Fasting makes a comeback in modern medicine New York: Fasting, practiced for thousands of years as a cure for a variety of diseases, is making a comeback slowly among the practitioners of modern medicine. Buchinger, on Germany's Lake Constance and a handful of other clinics around the world are beginning to offer fasting as one of the physical therapies and medical tourists are flocking to take advantage, according to Newsweek. The magazine said by fasting the doctors at Buchinger mean a "minimalist diet of 300 calories per day, veggie broths and juices for two weeks to several months, accompanied by blood tests, purges and other treatments." Director Frantoise Wilhelmi di Toledo was quoted as saying many hard-to-treat conditions, from arthritis to allergies and various skin disorders, benefit from the metabolic switch that takes place when the body starts living off its own reserves. "Of the 2,000 guests who come to fast each year (half from southern Europe, America and the Middle East), about one third arrive with serious ailments the rest come to lose weight or cut stress," he said. Fasting, the magazine says, has lately gotten a boost from medical research. Clinical studies in Scandinavia have shown that fasting is an effective treatment for rheumatism especially if followed by a vegetarian diet. In one study, pain and swelling came down by a third in a week and stayed that way for a year. Other studies have shown success in lowering blood pressure and treating chronic pain like migraine or arthritis. Neurobiologists at Gwttingen University have shown that when patients fast, stress hormones levels go down and serotonin levels rise (which may explain the "fasting high" many patients report). "The more we look into it, fasting seems to work like a reset button for the body's own self-regulating mechanisms," Andreas Michalsen, deputy director of the Institute for Integrative Medicine at Essen University said. You are beautiful. I love you. Dr. Bernarr, D.C., D.D. God Healing, Inc. Natural Hygiene Society, Inc. P.O. Box 1523 Santa Monica California 90406 USA Telephone: 310-396-2914 Web Site: http://www.healself.org E-mail: [log in to unmask]