Adopting a health-promoting diet and lifestyle is one of the most difficult tasks facing modern human beings. Even people who are health conscious have a difficult time implementing a health-promoting diet, designing and sticking to a regular exercise program, and getting proper rest and sleep. This article outlines a strategy that can help you achieve your health goals.

Step 1: Determine your goals

It is important that you identify what your goals are. Eliminating pain, restoring function, improving capacity, losing excess fat or delaying death are examples of achievable goals. Most of us can rattle off a few goals without having to stop and think much. They can be vague or precise but, whatever they are, start by writing them down. Then arrange your goals in the order of importance to you.

Step 2: Objectify your problems

Establish an objective baseline so you will be able to determine progress or deterioration. For example, if your goal is to lose weight it is helpful to know what your weight is and what a realistic goal weight is. In addition, determining your percentage of body fat and specific measurements such as waist circumference may prove useful in determining if your strategies are being effective. If your goal is to reduce your risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease, knowing your blood pressure, functional blood vessel health, blood measurements such as cholesterol, triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c, C-reactive protein, etc., will give you an objective basis to evaluate the progress of your health-promoting strategy.  Working with a doctor who focuses on health promotion may prove extremely helpful. The doctor may be able to provide you information on the underlying cause(s) of your problems.

Step 3: Establish realistic goals and timelines

It is important to set realistic goals so that you do not violate your expectations and become discouraged.  For example, the average overweight individual can lose two pounds per week by adopting a health- promoting diet and lifestyle. That translates into a negative calorie balance of 1,000 calories per day and in my experience is the maximum sustainable weight loss for the average person. If your goal is to resolve hypertension with fasting, you need to understand how long a fast will be needed to achieve the desired results.  The higher your self-efficacy of resolution, the higher the probability for definitive, sustained action.  In order to regain and maintain health in the face of adversity and challenges, you must have confidence that the actions you are taking are likely to succeed.

Step 4: Identify the roadblocks to achieving your goals

It is important to have an understanding of the nature of the obstacles you face in achieving your goals. Roadblocks can include genetic and epigenetic factors, diet (deficiencies and excesses), environmental conditions (air, water, sun, chemicals, etc.), activity (rest and sleep, strength and flexibility, and proper body usage) and psychology (how well you deal with the stressors of family, friends, and social contacts.) 

An accurate diagnosis can be critical in planning a strategy. Mistaken beliefs, no matter how commonly held can sabotage a well-intentioned plan. For example, if one of your goals is to resolve joint pain and you believe the official position of the national arthritis foundation that "no specific diet will make your arthritis better," you are likely to fail.

If your goal is to lose weight, it is important to evaluate your dietary strategy as well as sleep, exercise and possible metabolic dysfunction including hypothyroidism, sleep apnea, musculoskeletal problems that might limit activity and psychological issues including addiction.  The reason weight loss is such a persistent problem is that deficiencies in a number of different arenas can contribute to the problem.  It is often useful to consult with health professionals experienced in diagnosing the factors that might be preventing you from achieving your goals.

Step 5: Give up on magic

Money is made telling people what they want to hear, NOT what they need to know.  What you want to hear is you can achieve your goal without escaping the pleasure trap of the standard American diet and lifestyle. What you need to know is how to escape the pleasure trap so you can achieve your goal. HEALTH IS THE RESULT OF HEALTHFUL LIVING.  You want to avoid getting caught in the trap of the cure mentality.

Step 6: Set priorities

All actions are not equal in effect. Focus on the actions likely to yield the most substantial results. Time is the primary limiting factor in life. Rich and poor alike are strictly limited to 168 hours per week. Evaluating practicality and learning to manage your efforts effectively and efficiently are a priority.  Securing enough sleep, exercise and a health-promoting diet need to become a priority if success is to be achieved. In some cases, major life management skills need to be developed and obtaining time management coaching can be very helpful.

Step 7: Establish accountability

Some of my patients will send me detailed diet diaries of any dietary variations or alterations from their health- promotion regimes and the reasons that these variations occurred.  In reviewing these email messages I can advise them as to adaptive strategies.  The fact they are reporting variations tends to reduce the frequency of variations and make them more aware of the consequences. 

