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World No.1 Fasting Expert: The Link Between Cancer & Fasting That They're Hiding From You!

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This is the most effective treatment

that's ever been shown in treating the

leading cause of death and disability,

which is high blood pressure. It also

reduces insulin resistance. It can

enhance cognitive capacities. And you

also see it affecting things like

depression and anxiety. It's called

fasting. And there's more. Fasting

introduces not just a chance to lose

weight. It also mobilizes visceral fat,

which is the fat around the belly and

the organs, which is giving off

inflammatory products that's causing

heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and

many people are maintaining higher

visceral fat than what they should be.

So, I've spent 40 years helping people

get healthy. And I can tell you that I

think you should be fasting every day.

>> So, tell me about that then. But also,

isn't the game here just to not eat as much?

much?

>> Well, here's the problem.

>> Dr. Dr. Alan Goldhammer is a pioneering physician

physician

>> who spent his life helping thousands of

people reverse chronic disease,

>> eliminate medication,

>> and reclaim their health using one of

the most ancient healing tools known to humanity.

humanity.

>> Today, we live in a world designed to

make you fat, sick, and miserable, where

76% of people are overweight or obese,

and where people think that health comes

from pills, potions, and powders. And

yet, most of us are ignorant of the

proven health benefits of fasting. In

fact, if you look at all the chemical

changes that happen with exercise, they

also happen with fasting. Things like

increasing BDNF, a neurochemical protect

in the brain from Alzheimer's disease.

>> And what about water fasting?

>> So, people that have not been successful

resolving their conditions with

medications, including patients with

polycystic ovarian syndrome, have been

profoundly affected by water fasting.

And we'll go through fabulous research.

But one thing you want to realize is

that all human beings have the capacity

to fast.

>> Okay. So, let's run through the unique

selling points versus any other diet or

intervention. Let's do it.

>> I see messages all the time in the

comment section that some of you didn't

realize you didn't subscribe. So, if you

could do me a favor and double check if

you're a subscriber to this channel,

that would be tremendously appreciated.

It's the simple, it's the free thing

that anybody that watches this show

frequently can do to help us here to

keep everything going in this show in

the trajectory it's on. So please do

double check if you've subscribed and uh

thank you so much because in a strange

way you are you're part of our history

and you're on this journey with us and I

appreciate you for that. So yeah, thank you

Dr. Alan Goldhammer.

My first question is who are you and

what have you spent the last four

decades of your life doing and why? you

I've spent my entire life really focused

on one topic and that's this idea that

you know health results from healthful

living. I got interested really young. I

was a uh in elementary school and I had

decided that I wanted to pursue this as

a career and when I finished training in

the United States I had an opportunity

to go to Australia and I studied with a

guy named Alec Burton who was the

world's leading expert in the use of

medically supervised water only fasting

and I saw things there that weren't

supposed to be happening. People were

getting better. I saw people with

chronic diseases like high blood

pressure resolving their hypertension

getting off the medications. And so we

began to carefully evaluate patients

with hypertension.

In this study, 174 consecutive patients

with high blood pressure and 174 people

normalize their blood pressure without

the need for medication. After we

published that paper, we went on and

we've published a couple dozen papers

now uh on the use of diet and fasting in

the literature and we've written a book.

It's called can fasting save your life

which summarizes our work and other

people's work on this use of fasting to

help uh the body do what it really does

best and which is heal itself if you get

out of the way.

>> So fasting the the word has become

incredibly popular but there's a variety

of different types of fasting. So what

what is the type of fasting that you

spend most of your time doing working on

administering to patients?

>> Right. Well, fasting is the complete

abstinence of all substances in an

environment of complete rest.

>> So, what does that mean? That means

>> that means that you're actually resting

while you're fasting in order to get

therapeutic fasting to be most

effective. And the reason is if you're

very active when you're fasting, your

body has to produce more glucose in

order to carry on the extramuscular and

brain activity. And the only way that it

does that after glycogen reserves are

depleted is through a process called

gluconneogenesis where the body breaks

down lean tissue. So when you're

fasting, if your goal is to maximize fat

loss and minimize lean tissue loss, it's

important that resting be a part of the protocol.

protocol.

>> Um it's true if people are more active

when they're fasting, they'll lose more

weight, but that extra weight won't be

fat. It'll be lean tissue. So, so what

happens to the body when someone fasts

and can you give me like an hour by hour

or a playbyplay in terms of what

actually is the sort of physiological

sequence of events that are beneficial

for one's health?

>> So, it's a really interesting fairly

wellstudied and complex physiological

adaptation that human beings make to

fasting. Normally your brain burns glucose

glucose

>> which is what I get if I have a piece of

bread or a a bar of chocolate

>> or if you uh break down protein uh which

can also break down into glucose which

is what happens after 24 hours of

fasting you've depleted your glycogen

stores your the sugar stores in your

muscles and so then the body in order to

get the glucose it needs has to either

convert to burning fat or break down

muscle in order to form glucose. What

the human being does is it converts its

main burner of glucose, which is the

brain, from burning sugar to burning

fat. Now, if it didn't do that, you

could fast about a week. You'd enter

starvation, deplete your protein stores,

and you'd starve to death. Because you

can convert your brain to burning fat

instead of sugar, a 70 kg male can fast

about 70 days.

Now, that doesn't mean they should fast

70 days, but they could fast up to 70

days because your main burner of

glucose, your brain, um, will convert to

burning a completely different fuel,

which is fat. So, let me see if I've got

this correct. So, if I'm t on a typical

American diet, I'm going to be eating

lots of things and my body's going to be

breaking that down into this fuel source

called glucose. If I stop eating the

glucose, my body has this sort of

evolutionary switch where it's going to

start burning my fat and turning that

into this thing called ketones, which my

brain can run on as well. That's

correct. And you have about 24 hours of

glycogen stores or sugar stores in your

in your muscles in your liver. So when

you stop eating, for the first 24 hours,

you're still able to produce glucose

from your glycogen stores. But once

you've depleted your glycogen stores,

now you're you're stuck. You either burn

fat or you break down lean tissue. Now,

because the human brain is so

ridiculously large, I mean, it's two and

a half times a chimp's brain. Just it's

a huge glucose burning machine, you had

to have a way of being able to use some

kind of other fuel for that brain.

Otherwise, the first time spring comes

late, all the human beings would have died.

died.

>> Mhm. And so this biological adaptation

was clearly important for our survival

in large part because we have

disproportionately large brains that

burn, you know, ridiculous amounts of

glucose. Just because the body does it

as a survival mechanism doesn't posit

that it's necessarily healthy, though, right?

right?

>> Absolutely. Uh and what we've done

though is we've taken this biological

adaptation which by definition would be

you know something the body's capable of

doing safely and efficiently and

utilizing it in a very unusual situation

and that's where people have

consistently been exposed to dietary

excess. You know in the world of our

ancient ancestors getting enough to eat

and not getting eaten was the biological

imperative of life. It was difficult to

get enough to eat. In fact, most human

beings that were born, modern humans,

probably didn't live to reproduce. They

didn't pass on their DNA. We're the

results of the winners. You know, most

people, starvation, predation, had all

kinds of challenges that would prevent

people from reaching reproductive age.

Taking a biological adaptation,

something that's natural to the body,

and applying it in a situation where

people had consistent exposure to

dietary excess.

>> When you say dietary excess, you mean

too much calories.

>> Too much calories. In fact, the diseases

that we suffer today, the heart disease,

the diabetes, the autoimmune diseases,

some of the cancer, these used to be

rare conditions that were called the

diseases of kings, it was the wealthy

elite kings that could consistently

overeat, that would get the gout, that

would get the heart disease. These

weren't common conditions that were

present for the peasants. These were uh

rarified conditions. They've become

common conditions because now people are

consistently being exposed to dietary

excess. And more importantly, we're

fooling our brain satiety mechanisms

into overeating by putting chemicals in

our food. And as a consequence, we have

a situation today where 76% of people

are overweight or obese. And the extra

fat comes with something called visceral

fat. It's the fat that tends to

accumulate around the belly and the

organs. And it's pro-inflammatory, hyper

metabolic, hypertrophic. It acts like a

tumor. You have people walking around

there, maybe they have 20 pounds of

extra atapost tissue. They have 2 lbs of

visceral fat and that visceral fat is

giving off inflammatory products that's

causing heart disease, cancer, diabetes,

autoimmune diseases. And what's weird is

these conditions are treated as if

they're completely independent,

unrelated conditions. You have to go to

a different kind of doctor to be even

diagnosed and treated with these

conditions. And yet, they all seem to be

associated with dietary excess, excess

fat, excess visceral fat, and the

inflammation that's associated with that

visceral fat. Let's run through what

happens inside the body when I start

fasting. And then I want to I want to

talk about fasting in a little bit more

specifics, but what's what's going on in

the body? So you said in the first sort

of 24 hours, 48 hours, my body is going

to switch from using glucose as a fuel

source to ketones. It's going to

predominantly shift the brain and liver

muscles are going to begin shifting.

There's it's a progression depending on

your glycogen stores.

So that you know within 16 hours, 24

hours, up to 48 hours in that

transition, you'll be going from burning

almost exclusively glucose in the brain

to burning uh predominantly uh

byproducts of fat metabolism, ketones,

and specifically beta hydroxybutic acid.

>> Is that basically ketones?

>> Ketones break down into different

components. Beta hydroxybuturic acid

becomes the predominant fuel of the

brain. It's a byproduct of fat metabolism.

metabolism.

>> Okay. And the higher your beta

hydroxybutic acid is, the more BDNF is

produced. BDNF, brain drive neurotrphic

factor is neurochemical that's thought

to be protective in the brain from

oxidative damage. So that can result in

things like Alzheimer's disease and

dementia. You know, when they do rat

studies, rats in a cage, 30 rats, both

cages, everything's identical. They give

half the rats a wheel. The rats with the

wheel will run on the wheel and they

don't get Alzheimer's disease. And they

said, "Why? What is it about the

exercise that's preventing these rats

from getting oxidative damage in their

brain that results in dementia or

Alzheimer's type disease?" And they

found it was BDNF. It's dramatically

higher with exercise. It also goes up

with fasting. In fact, it's interesting

if you look at all the cardabolic

improvements that happen with exercise,

the chemical changes that they they also

happen with fasting. And that's not

intuitively obvious because in fasting,

you know, you're resting in exercise,

you're vigorous. You might say, "What do

these two seemingly unrelated uh

phenomena have in common?" And what I

think is going on is that both exercise

and fasting undo the consequences of

dietary excess. They reduce the fat,

specifically the visceral fat and the

inflammation that leads to all these

different diseases. And so, every time

you look at the benefits of exercise,

you often times see these corollaries

with fasting. And at some point in this

fasting process, your brain your body

moves into a state of autophagy. I've

heard that word a few times. >> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> What is that?

