red blood cells, and regulating moods. Without a healthy dose (too much or too little) people often experience depression, lack of motivation, aggression, low sex drive, weight gain and are at risk of prostate inflammation, acne, reduced fertility, substance abuse, high cholesterol, heart disease, fluid retention, high blood pressure and more. Like every other nutrient and hormone, testosterone needs to be balanced in the body. Taking testosterone in the form of injections can lead to a number of side effects and health conditions. The safest and most effective way to increase this hormone is by regularly fasting, making intermittent fasting a well-known practice in the health and fitness industry. Although testosterone is known as a “male hormone” both men and women who do not have healthy levels of testosterone are subject to the same side effects and health conditions named above. Testosterone also changes the way our genes are expressed; we see this in its use for people transitioning from female to male and in female body builders.
When we do not fast, our body’s genetic material cannot reveal itself in a normal way. We are quite literally handicapping ourselves from healing and adapting our DNA by constantly consuming foods. Fasting along with eating the right foods and getting at least 10 minutes of sunlight on the skin every day is vital for stem cell mobilization. Vitamin D supports the immune function and calcium absorption making it a building block for strong bones, building neural pathways, muscle repair and lowering inflammation. Despite its name, vitamin D is actually a hormone and also helps to balance out all the other hormones in the body. A contributing factor of most people being vitamin D deficient is the “low-fat craze”. We have all been sold this idea that fat is bad, but in reality, healthy fats are imperative for optimal health. The low-fat craze was born out of an era of fried foods. The problem with fried foods is that they are fried in vegetable seed oils that are high in omega 6 fatty acid and low in omega 3. When we get fats from whole foods, the Omega 6 to omega 3 is about a 1 to 1 ratio. 95% of people are omega 3 deficient because people are consuming fats in the form of vegetable seed oils that are extremely high in omega 6. The average person has a 20 to 1 ratio and this is causing them to be depleted in vitamin D. Vitamin D is fat soluble, meaning we need fat in the body to absorb vitamin D. Vitamin D is one of the most important hormones for gene expression and 90% of people are deficient in it.
As we only express 1% of our DNA at a time, fasting actually changes the way our genes are expressed. Antioxidant genes are uncovered while fasting and taking vitamin supplements are no longer needed because your body begins to assimilate the nutrients from your food in a more meaningful way. Antioxidants like turmeric are just foods that help us to uncover different genes that we have lying dormant in the body. Something new that I learned from this lecture is that our gene expression adapts with every meal we consume. Every meal counts!
Healthy fats come from natural sources like meat and eggs which brings us to our next topic, Proteins!.. It is commonly known that proteins are what builds muscle in the body, but the question here is, how much protein should we be consuming? Proteins produce insulin growth factor 1 and too much of this hormone stops autophagy and is directly linked to increasing cancer cells. There is no denying that too much protein causes cancer, and this realization has sparked a global movement towards living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. But the science is clear when it comes to meat intake, that a little goes a long way. Like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad. So, the answer is not to eliminate meat, but to make sure we are eating small portions of high quality, grass fed meat. The recommended amount of protein is determined by your weight. Approximately 1.5 grams per pound is the suggested amount and will allow for autophagy to continue even when not fasting, preventing cancer and giving you just the right amount of fats to assimilate vitamin D. This means, taking protein powders are not only unnecessary, but also unhealthy.
A healthy balanced meal is made up of a small portion of high-quality meat that has been grilled, steamed, or pan fried with an unprocessed fat source like ghee or butter, along with a small amount of unrefined carbohydrate like black, red or brown rice, with a large amount of steamed or raw vegetables. Nuts, seeds, sprouts, beans and legumes are great sources of protein, but it is important that we are not cooking them in refined oils. Ghee is the safest fat to cook with and unlike canola or vegetable oil, supplies us with a health balance of omegas.
Fruits are delicious and are healthy to consume in small amounts, but they contain natural sugars that turn off autophagy by turning on a gene called RAS-PKA that increases insulin. We want to minimize anything that turns off autophagy and this means minimizing anything that increases insulin, as this is the key to preventing cancer formation in the body. Fruits are a great source of vitamins and minerals, but all of the same nutrients can be found in vegetables. When eating fruits, we should choose fruits that are low on the glycaemic index like pears, berries, apples and melons – bananas are 50/50.
Conclusion
There is no denying that we are living in a world of abundance. Foods of all kinds are available all year round, you can buy every vitamin and mineral supplement known to man. Superfoods and protein supplements are in every major grocery store. Very few people in the modern world are starving, and perhaps that’s the one thing we are missing. Perhaps the answer is not to consume more, but to consume less. Perhaps we ought to look at the wisdom of our ancestors – listen to our bodies, the seasons, and create space for our systems (body and mind) to have rest.
Fasting has been proven to be a keystone in healing inflammatory conditions, reducing cancer, unlocking antioxidant genes, managing a healthy weight, finding mental clarity, balancing hormones, reversing the effects of aging and is the only remedy available to literally everyone!
