Get healthy by heeding the wisdom of the ancients, by embarking on a fast

It may be stating the obvious, but prolonged stays at home during the pandemic have played havoc with our bodies. One way we can address the radical changes imposed on our lifestyles over the past 18 months is through sensible modification in our diets. To wit, by going on a modified fast of 16 hours straight without taking any nutrition.

But a fasting program entails more than just skipping meals. For most people, it's easy and safe. And the benefits are visible -- not just from a smaller waistline but also improved skin tone and even, some believe, fewer gray hairs.

Writing in Shukan Shincho (Sept 7), nonfiction journalist Masamichi Nishidokoro pitches the program offered at the Ishihara Clinic in Tokyo's Koto Ward, which has a 36-year record of results from homeopathic treatment that include modified fasts.

"In a word, it's about rejuvenation," says Dr Yuumi Ishihara, the clinic's operator. "If chickens continue laying eggs for about one year, they will stop laying. However, if you deprive them of feed for about 30 days, providing them only with water, they will grow new feathers and start laying eggs again.

"At my age I don't contemplate fathering a child, but for the past 40 years I haven't suffered any illnesses, and my sole concern is living too long and not dying," he chuckles.

Ishihara, a native of Nagasaki, follows his own advice. He takes a single meal of solid food per day. Five days a week, he takes a liquid breakfast of freshly squeezed carrot or apple juice, and instead of eating lunch at noon, only drinks a special type black tea with black sugar and ginger. He jogs 10 kilometers per day.

After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at Nagasaki University, Ishihara trained at the famous sanitorium in Zurich, Switzerland, founded in 1897 by Maximilian Bircher-Benner (1867-1939), a proponent of raw foods and best known as the inventor of muesli.

Ishihara's sanatorium in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture, has treated three former prime ministers, former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, and a number of other important figures including judges, actors and professional athletes, such as tennis star Kimiko Date.

The sanatorium's program begins at 17:45 with three cups of carrot juice, which are slowly sipped, almost chewed, while mixing with one's own saliva. The 240 kilocalories in the juice, followed by one hour of yoga exercise, causes a strong sensation of stomach emptiness around 8 p.m., which Ishihara explains is caused by the drop in blood sugar level. By refraining from eating while engaging in physical activity (which can be performed while seated in a chair), the body secretes adrenalin, which will help to overcome hunger pangs.

At 8 a.m. the next morning the program resumes with three cups of carrot juice.

Regular visitors to the sanatorium have sworn by the results.

Ishihara tells anyone who will listen that most humans today eat too much. He has identified six processes involved in revitalizing one's condition. These include "auto-fuzzy" functions, first identified by Yoshinori Okuma, recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components; autolysis, the enzymatic digestion of cells by the action of its own enzymes; Sirtuin genes, a family of of signaling proteins involved in metabolic regulation; and ghrelin, also known as the "hunger hormone" because it stimulates appetite, increases food intake and promotes fat storage.

"The evidence that fasting is working for the body is that, after continuing for several days, a person senses that they 'feel pretty good.' But if the sensation is unpleasant, they should break the fast but get in the practice of eating hara hachi-bu (to stop when the stomach is eight-tenths full)," Ishihara advises.

Those who find their condition improving by a program of two meals a day should cut out both breakfast and lunch, substituting carrot juice and tea with ginger, taking a limited amount of solid food only at dinner.

"Fasting is not something you should continue to struggle with while suffering, but something to  be enjoyed as you feel yourself getting better," says Ishihara.

© Japan Today