>> So autophasia or autophagy is how the

body gets rid of scinsesscent cells and

and waste products and cancer cells and

you know it kind of eats up that debris

and does the housekeeping. And there's

some things that increase autophagy and

one of those things is fasting. Um you

know if you take uh rodents for example

and you let them eat ad libbitum they

live as much as they want. They they

will uh live to a certain amount of time.

time.

If you take those rats and you

periodically fast them you can increase

their lifespan from 30% to 100%. Even

though the diet's the same, just with

periodic fasting or with systematic

underfeeding, if you limit instead of

giving them as much to eat as they want,

you feed them at 60% of what they would

eat if they ate unlimited amounts and

you can dramatically increase their

lifespan. It's and it's an interesting

way of looking at it. From my viewpoint,

though, they're looking at it wrong.

It's not that fasting doubles your

lifespan. It's overfeeding cuts it in half.

half.

>> Mhm. By overfeeding the rodents, they're

developing fat, visceral fat. They get

the inflammation and you cut their

lifespan in half. So what fasting is

doing is allowing them live their full

span by getting rid of the consequences

of dietary excess.

>> So isn't the game here then just to not

eat as much

>> versus fasting?

>> Absolutely. The idea is to avoid excess

intake that results in excess fat that

results in excess visceral fat. The

problem is it's very difficult to do

that when they are putting chemicals in

your feed that fool your satiety

mechanisms and lead to overeating.

>> Satiety mechanisms being mechanisms that

tell you whether you're hungry or not,

>> right? Whether your brain signals you

accurately that the amount of calories

you have. If you, for example, just sit

down and and eat your fill of whole

plant foods, you eat a certain amount

and then you feel full. But if you put

certain chemicals in the feed, you'll

eat significantly more before you

trigger those satiety mechanisms and

feel full. Those chemicals that we put

in our food are salt, oil, and sugar.

Salt, oil, and sugar are not food.

They're hyperconentrated components

derived from food that are put back into

food. And we put them into food to make

food taste better. And what tasting

better actually means is it results in

more stimulation of dopamine in your

brain. Dopamine is the neurochemical

associated with pleasure. The more

dopamine, the more pleasure, the more

you like it. And so it turns out that

higher caloric density foods or foods

that have chemicals like salt, oil, and

sugar in the food will stimulate more

dopamine in the brain. And that's

because your brain evolved in an

environment of scarcity. It involved

where it was difficult to get enough to

eat and avoid being eaten. And so richer

foods had more value. And so that people

that recognized the value of more

concentrated foods tend to live to

reproduce and pass on their DNA. Today

we live in a world where we've um

corrupted the whole system. And so now

we have unlimited amounts of

hyperconentrated foods with these

chemicals like salt, oil, and sugar. So

when you eat those foods, you will

overeat. The only question is how much

and what are the consequences?

>> Should we be intermittent fasting or

should we just be restricting our

calories? Are they the same thing? Well,

there's different tools available to

allow for us to eat ad libbitum but

still meet optimum nutritional intake.

One tool is intermittent fasting. That

is or timerestricted feeding which we've

practiced for 40 years which is

basically don't eat 3 to 4 hours before

you go to bed at night. So instead of

eating right up till the time you go to

sleep, you withhold calories after the

last meal so that you have 3 to four

hours of fasting um every day. That

gives you a 12-hour fast every day. And

if you're trying to lose weight, some

people believe you could extend that

fasting period another 4 hours in the

morning, do some exercise in the

morning, preferentially burning fat. And

so that would give you a 16- hour fast

and limit your feeding window to 8 hours.

hours.

>> And what's the benefit of that?

>> Some people find by limiting the feeding

window, um, they can limit some of the

overeating that a lot of eating is being

done for reasons other than being

hungry. Sometimes people at night, you

know, they've had a big dinner and now

they're eating additional food, not

necessarily because they're hungry, but

because they're bored, they're tired or

they're fatigued. And sometimes when

they're fatigued and they eat and they

feel stimulated, they think, "Oh, they

must have been hungry." When in reality,

they were tired. Our suggestion is when

you're tired, go to sleep. And uh when

you're bored, you know, engage in

productive activities. And when you're

hungry, then you eat. And if you limit

your feeding window to 8 hours, some

people find that it's a helpful tool at

minimizing some of the overeating. Now,

it's not going to work for everybody. If

you have very high caloric needs, you

know, you're a competitive athlete, 8

hours uh feeding window, particularly on

high nutrient density, low caloric

density foods, may not give you enough

feeding window in order to get the

calories that you need. When you're

trying to burn 3500, 4,000 calories a

day on very low caloric density foods,

you may need to have a 12-h hour feeding

window in order to be able to get the

calorie density need. But for most of us

that are trying to maintain or lose

weight, having a narrow feeding window

uh may prove to be of of some benefit.

>> When I'm in a ketogenic diet, or when I

guess I'm fasted, which is very rare,

why is it that my cognitive performance

seems to be significantly better?

Because when I people have heard me say

this so many times, but it's so true.

When I'm eating, you know, a normal

western diet,

my ability to articulate myself and

think and be creative seems to be

diminished. Whereas when I'm avoiding carbohydrates

carbohydrates

um and sugar, I seem to be able to think

and talk better.

>> I think again it may not be that the

ketones are helping you think better. It

may be that the sugar vacasillations are

are interfering with your cognitive

function. For example, when people eat

particularly refined carbohydrates,

their insulin levels go up, drive the

sugar down. they end up with low blood

sugar levels which can interfere with

cognitive function as a consequence of

this vacasillation that's taking place

with their blood sugar levels between

insulin and glucose. When you go on a

ketogenic type of an approach or you're

in a fasting state, you're everything's

very stable as far as glucose is

concerned and insulin is concerned.

>> Okay. So, you don't want to be on the

sugar roller coaster if you you're doing

important work.

>> Being stable seems to help uh uh people

in their cognitive function. So, but

people talk a lot about juice fasting.

And I don't know, there's something

about when people say that they're on a

juice fast, I always think, god, you're

going to be missing important nutrients.

You're not going to be getting the same

quantity of protein necessarily. Maybe,

I don't know, your gut microbiome is

going to pay the price if you're

restricting yourself from having certain

things. Is juice fasting

advisable? Is it a healthy approach? So

juice fasting isn't technically fasting

because fasting is the complete

abstinence of all substances. It's a

it's a modified form of eating. So it's

a diet that's high in sugar, very low in

fiber, virtually no fiber on on these

juices. Where it can be helpful is

people that are trying to make dietary

changes and they're addicted to the

artificial stimulation of dopamine in

their brain that comes from the use of

their highly refined diets. They're

trying to make a change. They're trying

to make a break. And because it's sweet

and very appealing, they'll drink the

juices, they'll get their 6 or 800

calories, they'll feel relatively

satiated, and it allows them to avoid

the greasy, fatty, processed foods that

sometimes they're trying to get away

from. Um, personally, I think that water

fasting has advantages over juice

fasting in terms of the magnitude of the

detoxifying effect, the impact that it

has. But the advantages to juice fasting

or what they call juice fasting is that

it can be done without modifying

medications. you're still in a feeding

physiology. It could be done safely by

people without having to be in a

controlled setting like you would for

water fasting. So there's advantages to

the intermittent or modified fasting

approaches. It's not the basis of the

research that we've published which is

actually water only fasting. We're

fasting people on water only from 5 to

40 days.

>> 5 to 40 days. So tell me about that

then. So who exactly would you prescribe

a 40-day water fast to? And presumably

in those 40 days they have nothing but water.

water.

>> Right? Patients that are fasting in our

facility are on uh fractionally steamed

distilled water only. That's the only

thing they take. They're not taking

supplements, medications.

>> What is that fractionally?

>> Well, you know uh distilled water. So

it's purified water, highly purified

water. So in our case, we're using

distillation. Some people use reverse

osmosis, different ways of getting all

the hydrogenated hocarbons and the

chlorine and everything out of the

water. So just essentially what rain

water would be if the environment wasn't polluted.

polluted. >> Okay.

>> Okay.

>> Now in in in fairness, not everybody's a

good candidate for that type of uh

fasting. In order to determine if you're

a good candidate, obviously you have to

review the medical history and make take

a look at what people are doing in terms

of their medical treatment, particularly

in terms of medications, basic

laboratory testing to make sure kidney

and liver function are intact or capable

of adapting to fasting. And when people

fast, they need to rest. If people are

active, we've already mentioned they'll

increase their weight loss, but that

weight will be derived from breaking

down lean tissue. We want to minimize

lean tissue, maximize fat, particularly

visceral fat. It's also important that

they be monitored because people do have

issues that can be aggravated by

fasting. Fasting presents a dehydration

response. There's a physiological

dehydration that occurs with fasting.

There's uh changes in electrolytes. So,

you need to make sure that people are

being monitored appropriately. And then

the most important part probably is they

need to be reffred uh progressively reed.

reed.

>> Yeah. So when when they're eating after

the fast if they go back to too rapid a

refeeding you can get into problem with

post-fasting edema. You can get

refeeding syndrome. That could be a very

serious or even potentially you know

fatal problem that can be completely

avoided by following a reasonable

protocol of a realmentation after

fasting which we is is the reason why we

encourage patients that are doing

fasting to do it either in a controlled

setting or under some supervision so

that they don't make u catastrophic

errors in terms of how they do it

>> when it's that length when it's long.

>> Well uh water fasting we're doing

fasting anywhere from 5 to 40 days. So

anywhere in that range, you want to make

sure the person's a good candidate that

they're fasting in a controlled setting,

that they rest and they refeed properly.

So a person that has say a 20-day fast

would have 10 days of controlled

refeeding. It'll take about half the

length of the fast to properly

reallament after the fast so that you're

ready to go back to hopefully a whole

plant food SOS free type diet.

>> And when you say SOS, you mean sugar,

salt, and oil for context.

>> Yeah. SOS is the international symbol of

danger, but it also stands for the

chemicals added to food that make people

fat, sick, and miserable. And those are

salt, oil, and sugar.

>> What kind of candidate would come to

your clinic to do a 5 to 40day water

fast? What are the symptoms they have?

What are the diseases, illnesses that

they're suffering with?

>> Well, we get a variety of people and

ages. Um, the conditions we see are are

often the conditions that we've

published papers on because those that's

what people know us for. So one of the

most common conditions is high blood

pressure. We did a study uh with our

colleague T. Colin Campbell as I

mentioned 174 people in a row were able

to achieve normal blood pressure without

medication. We also did a prospective

study recently with a colleague from the

Mayo Clinic recently that did 20 uh

seven people completed fasting with

hypertension. 26 were able to achieve

normal blood pressure without any

medication. One required half their dose

of medication. And we had six week

follow-ups where they did well. And then

we followed them at a year and we found

that 76% of those people a year later

had maintained their weight loss and the

majority were still normal blood

pressure without medication.

>> Were they still fasting after a year?

>> No, of course they were fasting while

they were at the center. They were back

eating a healthy diet and they

maintained a healthy enough diet for a year

year

>> that they were able to maintain their

blood pressure and their weight loss.

And that's very unusual because you

don't find good long-term follow-up

showing that people are not only able to

get well but sustain those behavioral changes.

changes.

