Benefits of Fasting

healthy foodIn over-fed America, fasting may seem a far-fetched idea. Why would anyone in their right mind want to starve themselves? The reasons are many and may surprise you. It is also a practice that has been practiced for thousands of years, and was often prescribed by the ancient physician, Hippocrates. A revolutionary physician known as Paracelsus, during the Middle Ages stated, “Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within.”

What is Fasting?

First of all, fasting has nothing to do with starving yourself. In its most basic form, fasting is abstaining from food and liquids other than water. There are different kinds of fasting, but the one thing they have in common is the exclusion of selected foods or liquids for a specific period of time.

In today’s modern world, the definition of fasting has been expanded to include different varieties of modified fasting. Modified fasting permits the addition of certain foods such as fruit juice or broth, or other healthy food. Technically, these are actually “diets.” They are sometimes called “detox diets,” “cleansing diets,” or even “fasting diets.” There are many shades of grey when it comes to fasting, cleansing and a regular diet.

In his book Fasting Can Save Your Life by Herbert Shelton, he states that fasting is 1695650382_989846bf18_zabstaining from food when a person has enough nutritional reserves to provide nourishment to vital organs. Starvation begins when a person’s reserves are exhausted and vital organs begin to suffer damage.

The Benefits of Fasting

Over the centuries, fasting has been encouraged as a way of healing many health problems, as well as providing mental benefits. The benefits of fasting are:

  • Allows for detoxification and cleansing of the body
  • Cleanses and heals “stuck” patterns of emotions
  • Rests the digestive system
  • Promotes mental clarity
  • Provides an increasing energy level and a feeling of physical lightness
  • Enhances spiritual connections and promotes inner peace

Many call fasting a “miracle cure” because it can be used to treat most any ailment, among them, arthritis, digestive disorders, allergies, cardiovascular disease, asthma and skin disorders.

The body becomes overworked with the constant influx of food, which takes energy to process. When we fast, that energy is turned to other processes in the body, such as healing. While fasting, the body does housecleaning and rids itself of toxins, repairs cells, and produces new healthy cells.

Doctor Gabriel Cousens, a doctor of psychiatry, family therapist and doctor of holistic medicine probably sums it up best. He speaks about observations he made during a study on fasting. He observed that after four days, the participants’ concentration and creative thinking appeared to improve, insomnia stopped, depression and anxiety lifted, and the mind became more calm and the spirit more joyful. He believed that the act of fasting allows the body to rid the brain of harmful toxins that inevitably leads to clearer thought processes.

The clearing of toxins from the body and the energy made available during fasting
allows the body to renew and heal itself.

Even a short, one day fast can be beneficial, but two or three days is more effective. You might try an apple fast over the weekend. Eat 3-4 apples each day and drink 2 quarts of water. During your fast, you may experience flu-like symptoms, as when you have the flu, your body is working to heal itself.

The body truly has the ability to heal itself when provided the opportunity. Your body can be its own internal medicine doctor through holistic medicine and integrative medicine practices. Achieving health and wellness takes work, but the benefits are priceless.

If you would like to learn more about holistic and integrative medicine, contact Dr. Jorge Bordenave at Miami Integrative Medicine and learn what a difference alternative treatments can make to your health and life.

Published by Axiom Health Care Marketing

 

Sugar Sweetened Drinks

apple juiceBeverages that have added sugar or low calorie substitutes, provide no benefits to the human body. They don’t contain any nutrients that the body needs so it is wiser to choose water, milk or juice for quenching your thirst. Whether you are living in Downtown Miami or Boca Raton, drinking natural beverages is best for your diet and health.

What About Fasting?

balance dietFasting doesn’t always mean going without food for days. As part of a health and wellness program, your fasting could simply be 16 hours out of every 24. For eight hours, you eat a healthy diet, then for the next 16 hours, you don’t eat. Living in Little Havana or Key West, fasting can be done anywhere.

Cooler Weather

tai chiThe cooler weather often brings arthritis aches and pains. Dr. Jorge Bordenave at Miami Integrative Medicine can show you natural remedies and exercises to help relieve the effects of this sometimes-debilitating disease. Give us a call today.

A Healthier Diet for the Mind, Body and Soul

healthy foodsYou’ve heard the old saying “you are what you eat,” right?  In an age of meals on-the-go and over-processed foods, it can be challenging (and seemingly impossible at times) to develop good eating habits that you’re able to stick with long-term.  If you’re struggling, the tips found here are sure to help…

A Diet that Can Actually Lower Blood Pressure

Heart HealthStruggling with high blood pressure or know someone who is?  If so, this is a must read…

 

More Reasons Why Being a Vegetarian Is Awesome

VegetarianDid you hear? Vegetarians may live longer!  A research report has found that vegetarians are less likely to die from cancer or cause-specific reasons.  Curious?  Read more about it here.

 

What they aren’t telling you about Antidepressants

imagesIt seems as if too many nightstands are becoming slightly too crowded these days.  If you haven’t noticed already, right next to the family photo, alarm clock, and water bottle, there is this little orange bottle with a white cap and pale blue label standing tall with the words “Take Me.”  I mean, it does have your name and address on it, so it belongs there, right?  Not necessarily.   According to Harvard Health Publications, “The federal government’s health statisticians figure that about one in every 10 Americans takes an antidepressant.”  That means that there has been 400% increase in antidepressant prescriptions since the best seller Listening to Prozac was published in 1993.  There has been much debate on whether or this epidemic is helping or hurting us.  Were depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues underdiagnosed in the past?  Are more people becoming depressed?  Is marketing done by pharmaceutical companies responsible for this increase?