Step 8: Initiate action plan

Up to this point, all of our efforts have involved identifying the challenge, understanding the difficulties and planning a strategy.  Now it is time to take action.  Attitude determines action but ACTION determines outcome. You have to work the plan in order for the plan to work.

Step 9: Assess progress

Periodically reassessing the objectives such as weight, blood test results and measurements from Step 2 will provide objective evidence of progress which tends to improve persistence.  It will also allow you to fine tune your plan if you are failing to make adequate progress.

Step 10: Maintain success

The people who are successful in the long-term under-stand the importance of ongoing education and inspiration in maintaining their persistence. Education is available from organizations such as the National Health Association and their books, videos, seminars and by spending time at the TrueNorth Health Center and similar facilities where the focus is on strategic health planning and implementation.

This month's cover story in Dynamic Chiropractic on "Chiropractors Managing Chronic Hypertension" featured TrueNorth Health Center. Dr. Alex Vasquez writes, "Most chiropractors are probably unaware that the most effective nutritional treatment for chronic hypertension has been researched and documented by Dr. Alan Goldhamer."  He goes on to summarize the results of our research on fasting. You can read the full article here.

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing newsletter copyright Healthy Directions, LLC. To subscribe, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

For the last 35 years, I've advocated a low-fat, high-fiber diet; exercise; and targeted nutritional supplements as the foundation of optimal health. For most of those years, I followed my own advice. My diet was pretty good, and I was very active, running marathons, riding a bicycle across the country, and playing tennis, squash, and racquetball.

But I fell off the wagon. Over the past decade, I've allowed salt, sugar, and fat-laden processed foods to sneak into my diet. If I'd just done what I tell my patients to do, this story would never have needed to be told. But I drifted away and paid the price. I was 40 pounds overweight, had high blood pressure and poor exercise tolerance, and was aging rapidly.

It was time for America's Wellness Doctor to get well. So I decided to do just that; I decided to fast.

My Visit to a "Fasting Farm"

My wife and I checked into TrueNorth Health, a facility in Santa Rosa, CA, that has treated thousands of patients with hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases using fasting as a primary therapy. For five of the seven days we were there, we drank lots of water, went to lectures, and read and slept a lot, but we had nothing to eat.

We'd been warned that the first two days of fasting would be the hardest, and indeed they were. Both Connie and I were irritable, grumpy, and uncomfortable. It wasn't really hunger that we were experiencing. It was more like the symptoms of withdrawal, which, as it turns out, is exactly what happens when you fast.

After two days, right on schedule, we felt much better. We were no longer anxious or ill-tempered, we slept well, and, incredibly, we weren't hungry. It was amazing that after three or four days of not eating, we could walk by a bakery filled with cupcakes, fruit tarts, and brownies and not even be tempted. We actually contemplated fasting for an additional three days because, at that point, it would have been easy.

Upon the completion of our fast, we eased back into eating, starting with juices. Then we gradually incorporated natural, organic, unprocessed foods low in fat, salt, sugar, and additives; a diet similar to what we recommend at Whitaker Wellness, except entirely vegan. (At the clinic we use modest amounts of low-fat animal protein.)

Fasting Yields Rapid Results

During our seven-day program, Connie lost eight pounds. (She didn't have much to lose in the first place and was there primarily to support me.) I lost 21 pounds. Most of it, of course, was excess salt and fluids; you simply can't lose that much fat in such a short a period of time.

Nevertheless, it had a huge effect on my health, appearance, and sense of well-being. My blood pressure dramatically declined. My blood sugar, which had been in the high-normal range, was lower; my cholesterol and triglycerides improved; and my energy returned. On a treadmill exercise stress test back at Whitaker Wellness, I performed as well as a healthy 30-year-old.

How is this possible? How could I have had such dramatic improvements in just a week?

The Scientific Basis of Fasting

Fasting has a number of unique attributes that no other therapy provides. It rapidly rids the body of excess sodium and fluids, which eliminates edema and lowers blood pressure. It promotes weight loss; water weight initially, but also fat loss; and it facilitates detoxification, mobilizing and eliminating toxins.

Fasting also gives the gut a break and allows it to repair itself, which often leads to improvements not only in digestive complaints, but in allergy symptoms and autoimmune disorders as well. It increases insulin sensitivity, which lowers blood sugar and eliminates virtually all aspects of metabolic syndrome. In short, fasting seems to reset your metabolism and break disease cycles, much like rebooting your computer.

