Fasting and Eating for Health (23 page)

The blood markers of inflammation, including the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein also showed significant improvement.

The benefits to the fasting—diet group were still present after one year. The evaluation of the whole course showed significant advantages for the fasting—

diet group in all measured indicators.27

These studies corroborate the clinical evidence of doctors utilizing this approach to autoimmune disease, and the experience of thousands of patients who have recovered their health through natural diet and fasting. In fact, there are so many carefully done studies in the scientific literature on this subject28

that the conventionally held viewpoints should be considered irresponsible, bordering on medical malpractice, since this nutritional approach is safe, potentially curative, and may save the patient from a lifetime of toxic drugs.

Yet there is a mere handful of physicians at this time who practice this approach.

In the
Medical Tribune
,29 a publication read by a great number of American physicians, I recently noted a report documenting the beneficial effect of a vegetable diet on autoimmune diseases including lupus, arthritis, and nephrotic syndrome. A few months later in the same medical periodical I read an article in which a rheumatologist stated that diet plays no role in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. He stated, "It cannot be proven that diet influences this disease."30 I was reminded of all the proclamations over the last thirty years stating that it cannot be proven that smoking causes lung cancer.

A week after reading the rheumatologist's statement I wrote the following letter to the editor, which appeared in the
Medical Tribune
of December 10, 1992.

Don't Ignore the Diet in Arthritis

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The recent article on state-of-the-art treatment for arthritis restated the generally held opinion that diet plays no role in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

This is in spite of studies which document the effectiveness of specific diets, studies even reported in the
Medical Tribune.
31 One recent study placed patients with severe arthritis on a fast for 7-10

days, and then followed up with a low-fat, gluten and dairy-free, plant-based diet. They then compared the results with the control group that was treated with traditional medical protocols, including powerful drugs. The diet approach was far superior in getting results.32

I see the same impressive results when my patients try these dietary approaches. I'll give one case history out of many.

A 62-year-old woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis and other problems was on nine different medications—Altace, Azulfidine, Beclovent, digoxin, Ecotrin, Nasalchrome, Organidine, prednisone, and Seldane. She hadn't been able to close her hand to make a fist in 10 years and had pain in multiple joints.

Despite visiting numerous physicians and having received almost all of the treatments mentioned in the article on arthritis, she was still getting worse. We decided to begin a fast, followed by a plant-based vegetarian diet. After the medically supervised fast the arthritis was gone.

Her ESR had dropped from 42 (on prednisone) to 13 (off prednisone) and she is still on the diet now, five months later. She has continued to remain free of symptoms. She no longer requires any of the nine medications she had needed before coming to my office six months ago. She has regained the physical strength and movement that was lost over 10 years ago.

In addition, she has lost 35 pounds, her high blood pressure and other medical problems have resolved.

In these days of methotrexate, gold salts, steroids, and the other big guns in our medical arsenal of treatments, it might seem preposterous that something as simple as diet might benefit arthritis.

However, in light of the results that are now documented with plant-based diets, I consider statements rebutting the role diet plays in the treatment of arthritis to be ill-informed and perhaps irresponsible.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Belle Mead, N.J.

After this letter appeared, I received numerous enthusiastic calls from other physicians around the country, requesting further information, corroborating 120

my findings, and referring me their patients.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis also respond favorably to the combination of fasting and dietary intervention. In one medical study, eight out of ten patients noted improvement in their psoriasis after a short fast (seven to ten days).33

My experience has shown that most patients' psoriatic lesions improve if they fast long enough. Substantial results often require a long fast ( 1 4 to 30 days), maintenance of a thin body, and a careful diet after the fast is completed.

I frequently note that when people with psoriasis and eczema fast, the results of their liver-function tests routinely elevate early and then normalize as the fast is taken to completion. Without the normalization of the liver from the detoxifying effect of a more prolonged fast (three to five weeks), reappearance of skin lesions may occur upon reintroduction of food. Invariably when the psoriasis sufferer overeats and puts on too much fat after fasting, the problem once again emerges.

Systemic Lupus bythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or simply lupus, as it is often called, is yet another autoimmune disease with serious consequences. A variety of body systems may be involved, including joints, the skin, and the kidneys. Excessive female sex hormones, particularly estrogen, influence the immune system, making females more susceptible to lupus. There is an increased chance of developing lupus during pregnancy or with the use of birth control pills because these are situations in which estrogen levels increase dramatically.

While conventional therapy with steroids and cytotoxic agents can help to control symptoms, it does not treat their underlying cause. Unfortunately, the scientific literature is biased toward chemotherapeutic agents, which produce severe side effects, rather than "unconventional" treatments such as dietary modification.34 I can usually spot the lupus sufferers as they walk into my office. After years of taking dangerous steroids such as prednisone, their bodies are swollen like balloons.

Recent evidence suggests that certain foods are common offenders in aggravating the symptoms of lupus. Understandably, the reactivity of autoantibodies in lupus sufferers strongly cross-reacts with commonly ingested animal proteins. Blood serum from those with SLE can also react with proteins from plants. These proteins can be found in soy beans, corn, spinach, and carrots.35 Though the animal-food-based proteins are the prime offenders, this indicates that occasionally plant foods should be tested for immune reactivity as well.

Alfalfa sprouts are also to be avoided in cases of lupus because ingestion of alfalfa seed sprouts or L-canavanine, a prominent constituent of alfalfa, causes SLE-like diseases in primates.36,37 L-canavanine is also present in other legumes, or beans, so these, too, often need to be avoided.

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Lupus flare-ups have also been reported after ingestion of large amounts of foods containing psoralens (celery, celery salt, parsnips, figs).38 Psoralens are chemicals that increase photosensitivity in those who are sun-sensitive.