>> So it was more of it's more of an

intervention in that regard. And how and

how long were they fasted for those people?

people?

>> So the people in that study ranged uh

the average fasting was about two weeks.

So they had two weeks of fasting that

normalized their blood pressure, a week

of refeeding, and then even a year later

they the majority were able to sustain

the behavioral changes such that they

were able to keep their weight off and

they were able to keep their blood

pressure down without the need for medication.

medication.

>> And and what's going on there? Because

there's physiological changes that take

place. If I went and did a 40-day water

fast with you, there's some

physiological things that can happen. Of

course, I'm going to go into ketosis. my

my fat's going to start to become my

primary fuel source, but there's also

going to be a physiocsychological

relationship. There's going to be

something that happens in my psychology.

I mean, you talked about dopamine.

There's going to my brain is going to

change in some respect. My relationship

with food is going to shift in some respect.

respect.

>> Absolutely. If you look at the um

outcome data, for example, we've got

studies we've done with DEXA scanners

that look at body composition changes

during fasting. And so people that would

lo say fast for two weeks would lose 10%

of their total body weight, 20% of their

total fat, but 40% of their visceral fat.

fat.

>> Visceral fat being the bad fat inside the

the

>> Yeah. the 10% of fat that produces the

inflammation that's thought to

contribute to disease. Those same people

would have only lost 6% of their lean

tissue. Now what's interesting like

muscle, water, you know, nonfat tissue.

>> Yeah. So the lean tissue mass at 6 weeks

was fully recovered. So that the

percentage of their lean mass was

actually higher at 6 weeks than it was

at baseline, but the fat loss continues.

So even though they're gaining weight

after fasting because they're putting

their glycogen back in their muscles,

which is about 2 lbs, they're

rehydrating, they're putting fluid in,

they're putting fiber back in the gut.

So the scale is going up, but the fat

loss even with that weight gain is

continuing down. And so what h what you

look at is their whole body composition

begins to change and also their brain

composition too probably in terms of

their functional relationship to

themselves. For one thing a lot of

people feel that any kind of pain is a

bad thing. Any kind of pain is a bad

thing and pain must always be avoided.

If they have a pain they have to take a

pill. They have to do something because

pain's the evil you know issue there.

Athletes learn that pain isn't always

bad. that sometimes discomfort can be

associated with a positive response. We

find it's easier working sometimes with

athletes than people that have not been

athletic because they they've learned to

push their body a little bit and the and

fasting creates a hormatic effect as

well. Whereas there is some

physiological stress that's introduced

that stress is associated with a healing

response. Would it not just be healthier

if it were simple to take those people

and remove all the processed food from

their diet and then keep them on like a

Mediterranean diet with like high

protein, high fiber? Would that not be a

more healthy intervention? Because at

least then I'm not going to lose, you

mentioned there I'd lose 6% of my lean

tissue. At least then I wouldn't lose

any muscle necessarily.

>> Well, I would agree that if your only

goal is weight loss, diet and exercise

are the key. Fasting introduces not just

a chance to lose weight, but

specifically to mobilize visceral fat.

You will eventually uh mobilize that

visceral fat with uh exercise alone.

There's an advantage to getting rid of

that sooner rather than later.

Particularly for people that have high

blood pressure, diabetes, autoimmune

disease, because the sooner you get rid

of the visceral fat and the

inflammation, the sooner you can get

them off the medications. The

medications themselves present their own

problems. And people don't understand if

you have high blood pressure, you're

being medicated not for your high blood

pressure, but for the diet that causes

the high blood pressure. Literally, the

day you change the diet to a

healthpromoting diet, the need for

medication begins to reduce. And if you

don't reduce the medication adequately,

you can actually shut people down from,

you know, consequences of excess

medication. Is there a different

advantage between me doing the fast, the

water fast, versus just going on the

ketogenic diet if I was trying to reduce

my visceral fat, which is that sort of

stubbing fat around your organs?

>> Yes, water fasting is a more efficient

method of mobilizing specifically

visceral fat. And the other problem with

a when we talk about a ketogenic diet,

remember there's a lot of different ways

of getting into ketosis. You can do it

with a highfat, high protein diet, which

is commonly advocated, you know, the

dead Dr. Atkins diet, miss file rest in

peace or those kind of programs. those

have some disadvantages. High protein,

particularly high animal protein, is

actually thought to be one of the major

contributing factors to many of these

health compromises, including

cardiovascular disease and cancer and

inflammation and the rest of it. So, we

need protein. It's an essential

nutrient. You need about 10% of your

calories from protein. When you get

excess protein, you put your risk

yourself at risk for kidney disease,

cardiovascular disease, and other

problems. We need fat. Essential fatty

acids are a critical part of our ability

to be healthy. And you also need

carbohydrates. You're designed as a

carbohydrate burning machine. But you

get all the fat, all the protein, and

all the carbohydrates you need from a

whole plant food diet. You don't need to

eat large amounts of animal foods. You

don't need to eat oils. You don't need

to eat refined carbohydrates to get the

foods you need. And in fact, a whole

plant food SOS-free diet gives you the

quantity and quality of nutrients you

need without some of the negative

consequences or the risks of dietary

excess that come from these uh more

processed uh modern diets. So, if if you

were to pitch to me the unique selling

points of a water fast at your clinic

versus any other intervention, medical

or lifestyle, it would be the speed in

which you're able to burn visceral fat

and the speed in which you're able to

lower blood pressure is unlike anything else.

else.

>> It also reduces uh insulin resistance.

There is no drug that reduces insulin

resistance, but um fasting does. And a

significant percentage of our type two

diabetics will achieve normal blood

sugar levels without the need for

medication with fasting. Again, if you

do diet and exercise consistently

enough, long enough, you're likely to

get many of the same benefits. There are

some things though that seem to change

in fasting that don't change as well

with with these modified feeding

regimes. For example, fasting, you know,

when you have a computer and it gets

corrupted and you turn it off and you

turn it back on and you don't know why,

but now it works. You know, you've kind

of reboot or flashed the memory,

whatever it is. Fasting does a similar

thing in humans, it appears, and

particularly when it comes to the gut

microbiome. So you've got a trillion

creatures, well trillions of creatures

living just in your intestinal tract,

particularly bacteria, but all kinds of

organisms. They're an important part of

your digestive mechanisms, your immune

response, and

they're different depending on what you

eat. So if you're eating animal-based

diet, you have different organisms than

if you're on a plant-based diet. If

you're on a high sugar diet, even fruit

sugars and things, you get different

organisms flourishing than you would if

you're in a fasting state. In a fasting

state, there's a big drop off in total

organisms. And then when you refeed,

depending on how you refeed, you can

actually regrow those organisms and

repopulate that.

>> I'm right in thinking if you do a water

fast, you're going to wipe out a lot of

the bacteria in your gut, um, including

the bad ones, but also some good ones, >> right?

>> right?

>> And then you can reintroduce certain

foods that will bring back the good bacteria.

bacteria.

>> That's why refeeding after fasting is so

important. If you refeed carefully,

you're have a chance to reestablish that

normal microflloral balance. And that

may be why we see such good response in

many of these GI related conditions like

ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease

and chronic constipation, irritable

bowel syndrome. But you also see it

affecting things like depression and

anxiety and probably they say 90 95% of

the dopamine and serotonin that's

produced by the body is actually

produced in the gut. And so the balance

in your gut microbiome may be critically

involved in cognitive function as well

as what's going on in the digestive

system itself. So we're just now

learning uh the impact that you know

fasting has and the effect that

microbiome has and the relationship that

those two things have together.

>> There was a 2024 study that found after

a 7-day water only fast levels of

harmful fuzo bacteria dropped by more

than 80% and the gut microbiome shifted

to a healthier balance. So it's clearly

doing some of the work to wipe out some

of the bad um unhealthy gut microbiome

bacteria which gives you an opportunity

to I guess reset the gut microbiome

which is really interesting especially

if you as you say you have some of those

sort of gut centric diseases. Is there a

gender component to this between sort of

men and women because obviously women

have menstrual cycles and yes

>> certain hormone fluctuations that men

don't have. So, do you have to think

about gender when you're thinking about fasting?

fasting?

>> Well, we know that women have

complicated uh systems uh in different

ways than men and they have different

diseases too that show up. Fibrocystic

breast disease, dysmenoria, menorasia,

polycystic ovarian syndrome, all of

these conditions that males don't know

anything about. Um seem to be associated

with excess estradiol uh hormones. When

estradile is high, there's a higher

association with many of these

conditions. Estradile normally breaks

down to something called estriol. It's

excreted in the urine. And what breaks

it down is the gut microbiome and liver

function. And the gut microbiome and

liver function are both profoundly

affected by fasting. For example, we've

got in studies we've done looking at

fatty liver disease. We show significant

changes and reversal of fatty liver

disease with fasting. Uh and as I

mentioned, the gut microbiome goes

through a whole kind of rebooting. And

that may be why patients that come in

with those symptoms, the fibrocystic

breast disease, the dismenoras, the

menorasia, etc. often get profound

short-term improvement and long-term

benefit post-fasting. Now, all of these

things I'd have to say fasting is great,

but unless it's a motivating factor to

make the diet and lifestyle changes, I

wouldn't be optimistic about long-term

outcomes. When we use fasting, we're

also providing intense education to try

to get people motivated to adopt healthy

diet and lifestyle habits. And it's

those diet and lifestyle habits that are

going to be necessary to sustain the

benefits. I mean, I'll give you an

example uh in lymphoma, which is a type

of cancer. Uh we published a paper in uh

the British Medical Journal uh case

reports on a young woman who had

flicular lymphoma had progressed for a

couple years. And interestingly enough,

her doctor,

her oncologist told her that diet didn't

matter. The diet wasn't related to, you

know, this particular type of cancer.

She could eat whatever she wanted to.

But nonetheless, she decided to come in

uh rather than go through chemotherapy

and underwent fasting. And we did 3

weeks of fasting during which time you

could literally feel these tumors

disappearing. um she had her follow-up

CT scan uh and at a year we we submitted

this case report and it was interesting

because BMJ said well maybe she got

lucky and yes it progressed for 2 years

yes it went away in 21 days of fasting

but maybe you know it was just naturally

the time for it to go into remission a

small percentage of lymphoma patients do

go through spontaneous remission so they

said why don't you follow her for three

years and see whether she can sustain

that because we can treat lymphoma with

drugs and the tumors will go down but

they tend to come back and that's the

problem it doesn't really reduce

necessarily all-c causeed mortality

because the condition isn't actually

resolved. So, we followed her for 3

years and I told her that she had to

stick strictly to the dietary protocol

or it would be fatal because I'd track

her down and kill her. And she did stick

to the diet and at 3 years we have uh CT

evidence that she was cancer-free. And

we submitted that uh to BMJ. And

interesting enough, at first they

rejected the followup that they invited.

