Such illnesses as heart disease, hypertension, arthritis, allergies, inflammatory diseases, psychological problems, and headaches are  commonly benefited by fasting. 

  Trevor Salloum, N.D., of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, has found that allergies, respiratory diseases, and acute illnesses are most responsive to a fast, while chronic degenerative diseases are the least responsive, often requiring several periods of fasting. He found water fasts very beneficial for arthritis. He told it a woman from Australia confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis and she recovered her mobility after three separate thirty-day water fasts.

  Dr. Loomis says that patients with arthritis were likely to be off their medication with no increased discomfort within the space of a three- to four-day fast. By the middle of the second week the pain had been abated 80 to 90 persent. The exception were those who had been on long-term use of cortisone derivatives. Nevertheless, they were able to make an essential decrease in their amount of medication. Patients with hypertension, for the most part, were able to reduce and then remove their medication, with a return to normal blood pressure within a period of two to three weeks.

  Fasting can also help identify food allergies. Dr. Loomis was visited by a thirty-five-year-old woman, complained of depression, irritability, excruciating headaches, rapid heartbeat, a tremor of her hands, sinus congestion, and urinary problems. After a four-day water fast her symptoms were relieved. As various foods were reintroduced after the fast, Dr. Loomis found that following the ingestion of milk, her sinuses became congested; following a meal of corn, her tremor developed; a headache was caused by the ingestion of a meal of bananas; and her bladder symptoms followed both rice and strawberries. Two months later, after following a new diet, she reported no further headaches, bladder trouble, or depression. The following month, she became lax with the dietary limitations and almost all of her symptoms returned.

  Dr. Bailey recalls a woman who was scheduled for a bilateral radical mastectomy (treatment of breast cancer in which the breast, involved skin, pectoral muscles, axillary lymph nodes, and subcutaneous fat are removed). In constant, severe pain and with only two weeks until surgery, she wondered if a naturopathic approach could help. Knowing that her problem had been a ten-year progressive condition recently biopsied as noncancerous, Dr. Bailey gave the woman no guarantees, but suggested she undertake a three-month intensive holistic approach while retaining surgery as an alternative. Hoping to avoid surgery and with pain as a great motivator, the woman began a three-week building diet to increase her nutritional intake prior to the fast. She ate whole grains and fresh vegetables, reduced nonessential fats, and eliminated caffeine. After two weeks she began a seven-day juice fast. By midfast her cysts had reduced in size and hardness and for the first time in many years she experienced a stopping of pain. With this improvement as a springboard, she pursued a long-term program. Today, not only are her cysts almost completely inpalpable, but she is pain free and in control of her own health.

  Professor Serge Nikoliav of the Moscow Psychiatric Institute, used fasting to treat six thousand patients for chronic refractory schizophrenia (a recurring mental disorder characterized by gross distortions of reality, which is resistant to treatment) who had not responded to the more usual types of psychiatric therapy. These patients were placed on water fasts, lasting from twenty-five to thirty days, and also engaged in aerobic exercise in the form of long every day walking. Dr. Nikoliav's treatment was very successful. 

 

  Opinions concerning the use of enemas and colonics differ. Generally, vegetable juice fasts require regular enemas during the fasting period whereas water fasts often do not. Dr. Loomis recommends starting a fast with three nightly enemas, followed by a purge with a cathartic (laxative) such as sodium phosphate. A teaspoon (one gram) of vitamin C powder compounded with potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium is added to the enema solution. Dr. Loomis also suggests a nightly liver flush for an average of three days. Consult with a health professional to determine if internal cleansing, prior to or during the fast, is advisable.