Petra Bracht - Vegan Intermittent Fasting Lose Weight, Reduce Inflammation, and Live Longer - the 16:8 Way.

The Wonders of Fasting

F asting is as old as humanity itself and is squarely anchored in our genes. It has amazing effects on our health and our life span. In fact, its like a magic bullet. And maybe thats the reason it hasnt been completely forgotten over time, although its become increasingly rare for people in the Western world to go hungry during hard times. Of course, fasting is also well known as a religious practice, in a number of different religions. Nevertheless, it remains a hotly debated topic. Proponents of natural healing have always been fans, but many conventional physicians still reject fasting as damaging to human health.

But times are changingand thank goodness! The newest research results are causing quite a stir. Fasting today, especially intermittent fasting, has created so many possibilities for a healthy and long life.

I have used these advantages nearly all my life, albeit more intuitively than anything else. Ive practised intermittent fasting now for more than forty years. Why? Because it proved to be good for me. I began fasting without the knowledge of the amazing advantages it offers for a healthy lifestyle, which are now becoming clear to everyone. For the first ten years, I did this quietly, without much fanfare, since, at the time, failing to eat a hearty breakfast was considered a no-no, as was going to university lectures on an empty stomach and eating meals only twice (sometimes only once) a day.

However, I must admit, the quality of my diet wasnt optimal. Like most people at the time, I, too, consumed mainly the foods I was used to eating at home, including meat, among other things. I had never really liked drinking milk, but the omnipresent ads touting its positive effects for health led me to trick myself into drinking it. I made milkshakes and chocolate milk and ate lots of cheese, all to ensure sufficient milk intake.

This changed abruptly in 1991, when I was already a practising primary care physician. I had been dissatisfied with conventional medicine for quite a while, and it was becoming clearer to me that what I had learned in my studies was not what I had once envisioned for myself as a doctor. What I wanted was to treat knowledgeable, empowered patients, whom I could lead to being healed. I hadnt become a physician just to suppress symptoms of diseases by prescribing medicines.

By chance, I came upon the book Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, which changed my outlook on food and medicine. I devoured it in a few hours. Suddenly, it all became clearnutrition plays a key role in the prevention and healing of diseases. At the time, I failed to understand how that book would completely change my life and my career as a physician. It imparted to me the most important principles of natural hygiene , as it was then called, a health movement with the goal of preventing diseases through natural means.

The Fit for Life Movement

One of the most important tenets of the Fit for Life movement is based on the principle of natural bodily cycles, which states that we should consume food only between the hours of noon and 8:00 pm , so that it can be utilised by the body between 8:00 pm and 4:00 am and then excreted between 4:00 am and noon. Should this cycle be interrupted, say, by eating an early breakfast, then the waste materials would instead be deposited in the space between our cells (interstitial space) and in the connective tissue (fascia). This method also calls for significantly reducing the amount of meat and dairy products we consume. The main source of our diet should be fresh, plant-based foods.