Hunger has been mentioned since ancient times as a remedy. Scientific interest in fasting arose already in the 20th century and was associated with studying various changes that occurred in the body during fasting. The further development of this direction and the use of medical fasting in medical practice was due to the emergence of new scientific works and articles and the popularization of the method in the late 50s of the twentieth century. To date, the process has not lost its relevance:
- New methods of medical fasting have been developed
- Thematic conferences
- Scientific articles are published
- New medical centers are opened using the method of curative fasting
Is it scary to starve?
The word “hunger” is often associated with a natural disaster, wartime, shipwreck, or other stressful conditions. The proposal to treat any disease with hunger and live a week on water alone will cause confusion and doubt about this event's benefits.
But the concept of forced hunger and medical fasting should be subdivided, which in medicine is called unloading diet therapy (EAD). In the case of forced starvation, a person most often dies not because of hunger itself, because you can be without food for more than a month before the state when craving begins its destructive effect.
Death comes from thoughts of desire and fear of it. In the case of medical fasting, when it comes to a course of RDT, selected in time and carried out under medical supervision, the body itself can get rid of toxins and toxins. It turns out to be quite effective for addiction treatment methods such as alcoholism withdrawal and happens to be a method to replenish your body off all bad things.
Don't eat for a week! And I feel good! Why?
Where to get the strength to withstand even the shortest periods of medical fasting? From what reserves do our body draws energy to maintain vitality during hunger? In the first two to three days of starvation, small carbohydrate stores are mainly mobilized, glucose of the liver and muscles.
Then the body uses up its fat stores and only by the end of the third week starts to use its protein. But in obese people much later. In scientific practice, there is even a case when a person weighing about 300 kg was on starvation for a whole year under doctors' supervision.
What happens in the body: Stages of therapeutic fasting?
In the first days, a person is at the stage of agitated appetite. It is accompanied by an increased appetite and constant thoughts about food. At the same time, the general well-being does not suffer. Although against the background of decreased blood sugar levels, headache, nausea, discomfort in the abdomen, reduced mood, etc., may appear. At this stage, the psychotherapist's correct work is essential, which sets the patient up to a proper understanding of the body's processes and allows relief of hunger. Weight loss is usually very active, but body fat percentage is low – from 15 to 20 %.
The second stage is the stage of increasing ketoacidosis, lasting from 3 to 8 – 10 days. At this stage, changes occur in the composition of the blood and urine, some organs, and systems of the body. For starvation, these changes are natural. It is at this stage that fat reserves are consumed as much as possible.
The body is already starting to function more economically:
- The number of heartbeats decreases
- Blood pressure decreases
- The production of digestive secretions decreases
- Loss of appetite
- Other physiological processes slow down
The next stage of fasting is compensated ketoacidosis. It is usually observed on 6 – 14 days of fasting. It has the following stages:
- Improving overall wellbeing and mood
- Stabilization of metabolism
- Reduced an odor of acetone in exhaled air
- Cessation of active a weight loss
Effects of therapeutic fasting: Evaluation criteria
During fasting, the body tries to free itself of old and diseased cells, which explains the powerful healing and rejuvenating effect of hunger. This method helps to improve the course of many chronic diseases, and in some cases, to completely get rid of them. During starvation, weight loss naturally occurs, making it possible to use this method to treat various stages of obesity.
How do you know if this method of treatment is right for you?
After a course of medical fasting, we estimate three indicators:
Fasting was carried out to reduce excess weight. The result is positive if you maintain your products for at least six months or have added no more than 2 – 2.5 % of the dropped kilograms starved for treatment. Any further changes in the course of the disease should be monitored. If you mark some positive shifts, the method is yours!
Often even small dynamics can lead to a good clinical effect in the future. Fasting was carried out to improve general health, ” strengthening ” the nervous system, immunity, and improving work capacity and activity. If, after hunger, all these aspects undergo positive changes, then in the future, you will periodically resort to this method of treatment, including on your own
Is it worth it?
As a rule, hunger itself is tolerated quite easily. It is much more challenging to sustain the right way out of need. If the recommendations are violated during this period, the complications that are so often mentioned can be observed. Therefore, during the entire fasting course, a lot of educational work should be carried out on the correct diet to get out of hunger. The doctor devotes a lot of time to ensure that the patient learns to adhere to a balanced diet in the future.
Otherwise, when you return to the previous way of life, those diseases that are forgotten against the background of hunger will also return. The same applies to overweight problems. It is quite understandable that no matter how good results you achieve during fasting, the weight will not slow down to recover from the amount and quality of food that has already led to weight gain.