Most importantly, improvements are maintained after the fast ends. Alan Goldhamer, DC, founder and director of TrueNorth, and the medical doctors who work with him have published two studies detailing fasting's effects on hypertension. In one of these studies, they followed 174 patients who came to TrueNorth with blood pressure in excess of 140/90. After undergoing a fasting regimen, 90 percent of these patients achieved normal blood pressure (the average reduction was 37/13 mm Hg), and all of them who had been on antihypertensive medications were able to get off their drugs. Moreover, the mean blood pressure of patients who were tracked for an average of 27 weeks after leaving the clinic was a perfectly healthy 123/77.

Fasting's effects on diabetes are enduring as well. John K. Davidson, MD, PhD, a retired professor at Emory University School of Medicine and founding director of the diabetes unit at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, describes in his popular textbook the use of seven-day fasts as initial treatment for obese patients with type 2 diabetes.

In addition to rapid and predictable improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight during the fast, Dr. Davidson reports that patients easily transitioned to low- to moderate-calorie diets. And, over five to seven months, they gradually achieved both their ideal weight and control over their blood sugar level without the use of insulin or other drugs.

The Pleasure Trap

What I find almost as remarkable as the health benefits of fasting is how it altered my food preferences. Prior to my fast, I knew I needed to clean up my diet, but, as I said, over the past decade I hadn't. Since my short fast, however, that has changed. I now find that highly processed, fatty, sugary, salty foods just don't appeal to me, and sticking with a good diet is not only easier, but, get this, more enjoyable.

According to Dr. Goldhamer, my experience is not unique. Fasting helps your taste buds adapt to lower salt, sugar, and fat intake. This process, which he calls "neuroadaptation," facilitates the adoption of a health-promoting diet. It also helps you escape your addiction to these unhealthy foods.

In his book The Pleasure Trap, co-written by Douglas Lisle, PhD, Dr. Goldhamer makes a convincing argument that many of the foods that contribute to our health problems create a physiological response similar to that of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other addictive substances. These foods are pleasurable to eat; so pleasurable that we become addicted.

Think about all the people who are 40 or 50 pounds overweight, disgusted with the way they look, and suffering with diabetes and the many obesity-related diseases that are ripping through our culture. They know their current habits are contributing to their ill health and leading them toward an untimely death. Yet they cannot or will not change their diet. They're caught in the pleasure trap of food addiction, and the quickest way of breaking it is fasting.

Our Genetic Programming

Dr. Goldhamer also discusses the hardwired physiological forces that drive hunger, satiety, and food preferences. Have you ever seen an obese animal in the wild? Just imagine the spectacle of squirrels in your backyard, most of them with potbellies and puffy cheeks and many so fat they can't even climb trees. It just doesn't happen, even though they have all the food they can eat.

Are squirrels and other animals in their natural environment better disciplined or more expert at counting calories than you? Of course they aren't. Their caloric intake and energy expenditure are instinctively dictated. Humans have similar, inborn mechanisms governing food intake, and they, too, work like a charm; provided we eat the foods we were designed to eat. And therein lies the problem.

Our genetic programming evolved in the milieu of a natural, primarily plant-based, high-fiber diet. For more than 20 million years, there were no French fries, cupcakes, or ice cream available. To this day, indigenous people and others who eat a natural diet devoid of added salt, sugar, and fat get pleasure from their food, but they rarely if ever eat to the point of obesity.

Health Is Undermined by Our Unnatural Diet

Today's typical diet, however, is unprecedented in human history. Rich, high-calorie foods may have been available in centuries past to the royal and powerful (who were afflicted with modern diseases), but they were beyond the reach of most people. Only in the past 100 years or so have entire populations had unlimited access to meat, cookies, pizza, chips, and other fatty, sugary, salty foods.

Our bodies simply cannot handle these foods; they overwhelm our finely tuned genetic program. It's like watering your houseplants with a fire hose rather than a watering can that delivers optimal amounts of water! No wonder two-thirds of Americans are overweight, one third of them are obese, and millions upon millions of us suffer with horrific health problems.

