For years now, I have taught my patients to fast. I personally frequently fast as well. As you can imagine, many people in our culture are shocked when a doctor talks to them about fasting. Those who do find great benefit. The science about fasting is quite strong and people have fasted successfully for thousands of years for health and spiritual reasons.
Yesterday, I was very excited to hear Will Smith talk to his family about his ten day fast. As many of us, Will Smith loves to eat. He recently went on a vacation where he eat lots of donuts and slept and came back weighting 225 lbs, the most he has ever weighed in his life. He decided to do something about it and chose to fast for ten days.
Something I didn’t know about Mr. Smith was that he had hypertension (High blood pressure). I’m always excited to learn about the struggles that our stars and idols have. As a teacher to my patients, when I show them how their celebrities are struggling with some of the same things they are dealing with, they are encouraged to bear.
As Mr. Smith fasted and lost weight, he continued to take his blood pressure medications. As a result, his blood pressure dropped to abnormal levels and he felt symptoms which are usually weakness, dizziness, etc. He stopped the blood pressure pills and continued his fasting and felt great. He noticed that his blood pressure went away as he fasted and lost weight. As he says, he wondered if he really did have hypertension or if the weight and food were causing him to have high blood pressure. Something that Mr. Smith also experienced was that he felt very good and energetic. He talked about experiences in the past when he has lost weight for movies, he got the body he was shooting for but didn’t feel as good as he did when he fasted.
I beamed as I listened to Mr. Smith talk not because I was learning anything new. I’m a researcher in metabolic syndrome, obesity, fasting and weight loss. I have seen my patients experience these same things over and over again. I have also experienced the same exact things myself when I have fasted. I was just so excited to see someone so famous sharing the same things because his fans might become more open to the idea of fasting for their own health, something I have been preaching for years.
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