Fasting, Losing Weight and Stop Smoking

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Fountain of Youth Summit, which can be found at http://fountainofyouthworldsummit.com. In this excerpt, Dr. Gabriel Cousens answers questions about the safety of fasting, losing weight and smoking cessation with fasting.

The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, the founder of Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center and author of "Conscious Eating" and "Spiritual Nutrition."

KEVIN: Some people will say fasting is unhealthy. What do you have to say about that?

GABRIEL: Well, there is a quote from Atheneus, a Greek physician, he said, "Fasting cures disease, dries up bodily humors, puts demons to flight, gets rid of the impure thoughts, makes the mind clear, and the heart pure, and the body sanctified, and raises humanity to the throne of God." And again, you're talking about, you know, 2000 years of observation. Fasting is extremely safe. Now, let's qualify what we say, when we say fasting is extremely safe. We are talking about a 1-week fast, extremely safe.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: Humans on water can go 40 days and may naturally push on it. We do not recommend that at all and I just can go a 100 days. We do green juice fasting here. We don't use any foods because it is way too sweet and it creates sugar imbalances and aggravates diabetes and hypoglycemia, which we don't like to do. We use green juices and in the juices, you get the minerals and the enzymes which help stimulate and support the fasting process. The problem with water fasting, while we don't really recommend it and try to discourage people, is that even though you obviously get detoxification from it, you get really weak and so you can't really enjoy life in the same way. The second thing is the mineral deficiencies can show up being the heart palpitations and other kind of weaknesses that are actually potentially dangerous. We don't have that on juice test. So, those are the big things, plus you got the enzymes in the vital life force. I mean, there's vital life force. We only at the Tree of Life, we only use organic.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And it is fresh, very very fresh, like within a few minutes. So people are getting the tremendous vital life force in nature. We said that earth and water elements are being really actively pooled into the system. This is really safe. We've been doing this for, you know, since 1988. Well, that's quite a few years. That's almost 20 years now.

KEVIN: Sure.

GABRIEL: And no one has really, really had problem. Water fasting, different things. So there may be a crossover. People say fasting, end. Now, there's another thing that we need to understand is that going without food is immediately threatening the people. Why? Because the Americans overeat. And why do they overeat? Not just because they like being the numbness of bowel toxicity, which is what happens, you get numbed out when you overeat, but it is a way of suppressing emotions.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: I am depressed. I am going to treat myself, you know, or I am going to celebrate, so you eat all those kinds of junk food. I don't know what kind of a celebration it is, but apparently some people say this is a celebration.

KEVIN: A-ha.

GABRIEL: And so, this is the point, and does that make sense? This fear because it goes into an ego defense called eating, if you see what I am saying.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And the fact is we can live a really long time without eating food, you know, on liquids. You do not have to, but a week fast is completely safe.

KEVIN: Right. And what are some of the longevity benefits from not eating as much? I guess it's the best way to say it. What are some of the studies on that? What are some of the things that have been proven to show that this is the case?

GABRIEL: That is a good question. Dr. Spindler who is a biochemist at the UC Riverside, published in Science, the magazine, in 2001 a research he did with rats and he underfed them 40%, and after 1 month, the rats had a 400% increase in the anti-aging gene expression. He was using 1100 gene chip-type system at 400% and also anti-aging and anti-inflammatory. So what he concluded, now there's lots of research since the early 1900s that the less you eat, the longer you live, that's clear. But you usually thought it was actually just slowing the aging process down, right?

KEVIN: A-ha.

GABRIEL: But now we are talking something different after Spindler's research. You're actually activating the anti-aging genes. You actually had the potential to reverse the aging process. That is the whole of the statement.

KEVIN: Wow. It does not stop, it's reversed.

GABRIEL: Right.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And what happens when you are fasting? Fasting usually begins in the 2nd or 3rd day and when the body goes into what we call autolysis where it begins going after the dead and dying cells, OK, and clearing them out. The pre-cancer cells and the not so healthy cells. And so that process speeds up. So by the end of the fast by 7 days, you have increased the healthy vibrant cells and you have decreased the dead and dying the cells, so you're really into a rejuvenation process. You see what I am saying?

KEVIN: Yes.

GABRIEL: Whereas before, when you're toxic, there are a lot more dead and dying cells because they had all the toxins and then they couldn't survive or they are half alive. That's how most people feel anyway, they're half alive.

KEVIN: Sure. I've heard that before. Yeah.

