FASTING CENTER INTERNATIONAL

FASTING WISDOM ARCHIVE: Why Doctors Fast & Recommend It - Fasting Quotes - Who Should Not Fast - Ten Fasting Physicians Praise FCI's Juice Fasting Program - Why & How You Fast - How Long & What Type of Fast - Fasting Cancer Survivor Removes Chemo Toxins & Their Adverse Side-Effects - Is Supervision Necessary - Fasting Chief Surgeon Gains "Secret To Wellness & Wholeness" - Fasting CEO Removes 70 Lbs. & Improves "Every Aspect Of Life" - Fasting Ph.D. Learns Weight Control Lessons - Fasting Surgeon: "Your Program Saved My Life" - Fasting For Weight Loss, Businesswomen Also Gain Health - CEO's Great Health Fast Success - Biblical Fasting - Fasting Eases Social Worker's Bipolar II Suffering - Fasting Cured Minister's Hernias - Fasting Cured M.D.'s Binge Eating - Fasting Cured Pilot's Arthritis & Allergies - Fasting Cured Ph.D.'s Bursitis & Hay Fever - Fasting Cured CEO's Hepatitis C & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Fasting Cured Ph.D.'s Jaw Tumor - Fasting Cured Columbia Senior's Binge Drinking & Food Addiction - Fasting Cured Teacher's Bulimia - Fasting Cured CEO's Diabetes 2 - Fasting Cured J.D.'s Obesity, High Blood Pressure & Depression - Fasting Cured Minister's Morbid Obesity, Heart Wall & Valve, High Blood Pressure, Cholesterol & Sleep Apnea - Fasting Cured J.D.'s Irregular Heart Rhythm, Palpitation, Hot Flashes & Night Sweats - CEO's Diary on FCI's 40-Day Fasting Program - Fasting Ed.D. Learns From Repeat Fast - Fasting Inspires Compassion - Fasting: Why Is WebMD's Article Misleading & Factless?

[FCI NOTE: Among prospective fasters approaching Fasting Center International wondering why you fast, how you fast, who can fast, who can't fast, does fasting help, should I fast, can I fast, what type of fast, how do I fast, and how long should I fast--one-week fast, two-week fast, three-week fast, four-week fast, five-week fast, six-week fast, seven-week fast, eight-week fast or a really long fast--a growing number suffer the three main types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Thus, let's look at them.

      Interestingly, there is no consensus on either the cause of eating disorders, nor on how widespread they are today, for example, in the fattest nation on Earth--America. Think about it. In the U.S., with a population just over 300 million, two-thirds of adults are overweight, with one-third clinically obese. Obviously, this includes many tens of millions of eating-disordered Americans, most of whom are not included in this National Eating Disorders Association estimate: "In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life-and-death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Millions more are struggling with binge-eating disorder."

      Expanding things a bit, the Alliance For Eating Disorders Awareness offers these statistics: (1) eating disorders affect up to 24 million Americans (70 million individuals, worldwide); (2) 1-in-5 U.S. women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating; (3) an estimated 10-to-15% of Americans with anorexia or bulimia are male; (4) 90 % of those with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25; (5) at least 50,000 Americans will die, as a direct result of an eating disorder; (6) 11% of U.S. high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder; (7) 15% of young U.S. women not diagnosed with an eating disorder display substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, and (8) a Cornell University study found that 40% of male football players surveyed engaged in some sort of disordered eating behavior.

      Obviously, the problem has grown larger than most yet realize, or care to admit. For those wishing to explore the causal theories of eating disorders, there are, among others, a biomedical theory (they're pathological, so let's get to their biological root), a cultural theory (they're blowback from impossible societal expectations--including mass media programming equating thinness with beauty and success), and a psychological theory (they're influenced by one's home and mental environment).

      The National Eating Disorders Screening Program reveals that 15% of young women in America today have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, and an estimated 1000 U.S. women die each year of anorexia nervosa, for example. The American Anorexia Bulimia Association (AABA) adds that "approximately 10% of all eating disorder sufferers are male. For men, reaching out for help can be even harder, for not only do they have to deal with the shame associated with eating disorders, but this shame is compounded when eating disorders are viewed as a woman's disorder."

      Writing on the AABA website, Natalia Zunino, Ph.D., admits that: "At this time, no single cause of eating disorders has been discovered, but a number of factors, especially when they occur together, can put an individual at risk for developing an eating disorder." The AABA adds the following general information on eating disorders:

      "Eating disorders--anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder--are psychiatric illnesses that affect over 5 million American women and men. This figure may not seem terribly high until we realize that thousands of these people will die from the physical problems caused by these conditions. Eating disorders are not just the extremes of anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder. Dangerous fad diets are also widespread in this country. In a society where thinness is equated with success and happiness, nearly every American woman, man and child has suffered, at one time or another, from issues of weight, body shape and self-image.

      "The depression, shame and agonizing sense of isolation caused by eating disorders disrupts families, interrupts schooling, damages careers bright with promise, and destroys relationships. Without treatment, the future for men and women with eating disorders is bleak. But with psychological counseling and medical evaluations (sometimes in conjunction with nutritional counseling and medication), people can recover. Sufferers can develop appropriate inner resources and look forward to living normal, productive and happy lives."