Hydrazines, the chemicals believed responsible for many cases of drug-induced lupus, are also present in mushrooms, some food dyes, tobacco smoke, and most cooked foods, especially cooked meats and other fatty foods.

Hair dyes contain high levels of hydrazines and other related chemicals that are absorbed through the scalp. People exposed to hair dyes also have a significantly increased risk of lupus.39,40

Dr. Paul Agris, a physician researcher on lupus and food sensitivities, has noted numerous physicians who have described cases in which patients with SLE have had dietary modifications influence the way they feel and the severity of their lupus symptoms.41 The foods typically involved animal-based foods, not plant products.

The evidence of the powerful role diet plays in SLE and other autoirnmune and collagen vascular disease stems from multiple animal studies. These studies note how mice and other animals with lupus fed a low-fat diet had significantly lower ANA positivity (a marker of disease activity in the blood) and improved survival, when compared to animals with lupus on a higher fat diet.42,43

Not only have certain fats been implicated by animal studies, but also some proteins, especially cow's milk proteins, have been strongly implicated in lupus and other autoimmune illnesses. Interestingly, mice with lupus live many times longer when their diet is free of cow's milk.44

Beef and milk are probably the most offensive of all foods to the lupus sufferer, and are repeatedly implicated in investigations.45 Animal products typically combine a high-protein content with a high-fat content, a combination inadvisable to those suffering with autoimmune illness. Vegetable oils should also be eliminated from the lupus diet. This is because any fat—whether derived from animal or plant—increases body fat and the level of circulating estrogen, and this too contributes to the immune malfunction in lupus.

As soon as a person is diagnosed with lupus, he or she should immediately begin a medically supervised fast to initiate a remission. Breaking the fast carefully under proper guidance is extremely important. Upon completion of the fast the following foods should be avoided for a prolonged period of time: 1. All animal foods, including dairy and eggs 2. All legumes, except for peas and lima beans 3. Celery, corn, alfalfa sprouts, mushrooms, spinach, and figs.

Exposure to all chemicals should be carefully avoided as well. Specifically, avoid cigarette smoke, hair dyes, and pesticides. All plant food should be organically grown or pesticide-free.

122

The fundamental problem in lupus seems to be that once autoantibody production is triggered, it fails to shut down. This is the case even after the removal of potentially inciting factors. Many lupus sufferers make autoantibodies against their own suppressor T cells. This causes innumerable problems because suppressor T cells are the cells that can modulate or turn off the immune' response. A vicious cycle is thereby created. Unrestrained by suppressor T cells, antibodies flourish and destroy more tissues, more suppressor T cells, and so on. This is why a fast is needed, and is especially important early in the disease because fasting can turn off this self-destructive autoimmune process. The fast allows the body to finally turn down the triggered, revved-up immune system that is out of control: Then, when an appropriate diet is followed after the fast, the patient can stay well.

It is very difficult to inhibit this vicious cycle by dietary change alone, though it does occur in some people. A good example is the case reported in
The
Lancet
of a 16-year-old girl with a continually worsening condition in spite of aggressive steroid therapy. Against her physician's advice, she tapered herself off the steroids and embarked on a healthy, well-planned vegetarian diet. In a short time, her antibody titers (indicators of disease activity) normalized, urinary protein excretion decreased, and serum albumin rose.46

When a physician pays close attention to the
causes
of lupus and concentrates on detoxification through fasting and diet, the results are predictable. However, when the disease has advanced and the patient has been taking toxic medication for years, the results are more unpredictable and less favorable. Even so, a natural approach should still be tried in advanced cases because improvement and even remissions are still possible.

Sarah, a 37-year-old woman, was diagnosed with lupus in 1987. Since her diagnosis she had been treated with numerous potent medications to suppress inflammation. She did not improve, however. By 1992 she suffered from neurological complications (headaches, dizziness, loss of balance, and nausea).

She also complained of joint and chest pain. Frustrated by her deteriorating condition, and upon the recommendation of a friend who was familiar with my approach to treating autoimmune disease, she made an appointment to see me.

After undergoing a 20-day fast in the fall of 1992, Sarah was placed on a low-fat, low-protein diet, specifically devoid of dairy products. Although initially weak from her underlying disease and the fast, she rapidly regained her strength. She was now off all medications and all her lupus symptoms had resolved. Moreover, her lupus antibody level and ANA titer (a measure of disease activity), both previously high, tested normal.

Though this approach might seem highly unusual to some, it is not only safer than the current treatments, but also, when started early in the disease process, can offer complete remission from the disease. The patient can live a completely normal life free of both the effects of the disease and the effects of the toxic drug treatments.

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Dorothy, a 43-year-old woman with lupus for more than ten years, was on five different medications when she first came to my office. Her prednisone (a steroid medication) dose had recently been raised to 25 mg. by her rheumatologist because she had had continual flairs with stabbing chest pain, joint pains, and skin rashes. She also had significant anemia and a rapid heartbeat. During the first month, we gradually discontinued her medications so she could begin a fast.

After a person has been on steroid medication for such a long time, extreme caution must be followed during the fast because their adrenal function will still be suppressed from the chronic use of steroid medications. For this reason and because of her rapid heart rate, Dorothy was fasted for only one week. I was unsure whether this short a fast would offer her significant results, given the severity of her condition.

A few weeks later, Dorothy informed me that her joint pain was gone. Two months later she was back to full-time work, for the first time in many years.

She needed no medication. She felt great and was exercising and lifting weights and looked like a completely new person. We were both thrilled with her results.