Fasting: A Way to Hack Our Modern Day Food System

It is easy to forget that three meals a day is a relatively new concept. Mankind, as we know it today, has existed for approximately 300,000 years, and often experienced extended periods of time when food of any kind was totally unavailable.

As our species evolved, it seems likely that the humans who procreated were the ones who managed to eat the highest calorie foods whenever it was available, in order to make it through a famine. They survived by eating whatever they could whenever they could. As a result, over the millennia this behavior was programmed into our DNA.

How has the human body adapted to the current day and age when food is not only easily accessible, cheap, and designed to be extremely palatable, but highly processed, causing it to have minimal nutrition? And how has mankind adapted to the endocrine disrupting additives such as plastics, fertilizers, chemicals, and insecticides, and to the poor quality meat, eggs, dairy and fish produced by factory farming? Compounded with a much more sedentary lifestyle than ever before in human history?

It appears that the human body has not adapted, since we are currently experiencing a crisis of epidemic proportions. Apparently, most people still eat high calorie food whenever it is available – but it is ALWAYS available. And there are no longer any famines (at least not in developed countries).

Prior to the 1970s, obesity was a relatively rare condition. Now 70% of Americans are overweight (40% globally), with over 42% of American adults in the obese category. And by the year 2035, predictions are the global obesity rate will be over 50%. 

There have recently been articles suggesting obesity is not a problem because it’s “not necessarily unhealthy.” They claim our perception of what the human body should look like needs to change, and call for a “new paradigm,” despite evidence for calorie restriction.

It has long been recognized that obesity is associated with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and other conditions that all lead to premature death. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes – the top three causes of death in the US – were rare or unknown to prehistoric ancestors (who were never obese) and may have emerged due to an evolutionary mismatch between modern day lifestyles and ancient environments. 

Despite the attempts to normalize obesity, most overweight people still want to be slender, and a drug long used to control Type 2 Diabetes, Ozempic, is now being touted by the pharmaceutical industry as a weight loss drug, even recommended for children. But while its popularity has soared in America, amassing huge profits for a corrupted industry, it is extremely expensive, must be taken for life to keep working, and like all drugs is being shown to have negative side effects. Dozens of Ozempic lawsuits have already been filed.

But here is the good news – more and more evidence suggests there is a solution to not only weight loss but also to chronic disease, and it’s not only safe (for most people) but free. Fasting. 

Everyone fasts during sleep, hence the term “breakfast.” But fasting overnight may not be long enough to maintain optimal health and longevity. The desire to eat high calorie foods is still programmed into our biology, thus we are eating fattening, poor quality food all the time.

The longest fast ever recorded took place in Scotland from 1965 to 1966, when a morbidly obese man water fasted for over one year, losing 276 pounds with no health problems. He maintained the loss, gaining back only 16 pounds over the next 25 years. 

This indicates that long term fasting can not only be safe but effective against obesity. But does fasting have an effect on any other health problems? And if so, how and why?

Hippocrates – long considered the father of modern-day medicine – advocated fasting as a healing approach, claiming that it starved disease.

But does it really do that? What exactly happens when one goes a certain amount of time without any food?

Every tissue and organ is made up of cells, considered the “building blocks” of the human body, and when a cell is deprived of nutrition, it is forced to go into “survival mode.”  It then basically “eats” itself to survive. 

Scientists have discovered that fasting causes the cell to rid itself of nonfunctional parts that take up space (and slow performance) and to destroy pathogens that may be damaging it (like viruses and bacteria).  The cell actually ‘recycles’ unneeded or damaged parts of itself to provide energy for its survival, and during this time also creates new, fully functioning parts. This biological process is called “autophagy.”

Researchers at Cedar Sinai Cancer are going as far as predicting that because of autophagy, fasting will be the next step in cancer treatment. Considering that over 611,000 cancer deaths are expected in the United States in 2024, that is good news indeed!

Stephen Freedland, MD, the director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, explains that fasting behaves in a way not unlike chemotherapy, in the sense that it directly targets cancers cells for destruction.

“I liken it to bears and hummingbirds,” Freedland explained. “In the absence of food, bears hibernate. But hummingbirds, like tumor cells, can’t hibernate—and they’ll die without food.”

Since fasting causes healthy cells to go into “hiding,” leaving only the cancer cells exposed, fasting in addition to chemotherapy is being considered for cancer patients, especially those with very aggressive tumors.

Studies are also showing that long-term fasting may be one of the most potent non-pharmacological interventions for the prevention and management of chronic diseases. A British study in March 2024 not only demonstrated evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also that positive changes seemed to occur after only three days without food.

Autophagy can be triggered by other things besides fasting, including exercising, calorie restriction, and eliminating all carbohydrates. Fasting mimicking diets and intermittent fasting studies have even been shown to have anti-aging effects, since as the body ages autophagy decreases.

Enthusiasm for fasting is growing and growing. There are now clinics around the world that offer supervised long term fasting, such as TrueNorth in Santa Rosa California, and two Buchinger Wilhelmi clinics in Germany. Supervised fasting can now even be done remotely.

Do you have to fast to lose weight or to be healthy? No, there are other ways to shed pounds safely and to maintain good health. Michael Pollan, author of, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” advises this - “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

However, it is exciting to know that with a little effort such a simple practice can not only reduce obesity but repair damage caused by a less than perfect diet. Perhaps instead of pretending obesity is normal and should be embraced, a regimen of fasting could be considered the new paradigm?