The “fasting therapy” in traditional Chinese medicine does not mean forcing yourself to go without food; its core principle is moderation in eating—that is, not eating until you’re full at every meal, but leaving a little room. For modern people who suffer from overnutrition, food stagnation, and poor spleen and stomach function (weak digestion and absorption), eating a little less can actually reduce the burden on the spleen and stomach and help alleviate certain “diet-related illnesses.”
A Story of Waste Utilization
Last year, I saw a TV report stating that urban waste is being sorted for processing: useful waste is recycled, while useless waste is incinerated. The heat generated by incineration can be used to fire boilers, converting the heat into steam, which is then used to generate electricity. What appears to be useless waste, through a series of processing steps, actually provides energy for people’s daily lives.
After watching this report, while marveling at human ingenuity, I also reflected that, from the perspective of Marxist dialectics, everything has multiple facets. From one angle, certain things may seem useless or even troublesome, but from another angle, they can be useful—or even highly valuable assets.
I once worked at a pharmaceutical factory for a while. The extraction workshop there produced large amounts of medicinal waste every day. This waste piled up in a corner, unused and with no one to haul it away, which was a major headache for the company. In the end, they had no choice but to pay contractors to haul it away, incurring significant monthly expenses for waste removal. When local vegetable farmers learned of this, they took the initiative to come and haul it away. They took the residue home, piled it up to ferment, and then spread it on their fields as fertilizer. The fermented residue is rich in organic matter, and crops grown on fields fertilized with it thrive and suffer few pest or disease problems. The vegetable farmers became the primary recipients of the residue, and the company solved this thorny problem without spending a single penny. Later, after repeated research, company leaders mixed the medicinal residue with coal in a specific ratio to fuel the boilers, which proved quite effective. This not only saved a significant amount of coal each month but also generated economic benefits, taking the utilization of medicinal residue to a new level. As local vegetable farmers piled the medicinal residue for fermentation over time, they discovered that mushrooms would grow on it. Some of them then experimented with using medicinal residue high in coarse fiber to cultivate mushrooms—and succeeded.
What was initially considered a burden eventually became a highly sought-after commodity.
There are many such examples. When I was in middle school, a chemical plant in town that refined barium carbonate couldn’t find a use for its furnace slag, so it was piled up everywhere, severely polluting the environment. After an investigation, the local government discovered that this slag could block radiation and absorb moisture, among many other little-known benefits, so they used it to pave roads. Many of the town’s smooth roads were built this way. After all the roads were paved, the slag was used to make bricks, which were sold to locals for building homes. These slag bricks not only provided radiation protection but also kept homes warm in winter and cool in summer. What had once been discarded slag quickly turned into a lucrative source of profit for the company.
Often, there is only a fine line between waste and valuable material. As long as we change our perspective and deepen our understanding, waste can often be transformed into valuable material overnight!
In fact, a similar situation exists within our own bodies. Every day, our bodies undergo metabolic processes; substances that cannot be metabolized are stored as pathological byproducts. These byproducts often accumulate in the body over the long term, impairing the flow of qi and blood, and ultimately leading to organ dysfunction or even cancer.
There are many pathological byproducts in the human body, and the most typical example is phlegm.
Phlegm is originally generated from the body’s refined substances due to a decline in the spleen’s transport and transformation functions. Its material basis is still the essence of food and drink—a form of energy—but during the transformation process, it becomes a substandard or waste product that the body cannot utilize. For patients with excessive phlegm-pathogen, treatment should employ phlegm-resolving methods; however, these methods often only thin the phlegm-pathogen rather than eliminating it completely. This phlegm-pathogen that remains in the body is, in essence, the body’s internal waste.
Phlegm exists not only in the lungs but also in other zang-fu organs, meridians, and throughout the limbs and bones. Many patients take phlegm-resolving medications for long periods, yet their cough and phlegm production remain unresolved; they continue to cough up a significant amount of viscous phlegm daily. If we reflect deeply on this, a question arises: Why does the phlegm not decrease despite frequent attempts to eliminate it? Could it be that the root cause of phlegm production has not been identified? Indeed, the reason phlegm does not decrease in the body is that it has a source. It is much like household waste in a city: although sanitation workers remove it every day, new waste is generated daily. Similarly, phlegm is constantly being produced within the body. What is coughed up is phlegm, but what remains inside the body is “viscous body fluids.”
If we apply the “story of waste utilization” I mentioned earlier to our understanding of phlegm, it may lead to some breakthroughs in our thinking.
Among the methods for treating diseases, there is one known as “fasting therapy.” As the name suggests, this involves having the patient abstain from food or remain in a state of hunger; this method falls under the category of dietary therapy.
I frequently employ this method in clinical practice. For example, in children with anorexia, medication is unnecessary—skipping two meals is often sufficient. Similarly, patients with acute gastroenteritis are better off not eating; skipping one or two meals, combined with medication, promotes faster recovery. For mild conditions, fasting alone—that is, the fasting therapy—is often effective. However, for some complex diseases, simply skipping one or two meals is usually insufficient to resolve the issue.