And uh we kind of appealed that and

eventually they did decide to to publish

the follow-up and then we followed her

for 10 years and she continues to be

cancer-free and she continues to follow

a whole plant food SOS-free diet and she

went public with her story. She told uh

uh some podcasts about what her

experience was. And so we got a lot of

lymphoma patients coming to True North

Health. And now we've published a case

series which is a series of lymphoma

patients including one particular

gentleman was even more progressive. It

was a stage 4 already metastasized into

the bones. He had failed chemotherapy.

He also did well and we did a 3-we fast

with him. Interestingly enough, his

oncologist was quite antagonistic

because he was concerned the fasting

would make him too weak for treatment.

But he came in, he did the treatment,

did well, went back to the oncologist

who said, "Wow, that's really

impressive. Why don't you go back and do

some more of that?" He came back, we did

another 39-day fast, and he was able to

get dramatic improvement. And again,

those those uh studies have been

published in peer-review journals. The

>> But he didn't go into remission

>> with uh lymphoma. Uh it would be

considered remission, but it's not a

cure. It's just like you can't cure

lymphoma anymore than you can cure

obesity. You can lose the weight and

keep it off, but you if you go back to

doing the things that cause it, it's

coming back. You can't cure high blood

pressure. You can normalize the

pressure. I've got people who have been

normal pressure for decades now. But if

they go back to eating the greasy,

fatty, slimy, salty, processed food,

it'll come back because you're managing

it. You're not curing it. The whole

concept of a cure is a little bit of a

misnomer. In medicine, you know, cure

just means you're alive 5 years after

treatment. Doesn't mean that you've

actually resolved the underlying cause

of the condition. interesting.

interesting.

And we have um 120 plates here, which is

how much food someone would be passing

up if they did a 40day diet. So that's

how many meals that they would miss on a

40-day water fast, which is a lot of

food. Staggering when you see it.

>> Yeah. And it's a lot of work for the

body to digest that food. And when you

take that work away, uh, those energies

are able to be diverted to dealing with

some of the accumulator problems that

people have built up, whether it's

excess fat and visceral fat, it's

diabetes, it's autoimmune diseases where

the body's actually attacking itself. I

don't know if most people realize that,

but in autoimmune diseases like

rheumatoid arthritis or ulcerative

colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, these

conditions, it's actually your immune

system that's attacking your tissues.

And the theory is that a lot of that is

because you have the immune system being

compromised by gut leakage where people

have uh leaky tight junctions in their

intestinal tract. They're absorbing

materials and then genetically

vulnerable people, the immune system

becomes uh hyperreactive and begins to

attack its its own tissues. You know, if

it attacks your thyroid, we call it

Hashimoto's thyroiditis. If it attacks

your joints, you might call it

rheumatoid or osteoarthritis. different

names for different inflammatory

conditions all triggered by leaking of

materials into the intestinal tract.

When you go on a fast, first of all,

you're not eating and so there's not the

inflammatory uh oxidative damage and

free radicals that are causing the

leaking to begin with. And second of

all, the body's healing comp uh

processes are able to be accentuated and

so the gut leakage is able to heal.

after you heal the gut and go back to

eating diet that's not full of free

radicals. You're not smoking, you're not

drinking alcohol with all of the free

radicals from peroxidation of alcohol,

you're not eating highfat foods and and

particularly heated fat fat foods and

fried foods etc. There's not the

onslaught of oxidative damage and now

you can manage those conditions with a

whole plant food SOS-free diet. Now that

doesn't mean they're cured. If they go

back to eating the other foods, they're

going to flare up their condition. But

to the degree they're willing to eat

healthfully, they can manage their

condition without the medications uh

often times that are very powerful and

have often long-term side effects. When

someone does a a water fast with you, if

they're doing a 40-day water fast, do

you make sure that they get electrolytes

and vitamins and other things? Are there

are there other things that you have to

give them?

>> No, we're just giving them water, but we

are monitoring their their electrolytes

and their blood levels to make sure that

their reserves are being recycled

adequately and they're normal. If if for

example potassium gets below a certain

point or sodium gets a below a certain

point then we go back into a refeeding

mode. We're given broths and juices and

other materials in order to re uh to

refeed them. We don't allow them to

develop symptoms secondary to

deficiency. Now what's interesting is

potassium for example norm potassium

might be 3.5. Uh fasting tolerances

would be 3.0. If it goes below 3.0 then

we're going to we're going to terminate

the fast. But generally people are so

efficient at recycling their nutrients

during fasting that they stay within

normal limits without us having to do

premature termination.

>> And when you finish a long fast like a

40-day fast, what are the or even a

shorter fast like a 5day fast? What is

the protocol for

refeeding them? >> Mhm.

>> Mhm.

>> What what what do you give them? What do

you avoid? What's the speed in which you

give them calories again? They get a day

of fresh fruit and vegetable juices for

every week of fasting, more or less. So,

they're going to get about 600 calories

of fresh fruit and vegetable juices if

they had a three-week fast for about 3 days.

days.

>> What's the thinking here? Like, what's

the underlying thought?

>> Mhm. The idea is that we want to

introduce initially food without fiber.

So, if there's any digestive challenges,

that's short-lived. Uh we want to

introduce food starting in the morning

rather than at night. So, if there's any

challenges, it doesn't disrupt their

sleep. uh we want to make sure that

they're rehydrating and uh getting some

glucose without necessarily overloading

their capacities once they've acclimated

to the juices which are relatively easy

to absorb and bring up blood sugars

relatively quickly moving them out of

the uh fasting phase into more of a

feeding phase. Then we'll introduce raw

fruits and vegetables which introduce

some fiber. And then we'll introduce

more concentrated foods like steamed and

starchy vegetables until by the length

half the length of the fast refeeding

they're back to a whole plant food SOS

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what about healthy people? Healthy

people come to you as well and do

fasting. It's not just people that have

these sort of severe health

predicaments. I think I'm pretty

healthy. Is there a reason or a benefit

to someone like me fasting? You know, we

did a study actually on this very

question about what happens to healthy

people that fast. And although there's

tremendous improvements in sick people,

it turns out when you look at the

cardiumabolic risk factors, when you

look at even things like weight and uh

percent body fat and visceral fat on

healthy people, people that are within

healthy limits, there's additional

improvement. Their blood cholesterol

drops even lower, their blood pressures

drop lower, their percent fat drops even

lower. In fact, proportionally,

the people that get the most benefit of

fasting are healthy people that are

doing it preventatively, but they tend

to need short fasts, not long fast.

You're not necessarily taking a healthy

person doing a 40-day fast. These are 5

to 10 day periods of time rather than

the very longer fasts. They're usually

because there's a condition that takes

that long to resolve. We want to fast as

short as possible, but long enough to

resolve the problem. If you come to me

with blood pressure that's 210 over 100

capped on on five medications, you're

likely going to need a longer fast than

a person that's 140 over 90 without medication.

medication.

>> If I'm a healthy person, how frequently

and for what length should I be thinking

about fasting, if at all?

>> I think you should be fasting every day for

for

>> 12 hours. >> Okay.

>> Okay.

>> And then, you know, we don't know what

the ideal is. That's one of the things

we're going to be doing in this in this

study is trying to figure that out. But

what we do in practice is we have people

fast once a year for a week. If they're

clinically stable, they don't have any

healing crisis, their numbers all good,

that's it. We move on. And even that

week of fasting though has a profound

effect on healthy people. I might

mentioned though that most people that

think they're healthy, when you actually

objectively look at their biomarkers,

aren't as healthy as they think. Many

people are maintaining higher visceral

fat, higher inflammatory markers, higher

lipid levels than what they probably

ideally should be, even though they're

asymptomatic. They say somewhere around

2 to 2 and a half% of people are

actually objectively measuring out as

healthy. Some studies say as much as 12%

depending on the standards that you're

using to define health.

>> So speaking directly to the viewer now

who sat at home and there's a reason why

they clicked on this conversation. They

they found the subject matter in the

title or the thumbnail somewhat compelling.

compelling.

If you were speaking directly to the

different personas of people listening.

So you've got maybe someone who is

healthy, someone who is maybe got a

little bit of weight on that they might

want to shift, someone that's got

specific diseases and has been given

diagnosis and maybe is given pills.

Going through these different personas

one at a time, how would you prescribe

water fasting to them and what would you

sort of tell them the benefits for them

would be if we're thinking about these

different personas? So starting with the

the person on the left side of the

spectrum who is largely healthy but is

interested in maybe how it will make

them feel or whatever. So for the

healthy person the main benefit that I

see of fasting is it's a forced period

of rest and introspection. You get a

certain clearing of the pallet. We've

actually done a study like this. It's on

our site where we looked at the

sensitivity to sugar, the sensitivity to

salt. It's actually enhanced during

fasting. And so by fasting once a year,

people kind of recalibrate their pallet

and it makes it easier for them to make

better choices. Sometimes there's been

some slipping and sliding along the

dietary regime as people go along during

the course of the year. It reboots the

gut microbiome. It tends to uh enhance

cognitive capacities as well as probably

brain serotonin and dopamine levels. It

can affect people's mood states and just

how they feel about themselves and the

world around them. It's obviously not as

dramatic as when you take a person

that's in agonizing pain or dability and

you see those dramatic changes.

>> What about then if I want to just lose

some weight? What protocol should I use

for water fasting and what kind of

results would I expect to see in what

time frame?

>> We never know exactly how long a

patient's going to fast until we see how

they respond to fasting because fasting

itself is as much diagnostic as it is

therapeutic. But usually we can get a

pretty good idea. Like for example, I

always like to try to get people as

close to their optimum weight as

possible, whether it's with diet and

exercise or with fasting. We don't think

maintaining extra fat is a good thing.

We think for every pound of excess fat

you have on your body, there's all kinds

of downstream consequences. And so if a

person's say for example 20 pounds

overweight, they think I they feel best

at say 150 pounds, but they're 170

pounds. We know that they could it will

take them about 3 weeks to to lose that

weight because people lose an average of

about a pound a day. So I wouldn't have

any concern assuming everything else

looks okay fasting that person for 3

weeks. I'd be concerned about fasting

them into an emaciated state. I don't

want to get them very weak. I don't want

to have them debilitated. I don't want

to get them depleted. And so we're going

to monitor them carefully to make sure

that we're well within their their

reserves. But, you know, a person that's

that's a bit overweight that has maybe

their blood pressure is a little bit

higher, their blood sugar is a little

bit higher, maybe they have some joint

pain, maybe they have some various

symptoms. We want those things to

resolve. So, we're going to estimate how

long do we think this person's going to

need to fast to get to the point when

they feed they'll keep getting healthier

rather than sicker.

>> Can you explain these four graphs to me

here? There's some four graphs that come

from work you've done.

>> Okay. Well, this is outcome data that

comes from um studies that we've

published and this basically is looking

at the percent body weight change. And

if you look at the bottom graph, you'll

notice it's over time. >> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay. So, we're looking at the

percentage body weight change during

fasting. And you notice during

refeeding, it actually comes down a

little bit more even though people are

re-elementating. They're losing fat.

They're regaining water and muscle. And

then they're able to maintain that

percent body change. This is 65day follow-up.

follow-up.

