Rebooting the Immune System with Water-Only Fasting

The immune system is a network of cells, tissues and organs that provide your body’s natural defense and help fight infection. It is made up of organs like your thymus gland, that produces antibodies against invading bacteria and viruses, in addition to your lymph nodes and lymphatic system that filter lymph fluid and trap organisms and other foreign substances so that your white blood cells can destroy them.

The immune system also includes bone marrow, a soft tissue found in the bones of your arms, legs, pelvis and spine, that produces white blood cells to protect you against infection and promote the healing of damaged cells after injury and trauma , and the spleen which filters your blood to remove old or damaged blood cells .

The migration of white blood cells to areas of injury and cell damage is a necessary part of the acute inflammatory process that is essential to a healthy functioning immune system. But keep in mind that all cells of the body have a limited life span and will age and become less functional over time. However, when white blood cells become less functional, your immune system can be compromised interfering with your ability to heal and making you more prone to infection.

In addition, lifestyle factors including a diet high in salt, sugar, processed oils , meat and dairy products and chronic stress can promote chronic inflammation/cell damage and compromise the immune system; even urging the body to turn against itself and promote auto-immune disease like Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, water only fasting, even for short periods, is one of the most powerful approaches for resolving inflammation and the complications of autoimmune disease.

In the UK, fasting and a follow up plant-based diet significantly resolved the complications and laboratory markers associated with RA. After four weeks, a test group that completed a 7-10 day water-only fast, followed by a gluten-free, plant-based vegan diet, had a significant decrease in the number of swollen joints, a decrease in the duration of morning stiffness, an increase in grip strength, and a remarkable decrease in the bio-markers for inflammation and RA, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and white blood count.

Enjoy a Medically Supervised Water-Only Fast at Balance for Life

Keep in mind that your body, in its wisdom, knows what belongs in it and what does not. And during a water-only fast, it will eliminate what it needs least to support what it needs most. So for example, it needs vital organs like heart, brain, kidney, liver etc. but it does not need tumors, cysts, stones and growths.