Fasting has become a game changer for cancer patients and is gaining more and more attention as an adjunct therapy. In the past two decades, clinical research has investigated the therapeutic effects of fasting in great detail, especially regarding its role in treating cancer, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases and heart disease. It has even been proven to slow the aging process and increase longevity.
Fasting is becoming a popular trend in the health and wellness communities and there are numerous books, programs and diets focused on the potential benefits for losing weight, improving cognitive function and living a longer, happier life.
So why aren’t doctors telling us about this and recommending it? Not only that, but why are they telling cancer patients to eat as much as they want and eat whatever they want, thinking this is helping them? This advice is so wrong and in this post I am going to tell you all about fasting and how it can help you not only survive cancer, but keep it from coming back! Truly, almost every cancer patient can and should fast. I’ll go over more about that so keep reading.
WHAT IS FASTING
Fasting, in its purest and simplest form, is not eating any food for a period of time and only drinking non-caloric liquids (especially water) to maintain hydration. There is no reason to complicate it, but there are different ways to fast, which I will describe.
Fasting dates back to ancient times and is mentioned many times in the Bible. It was used in many different cultures for various reasons including religious and spiritual practices, purification of the body and to heal various ailments. Fasting provides unique benefits that you can’t get from food.
The best part is that fasting is free and you don’t need any special equipment to do it. Even though it is simple, it isn’t always easy, but it is worth the effort as you will see.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FAST
Believe it or not, eating is a very inflammatory process. You are taking in all kinds of foreign substances that have to be broken down, processed, sorted, absorbed, utilized and eliminated to supply nutrients that we need to survive. It also requires a LOT of energy. When you are eating several times a day, your body has to spend most of its time digesting food and eliminating waste.
Fasting gives your gastrointestinal tract and body a rest. With a break from all this digestion, the body goes into clean up and repair mode. It’s sort of like owning a home. When you are busy running around, taking care of kids, working and shopping, the house gets neglected. Finally, when you get a break, you focus on cleaning, fixing things, organizing and maintaining your home. This is what fasting does for your body.
Your body will start to repair or eliminate damaged cells, balance hormones, reduce inflammation, rev up the immune system and flush out toxins. Damaged cells will be replaced by healthy new cells. The bottom line is, when not digesting, your body can focus on healing.
STAGES OF FASTING
0-16 hours
The stomach empties. Your blood sugar (glucose) levels decrease. Your body uses stored glycogen in the liver and muscles for fuel. As the glycogen stores get low, the body begins to burn fat for fuel and starts to produce ketones. With lowered blood sugar and the beginning of ketosis, insulin production is reduced because it is no longer needed.
24 hours
Your body uses up the stored glycogen in the liver and muscles for fuel. As the glycogen stores are depleted, the body starts to burn more fat and ketone levels rise. This is when your body starts to clean up through a process called autophagy (pronounced aw-TAH-fah-gee). “Auto” means self and “phagy” means to eat, literally meaning “self-eat”.
Autophagy is your body’s cellular recycling system and a means of self-preservation. Through autophagy, the body removes damaged or dysfunctional cells, proteins and debris. Some of these components are disassembled and recycled back into creating healthy cells and cellular components.
During this phase, ketosis increases and the body produces human growth hormone. This hormone promotes fat loss and muscle growth. It is also during this period where inflammation is reduced, damaged DNA repair begins and blood pressure and lipid levels lower.
36-48 hours
Autophagy increases. Fat loss ramps up and the body releases the stored toxins and estrogen in the fat cells to be eliminated. Anti-aging benefits begin. The microbiome resets and the immune system regenerates. Human growth hormone increases by as much as 200%.
72+ hours
At this stage your immune system undergoes a complete reset. The body breaks down the old immune cells and makes new ones. The body enters an altered state of metabolism where it becomes more efficient at burning fat and ketones become the main source of fuel.
This is the stage where cancer cell destruction really ramps up and deep healing begins
HOW FASTING STOPS CANCER IN ITS TRACKS
Not only can fasting help shrink tumors and kill cancer cells, but it reduces the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, enhances the effects of these treatments and can prevent recurrence. Many, many cancer patients have testimonials of the benefits of fasting and how it helped them heal. One of those patients is Dr. Nasha Winters, a stage 4 ovarian cancer patient, who has become an icon in the naturopathic cancer world. She continues to use fasting as a way to prevent cancer recurrence to this day.