TODAY'S FIFTY-BILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION (the amount Americans spend annually on DIETS and diet-related products), especially among the millions who've also undergone exorbitantly expensive "psychological counseling and medical evaluations," yet STILL suffer eating disorders, is as obvious as a heart attack: What approach DOES work?

      Again, according to the AABA, which thinks it understands such disorders: "Eating disorders are extremely complex psychological problems that are very closely associated with depression and low self-esteem. For a person with anorexia, bulimia, or binge-eating disorder, the disorder serves a purpose in her or his life. Often, disordered eating is used as a means to mask other underlying issues, or to cope with personal problems that may be unrelated to their concerns about food and weight (for example, trouble at school or work, relationship or family problems). For someone who feels very out of control, an eating disorder may seem like a viable means of gaining back some power or agency.

      "In a culture that is obsessed with weight loss and idealizes thinness, it is not hard to imagine how certain psychologically-vulnerable people may feel that losing weight is the answer to all of their problems. Unfortunately, the eating disorder will inevitably take over that person's life, dictating every minute detail of her/his day. Our philosophy is that eating disorders are psychological problems that require therapeutic intervention. . . .There are many different approaches to the treatment of eating disorders. There is no single philosophy that works for everyone."

COMPULSIVE EATING, as we know, is a food addiction, and just to demonstrate the disparity of thinking among U.S. health-care professionals on this critical issue, perhaps the best-known physician in America today--Harvard-trained M.D. and botanist Andrew Weil--counters both the AABA's diagnosis and treatment philosophy in "Natural Health, Natural Medicine," writing on addictions to food (from compulsive eating to eating disorders such as bulimia), as well as to legal drugs (alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and chocolate) and sexual addictions, concluding that:

      "Addiction is not a psychological or pharmacological problem, and cannot be solved by the methods of psychology or pharmacology. It is, at root, a spiritual concern, because it represents a misdirected attempt to achieve wholeness, to experience inner completeness and satisfaction. . . .Since the roots of addiction penetrate deeply into the very essence of our humanness, changing addictive behavior is not easy. For some of us, it may be the work of a lifetime. A basic strategy for wellness is to be free of harmful habits."

THIS IS PRECISELY where FCI clients begin--using our Scientific Fasting Program, experiential knowledge and distilled wisdom developed over 35 years as the global leader in our field, with clients on seven continents representing 220 countries--by stepping back from their harmful habits and addictions, as well as from all solid foods and their many attendant associations, habits, ritualisms and thought patterns. Also, during prolonged Scientific Fasting, one is both heightening her/his clarity of consciousness and enhancing innate spirituality, both of which enable one to see her/his life's options in far clearer perspective, as well as make the necessary, positive changes necessary to maintain the far greater health, happiness and healing power they're simultaneously achieving during prolonged juice fasting.

      This is nothing new, of course, since more of our species' greatest thinkers and spiritual teachers have repeatedly gone to prolonged fasting than to all other healing modalities combined, throughout human history, including all three Fathers of Western Medicine who practiced and prescribed prolonged fasting--Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus (who concluded, nearly 500 years ago, that: "Fasting is the greatest remedy--the physician within!").

      Here, then, is just one, representative example of what prolonged, therapeutic, Scientific Fasting can accomplish in the inseparable body-mind-spirit complex of a young, intelligent, long-suffering woman who had tried the ABBA's recommended 'talk-therapy-and-drugs' approach, been failed by it, yet still had the courage, discipline and perseverance to actually do two prolonged juice fasts under FCI's skilled, veteran, professional supervision--one year apart--before finally achieving the level of physical, mental and spiritual health necessary for wellness. . .finally achieving freedom from her previous, harmful, health- and spirit-destroying food habits and behavioral addictions of nearly a decade.

       Ellen Anderson, 27, began her second prolonged, therapeutic fast at FCI as a University of California at Davis, CA, GATE Language Arts teacher with a Master's degree in Creative Writing/Poetry, who'd been, in her own words, "a compulsive eater and bulimic since age 18." Her first Fasting Program at FCI had been a year earlier, for 53 days, to "restore my body to its pre-eating-disorder weight of about 40-50 pounds less than I weigh right now. . .and heal my internal organs, esophagus, and entire digestive tract, all of which have been damaged, I'm sure, through my bulimic behavior." Below, she's writing after having now completed her second long fast at FCI, undertaken to finally resolve her chronic eating disorder completely, as well as get more seriously into meditation, yoga and her spiritual pursuit, in order to cement her recovery]:

By Ellen Anderson, Master's in Creative Writing, GATE Language Arts teacher and FCI client
      "Over a year ago, I completed a 53-day Fasting Program with FCI (43 days of actual juice-fasting). Today, I began transitioning out of a 59-day Fasting Program. Perhaps I'm the slowest of slow, experiential learners, or perhaps I am, quite simply, supremely blessed to have had the opportunity to enter into a healing partnership with Dennis Paulson and Fasting Center International's Juice Fasting Program not once but twice in this lifetime.