The concept of “bi gu” (abstaining from grains) has existed in ancient China and has been passed down to the present day; in essence, it is a form of fasting therapy. People voluntarily fast for short periods to cure certain illnesses or strengthen their bodies, allowing the body to fully tap into its inherent potential while in a state of hunger.
During “bi gu,” the body enters a state of hunger, and its internal energy is gradually released. As the body’s energy reserves gradually diminish, pathological byproducts—such as phlegm—are gradually converted into energy and consumed. The body naturally enters a different state, and some chronic diseases undergo self-healing.
Therefore, fasting is also an effective remedy for illness.
In 1925, American scientist McKay conducted a famous experiment on mice. He divided a group of newly weaned young mice into two groups and treated them differently: the first group of mice received “preferential treatment,” being given a sumptuous feast to enjoy to their heart’s content, eating to their fill all day long; The second group of young mice received “discriminatory treatment,” being provided with only 60 percent of the food given to the first group; they were “starved,” allowed to eat only until they were seven or eight parts full. Many predicted that the health and lifespan of the first group would far exceed those of the second group. But the results were surprising: many of the mice in the first group, which enjoyed “preferential treatment,” developed “diseases of affluence” due to overnutrition and died prematurely before reaching “middle age.” The mice in the second group, which received “discriminatory treatment,” had shiny coats, taut skin, were agile, had well-proportioned bodies, and were remarkably healthy and long-lived; even more intriguing was that their immune function—and even their sexual function—were significantly higher than those of the mice that ate to their hearts’ content.
People naturally ask: Do the conclusions of this mouse experiment apply to other organisms?
Later, British scientists conducted a similar experiment using monkeys. One hundred monkeys were allowed to eat and drink to their hearts’ content, while another 100 were restricted to eating until they were only about 70–80 percent full. Ten years later, among the 100 monkeys that had eaten and drunk to excess, many were obese, suffered from fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease, and a high number died; in contrast, the other 100 monkeys were much slimmer, much more energetic, and much healthier. The observations proved that all the long-lived monkeys ate only until they were about seven or eight parts full.
Science knows no bounds, and scientists never stop at a superficial understanding. Later, other scientists expanded the scope of their experiments to include organisms such as bacteria, fruit flies, and fish, and the results were strikingly similar.
Humans, though higher-order animals, also require moderate hunger and cannot escape the universal principle that “excess leads to error, and excess leads to disaster.” It can be said that these experiments all validate an old adage from traditional Chinese medicine: “For a healthy body, one should be three parts hungry and three parts cold.”
Clinically, when patients with excessive phlegm-dampness undergo physical examinations, the results often show high blood lipid levels, high blood viscosity, and high blood pressure… While treating these conditions, hunger therapy can be incorporated: eat only until six or seven-tenths full at each meal, so that a strong sense of hunger arises before the next meal. In this way, excess fat and energy in the body will gradually be burned and utilized, phlegm-dampness will slowly diminish, and the body will be healed. The internal waste products that harm human health will also be transformed into nutrients the body needs and converted into energy, which can then be put to good use. This treatment method does not harm the liver or kidneys and is far superior to taking lipid-lowering or blood pressure-lowering medications.
There are also some patients with mild type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance who tend to be overweight, have a hearty appetite, have a sweet tooth, and get little exercise. For these patients, simply controlling their diet—eating until they are about 60–70 percent full at each meal—and appropriately increasing physical activity is sufficient to keep blood sugar at an ideal level without the need for blood sugar-lowering medication. Achieving this ideal is actually quite simple: through dietary control and increased physical activity, we can reduce our daily energy intake on one hand and increase energy expenditure on the other. This creates a balance between energy intake and output, preventing the accumulation of excess energy that leads to elevated blood sugar levels. At the same time, as we control our diet and increase physical activity, our weight will decrease, and the insulin resistance caused by obesity will improve, allowing blood sugar levels to naturally reach an ideal range.
For most people today, having enough to eat is no longer a problem; instead, overnutrition and obesity have become major threats to human health. Therefore, appropriately controlling calorie intake and promoting “fasting therapy” can be highly beneficial for promoting health and prolonging life. But does this mean that all obese patients or those with severe phlegm-dampness are suitable candidates for fasting therapy? Not necessarily!
Some patients experience palpitations, shortness of breath, weakness in the limbs, and profuse sweating simply from climbing stairs or walking up a hill. Their weight continues to increase, and they have a poor appetite—this is what people commonly refer to as “deficient obesity.” While such patients also have significant phlegm-dampness in their bodies, the root cause of their condition is not overnutrition but rather a deficiency of nourishment in the internal organs, which prevents them from metabolizing these pathological byproducts. Fasting and taking weight-loss medications will not resolve the problem. Patients in this category need to regulate their spleen and stomach to improve appetite and consume more warming, tonifying foods to strengthen organ function and promote the metabolism of these pathological byproducts. Only then can their bodies become healthier the more they eat.
Reflect on the story above, grasp the underlying principles, understand the root causes of illness, and then put these insights into practice—you’ll gain a profound understanding. The philosophy of health stems from life’s insights—and this is certainly true!