- Enhances the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. Fasting makes cancer cells more vulnerable to the toxic effects of these common treatments, while protecting healthy cells. Cancer cells can’t adapt to the metabolic changes induced by fasting like healthy cells can and they die quickly
- Reduces side effects of chemotherapy including nausea, fatigue and hair loss. The best regimen is fasting the day before, the day of and the day after chemotherapy
- Helps alleviate obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, which all play a huge role in uterine cancer development and progression
- Regenerates the immune system. Fasting prompts hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and spleen to produce brand new white blood cells, effectively repopulating the immune system
- Detoxifies the body. It reduces levels of harmful substances like polychlorinated biphenyls and other toxins that come from our environment
- Suppresses levels of IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor 1), glucose, insulin and leptin all promoters of cancer growth. These substances are commonly elevated in women with uterine cancer
- Activates cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, natural killer cells and lymphocytes that are responsible for killing cancer cells
- Inhibits the Akt/mTOR and PI3K signaling pathways, which promote tumor growth and metastasis
- Fasting causes normal healthy cells to adopt a slower cell division process and protects them from toxic shocks caused by chemo and radiation. At the same time, it sensitizes the cancer cells to these treatments
- Autophagy is increased and acts to eliminate highly mutagenic and carcinogenic chemicals in the body
- Increases reactive oxygen species inside cancer cells leading to apoptosis (cell death)
- Activates the tumor suppressor gene p53, which is so often mutated or down-regulated in uterine cancer patients
- Balances hormones and keeps blood glucose at steady, healthy levels, which is very important for preventing cancer growth
- Can shrink tumors
- Cancer cells have 10x the amount of glucose and insulin receptors as a regular, normal cell and they cannot use ketones for energy. By reducing glucose and insulin and switching to ketones, the cancer cells cannot get energy to keep functioning and proliferating and they die
- Initiates cellular repair mechanisms in normal cells
- Lowers free radical production and increases the body’s resistance to stress
- Helps fight cancer causing infections by ramping up the immune system
- Ketone bodies inhibit histone-deacetylases, which may slow tumor development
SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES
Fasting and cancer: molecular mechanisms and clinical application Read More
Cyclic fasting-mimicking diet in cancer treatment: Preclinical and clinical evidence Read More
Effect of fasting on cancer: A narrative review of scientific evidence Read More
When Fasting Gets Tough, the Tough Immune Cells Get Going—or Die Read More
Synergistic effect of fasting-mimicking diet and vitamin C against KRAS mutated cancers Read More
Reduced levels of IGF-I mediate differential protection of normal and cancer cells in response to fasting and improve chemotherapeutic index Read More
Dietary intervention, a promising adjunct for cancer therapy Read More
A Ketogenic Diet Reduces Central Obesity and Serum Insulin in Women with Ovarian or Endometrial Cancer Read More
Short-term starvation reduces IGF-1 levels to sensitize lung tumors to PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade Read More
OTHER BENEFITS OF FASTING
Fasting has so many health benefits. Besides healing cancer, it has been shown to improve brain and heart function and slow the aging process. It increases longevity and can prevent neurodegenerative diseases so common today, including Alzheimers, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
The Potential of Fasting-Mimicking Diet as a Preventive and Curative Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease Read More
TYPES OF FASTING
There are many types of fasting, which I will briefly outline here. First and foremost, you should be following a ketogenic diet that is low-carb, high fat and moderate protein. I wrote about the reasons for this in other posts. This type of diet mimics fasting and will help you become metabolically flexible so you can use ketones for fuel instead of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, believe it or not, are not an essential nutrient for humans and they are directly converted to glucose, which feeds uterine cancer.
If you are following a low-carb diet already, it will be easier for you to transition to fasting.
INTERMITTENT FASTING
Sometimes confused with time restricted feeding, intermittent fasting refers to an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and periods of eating. Examples would include alternate day fasting or fasting for 24 hours once a week. Some people will do a water only fast for 3 days once a month. The goals of intermittent fasting are to improve metabolic health, promote weight loss and potentially extend lifespan among others.
TIME RESTRICTED FEEDING
This is a type of intermittent fasting and the two terms are often used interchangeably, however time restricted feeding is different. This is one of the most common forms of fasting and it means you eat within a certain period of time every day.