GABRIEL: And that's what we are talking about. But the research is, the literature is enormous and the basic summary of all the research, animal research and human research, the cultures that are long-lived like the Karmacoma Indians in Ecuador I think in the 100s, is that their calorie intake is half as much as other people.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: Because they're primarily, not a 100%, but primarily vegan.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: So those seem to be the 2 things. Eating the animal products can secrete a lot more toxicity and speed up the aging process.

KEVIN: OK. And now let's say I wanted to put together a fast on my own, I mean , is that advised to 7-day fast on your own? I mean, would you lock yourself in a room with a juicer? I mean, what kind of protocol would someone consider taking?

GABRIEL: Well, what really happens here is that it's really a generally good idea to have somebody guide you the first time.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: Because as a holistic physician, as a kind of yogi, you know, I did the 40-day fast but that's an exception. I do not recommend that for most people. It's not that safe you know, OK. So it's really good to have a run through.

KEVIN: A-ha.

GABRIEL: In about a year or two, I will be coming out with the book on spiritual fasting but right now I'm writing a book on diabetes and I don't really have time. But after that then what we see a pattern as what people will do, maybe fast at home and may be come here twice a year, so they're doing it that way. What you want is an optimal situation where you are vitalizing the body, so where you can get good sun, fresh air, healthy water, and you know, clean organic juices. That's what you want.

KEVIN: Yes. So you wouldn't recommend anyone go into their high stress job?

GABRIEL: Right. Because the body doesn't open up. The body...that's work, in that the body has to be able to relax to let go to heal itself.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And if you're going to continue, you can do it. You can lose weight that way. .Let's put it that way.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And aside from losing weight, there's not nearly as much healing because a high stress job tends to shut the body down. It doesn't tend to go into that kind of place where it really works to heal.

KEVIN: And do you recommend a fast for people who want to lose weight?

GABRIEL: That's the best way to lose weight.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: For the last 5000 years, it's been the best way. We have started 2 programs here. One is what we call juice feasting which involves really liquids and juices, 4 juices a day and then blended fruit.

KEVIN: A-ha.

GABRIEL: And people could be on that for a 100-120 days if they do really, really, really well, and they lose weight gradually, you know. In live food itself, we could lose about 100 pounds in a year.

KEVIN: Wow.

GABRIEL: Because with live food you can eat half as much. Because when you cook your food, you lose 50% of the protein and 70%-80% of vitamins and minerals and up to 95% or so of the phytonutrients. Well, the math is simple. If you just simply go on live food, you eat half as much. That means you take in half as many calories. You're taking double the nutrition but half the calories and the result is you lose weight.

KEVIN: A 100 pounds in a year. That's pretty intense.

GABRIEL: Yes. But it happens gradually and you're not doing any physiological tricks. This is very important. Fasting is not a physiological trick. You're actually helping the body accelerate the process. Now, during that time, your stomach tends to shrink and so you will not be that hungry. You really start to lose that interest. So we have, you know, let's say, a lot of people have done 70-day fast, 85-day fast for weight loss. And that's usually people who are between 100-200 pounds overweight.

KEVIN: Right.

GABRIEL: It's a very good thing that is also a very good for smoking. Agatha Trash, and I don't know if she is alive but she and her husband are the 2 physicians at the head of anti-smoking clinic in Arkansas and they saw over 3000 successful cases of helping people to get off cigarettes. Why? Well, fasting helps you lose your cellular memory for your toxins. OK. And it also alkalinizes you. The result is that when you're alkalinize, it's a lot easier to break the nicotine habit.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: The moment that you get 5 days, it's really good, 7 days is really excellent. Now when you use a few other homeopathic remedies and things like that, pack and release to help people break their smoking habits. But then we also recommend the psychological aspect and that's why we use the Zero Point Course, which we use to do 1 day afterwards. So, they're linked, but fasting is really good for all of us. It's so simple. It's really quite simple.

KEVIN: Right. What are some of the best things to juice? What are some of the best things that will get you the most minerals?

GABRIEL: I think the thing that's most important is the organic.

KEVIN: OK.

GABRIEL: And we get whatever is in season although we use a lot of cucumbers and celery because they have lots of minerals particularly sodium which we need, healthy sodium, and flushes out the toxic sodium in the system. And then we get whatever greens are in season. And mostly, we are growing a lot of our own, but we also will use beet and carrot diluted, which is good for the liver.

KEVIN: A-ha.

GABRIEL: But what were finding is it doesn't matter. We really...basically, if you're doing juice fasting, everything gets better.