You may blame yourself if you're overweight, but the truth is, you're simply following your genetic dictates. The problem isn't how much you eat; it's what you eat. We're not fat and unhealthy because we lack the discipline to keep our calories at a certain level. We have these problems because we're eating foods that the human body isn't designed to eat.  

I'm not saying that personal discipline plays no role in making food choices. It most certainly does. However, my newfound ability to eat right does not stem solely from old-fashioned willpower. If it did, I wouldn't have wound up in such bad shape in the first place.

Jumpstart Your Journey to Health

I have never felt as confident about my current and future health as I do at this time. I'm back on track, and I'm convinced that I will stay on track for the rest of my life. In fact, I'm so enthusiastic about fasting as a medical therapy that we've started a fasting program at the Whitaker Wellness Institute.

We now encourage patients who are struggling with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and other problems to jumpstart their one- to three-week Back to Health program at the clinic by fasting for three to seven days. They can then transition to our mini-fast with exercise program or simply adopt a healthy diet.

Although fasting is quite safe, physicians who condemn it as dangerous are simply biased and uneducated. It's much easier to do in a supportive setting such as TrueNorth or Whitaker Wellness. And I certainly wouldn't recommend that anyone who has a serious health problem or is taking prescription drugs undergo fasting without medical supervision.

That said, the "rules" are few and simple. Fasters need to drink a lot of water (eight or more eight-ounce glasses of water every day), relax and take it easy (walking is fine but no vigorous exercise), and avoid distractions that make the process more difficult (grocery shopping, cooking, etc.). Drugs should be stopped only by a physician. Fasts should be gently broken with fresh vegetable and fruit juices, followed by the gradual addition of whole, natural, unprocessed foods, which I guarantee you'll enjoy even if you never have before.

Do yourself a favor and seriously explore this safe, simple, proven therapy. Fasting can launch you into a healthier lifestyle and make your journey back to health easier, quicker, and more pleasant than you could ever imagine.

Recommendations:

Fasting is best done in a medical setting. If you are taking prescription medications, have a serious health problem, or need to fast for a prolonged period, you should undergo this therapy only under medical supervision.

To learn more about TrueNorth Health Center, which specializes in short and prolonged fasts, call (707) 586-5555 or visit healthpromoting.com. You'll find a wealth of information on fasting on this Web site, and you can also order Dr. Goldhamer's book, The Pleasure Trap, which I highly recommend.

For information on the fasting program at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, call (800) 488-1500.

References

Davidson JK. Clinical Diabetes Mellitus, a Problem-Oriented Approach. New York, NY: Thieme; 2000.

McCarty MF. A preliminary fast may potentiate response to a subsequent low-salt, low-fat vegan diet in the management of hypertension, fasting as a strategy for breaking metabolic vicious cycles. Med Hypotheses. 2003;60(5):624,633.

Julian Whitaker, MD

Julian Whitaker, MD, America's Wellness Doctor, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Emory University Medical School. In 1979, he opened the Whitaker Wellness Institute, which has treated more than 45,000 patients and is the largest alternative medicine clinic in the country. The author of the popular monthly newsletter Health & Healing, as well as numerous books, including Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks, Reversing Diabetes, and Reversing Heart Disease, Dr. Whitaker is a vocal proponent of freedom of choice in the medical arena and founder of the nonprofit Freedom of Health Foundation. For more about Dr. Whitaker and his natural approach to health and well-being, visit www.drwhitaker.com and www.whitakerwellness.com.

Health & Healing Newsletter

Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing is an eight-page monthly newsletter dedicated to alternative health and nonconventional therapies.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Health Science magazine.

The occasional headache is a common problem experienced by many people in the United States. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), as many as 45 million Americans have chronic severe headaches that result in more than 8 million visits to doctors every year.

For 26 years, the doctors at the TrueNorth Health Center have successfully treated headaches with a combination of medicine, physiotherapy, diet and lifestyle modification, and water-only fasting. Our approach accounts for the many triggers and causes of headaches when treating a patient.

What causes a headache?
When you get a headache, several areas can hurt, including a network of nerves that extends over the scalp; certain nerves in the face, mouth, and throat; the muscles of the head; and blood vessels found along the surface and at the base of the brain that contain delicate nerve fibers.  Lacking pain-sensitive nerve fibers, the brain itself does not hurt.