For instance, you may fast for 18 hours and eat in a 6 hour time window. During the fasting period you only have water, coffee or tea. During the eating window, you can eat as much as you want, but it should be real, whole foods that are low carb, high fat and moderate protein.
Time restricted feeding is what many naturopathic doctors will recommend for uterine cancer patients and it is what I follow every day. You can use different time periods, but ideally you would want to fast a minimum of 14-16 hours and eat in an 8-10 hour window. Much of the fasting part will be at night when you are sleeping. 🙂
OMAD – one meal a day is a form of time restricted feeding that many people implement for its health benefits. It is pretty self-explanatory. I have sometimes done this for 1-3 days in a row.
Time restricted feeding has many benefits for cancer patients including improving metabolic health and reducing or even correcting insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. It can lower high blood pressure, high triglycerides and improve blood sugar control as well.
FASTING MIMICKING DIETS
Fasting mimicking diets (FMD) are very beneficial. A ketogenic diet is a form of this. However, in this context, it means a calorie restricted diet that is ≦ 500-600 calories per day. While you are still getting some calories, your body thinks it is fasting.
The most famous proponent of this type of diet is Dr. Valter Longo. He developed a 5 day FMD for people to follow to increase longevity and health. He has clinical trials that he has performed showing the benefits of this program for cancer. Formulating a FMD with healthy bone broths, fats and protein may be a good place to start to transition to fasting.
SIDE EFFECTS OF FASTING
Fasting, while simple, is not easy. It can be harder to do if you are eating a high carbohydrate diet as your body is not adapted to using fat for fuel. Here are some common negative and positive side effects you may experience when fasting.
Negative
Headaches
Dizziness
Fatigue
Brain fog
Hunger pains
Insomnia
Irritability
Depression
Bad breath
Hypoglycemia (blood sugar that is too low)
Positive
Thinking clearly
More energy
Reduced cravings
Weight loss
Euphoria
Lowered blood sugar and blood pressure
WHO SHOULD NOT FAST OR USE CAUTION WHEN FASTING
- Almost everyone can do intermittent fasting, time restricted feeding or a fasting mimicking diet for a short period of time. Typically a 24 hour fast or less is not a problem for most people. For longer fasts you should consult with your doctor and use caution.
- If you are very thin or underweight with a body mass index of <17 you may be able to do some fasting, but you should probably not fast for prolonged periods (72+ hours).
- If you have cancer cachexia, malnourishment or muscle wasting, you should not fast.
- If you have diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure and are taking medications make sure to check with your doctor before prolonged fasting in case you need to adjust your medications. It is helpful to monitor your blood glucose and blood pressure at home. Fasting can be very beneficial for all of these conditions.
TIPS FOR FASTING
- It may help to ease into fasting by doing short time restricted feeding first. Start off with a 12-14 hour fast, then move up to16-18 hours and see how you feel. Maybe try OMAD – one meal a day. Practice helps. Time restricted feeding done daily is very beneficial so try to implement this as your new way of eating along with a ketogenic diet.
- You may want to try a fasting mimicking diet first and severely restrict calories to 500-600 per day.
- Have a glucose monitor so you can check your blood sugar and see how your body is responding to the fasting. I also like to check ketones and use the Keto-Mojo device which measures glucose and ketones.
- Eat a good meal before starting your fast with lots of healthy fat and protein for satiety.
- Have a good electrolyte powder like LMNT or ReLyte to mix with your water so you don’t get depleted.
- Pick a time frame where you will be able to rest and not have to do complicated work if possible.
- Don’t overdo exercise, especially if you are doing a long fast. Walking and light housework are fine, but don’t push your body too hard.
- Find things to keep you busy during the day. I often write in a journal, work on craft projects, go for walks and read to take my mind off food.
- If you are doing a water only fast for a period of time, you may want to hold off on taking supplements, especially if they should be taken with food.
- After a prolonged fast, it is best to reintroduce light foods and small meals that are easily digestible and ease back into eating.
IN CONCLUSION
I highly encourage you to start implementing a fasting routine into your treatment regimen and your daily life. It is so beneficial on so many levels and while not easy, it is definitely worth it!
“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right.” ~Tony Robbins