Twelve years ago, Steve Hendricks was looking for a way to shed some unwanted pounds. The former politico turned journalist was also seeking something that could boost his overall health. After contemplating a calorie-restricted diet, Hendricks decided to try fasting. By not eating at all for 20 days, the writer discovered an age-old means by which he could lose weight and improve his general health.
In his new book, The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting, which grew out of a magazine story he wrote for Harper’s about his experience, Hendricks examines the history and benefits of the practice. The 52-year-old Boulderite will discuss his work during an Oct. 27 reading at the Boulder Book Store.
“Studies have shown that caloric restriction leads to extended lifespans and better health in virtually every lab animal that has ever been tested,” Hendricks explains. “It seems to have similar results in humans, though it’s really hard to eat less than you need to eat each day, because you end up with a constant gnaw of hunger. As I was contemplating just cutting back on calories, I came across accounts that suggested that I could get many of the same benefits from a fast. Fasting is easier than just reducing calories because you aren’t dogged by hunger all the time. Ironically, it’s easier to eat nothing than just a little.”
The author, who lives in the former home of the poet Allen Ginsberg in Boulder’s Whittier neighborhood, says he was able to strip off about 30 pounds in the course of his extended fast, while simultaneously improving his overall sense of well-being.
“I lost the weight and learned an awful lot about the topic in the process,” he says. “Research shows us that prolonged fasts provide all kinds of health benefits. When we go from our normal fed-metabolism to a fasted-metabolism, we switch on a bunch of repair mechanisms that can prevent us from getting diseases we might yet contract, and in some cases even reverse diseases that we do have.”
‘Prepared by evolution’
Hendricks says fasting has brought many welcome changes in his life, but he counsels those who want to try it to do their homework first.
“The longest fast on record is 382 days, by a Scotsman who weighed 456 pounds and wanted to get down to 180 pounds, which he did by surviving on just water for that long,” he says. “The caveat to this is that doctors strongly recommend that if you do a prolonged fast that you should do it under the supervision of a doctor who knows about fasting.”
According to Hendricks, there is a lack of consensus in the medical community when it comes to the topic, but those who work in the field say fasts as long as seven days are generally safe for people in good health who aren’t taking medication.
“Some doctors point out that for people who have rare conditions, such as those who aren’t physically able to burn their own fat for fuel or those who have trouble processing the breakdown products that occur during a fast, it can be dangerous,” he says. “Those disorders are rare, but they exist. But if you’re not underweight, and you’re in good health, you could probably fast safely for weeks.”
The prospect of not eating for a long period is daunting for most people; yet because of the benefits he describes in his book, Hendricks continues to embrace the practice of intermittent fasting in his day-to-day life, as well as during week-long fasts once or twice per year.
“One of the biggest expenditures of energy that our body makes is from digesting our food and then processing the nutrients from that food,” he says. “When we give our system a break from that process, we have been prepared by evolution to take advantage of that to make repairs in virtually every single cell in the body. During fasting, we’re able to make deep repairs. So when people ask me if they should fast, the answer is that they already do. You fast when you stop eating at night and don’t eat again until the morning. The question is, since we’re all fasting anyway, would we be healthier if we extended that window? The answer is, emphatically, yes.”
Hendricks says fasting to lose weight is effective, but people have to diet accordingly afterwards to keep the weight off. He also points out that drinking water is critical while doing zero-calorie fasting — a half to a full gallon per day at least — and that modified fasts, during which one drinks about 250 calories of vegetable broth per day, are also effective.
“You want to keep really hydrated while fasting, because we usually take in a lot of our water through our diet, and you have to make up for the water that you aren’t getting from your food,” says Hendricks, who is 5-foot-9’ and weighs about 140 pounds. “But if you have sufficient fat stores, you can fast until your fat nearly runs out.”
ON THE SHELF: Boulder Book Store presents: Steve Hendricks — The Oldest Cure in the World. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St.