Weight Loss, Blood Pressure and Stress Management

Day three and counting. All goes well. Modest headache feeling so far but that seems to be clearing up. Some gas also which doesn't seem right since I'm not eating. When I asked the doctor about that, he said there are still loads of bacteria in the intestinal tract. He had gas until the 26th day of his longest fast.

I've begun rereading his book and watching video tapes of lectures that he's done on various subjects related to a healthy diet and fasting. Now that I'm in the process, the material in the book stands out more clearly. On one video he was asked how other doctor's feel about these ideas.

He answered that most know about and accept the general principles since they learned them in medical school. Once he asked one of his professors why there wasn't more awareness of these ideas among the general public. He was told "Why the general public would never accept them." Too many cherished habits would have to be given up I guess.

Perhaps we'd rather gradually poison ourselves and sooner or later get the inevitable diseases that will follow than give up our fat, sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. One of the books I'm reading mentions that the American diet has changed more in the last 50 to 60 years than it has in the 400,000 year history of the human race. Stone Age man didn't have McDonnell's and Burger King!

Among other people here are a woman with diabetes, a man with colitis, one with arthritis and another with heart disease and a severely elevated cholesterol level that was being treated with drugs. Six months prior to the fast, he changed his diet under the doctor's guidance and now is off all drugs. His cholesterol has returned to an acceptable level after losing fifty pounds. Fuhrman doesn't supervise fasts for weight loss. He asks patients to bring their weight down before fasting.

The first day I lost several pounds. During the last 24 hours it dropped one-half pound. Experience shows that weight loss averages one-half a pound over the duration of the fast. My blood pressure when I take it with my machine is down around 115/70 without medication and 140/80 when he takes it. This shows my anxiety response to stressful situations - in this case something about authority figures like doctors.

Along with the fast, I'm working on stress management and relaxation practices. Fuhrman has a massage therapist on his staff skilled in several alternative modalities such as shiatsu. Perhaps you've seen the guy that gives shiatsu to passers by. I had a two hour session today that focused on the chronic tension in the left side of my neck and head that correlates with my migraine headaches. She'll work with me several more times to help break up those life long tension patterns.