Fasting Journal : Fasting Center International

A U.K. PSYCHOLOGIST, 37, 'STARING DEATH IN THE FACE' AT 400 LBS., USES FCI'S 100-DAY PROGRAM TO HALVE HER WEIGHT & SAVE HER LIFE!

      [NOTE: Among the hundreds of prospective clients visiting Fasting Center International's virtual office each day of every year--just as you're presently doing--there are countless overweight souls who arrive heavily programmed by repeated failures at the hands of the rip-off 'DIET' Industry (and scientific fasting and 'dieting' are NOT analagous, despite Conventional Medicine's ethically-misnomered use of the word 'fasting' in equally-failed DIET programs such as OptiFast, MediFast, et. al., ALL of which use powdered SOLIDS which have demonstrated they actually harm heath--never done in true fasting, by definition). Thus, such long-suffering souls arrive SERIOUSLY underestimating themselves--mistakenly trying to equate scientific fasting with the many DIETS that have so long failed them--despite the fact that FCI has enjoyed a nonpareil, 98.5% Program-completion rate over the past 35 years we've been blessed to supervise our world's largest, nonresidential fasting clientele (with clients on all major continents and in all time zones).
      In his best-selling book, "DIETS DON'T WORK," Bob Schwartz not only explains why 80 million Americans, for example, weigh more than when they started their first diet, but he also quotes WASHINGTON POST research concluding that "over the past 70 years, 26,000-plus popular diets have failed Americans 99.5% of the time!" Such stunning, near-perfect failure by America's Diet Industry could only be achieved by sadly brilliant design--causing deeply suffering clients of all ages to return over and over again to pay through the nostrils. . .in more ways than one, as the below client bears 20-year testimony to.
      By contrast, scientific fasting has not only proved its efficacy over millennia as the oldest, fastest, safest (biochemically), most efficient and least expensive weight loss, detoxification, energy-restoring, spiritually enhancing healing modality on Earth--practiced by most all of our species' greatest thinkers, spiritual teachers, and all three Fathers of Western Medicine (Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus, who diagnosed fasting as "the greatest remedy, the physician within")--but FCI has, over the past 35 years, been teaching this marvelous, self-improvement technique for life, enabling clients to thereafter use it on their own (up to the length of time they've acutually fasted under our skilled, veteran, professional supervision, of course) with confidence. . .both to maintain and further their weight-loss (and myriad other health) gains.
      Among the many souls, worldwide, who, despite the colossal failure of the now-global Diet Industry, still have the courage to rescue themselves from the devastating, depressing, downward spiral which their over-eating and lack of sufficient exercise precipitated, is a U.K. psychologist, 39, who arrived at FCI nearly two years ago, in her own words, "staring death in the face," with a monumental decision to make--"to live, or to die," as all of her vital signs were beginning to trend seriously downward. . .unmistakably toward the premature death so many grossly-overweight fellow human beings today suffer (especially in the U.S, where since 1966, overweight people have outnumbered their normal-size sisters and brothers, and where a March, 2000, study revealed that "12% of U.S. kindergarteners now have a body-fat index that puts them at risk for obesity." Here, then, is how this Londoner with two Master's degrees in psychology, who is currently studying investigative journalism, finally reversed her multi-decade downspiral and actually saved her own life. . .in her own words, written a full year and a half after she signed on for FCI's longest Program--100 days, which includes only 90 days of actual juice-fasting--for those wondering whether our clients automatically go back to 'old habits' as soon as they finish their Program (which we're teaching them to use for life!)]:

      "By May, 1998, aged 37 years, weighing 400 lbs., I was heading rapidly toward death.

      "I had not yet developed the 'expected' range of medical problems associated with 'Malignant Obesity' (a label now used to categorise severe levels of body fat) such as Diabetes or Hypertension, but I had been suffering acutely during the preceding 18 months from 'Sleep Apnoea' and 'Obesity Hyperventilation Syndrome'--the first condition caused the cessation of breathing every one-and-a-half hours whilst asleep, and the second manifested itself in numerous, unpredictable blackouts, often whilst driving. Both conditions are the consequence of oxygen deprivation.

      "I had stopped sleeping in a bed; what rest I managed took place sitting upright in a chair, as I was so scared that the night would come when, asleep in bed, I would stop breathing again but this time, I would not wake up to breathe again.

      "How and why I got into this state would, in itself, occupy the contents of a book, but suffice it to say, it had taken many, many, years to get to a point where death was staring me squarely in the face. There were two choices: to live, or to die.

      "All I know for certain, at this time in my life, is that I was scared. . .very scared. Had I finally, over so many years of misery, reached the point of no return? Would I die now?

      "Galvanised into action by no more noble a motivation than fear, I resolved to find a safe and speedy solution, for I had so little time left. I decided to take a two-pronged approach: to search the Internet for suitable programmes, and to seek help at the hands of the 'professional experts' in the medical profession in the United Kingdom.