>> So, on that for people that aren't

watching the video right now and are

just listening to audio, what what is it

essentially saying happens and in what

period of time with what protocol? So in

this particular uh study, these people

lost about 10% of their body weight over

an average of uh two weeks of fasting.

They refed for a week at the facility

and then they were followed up 65 days

later and at 65 days later you'll notice

they'd maintained their total body

weight change and then just a little bit

more and now they'd been back to eating

and exercising. In the next uh graph,

percent body weight. This is the

visceral fat mass.

>> And visceral fat, again,

>> visceral fat is the 10% of the fat that

makes up the fat that typically

accumulates around the belly and in many

organs. It's the fat that's

hypertrophic, hyper metabolic, hyper. It

it produces inflammation. It acts like a tumor.

tumor.

>> So, there's two types there.

>> There's subcutaneous, which is on the outside,

outside, >> right?

>> right?

>> And then there's visceral, which is in

the inside. And the stuff in the inside

is the worst.

>> It's fat that wouldn't normally be

there. Here's the problem. You evolved

in an environment of scarcity. Storing

fat is so critical to survival in a

world of uh deficiency of or of defic

depletion that the body does everything

it can to store fat because the people

that store fat in a natural setting,

they live to reproduce. In the modern

world, it's become a disadvantage

because we live in this very unnatural

environment where you can get dietary

excess. And so even though the body is

designed for an environment of

deficiency, it's responding with that

genetic programming. And so it stores

fat even though it's not healthful for

you. As far as the body's concerned,

spring might come late. The more fat you

store, the better. And as a consequence,

that visceral fat is associated with

these diseases of dietary excess. In

fasting, the body preferentially

mobilizes that visceral fat. It gets rid

of it. Just like if you go on a fast and

have a breast tumor, you lose 10% of

your body fat. You don't necessarily

lose 10% of the tumor. You might lose

50% of the tumor. you might lose the

entire tumor because the body's has some

intelligence to it in terms of how it's

mobilizing these tissues. You can take a

person, an animal for example, and

starve it to death. Um, and if you

measure its nervous system, you'll find

the nervous system isn't depleted even

when it's starved to death, it will

preserve those tissues in preference to

the uh the visceral fat or the fat

tissues. And so this graph is showing

that visceral fat not only comes down

during fasting but it keeps coming down

and it continues to come down with

refeeding. And this particular graph

here this is blood pressure. So again

blood pressure comes down is during

fasting. It comes down even lower with

refeeding. And people are a that are

following diet and lifestyle changes are

able to maintain that pressure without

medication. So if you look at our study,

people that started with stage three

hypertension, so they're 180 or higher

systolic blood pressure, they lost an

average of 60 points uh on systolic

blood pressure, not counting the fact

that the baselines were often taken on medication.

medication.

Um and the final graph here that you've

got uh is percent in lean mass. So lean

mass also go down in fasting because

>> lean mass again,

>> lean mass is your your fluids, your

muscle. Lean mass goes down but then it

recovers during refeeding and

re-elementation and the percentage of

lean mass which includes your muscle

mass at six week followup was actually

higher in those patients than it was at baseline.

baseline.

>> Are they exercising there

>> during recovery? They are not during fasting.

fasting.

>> Okay. And you mentioned PCOS earlier on

when we were talking about the

implications for women. Have you ever

done any studies or had patients come to

your fasting clinic that have symptoms

of PCOS? Yes, we treat uh we've had, you

know, dozens and dozens of patients with

polycystic ovarian syndrome and it's a

condition that responds consistently to

fasting. It also responds to diet and

lifestyle change, but understand many of

the people that have made the diet

changes but are not been successful are

then referred to us for fasting. We

always want to try the diet first

because a lot of things resolve just by

getting a person on a good diet and

exercise program. and PCOS for people

that don't know. I'm sure a lot of men

don't know about PCOS, but some of them

will because they might have fertility

problems with their partner. My

partner's been very public that she has

PCOS. Um, and she's found that the

ketogenic diet, removing sugar from her

diet, has had a profound impact on

recalibrating her menstrual cycle.

>> Her menstrual cycle was very um

inconsistent, irregular, could be up to

60 days or longer or not at all. And

then when she removed sugar from her

diet and um carbohydrates, it's now perfect,

perfect, >> right?

>> right?

>> So it's like every 28 whatever days it

is. And so I was wondering if you know

there's lots of women that suff

suffering with a variety of different

hormonal challenges or things like PCOS

if you have any case studies from your

clinic of that resetting their menstrual

cycles or you know reversing the

symptoms of PCOS.

>> Right. It's not uncommon for us to have

women that, for example, have their

plumbing's good in terms of their tubes

and whatnot, but they're having

difficulty initiating pregnancy. They

fast, they reboot, and sure enough,

within a cycle or two, you know, they're

able to achieve pregnancy. And it's not

unusual to have people that have uh

disrupted uh dysmenoria, menorasia, etc.

within usually not the very first cycle,

but the second cycle will normalize uh

function. And I think the reason for

that is the hormones and stuff that for

the next cycle are already kind of set

up and where you see the change is often

you know at that 6 week follow-up.

>> So let's be clear because if you fast it

it is a form of stress on the body isn't

it? From everything I know about sort of

evolution. If you're fasting your

menstrual cycle is probably going to

stop if you're doing an extended fast

because your body sends a signal to say

listen we don't have the resources in

here to to give a kid life so we're

going to shut down. If you take yourself

below optimum weight or below optimum

fat, yes, that's true. Disre, you know,

uh, disruption of menstrual cycle

happens with excess weight loss of any

kind or rapid weight loss. Um, but for

the patients that were fasting, often

times it's quite the opposite. They're

able to actually normalize their

hormonal cycle. And as I mentioned, it

may be the conversion of estradiol to

estriol because of improvement in the

gut microbiome that's responsible for

normalization of that and other hormonal

issues that maybe we haven't even been

able to measure yet. Because your your

body needs energy to do to perform its

menstrual cycle. That's like it's am I

right my thinking there that if the body

senses you don't have the energy to have

a baby it's going to shut down your

menstrual cycle because having a baby would

would

>> I think if it doesn't have the reserves.

So if you're in the thing is many

patients though even though they're

fasting they aren't in a depleted state

and so you don't see universal

disruption of menstrual uh function

because people are fasting. Um, but you

know, athletes often times see it when

their percent body fat goes too low,

they will become a minoric.

>> Do you see when someone comes to your

clinic and does one of these extended

fasts that there's other areas of their

life that also improve that are

completely sort of like unrelated to

the benefits from the fast and I'm

talking about willpower here and their

ability to motivate themselves and be

disciplined and persistent. And

>> there's I don't think there's any

question that those factors are

involved. You know, it's also just

education and fear. People think if they

get on a plane in New York and they flew

to California, they would die of

starvation over Colorado, they think the

pretzels that they ate saved their life.

And once people have fasted for 5 days

or 10 days or 40 days, the idea of

having to skip a meal doesn't seem quite

so terrifying. You know, if there's not

something that they that's healthful

eating, they just skip the meal until

the next one. and they're not afraid of

the of the that they're going to die or

that they're going to enter starvation

or they're going to have depletion. A

lot of people have a lot of fear in

their head that's completely uh

illogical, unnecessary,

and harmful.

>> It's so true. When you tell me that

someone can actually fast for how what's

the longest a person could fast for?

>> Well, without severe consequences.

>> They say that a 70 kg male could fast

about 70 days, but the longest we fast

people is 40 days. And what happens is

you get beyond 40 days, everything gets

a little bit more delicate. You have to

be a lot more careful with electrolyte

balance and other things. And so 40

days, understand is only 1% of our

patients. The vast majority are fasting

between 2 weeks and 4 weeks. So it's,

you know, it's 10 days or 14 days or 20

days. That's where the big bell curve

is. You have a a small uh number of

people that need to fast longer than that.

that.

>> And you see this as a medical

intervention. You don't see this as

something that these people should be

doing on a frequent monthly basis. You

see this as a medical intervention for

people with specific issues predominantly.

predominantly.

>> I think that everybody should fast every

day for 12 hours. I think that everybody

including healthy people would probably

cons should at least consider fasting

once a year for a week and that anybody

that has a condition where it's

appropriate to fast should fast however

long it takes to resolve the condition,

however frequently it takes to get well.

So we do have some patients that were

fasting two or three times during a year

because they can't fast long enough the

first fast to to resolve the condition.

Uh but you know they don't have enough

reserves to be able to do you know a

longer fast. So we will we will do it

periodically until the condition resolves.

resolves.

>> And what are the safety concerns with

water fasts?

>> Yeah. Well, the biggest uh and most

obvious concerns are orthostatic

hypotension. When people are used to

having high blood pressure and you lower

their pressure, their brain's used to

higher profusion levels. So, when you

drop the pressure, they can get dizzy

dizzy at first until they get used to

having normal blood pressure. And you

don't want people falling over and

fainting and, you know, breaking

something or having a problem.

Dehydration is an ametic effect of

fasting and it's important part of

stimulating the healing crisis. But you

also don't want to get somebody so

depleted that they get into, you know,

cardiac dysriythmia or they have, you

know, problems. And that's why we

monitor people twice a day and we make

sure that, you know, they maintain uh

balance. You know, one of the things we

did in can fasting save your life is we laid out all the protocols of fasting so

laid out all the protocols of fasting so a person could really understand what's

a person could really understand what's going on in fasting. You know, what the

going on in fasting. You know, what the benefits are, but we also wrote it so

benefits are, but we also wrote it so that their physicians would stop

that their physicians would stop thinking they're crazy because they're

thinking they're crazy because they're interested in doing something like that.

interested in doing something like that. Because at first blush, this sounds like

Because at first blush, this sounds like kind of crazy that you're going to have

kind of crazy that you're going to have a person do take nothing but water for a

a person do take nothing but water for a prolonged period of time and somehow

prolonged period of time and somehow that's going to be a good thing. But

that's going to be a good thing. But when you really look at the science and

when you really look at the science and you look at the experience we've had,

you look at the experience we've had, you found that when it's done according

you found that when it's done according to protocol, it is a safe and it can be

to protocol, it is a safe and it can be an effective intervention at giving the

an effective intervention at giving the body a chance to heal itself.

body a chance to heal itself. >> What are the big misconceptions about

>> What are the big misconceptions about fasting that you encounter consistently?

fasting that you encounter consistently? Well, one thing is people think that

Well, one thing is people think that you're going to become depleted because

you're going to become depleted because they don't understand the recycling

they don't understand the recycling capacity of the body when fasting is

capacity of the body when fasting is done properly and that they're going to

done properly and that they're going to deplete their muscles and that the

deplete their muscles and that the weight they lose in fasting is

weight they lose in fasting is immediately regained after fasting. So

immediately regained after fasting. So there's no, you know, beneficial

there's no, you know, beneficial reproportioning of the body composition.

