Archived News of the Week

Fasting and Plantar Fasciitis

(Nothing to do with each other)

Intermittent Fasting: The Fasting Diet has been popular for a while now, ever since the book The Fast Diet by Dr. Michael Mosley was published a couple of years ago. Since then the intermittent fasting craze has gained momentum, with more and more people practicing it and more and more name professionals espousing it. Dr Mercola for one and me, for another. I think it's great and seems to, first of all, promote weight loss (if you need it) and secondly and maybe most importantly, it changes lab numbers for the better.

The June 5, 2014 issue of the journal of Cell Stem Cell reported on research done at the University of Southern California that intermittent fasting was "rejuvenating" for the immune system cells. The white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting and the "reduction in these immune system cells triggers the stem cell-based regeneration of new cells. Fasting also reduces an enzyme known as PKA which is the key gene that needs to shut down in order for these stem cells to switch into a regenerative mode." It sounds as if the fasting episodes just kick start your immune system.

Dr. Moseley, a physician in England, started the intermittent fasting diet with many lab parameters skewed: His cholesterol was high as were his triglycerides and the HDL low, his fasting glucose was high and his somatomedin (a measure of cancer risk) was also twice what it should have been. His BMI was high as was his % of body fat. His waist size and neck size were out of range as well. Now, this was not a fat man, but a fairly normal middle aged man who was just getting a bit heavy in the belly and out of shape all over. It took him only 3 months of intermittent fasting to change everything  his weight normalized, his lab numbers normalized and he was buying smaller clothes.

Intermittent fasting is not very hard to do. There are two ways to do it: Moseley's recommendation is to pick 2 days a week, say Monday and Thursday and on those days eat 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men. That's all. Then the other 5 days, he says "eat anything you want", but I don't think that's entirely true. You can't pig out, eating all the unhealthy food you want on the 5 off days and lose weight easily.

I have noticed that those people who consider the 2 day fast days a real deprivation tend to chow down on the other 5 days. If you are one of these people, then my suggestion is to shift your thinking into the two day fast days per week as being a means to a healthy end and just keep blessing your tenacious self and telling yourself how wonderful you are for loving yourself enough to do this for yourself. This way you won't be sabotaging your determination to lead a healthier life. That said, my recommendation is to fast for the two days on the allotted calories and then be careful, especially of your carb and sugar intake, on the other 5. In other words, stay on your healthy regime 24/7 and just fast on your two chosen days.

Dr. Mercola likes to "ast" this way: He has given himself an 8 hour window in which to eat his usual healthy food, and this is 7 days a week, no two days of fasting on 600 calories for him. So, for example, he would be eating only from 9 to 5 or 10 to 6 and that is 7 days a week. That's not too hard to do, either. Then a lesser albeit less effective way to fast would be to not eat for 12 hours per day. Eat your dinner at 6 and don't eat a thing until 6 the next morning. This is not as good for changing labs and weight loss, but it is healthy to fast for this period of time every day.

If you are interested in doing this, I would highly recommend buying Moseley's book The Fast Diet, as he has many useful suggestions in there particularly on what to eat on fast days with lots of good recipes. I particularly like his Thai Steak Salad and his Veggie Pizza. Both are yummy, most importantly, filling.

Plantar Fasciitis: I've treated this many times over the years, and have done what any chiropractor would do  adjust the foot in many different ways, especially making sure that the calcaneus is in place, rub some nice Pane-Away on the sore spot just up from the heel, and suggest that they roll a golf ball up and down the connective tissue on sole of the foot, stand on your toes and stretch, all the while commiserating with them that this syndrome lasts awhile, is painful and to be patient. Well, there is a new exercise that seems to be magical for plantar fasciitis. It reduces pain quickly and reduces the length of the disability. This was reported in August of 2014 in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports if you want to look it up. The exercise requires standing with the heel off the edge of a box or stair with the unaffected leg hanging freely. Slowly raise and lower the affected heel to a count of three seconds up, hold for two at the top then three down. Do 8-12 reps every other day.

Announcement: I will soon stop emailing my newsletters, for many reasons, a couple of which are cost and the unreliability of the server. No worries: Just check the home page of my website every month or so and you will probably see a new newsletter to read. I will also have hard copies in my waiting room.

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