Let us begin with understanding that antidepressants have been a blessing for a proportion of the population.  Once someone has exhausted all other means to treat what has been diagnosed as a mental illness, a prescription may or may not be warranted.  However, judging those taking antidepressants, and/or those who believe they have a mental illness, is a job for no one other than the individual and their health care provider(s).   However, there has been a major shift in how mental illness has been treated since Prozac hit the market in 1987.   It has become a widely accepted theory that mental illness is a result of chemical imbalances in the brain that can only be fixed with psychoactive drugs.  Instead of trying “talk therapy” first, and prescribing antidepressants second, many psychiatrists suggest psychotherapy, if at all, after prescribing drugs.  It is now considered “normal” by many health care professionals, the media, and the public to go straight to the prescription tablet without attempting any sort of alternative treatment at all.   Prescription drugs have become the dominant solution to the exponential increase of diagnosed mental illness.  Unfortunately, for some of those who have taken this brisk path to alleged happiness, the results are unsettling.

Yes, some people feel more animated and clearheaded after taking antidepressants, however, others don’t feel the positive effects that they were promised.  In fact, they don’t feel anything at all.  Take this testimony, for example, that was published in Oprah Magazine in March of 2006:

 “I feel emotionally castrated because not only do I not have negative feelings, I barely feel anything at all. I’m an artist who can no longer draw or paint or create. Instead, I sit around and do absolutely nothing.”
— B.J. Cade, 53

Many others have reported memory impairment, dullness, numbness, and other cognitive side effects that have ultimately lead to them feeling “zombie-like.”  Other personal testimonies have revealed that when they suggested to their doctor that they were experiencing delayed recall and “brain-zaps” (what feels like a pinched nerve combined with pulsating migraines in your brain after forgetting to take ONE pill), not only were they told that antidepressants do not have these cognitive side effects, but their dose was increased!  Technically, the doctor is telling you what they were told, which isn’t much.   If, according to government standards, “there’s insufficient data to prove that the drugs cause the symptom,” pharmaceutical companies are not obliged to “report or disclose cognitive side effects.”  However, when the FDA requires approval for antidepressants, the studies only last a mere 6-8 weeks long.  This time frame simply isn’t always long enough to prove a cause and effect relationship between these drugs and certain cognitive side effects.  It wasn’t until the relationship between suicide and antidepressants began to surface that the FDA announced a public health advisory warning that “adults on these drugs should be watched closely for suicidal thinking or behavior.”

dIt is scary enough that many of us think that taking anti-depressants is our only option after we are told what pharmaceutical companies are obliged to tell us, while also ignoring other “inconclusive” side-effects.  For example, it has been released that taking antidepressants for bi-polar disorder may make the disorder worse, and even trigger manic episodes.  In addition, bone loss, fractures, and falls all become increased risks for individuals over 65 taking SSRIs.  While these side effects differ for each individual, we should address the main issue at hand: many of us aren’t exploring alternative treatments.  In addition to “talk therapy” with a mental health provider, such as a therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist, etc. here are a few other suggestions to try on your own:

Set Goals for Yourself

Having a daily routine may be comforting, but a humdrum lifestyle does not leave any room for improvement.   Start with something you know you can accomplish so you don’t discourage yourself, and work your way up. Change for the better can leave you with a sensation of fulfillment, energy, and purpose.  Sometimes we need that extra push to get our lives back on track, especially if we do the pushing.

Change Your Diet

They say “you are what you eat,” so if you are eating junk and other food that isn’t giving you the mental and physical strength you need, you will start to feel the effects.  Eating foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to improve cognitive heath.  Replacing your late night ice-cream with an avocado could bring you one step closer to boosting your mental state.

Exercise

Try will taking a short walk outside every day, (setting goals!), and work up to a holistic exercise program such as yoga.  Spending time with nature may increase the health of your mind, body, and soul.  “Regular physical activity seems to encourage the brain to rewire itself in positive ways,” according to Ian Cook, MD, a psychiatrist and director of the Depression Research and Clinic Program at UCLA. You release endorphins when you exercise, which are those natural “feel-good” chemicals in your body.

Regardless of the reason that more people have reserved an extra spot on their nightstand for antidepressants, there a few things that the warning label may not be telling us.  If you are searching for advice and alternative treatment to help with depression, consult a doctor such as Dr. Bordenave at Miami Integrative Medicine to assist you.  You can do this!

 

 

Resources:

Griffin, R. M. “10 Natural Depression Treatments.” Depression Health Center. WebMD, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/natural-treatments>.

Ramin, Cathryn J. “Valley of the Dulls.” Are Antidepressant Drugs Helpful or Harmful? Oprah.com, Mar. 2006. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.oprah.com/health/Are-Antidepressant-Drugs-Helpful-or-Harmful>.

Smith, Melinda, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Damon Ramsey, MD. “What You Need to Know About Medications for Depression.” Antidepressants (Depression Medication). HelpGuide.org, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.helpguide.org/mental/medications_depression.htm>.

Wehrwein, Peter. “Astounding Increase in Antidepressant Use by Americans.” Harvard Health Blog RSS. Harvard Health Publications, 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/astounding-increase-in-antidepressant-use-by-americans-201110203624>.

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Getting Healthy with Chia Seeds

chiaseedszone.com

It’s no wonder Chia Seeds are considered to be the Superfood of 2013.  They give you everything from Omega-3, endurance, heart health, mental energy, protein, hydration, digestive health, and more!  Read this ARTICLE to get one step closer to a healthier you.

 

Posted By: Axiom Health Care Marketing