      "When I first contacted FCI/Dennis, I was despairing at having tried every form of support group, therapy and diet imaginable, all without any positive results, when it came to the bulimic behavior patterns which devoured hours and hours of my daily life--binging on sugars and processed flours, and then throwing up what I had eaten, and/or taking laxatives or exercising excessively to try to compensate for the tremendous amount of food I often consumed in one sitting.

      "I often walked down the street conscious of one pervasive thought in my mind: I want to die. I knew my eating problem and its consequent depression were spiritual in nature, but it seemed that food so pervaded every moment of my life, not to mention every social gathering, that I rarely caught even a glimpse of what life might be like without the emotional and physical roller coaster of binging and purging, as well as the uncomfortable, excess weight I carried around as a result of my self-destructive habits.

      "Then, I stumbled onto FCI's website, and my first long fast gave me that experiential glimpse of vibrant health I'd so long suspected must exist for some people, but had not known how to create for myself. . .since losing it--if ever I'd truly experienced it--in early adolescence. Several months after completing my first fast, by my own choice, I stumbled back into unsupportive relationships and self-destructive habits, yet I had gained something priceless from that initial fast, something I would not forget: experiential knowledge of the mental clarity, heightened spirituality, and physical vibrance that is available to any person who has access to FCI's Scientific Fasting Program.

      "If I can do this Juice Fasting Program, after years of chronic binging, purging and dieting, then truly anyone can. FCI'S/Dennis Paulson's support and professionalism are not only unfailing, but unparalleled by that of any of the many nutritionists, therapists, and 'eating-disorder specialists' I've encountered over the years.

      "Last week--my last fasting week of this 59-day Fasting Program--I hiked 33 miles in the High Sierra back-country without a moment's lapse of energy. Today, I sat on a park bench in the warm sunshine eating a lightly-dressed organic salad of green spinach, red tomatoes, orange carrots, green pepper and avocado. I spread a pink, cloth napkin on my lap and ate slowly and with dignity. While chewing each vegetable, I held, in my awareness, the nutrients I was sending into my newly slim and healthy body. I thought about all the wonderful things I have to live for, all the reasons I have to be grateful, and reflected on how much my life has changed during the year since my first FCI Fasting Program. . .especially these final 59 days.

      "My meditation practice has definitely deepened over the course of the last month and a half, and my relationships with other people have definitely improved. For one thing, I no longer cringe in shame at my excess weight when someone touches me. It's as though a thick fog of toxin-induced mental illness has been blown from my mind. Additionally, my pollen and mold allergies, for which I once relied on a prescription nasal spray, steroid inhaler, along with antihistamine tablets several times daily, have disappeared, all but for the occasional sneeze while I'm weeding my garden.

      "I wish I could transmit the experience of my newfound peace of mind, body, and spirit to all the sufferers everywhere who struggle with compulsive eating, bulimia, depression, sinus and allergy problems, or all of the above. The impetus behind my decision to begin a second FCI Therapeutic Fast occurred after I had completed a difficult transition--a cross-country move--and had then been prescribed the anti-depressant drug Wellbutrin. Both my intuition and my research told me that introducing more chemicals into a body already sensitive from years of abuse at my own hand, via an eating disorder, would do more harm than good, in the long run. Gratitude is too weak a word to express the swelled heart I experience whenever I think about the seizures and other complications that could've become a part of my then melancholy existence, had I not known I could contact FCI, once again, and ask for help.

      "Finally, fasting seems to have obliterated my need to feel anxious about the future. It has taught me to live in, and be grateful for, the moment at hand, while at the same time it has raised my energy level from one governed by desire and craving, to one governed by an open, grateful heart. How did I get to this place of peace in my life, when just under two months ago, I was still diagnosed as a depressed, compulsive overeater whose only alternative to possible suicide was to take a toxic drug with questionable side-effects? I followed the FCI Scientific Fasting Program, complete with Dennis Paulson's expert advice and heart-felt wisdom.

      "To anyone who wakes up in the morning disgusted by the sight of her or his own painfully bloated body; to anyone who finds herself or himself binging uncontrollably on unhealthy substances; to anyone who has been prescribed anti-depressant drugs, and to anyone who suffers with chronic allergy and sinus problems, my wish for you is that you will be able to do a Juice Fasting Program with FCI, so that you might experience all the feelings of well-being in body, mind, and spirit that I now enjoy.--Ellen Anderson."

[FCI NOTE: It's worth repeating Harvard-trained M.D. Andrew Weil's diagnosis, mirroring our own 35-year conclusion: "Addiction is NOT a psychological or pharmacological problem, and CANNOT be solved by the methods of psychology or pharmacology. It is, at root, a spiritual concern, because it represents a misdirected attempt to achieve wholeness, to experience inner completeness and satisfaction." Obviously, there's no substitute for true spiritual study and development. However, beyond investigating and then adopting proven methodologies for actually putting religious teachings into practice, those who become FCI clients have access to our Program's superb "Recommended Reading" list, containing a wealth of books teaching precisely how to do so, including some directed specifically to the eating-disordered.]

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