Fasting also has excellent results for treating many illnesses including mental ones.
There is a documentary that covers two clinics that offer fasting as a treatment and scientific research in this area.
Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
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Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#22Since this is likely to attract a lot of fasting practicioners to the comments I want to ask - I've occasionally tried out fasting or severe calorie restriction in the past but I always seem to get dizzy, weak and shaky in the first 24 hours and have to give up. This seems like a normal physiological response to be honest, how are people either avoiding or coping with this?
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#23If there were ever a panacea, it would be fasting. The more tight and widespread the research becomes, the more that we prove what humanity has known anecdotally throughout civilisation. From being a Roman cure for epileptic seizures, through the integral practice in most religions, and to the 21st century where we start to prove that it increases both healthspan and lifespan. I find it quite interesting that somethi…
How does a fasting mimicking diet (FMD, like the one described in the article) work? I had a skim and didn’t see a detailed explanation. What’s your experience like?
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#24If there were ever a panacea, it would be fasting. The more tight and widespread the research becomes, the more that we prove what humanity has known anecdotally throughout civilisation. From being a Roman cure for epileptic seizures, through the integral practice in most religions, and to the 21st century where we start to prove that it increases both healthspan and lifespan. I find it quite interesting that somethi…
And yet, most of what you said is bullshit that's not evidence based.
"Autophagy", that famous process which supposedly happens during fasting, that miraculously regenerates us, actually happens during caloric restriction, and it's actually a daily process that happens during the night, in everyone, while glycogen stores get naturally depleted.
And we have no evidence that increased autophagy levels are beneficial, quite the contrary, we have some evidence that, right after fasting, the immune system is suppressed. The bigger the caloric restriction, the larger effect on refeeding. An effect very relevant for malnourished populations that suddenly get access to food.
This is basically modern quackery, medical technobabble lacking any evidence other than obscure studies done on mice.
What "healers" and witches used to do, but taken to the next level.
And unfortunately it is also a recipe for serious eating disorders. Hello anorexia.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#25If there were ever a panacea, it would be fasting. The more tight and widespread the research becomes, the more that we prove what humanity has known anecdotally throughout civilisation. From being a Roman cure for epileptic seizures, through the integral practice in most religions, and to the 21st century where we start to prove that it increases both healthspan and lifespan. I find it quite interesting that somethi…
Works for other things too like plants. A bit of stress ends up making them more resilient. Depriving them a bit of water and Sun can make for a stronger plant.
Of course there are limits but when done right you end up with a plant that on average is stronger.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#26Interesting. Though cancers that force you to fast, like stomach or esophageal cancer don't have great 5 year survival rates.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#27Interesting study with, as always, a lot of caveats. The most we can take from this is that it's worth to study more, the effect is existing but not extreme.
I don't get the submitted title here claiming that it protects from side effects. The study does not mention this at all, just that the side effects are similar despite omission of dexamethason in the fasting arm of the trial - it increases appetite, so makes sense to omit it if you want any reasonable compliance rate.
As with any fasting and dieting study, compliance is moderate at best. In this study, only 33% of patients were compliant for at least 4 cycles of chemotherapy, out of 12 cycles total. Most of them were compliant with at least once cycle though.
Overall, we need some more research on this in a larger trial. This paper is a call for funders to do just that - the trial ended prematurely due to needing to include more patients but there was a lack of funding to do so.
I'm currently doing research on a similar patient population, so open to answer any questions.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#28If there were ever a panacea, it would be fasting. The more tight and widespread the research becomes, the more that we prove what humanity has known anecdotally throughout civilisation. From being a Roman cure for epileptic seizures, through the integral practice in most religions, and to the 21st century where we start to prove that it increases both healthspan and lifespan. I find it quite interesting that somethi…
while on fasts, you get an energy level and mental clarity that has to be felt to be believed. everyone should try it at least once.
I have been on a 18/6 and 20/4 fasting protocol for 3 months now - few up and downs but mostly sticking to it. The obvious results are weight loss (not so much, I'm within my BMI targets). I can confirm that my mental sharpness has improved but it's not the same every day.
Most days I feel amazing, some other days I feel quite tired and I experience some mental fog. I still haven't found the reason for such an oscillation.
I suspect it has to do with what I eat during the eating window (for instance, more sugarish food, more carbs, etc). I think I should record what I eat and compare it with the overall well-being to get to some conclusions.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you clicked on the link? It's a result from an RCT in women with locally advanced breast cancer.
In his defence the abstract starts by talking about mice, which is a bit confusing. Sure they talk about patients as well but it's not immediately clear that mice can't be considered patients. If you read on it becomes clear though!
The title saying it's a multi-centre phase 2 trial makes it extremely clear. You don't do those in animals.
Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
while on fasts, you get an energy level and mental clarity that has to be felt to be believed. everyone should try it at least once.
i like to persuade people by having them imagine an isolated tiger who hasn't eaten anything in a week. by force of nature their sense of smell, hearing, etc. must all be heightened so as to ensure their survival.
So you just say a bunch of bullshit...ok