reproportioning of the body composition. And they're driven by the fear, uh, and

And they're driven by the fear, uh, and I think instinctive fear that, you know,

I think instinctive fear that, you know, we're designed to be intimately

we're designed to be intimately concerned about getting enough to eat

concerned about getting enough to eat because in a natural setting, that's a

because in a natural setting, that's a constant biological imperative. You're

constant biological imperative. You're always struggling. Try to get enough to

always struggling. Try to get enough to eat. And because we live in a constant

eat. And because we live in a constant state of deprivation in a natural

state of deprivation in a natural setting, the use of fasting was never

setting, the use of fasting was never anything other than a survival tool,

anything other than a survival tool, some an adaption the body could make

some an adaption the body could make only under force, not by choice. But it

only under force, not by choice. But it is interesting that every major

is interesting that every major religion, the Jews, the James, the

religion, the Jews, the James, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians, the

Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians, the Buddhist, all have a deep respect and

Buddhist, all have a deep respect and tradition about fasting. There's a

tradition about fasting. There's a reason because it changes the way you

reason because it changes the way you feel about yourself and the world around

feel about yourself and the world around you.

you. It's so linked to spiritual traditions

It's so linked to spiritual traditions like meditation and clarity of mind and

like meditation and clarity of mind and spiritual experiences

spiritual experiences >> and I think because it is difficult to

>> and I think because it is difficult to do that you know some of the benefits

do that you know some of the benefits you mentioned earlier maybe part of the

you mentioned earlier maybe part of the you know part that are hard for us to

you know part that are hard for us to quantify.

quantify. >> Yeah. What is the most important thing

>> Yeah. What is the most important thing we haven't talked about as it pertains

we haven't talked about as it pertains to fasting that we should have talked

to fasting that we should have talked about?

about? >> We haven't talked about the different

>> We haven't talked about the different kinds of mechanisms which might be going

kinds of mechanisms which might be going on in fasting uh that sometimes people

on in fasting uh that sometimes people are interested. We talked about weight

are interested. We talked about weight loss. You know, that that's kind of an

loss. You know, that that's kind of an obvious one. If you don't eat, you're

obvious one. If you don't eat, you're going to lose weight. But there's also a

going to lose weight. But there's also a naturicetic effect. The body gets rid of

naturicetic effect. The body gets rid of the excess sodium accumulated in the

the excess sodium accumulated in the body. Uh and that has a profound effect

body. Uh and that has a profound effect because literally people will lose

because literally people will lose several pounds of fluid a day early on

several pounds of fluid a day early on in fasting just because the body's been

in fasting just because the body's been holding on uh to this in order to buffer

holding on uh to this in order to buffer the effect of sodium. Sodium, you know,

the effect of sodium. Sodium, you know, you think about it. You take a

you think about it. You take a tablespoon of it's a medic. It'll make

tablespoon of it's a medic. It'll make you throw up. If you take enough of it,

you throw up. If you take enough of it, it'll kill you. it'll actually have

it'll kill you. it'll actually have there's an LD50 with it even though it's

there's an LD50 with it even though it's an essential nutrient in small amounts

an essential nutrient in small amounts in excess quantity it's associated with

in excess quantity it's associated with hypertension and not to mention obesity

hypertension and not to mention obesity and you might say well why would sodium

and you might say well why would sodium which has no calories make people fat

which has no calories make people fat and it's because sodium stimulates

and it's because sodium stimulates what's called passive overeating so if

what's called passive overeating so if you eat till you're full of anything say

you eat till you're full of anything say brown rice you just eat till you reach

brown rice you just eat till you reach your satiety you don't want anymore

your satiety you don't want anymore >> everything else being equal salt that

>> everything else being equal salt that rice up and eat till you're you'll eat

rice up and eat till you're you'll eat more before you feel satisfied. And

more before you feel satisfied. And people say, "Yeah, cuz it tastes

people say, "Yeah, cuz it tastes better." But that's what tasting better

better." But that's what tasting better means. It means it results in more

means. It means it results in more dopamine stimulation in the brain. So

dopamine stimulation in the brain. So your brain is going to get fooled with

your brain is going to get fooled with salt. And if you take some foods, like

salt. And if you take some foods, like for example, bread, the staff of life,

for example, bread, the staff of life, 1500 calories a pound before you turn it

1500 calories a pound before you turn it into a butterboat and spread coagulated

into a butterboat and spread coagulated cowpas all over it. And you remove the

cowpas all over it. And you remove the salt, oil, sugar, and yeast. What do you

salt, oil, sugar, and yeast. What do you get? It's called matzah. And it's

get? It's called matzah. And it's punishment on Passover. Nobody's getting

punishment on Passover. Nobody's getting fat eaten matzah. But they're certainly

fat eaten matzah. But they're certainly having trouble with bread and bread

having trouble with bread and bread related products. And it's because the

related products. And it's because the the the wheat and the water become a

the the wheat and the water become a carrier agent for these chemicals. Take

carrier agent for these chemicals. Take beef, boil it, and gnaw on it. Do you

beef, boil it, and gnaw on it. Do you like plain boiled beef? Not so much.

like plain boiled beef? Not so much. It's a carrier agent for the sauces, the

It's a carrier agent for the sauces, the salt, the the things that that it's

salt, the the things that that it's carrying to the pallet. So, we're using

carrying to the pallet. So, we're using ultrarocessed foods as carrier agents

ultrarocessed foods as carrier agents for these chemicals. And that's why

for these chemicals. And that's why we're in trouble. 70% of the calorie of

we're in trouble. 70% of the calorie of the average person is ultrarocessed

the average person is ultrarocessed foods. And we haven't even talked about

foods. And we haven't even talked about the chemicals and other things besides

the chemicals and other things besides the salt, oil and sugar, the

the salt, oil and sugar, the emulsifiers, the other things that are

emulsifiers, the other things that are thought to affect gut gut microbiome

thought to affect gut gut microbiome etc. So the naturetic effect of fasting

etc. So the naturetic effect of fasting is a kind of rebooting effect that gets

is a kind of rebooting effect that gets rid of the sodium. We haven't talked

rid of the sodium. We haven't talked about detoxification. If you take a fat

about detoxification. If you take a fat bopsy of human beings,

bopsy of human beings, >> a what?

>> a what? >> A a fat bopsy, a biopsy, you take a a

>> A a fat bopsy, a biopsy, you take a a piece of fat or a piece of tissue and

piece of fat or a piece of tissue and you analyze it, what you find is there's

you analyze it, what you find is there's hundreds of different chemicals, PCB,

hundreds of different chemicals, PCB, dioxin, pesticide residues, heavy metals

dioxin, pesticide residues, heavy metals in everybody to varying degrees. People

in everybody to varying degrees. People have different degrees of vulnerability

have different degrees of vulnerability to that. In fasting, the body rapidly

to that. In fasting, the body rapidly mobilizes those materials and eliminates

mobilizes those materials and eliminates them. In fact, that some people have

them. In fact, that some people have said, "Oh, it's so does it so

said, "Oh, it's so does it so efficiently, you shouldn't fast." that

efficiently, you shouldn't fast." that the body doesn't know what it's doing

the body doesn't know what it's doing and it would put it out too quickly and

and it would put it out too quickly and it overload your system and so don't do

it overload your system and so don't do it. But the reality is the body this is

it. But the reality is the body this is a biological adaptation. It does a good

a biological adaptation. It does a good job of mobilizing the materials and

job of mobilizing the materials and eliminating them. If you take that fat

eliminating them. If you take that fat biopsy and you say what where did all

biopsy and you say what where did all those fats come where did all those

those fats come where did all those toxins come from? As much as 90% of some

toxins come from? As much as 90% of some of those toxins came from eating animal

of those toxins came from eating animal foods which biologically concentrate

foods which biologically concentrate those pollution in their environment.

those pollution in their environment. And then when you eat the animal food

And then when you eat the animal food you get its entire lifetime accumulation

you get its entire lifetime accumulation of toxins. And so when you fast, you

of toxins. And so when you fast, you kick in the system you use to get rid of

kick in the system you use to get rid of that stuff. And every time you do it, it

that stuff. And every time you do it, it gets better. And so these are things

gets better. And so these are things that don't necessarily happen to the

that don't necessarily happen to the same degree with our juice fasting or

same degree with our juice fasting or our modified feeding regimes. We talked

our modified feeding regimes. We talked about the autonomic nervous system. This

about the autonomic nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system that

is the part of the nervous system that controls all the stuff you don't think

controls all the stuff you don't think about. Like for example, um if you were

about. Like for example, um if you were to go out running and your heart didn't

to go out running and your heart didn't speed up, you would be in big trouble

speed up, you would be in big trouble and potentially die. But it doesn't it

and potentially die. But it doesn't it doesn't happen because your heart

doesn't happen because your heart automatically speeds up and pumps more

automatically speeds up and pumps more blood that you need. And that's

blood that you need. And that's controlled by the autonomic or automatic

controlled by the autonomic or automatic nervous system. It has two parts, the

nervous system. It has two parts, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.

sympathetic and the parasympathetic. They have to be in balance. And we've

They have to be in balance. And we've invented hundreds of healing systems to

invented hundreds of healing systems to try to rebalance the autonomic nervous

try to rebalance the autonomic nervous system. Massage, bio feedback,

system. Massage, bio feedback, homeopathy, chiropractic manipulation,

homeopathy, chiropractic manipulation, osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture,

osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture, relaxation, bof feedback. How do you

relaxation, bof feedback. How do you think all these things make people feel

think all these things make people feel better? At least to some degree, it's to

better? At least to some degree, it's to the degree they help rebalance the

the degree they help rebalance the autonomic nervous system. The most

autonomic nervous system. The most powerful way to rebalance the autonomic

powerful way to rebalance the autonomic nervous system in my experience is

nervous system in my experience is fasting. Fasting is a profound impact on

fasting. Fasting is a profound impact on this autonomic sympathetic

this autonomic sympathetic parasympathetic balance.

parasympathetic balance. >> And I think one of the most profound

>> And I think one of the most profound effects honestly is effect on taste neur

effects honestly is effect on taste neur adaptation. As I mentioned, we did a

adaptation. As I mentioned, we did a study on your how you taste things. And

study on your how you taste things. And when you go on a fast, good foods start

when you go on a fast, good foods start to taste good. When you first come off a

to taste good. When you first come off a conventional diet, this kind of food is

conventional diet, this kind of food is disgusting, tasteless, schwill. People

disgusting, tasteless, schwill. People have no interest in it. They can't

have no interest in it. They can't imagine how anybody could choke it down.

imagine how anybody could choke it down. >> What kind of food?