      "To say that I was appalled at what passed for 'help' from the U.K. professionals would be more than a gross understatement. A so-called Eating Disorders 'expert' believed the only solution for me would be to undergo stomach-stapling surgery. This recommendation was given with the knowledge that I was not only philosophically opposed to such barbarism, but that I was also experiencing severe oxygen deprivation, with associated breathing problems, and might, as a consequence of the surgery, die. But, you see, obese people have no other option; to them, it's as if an obese person doesn't really deserve to live.

      "WRONG on both counts!!! An obese person has as much right to live as anybody else and, in fact, there is another option to life-threatening, morally-reprehensible, erroneous surgery--Fasting Center International, Inc.

      "So, after several months of searching the global Internet, by some miracle of fate, prayer and desperation, I arrived at the FCI site. Nonetheless, I was at first ambivalent about the notion of fasting, for what else could I feel when a life-long history of food abuse (in the form of over-eating), punctuated by periods of under-eating (in the form of diets), was my only reality? Oh, I'd certainly lost and re-gained weight on numerous 'diets'--140 lbs., four times during the last 20 years. But with their various approaches, all I'd managed to achieve was watching my initial, excess weight problem of 56 lbs., balloon to an excess weight problem of 245 lbs. over the course of those 20 years!!! I had believed the 'common' wisdom of dieting to be the solution to weight loss, but after two decades of failure, realised how fallacious that is.

      "Most certainly, the thought of solid-food abstinence had never veered anywhere near my consciousness. How could a compulsive over-eater ever consider the possibility of fasting? And yet, it seemed so wholly appropriate: Just as an alcoholic or drug addict must go into a 'cold turkey' abstinence to ameliorate her or his immediate condition, so it is for the compulsive over-eating addict.

      "Clearly, what makes the long-term treatment of the compulsive over-eating addict radically different from treatments for other forms of addiction, is that since we cannot completely and permanently abstain from food, we have to negotiate a better relationship with it than is our experience. Most certainly, FCI's scientific juice-fasting Programme has gone much further than any other method I've tried, to enable me to both lose weight safely and quickly, and to also help me alter and educate my attitudes and beliefs towards what I eat.

      "As I write to you, I am on my fourth 90-day juice-fast--proof positive of the efficacy of the Programme; after all, why repeat something that doesn't work? Not only have I almost halved my weight--I am currently down from 400 lbs. to a little over 200 lbs., at 5'11"--but I also enjoy being on a fast. You see, I quite simply feel so much better in myself, plus my body feels healthier: I have a constant supply of energy, the most glorious quality and duration of sleep, a strengthened immune system, and above all, a sense of peace, as well as of the possibilites of life.

      "I have arrived at this point, despite my initial reservations about fasting. After all, it provided the only glimmer of hope for me. In essence, I trusted in Founder/Director Dennis Paulson, and my trust was not misplaced. Throughout my first fast, Dennis's enduring availability and wise supervision, combined with the testimonials of other clients, dispelled all residual fears I was harbouring, and I quickly became 'won over' to the absolute rightness of what I was doing. As a precaution, and due to my ignorance of the bodily processes involved in fasting, I elected to have (during my first fast, with FCI) a complete blood and electrolyte count--carried out by my doctor--to ensure that I was 'suffering' no adverse effects. To my doctor's eternal surprise, repeated blood tests only served to prove that absolutely everything was in A-1 working order!

      "Since that first fast, and indeed following my subsequent fasts, much has changed 'within' and 'without' me. Again, further rumination could fill a book!!!! I am finally relinquishing my stubborness to the acceptance that I must alter my eating habits permanently, and change my beliefs and attitudes about food. . .to maintain an ideal weight-for-height ratio. In the end, it is about defining a way of life and eating that uniquely works for me. A vital part of that way of life will now, and forever more, be the scientific juice-fasting FCI has taught me. It really is a truly remarkable phenomenon, and even when I have finally lost all my excess weight, I will practice various length fasting programmes for the rest of my life.

      "Each subsequent fast has brought me nearer to my goals: weight loss, weight maintenance, and a release from food addiction. In fact, I'm glad that I had so much weight to lose, because I have needed the time to adjust psychologically, as well as physically. By the end of this 4th fast, I will be the nearest I've been to my ideal weight in 21 years. . .and I'm 39 years old now!

      "I owe my success to whatever brought me to FCI, to Dennis Paulson, and to myself--all phenomenon available to anyone. If I--a compulsive over-eater of more than 20 years standing who weighed in at 400 lbs.--can do it, then you can do it, too. God Bless and Good Luck. Much Love, Mary Diver, London."

Please come back soon for new additions to FCI's online, archived FASTING JOURNAL!

Any questions, email or phone FCI. Email: FastMaster@fasting.com; phone: 818-590-2536 (know that the best time to catch Founder/Director Dennis Paulson, himself, with the least interruption, is between 10-4, California time). For the Fasting Center International home page, click here: www.fasting.com