When nociceptors (the ends of the pain-sensitive nerves) are stimulated by stress, muscular tension, dilated blood vessels, and other headache triggers, they send a message to the brain via chemicals that transmit pain-related information, including endorphins, natural painkilling proteins. Research suggests that some people may be more susceptible to severe headaches, or other chronic pain, because they have lower levels of endorphins than people who are generally pain-free.

Doctors classify headaches by their cause. Primary headaches have no underlying illness, whereas secondary headaches are caused by other illnesses, trauma, or brain disorders.

Primary headaches account for more than 90 percent of headaches, and their causes include: tension (muscular contraction), vascular (migraine), and cluster headaches not caused by other underlying medical conditions.

Common headache triggers include certain foods, stress, weather changes, and sometimes medication.  The use of and the withdrawal from drugs utilized to control high blood pressure, treat ulcers, control seizures, relieve pain, and birth control pills have been known to cause headaches. 

Our approach to treatment
At the TrueNorth Health Center we take a team approach to the assessment and treatment of patients who have problems with chronic headaches.

The first step in our evaluation process involves a comprehensive review of medical history, current symptoms and medication use, etc., followed by a phone consultation with me. I assess your situation to determine if you are a good candidate for the TrueNorth Health program.

Perhaps the most powerful tool in overcoming severe headaches is the use of medically supervised water-only fasting. Fasting helps the body and brain to recalibrate itself and in the process eliminate many of the contributing causes of chronic headache.  As the director of our fasting program, I have supervised the fasts of over 7,000 individuals during the past 26 years. Fasting periods range from 5 to 40 days and the total duration of care ranges from one week to two months.

Once at our center, one of our medical doctors will review your medical history, perform a physical examination, order or review laboratory tests and imaging studies, and evaluate any use of medications, herbs, supplements etc.  The medical doctors at TrueNorth Health are experienced in helping individuals safely withdraw from the medications that are often a major part of the ongoing problem with chronic headache.

Other members of our team who may be involved include Erwin Linzner, D.C., who utilizes numerous physiotherapy techniques including the Graston Technique, which is a form of instrument-assisted soft tissue therapy designed to release adhesions in soft tissue that result from neck injuries including car accidents, etc., which can contribute to chronic headache.  We also offer functional movement assessments with Alec Isabeau, D.C., who looks at the body's overall integration and offers specific exercise interventions designed to restore optimum function. We may also recommend the use of various forms of body work including massage.

The dietary approach recommended includes avoiding the common triggers for headaches including alcohol, animal foods including dairy products, added oil, salt and sugar and, if indicated, soy, wheat and corn products. 

We have found this team approach integrating appropriate medical management, chiropractic intervention, soft-tissue therapies, exercise, sleep and medically supervised fasting followed by a health promoting vegan diet to be successful in helping individuals overcome chronic headache.  To find out if our approach is right for you,  complete our admissions forms and call us at 707-586-5555 for a consultation.

  SupremeMasterTV.com

Fast is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word, faest, which means "firm" or "fixed." The practice of going without food at certain times was called fasting, from the Anglo-Saxon, faesten, to hold oneself from food. Like most English words, the word fasting has more than one meaning. Thus, the dictionary defines fasting as "abstinence from food, partial or total, or from proscribed kinds of foods." In most religious fasts abstinence from proscribed foods is all that is meant. We may define it thus: Fasting--is abstention, entirely or in part, and for longer or shorter periods of time, from food and drink or from food alone.

From Dr. Herbert Shelton's The Hygienic System Vol. III: Fasting and Sun Bathing

Alan Goldhamer Interview

Dietary Addictions

If you are holding a copy of Health Science magazine, and know what it is all about, then you are one of the lucky ones. Of the 300 million people who live in our country, most will spend their whole lives confused about what is good for them, and what isn’t. If you are one of the fortunate few who has a good feel for the truth about health, then you are more than halfway there.

The problem is, knowing is only about half of the battle. The other half of the journey is pretty tough. Just knowing doesn’t quite get it done all by itself. For some reason, even after we know just what to do, there is a tendency to go ahead and do self-destructive things anyway. If we listen to a pop-psychology show, we might hear all sorts of dark and complex speculation about why people are often self-destructive. But to doubt any of it is right. We think there are reasons for "self-destructive" behavior that make perfect sense.

To read the entire article, click here.