>> What kind of food? >> Well, whole fruits, vegetables, you

>> Well, whole fruits, vegetables, you know, simple foods without salt, oil,

know, simple foods without salt, oil, and sugar added to it. They just can't

and sugar added to it. They just can't even imagine how anybody could eat that.

even imagine how anybody could eat that. But after fasting, whole plant foods

But after fasting, whole plant foods start to taste good. And the longer you

start to taste good. And the longer you eat them, the better they taste. you get

eat them, the better they taste. you get to the point where you actually would

to the point where you actually would prefer to eat whole plant foods rather

prefer to eat whole plant foods rather than the salty, greasy, fatty, processed

than the salty, greasy, fatty, processed foods that everybody else is eating.

foods that everybody else is eating. So, these are these are big changes that

So, these are these are big changes that occur in fasting that are not

occur in fasting that are not necessarily as easily objectified from a

necessarily as easily objectified from a research standpoint, but have a profound

research standpoint, but have a profound difference on how people feel and how

difference on how people feel and how they live their lives. Yeah, I noticed

they live their lives. Yeah, I noticed that as well when I when I was on the

that as well when I when I was on the ketogenic diet, I noticed that um the

ketogenic diet, I noticed that um the things that I would usually get cravings

things that I would usually get cravings for, suddenly there was no no cravings

for, suddenly there was no no cravings at all. And funny enough, when you're

at all. And funny enough, when you're talking about taste changing when I was

talking about taste changing when I was on a ketogenic diet, things tasted

on a ketogenic diet, things tasted sweeter. And I don't mean I actually

sweeter. And I don't mean I actually don't mean because obviously I wasn't

don't mean because obviously I wasn't really eating much sugar. It was

really eating much sugar. It was actually some sugar-free drinks just

actually some sugar-free drinks just tasted significantly sweeter. They were

tasted significantly sweeter. They were zero sugar drinks, but clearly because

zero sugar drinks, but clearly because of some of the sweetness in there, they

of some of the sweetness in there, they I almost couldn't drink them. But when I

I almost couldn't drink them. But when I came off the ketogenic diet and I

came off the ketogenic diet and I started having carbohydrates again,

started having carbohydrates again, those drinks didn't taste so sweet

those drinks didn't taste so sweet anymore.

anymore. >> But it's your pallet that changes. The

>> But it's your pallet that changes. The ketogenic diet is a fasting mimicking

ketogenic diet is a fasting mimicking diet. It mimics some of the effects of

diet. It mimics some of the effects of fasting, not the least of which is

fasting, not the least of which is changes in taste, what's called taste,

changes in taste, what's called taste, neurotration, or sensitivity.

neurotration, or sensitivity. >> And it's not carbohydrates that

>> And it's not carbohydrates that desensitize you. It's refined

desensitize you. It's refined carbohydrates.

carbohydrates. >> Mhm.

>> Mhm. >> And so if you get people on a whole

>> And so if you get people on a whole plant food diet, you know, fruits and

plant food diet, you know, fruits and vegetables, whole whole simple foods,

vegetables, whole whole simple foods, they they maintain that acuity of taste.

they they maintain that acuity of taste. But as soon as you put them back on

But as soon as you put them back on refined carbohydrates, the processed

refined carbohydrates, the processed carbohydrates, then they begin to go

carbohydrates, then they begin to go back into the dietary pleasure trap.

back into the dietary pleasure trap. >> Got you. This one change has transformed

>> Got you. This one change has transformed how my team and I move, train, and think

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purchased a pair of Viva barefoot shoes. So, I showed them to Daniel Lieberman

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feet started hurting all the time. And after that, I decided to start

after that, I decided to start strengthening my own foot by using the

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strong feet. And I guess what is the what is the the next step if someone is

what is the the next step if someone is curious? What do you what would you

curious? What do you what would you recommend they they do? Well, we have a

recommend they they do? Well, we have a I think a a really valuable uh free

I think a a really valuable uh free service for your viewers, and that's

service for your viewers, and that's that if they go to our website and

that if they go to our website and complete the registration forms at

complete the registration forms at trueorthalth.com,

trueorthalth.com, >> I offer a free phone conversation with

>> I offer a free phone conversation with them to tell them whether this might be

them to tell them whether this might be something they should be considering and

something they should be considering and try to point them in the right

try to point them in the right direction. If they're really interested,

direction. If they're really interested, they can read our book, Can Fasting Save

they can read our book, Can Fasting Save Your Life, and it will tell you and your

Your Life, and it will tell you and your doctor everything you need to know about

doctor everything you need to know about what it takes to safely get into a fast

what it takes to safely get into a fast through a fast and what the benefits of

through a fast and what the benefits of fasting are thought to be.

fasting are thought to be. I'll link all of that below for anybody

I'll link all of that below for anybody that is curious and wants to learn more.

that is curious and wants to learn more. Um if and just as a sort of a disclaimer

Um if and just as a sort of a disclaimer if people are doing

if people are doing water fasting they should seek medical

water fasting they should seek medical advice and medical um support. They

advice and medical um support. They should see seek a consultation from

should see seek a consultation from someone who knows what they're doing

someone who knows what they're doing before just trying to do this at home.

before just trying to do this at home. >> They want to make sure they're a good

>> They want to make sure they're a good candidate with history exam and lab.

candidate with history exam and lab. They want to make sure if they do fast

They want to make sure if they do fast they're fasting in a restful state,

they're fasting in a restful state, staying hydrated properly and that they

staying hydrated properly and that they refeed carefully because it can be a

refeed carefully because it can be a serious problem if you don't do it

serious problem if you don't do it properly.

properly. Is there a particular case study that

Is there a particular case study that comes to mind when you think about the

comes to mind when you think about the power of fasting? I know you talked a

power of fasting? I know you talked a little bit about the lady that had

little bit about the lady that had lymphoma which I read about in the

lymphoma which I read about in the British Medical Journal in I think it

British Medical Journal in I think it was 2015 was published. I

was 2015 was published. I >> I think even more powerful than

>> I think even more powerful than individual case reports are these

individual case reports are these studies that we've done involving dozens

studies that we've done involving dozens and in some cases uh almost 200 people

and in some cases uh almost 200 people uh and the consistency of the data. this

uh and the consistency of the data. this works is the most effective treatment

works is the most effective treatment that's ever been shown in treating the

that's ever been shown in treating the leading cause of death and disability,

leading cause of death and disability, which is high blood pressure and its

which is high blood pressure and its consequences. If a person has essential

consequences. If a person has essential hypertension and they fast long enough,

hypertension and they fast long enough, they're going to normalize their blood

they're going to normalize their blood pressure. And if they're willing to do

pressure. And if they're willing to do dangerous and radical things like eat

dangerous and radical things like eat well, exercise, and get to bed on time,

well, exercise, and get to bed on time, they can sustain those results.

they can sustain those results. We have a closing tradition on this

We have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest leaves a

podcast where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing

question for the next guest, not knowing who they're leaving it for. And the

who they're leaving it for. And the question left for you is quite a tricky

question left for you is quite a tricky one, but it's interesting.

one, but it's interesting. It is, what is the biggest lie that you

It is, what is the biggest lie that you think is ruining most people's life?

think is ruining most people's life? >> I think one of the biggest mistakes is

>> I think one of the biggest mistakes is that people think that health comes from

that people think that health comes from pills, potions, powders, and treatments

pills, potions, powders, and treatments instead of healthful living. Health is

instead of healthful living. Health is the direct result of healthful living,

the direct result of healthful living, and that means diet, sleep, exercise.

and that means diet, sleep, exercise. But they're hard, especially in the

But they're hard, especially in the world we live in where, you know,

world we live in where, you know, everything I see is trying to play with

everything I see is trying to play with the neurotrans chemicals in in my brain

the neurotrans chemicals in in my brain >> to get me to be addicted and to

>> to get me to be addicted and to >> Well, people are trying to sell the

>> Well, people are trying to sell the pleasure trap. They're trying to tell

pleasure trap. They're trying to tell you what you want to hear, not what you

you what you want to hear, not what you need to know. What you want to hear is

need to know. What you want to hear is that there's a way to not do hard

that there's a way to not do hard things, but still get good benefits. And

things, but still get good benefits. And what you need to know is how to do hard

what you need to know is how to do hard things so you can be successful.

things so you can be successful. >> I think that's like the defining trait

>> I think that's like the defining trait of the 21st century is like your ability

of the 21st century is like your ability to do

to do what you know you should for long-term

what you know you should for long-term benefits, not short-term benefits. I

benefits, not short-term benefits. I think like delayed gratification is

think like delayed gratification is maybe the defining trait of the like the

maybe the defining trait of the like the 21st century. I mean, we we've all heard

21st century. I mean, we we've all heard of like the those cookie experiments

of like the those cookie experiments they did on those kids to see which kids

they did on those kids to see which kids would take the cookie and which ones

would take the cookie and which ones would wait for two cookies later. But

would wait for two cookies later. But it's I think the further in my life I've

it's I think the further in my life I've gone, the more I've realized that

gone, the more I've realized that actually like every self-help book ever

actually like every self-help book ever written could be one page and it could

written could be one page and it could just say like delay gratification. Like

just say like delay gratification. Like do the thing that is in the best

do the thing that is in the best interest of long-term you versus

interest of long-term you versus short-term you.

short-term you. >> I think that there's three

>> I think that there's three characteristics that everybody uh should

characteristics that everybody uh should aspire for. Whether it's a mate, whether

aspire for. Whether it's a mate, whether it's a employee, or whether it's a

it's a employee, or whether it's a friend, what you really are looking for

friend, what you really are looking for is honesty, integrity, and intelligence.

is honesty, integrity, and intelligence. So honesty means they're going to tell

So honesty means they're going to tell the truth.

the truth. >> Mhm.

>> Mhm. >> Integrity is they're going to do the

>> Integrity is they're going to do the right thing. And intelligence means

right thing. And intelligence means they're going to do things right.

they're going to do things right. >> Mhm. And that applies for ourselves,

>> Mhm. And that applies for ourselves, right, as well. Would it be honest and

right, as well. Would it be honest and have high integrity and be intelligent

have high integrity and be intelligent with your own decisioning?

with your own decisioning? >> I think those are the characteristics

>> I think those are the characteristics that determine uh both uh success but

that determine uh both uh success but more importantly happiness.

more importantly happiness. The people that I meet that are happy

The people that I meet that are happy have uh high degrees of all three of

have uh high degrees of all three of those things. Some people are very

those things. Some people are very intelligent but they don't necessarily

intelligent but they don't necessarily do the right thing. Some people are

do the right thing. Some people are honest but you know they'll tell the

honest but you know they'll tell the truth but they won't necessarily tell

truth but they won't necessarily tell the whole truth. So, you know, you have

the whole truth. So, you know, you have to have all three, I think, to have a

to have all three, I think, to have a high degree of uh probability to

high degree of uh probability to success.

success. >> And what are you working on at the

>> And what are you working on at the moment? What's keeping you busy at this

moment? What's keeping you busy at this moment in time?

moment in time? >> We're uh in the process of getting ready

>> We're uh in the process of getting ready to launch a major study. We're going to

to launch a major study. We're going to enroll between 2 and 3,000 people for

enroll between 2 and 3,000 people for the rest of their life. And we're going

the rest of their life. And we're going to track them and try to see if we can

to track them and try to see if we can avoid the average 16 years of dabbility

avoid the average 16 years of dabbility that that greet people at the end of

that that greet people at the end of their life. We believe with diet, sleep,

their life. We believe with diet, sleep, exercise, and periodic fasting, we can

exercise, and periodic fasting, we can avoid the dability that's so common and

avoid the dability that's so common and that make the last 20 years of people's

that make the last 20 years of people's lives the best years of their life

lives the best years of their life instead of the worst.

instead of the worst. >> You know, you said at your clinic you 1%

>> You know, you said at your clinic you 1% of patients do the 40-day fast.

of patients do the 40-day fast. What who are those patients? What are

What who are those patients? What are they suffering with? What are they

they suffering with? What are they struggling with? Because that's pretty

struggling with? Because that's pretty extreme.

extreme. One woman was a dentist who'd had a

One woman was a dentist who'd had a traumatic brain injury secondary to

traumatic brain injury secondary to getting hit by a t a pole, an outdoor

getting hit by a t a pole, an outdoor pole at a at a, ironically enough, a

pole at a at a, ironically enough, a continuing education conference. And she

continuing education conference. And she developed a headache. And she'd had

developed a headache. And she'd had constant daily head pain from 8 to 10

constant daily head pain from 8 to 10 every minute of every day for 16 years.

every minute of every day for 16 years. And she came in and fasted for 41 days

And she came in and fasted for 41 days during which time she resolved to a

during which time she resolved to a large extent her headaches. She refed.

large extent her headaches. She refed. She had some prodal symptoms, minor, you

She had some prodal symptoms, minor, you know, symptoms. and then did a second

know, symptoms. and then did a second 40-day fast six months later. And now

40-day fast six months later. And now it's been 12 years. She has no

it's been 12 years. She has no headaches. So in her case, she was

headaches. So in her case, she was motivated by like a lot of our patients,

motivated by like a lot of our patients, pain, dability, and fear of death. And

pain, dability, and fear of death. And they were willing to do anything in

they were willing to do anything in order to be able to get well, including,

order to be able to get well, including, you know, a long period of fasting.

you know, a long period of fasting. >> Um, so the people that fast a long time

>> Um, so the people that fast a long time often times are very motivated

often times are very motivated individuals, mostly motivated by, you

individuals, mostly motivated by, you know, physical health goals. Not always.

know, physical health goals. Not always. Some people are are doing fasting for

Some people are are doing fasting for spiritual or other types of practices.

spiritual or other types of practices. But most of the people we have are just

But most of the people we have are just people that have not been successful

people that have not been successful resolving their conditions with diet and

resolving their conditions with diet and lifestyle change with medications and

lifestyle change with medications and drugs. And you know there they say that

drugs. And you know there they say that it should be the true north health

it should be the true north health center the last resort. One of my uh

center the last resort. One of my uh colleagues uh may he rest in peace John

colleagues uh may he rest in peace John McDougall used to say we were the

McDougall used to say we were the punishment. And if he had a patient that

punishment. And if he had a patient that he would do the dietary changes with,

he would do the dietary changes with, but it wasn't successful at fully

but it wasn't successful at fully resolving the problem, he would

resolving the problem, he would apologize to them and say, "I'm so

apologize to them and say, "I'm so sorry, but you need to go to

sorry, but you need to go to Goldhammer's place. Good luck to you."

Goldhammer's place. Good luck to you." >> Cuz he thought that was one of the more

>> Cuz he thought that was one of the more difficult things that people were ever

difficult things that people were ever asked to do. I think it is the most

asked to do. I think it is the most difficult thing you ask people to do.

difficult thing you ask people to do. Not the fasting. That's not that

Not the fasting. That's not that difficult. What's difficult is to go

difficult. What's difficult is to go back and live in a world designed to

back and live in a world designed to make you fat, sick, and miserable and

make you fat, sick, and miserable and try to live healthfully and live with

try to live healthfully and live with integrity and deal with the social

integrity and deal with the social outflux of being successful.

outflux of being successful. >> And as I said, a lot of times the people

>> And as I said, a lot of times the people that I see that have the easiest time

that I see that have the easiest time are the ones that aren't necessarily the

are the ones that aren't necessarily the most sociable kind of people.

most sociable kind of people. >> Thank you so much for the work that you

>> Thank you so much for the work that you do because it's it's it's fascinating

do because it's it's it's fascinating and you you're providing another

and you you're providing another alternative treatment to people who are

alternative treatment to people who are very often out of out of choice. Before

very often out of out of choice. Before I came here today, my wife said, "Don't

I came here today, my wife said, "Don't be nervous to talk to him because it's

be nervous to talk to him because it's just like, you know, I speak a hundred

just like, you know, I speak a hundred times a year to 50 to 100 people."

times a year to 50 to 100 people." >> And I and I said, "Yeah, Jennifer, it's

>> And I and I said, "Yeah, Jennifer, it's just like talking to 50 to 100 people

just like talking to 50 to 100 people except doing it every day for 400

except doing it every day for 400 years."

>> Thanks for getting the word out. >> Well, no, my my audience are

>> Well, no, my my audience are open-minded. They're smart. They're

open-minded. They're smart. They're savvy. They're curious, I hope, as well.

savvy. They're curious, I hope, as well. So it's it's really fascinating and I

So it's it's really fascinating and I think you know when we think about these

think you know when we think about these longer fasts we often focus on the

longer fasts we often focus on the physiological changes that are going to

physiological changes that are going to take place like we talked about the

take place like we talked about the glycogen reserves being depleted and the

glycogen reserves being depleted and the ketone bodies and all these things and

ketone bodies and all these things and the betham mah hydroyate or whatever

the betham mah hydroyate or whatever that big word was but I actually think

that big word was but I actually think there's the really unappreciated part of

there's the really unappreciated part of all of this is the psychological change

all of this is the psychological change that takes place when you realize that

that takes place when you realize that you can accomplish something but also as

you can accomplish something but also as you said when you're you sort of

you said when you're you sort of rebalance and reset your your dopamine

rebalance and reset your your dopamine levels and um when you your your chain

levels and um when you your your chain your taste adapts to the fasted state

your taste adapts to the fasted state and how that can

and how that can act as an intervention, a psychological

act as an intervention, a psychological and physiological intervention just to

and physiological intervention just to reset you a little bit. Every year I I I

reset you a little bit. Every year I I I do ketosis at least once, maybe

do ketosis at least once, maybe sometimes twice or three times. I have a

sometimes twice or three times. I have a ke ketogenic diet and it is it's like a

ke ketogenic diet and it is it's like a it's like a tremendous reset of my

it's like a tremendous reset of my habits. So like resets my habits. It

habits. So like resets my habits. It resets my urges, my cravings. So

resets my urges, my cravings. So >> think about when a patient goes to a

>> think about when a patient goes to a medical doctor and they say, "Oh, I have

medical doctor and they say, "Oh, I have high blood pressure." And they say,

high blood pressure." And they say, "Listen, we promise you if you do

"Listen, we promise you if you do exactly what we tell you, we guarantee

exactly what we tell you, we guarantee you you'll never get well. You'll be

you you'll never get well. You'll be sick the rest of your life and you'll be

sick the rest of your life and you'll be on these drugs forever." And there's not

on these drugs forever." And there's not a one I've had so far that that turns

a one I've had so far that that turns out to be true for.

out to be true for. It changes their entire paradigm

It changes their entire paradigm >> when they get overcome the problem that

>> when they get overcome the problem that supposedly is helpless and hopeless and

supposedly is helpless and hopeless and nothing can be done.

nothing can be done. >> Changes their it changes their view of

>> Changes their it changes their view of reality.

reality. >> Of course. And I mean what you're

>> Of course. And I mean what you're speaking to there is learned

speaking to there is learned helplessness where if someone tells you

helplessness where if someone tells you there's nothing you can do then you do

there's nothing you can do then you do fall into I mean the studies show this

fall into I mean the studies show this you fall into a state of learned

you fall into a state of learned helplessness where you actually stop

helplessness where you actually stop trying to help yourself and you submit.

trying to help yourself and you submit. I was reading I was actually reading a

I was reading I was actually reading a study the other day about rats who who

study the other day about rats who who fell into a state of learned

fell into a state of learned helplessness because uh

helplessness because uh >> Oh, and they won't even

>> Oh, and they won't even >> they won't even try anymore. Yeah.

>> they won't even try anymore. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, that's a really good

>> Yeah. Well, that's a really good example.

example. >> Yeah.

>> Yeah. >> The same happens with humans. If you if

>> The same happens with humans. If you if someone tells you something something

someone tells you something something can't change, you're stuck. You're

can't change, you're stuck. You're [ __ ]

[ __ ] >> When you're ready to have a

>> When you're ready to have a life-changing experience, we'd love you

life-changing experience, we'd love you to be our guest.

to be our guest. >> Come to the center. Do a bit of a fast.

>> Come to the center. Do a bit of a fast. I'm telling you, you're a great

I'm telling you, you're a great candidate. You'll have a intense but,

candidate. You'll have a intense but, you know, positive experience,

you know, positive experience, >> okay? And uh we'll make sure that if you

>> okay? And uh we'll make sure that if you walk in, you walk out.

walk in, you walk out. >> Okay, good. That's a prerequisite of my

>> Okay, good. That's a prerequisite of my visit. Thank you so much, Dr. Coleman.

visit. Thank you so much, Dr. Coleman. Keep doing what you're doing.

Keep doing what you're doing. >> Thank you.

>> Thank you. >> Thank you.

>> Thank you. >> Make sure you keep what I'm about to say

>> Make sure you keep what I'm about to say to yourself. I'm inviting 10,000 of you

to yourself. I'm inviting 10,000 of you to come even deeper into the diary of a

to come even deeper into the diary of a CEO. Welcome to my inner circle. This is

CEO. Welcome to my inner circle. This is a brand new private community that I'm

a brand new private community that I'm launching to the world. We have so many

launching to the world. We have so many incredible things that happen that you

incredible things that happen that you are never shown. We have the briefs that

are never shown. We have the briefs that are on my iPad when I'm recording the

are on my iPad when I'm recording the conversation. We have clips we've never

conversation. We have clips we've never released. We have behind the scenes

released. We have behind the scenes conversations with the guests and also

conversations with the guests and also the episodes that we've never ever

the episodes that we've never ever released and so much more. In the

released and so much more. In the circle, you'll have direct access to me.

circle, you'll have direct access to me. You can tell us what you want this show

You can tell us what you want this show to be, who you want us to interview, and

to be, who you want us to interview, and the types of conversations you would

the types of conversations you would love us to have. But remember, for now,

love us to have. But remember, for now, we're only inviting the first 10,000

we're only inviting the first 10,000 people that join before it closes. So if

people that join before it closes. So if you want to join our private close

you want to join our private close community, head to the link in the

community, head to the link in the description below or go to

description below or go to daccircle.com.

I will speak to you there. [Music]

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YouTube Transcript:World No.1 Fasting Expert: The Link Between Cancer & Fasting That They're Hiding From You!

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World No.1 Fasting Expert: The Link Between Cancer & Fasting That They're Hiding From You!