Fasting, Losing Weight and Quitting Smoking, with Dr. Gabriel Cousens by Kevin Gianni, citizen journalist The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, the founder of Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center and author of "Conscious Eating" and "Spiritual Nutrition." KEVIN: Some people will say fasting is unhealthy. What do you have to say about that? GABRIEL: Well, there is a quote from Atheneus, a Greek physician, he said, "Fasting cures disease, dries up bodily humors, puts demons to flight, gets rid of the impure thoughts, makes the mind clear, and the heart pure, and the body sanctified, and raises humanity to the throne of God." And again, you're talking about, you know, 2000 years of observation. Fasting is extremely safe. Now, let's qualify what we say, when we say fasting is extremely safe. We are talking about a 1-week fast, extremely safe. KEVIN: OK. GABRIEL: Humans on water can go 40 days and may naturally push on it. We do not recommend that at all and I just can go a 100 days. We do green juice fasting here. We don't use any foods because it is way too sweet and it creates sugar imbalances and aggravates diabetes and hypoglycemia, which we don't like to do. We use green juices and in the juices, you get the minerals and the enzymes which help stimulate and support the fasting process. The problem with water fasting, while we don't really recommend it and try to discourage people, is that even though you obviously get detoxification from it, you get really weak and so you can't really enjoy life in the same way. The second thing is the mineral deficiencies can show up being the heart palpitations and other kind of weaknesses that are actually potentially dangerous. We don't have that on juice test. So, those are the big things, plus you got the enzymes in the vital life force. I mean, there's vital life force. We only at the Tree of Life, we only use organic. KEVIN: OK. GABRIEL: And it is fresh, very very fresh, like within a few minutes. So people are getting the tremendous vital life force in nature. We said that earth and water elements are being really actively pooled into the system. This is really safe. We've been doing this for, you know, since 1988. Well, that's quite a few years. That's almost 20 years now. KEVIN: Sure. GABRIEL: And no one has really, really had problem. Water fasting, different things. So there may be a crossover. People say fasting, end. Now, there's another thing that we need to understand is that going without food is immediately threatening the people. Why? Because the Americans overeat. And why do they overeat? Not just because they like being the numbness of bowel toxicity, which is what happens, you get numbed out when you overeat, but it is a way of suppressing emotions. KEVIN: OK. GABRIEL: I am depressed. I am going to treat myself, you know, or I am going to celebrate, so you eat all those kinds of junk food. I don't know what kind of a celebration it is, but apparently some people say this is a celebration. KEVIN: A-ha. GABRIEL: And so, this is the point, and does that make sense? This fear because it goes into an ego defense called eating, if you see what I am saying. KEVIN: OK. GABRIEL: And the fact is we can live a really long time without eating food, you know, on liquids. You do not have to, but a week fast is completely safe. KEVIN: Right. And what are some of the longevity benefits from not eating as much? I guess it's the best way to say it. What are some of the studies on that? What are some of the things that have been proven to show that this is the case? GABRIEL: That is a good question. Dr. Spindler who is a biochemist at the UC Riverside, published in Science, the magazine, in 2001 a research he did with rats and he underfed them 40%, and after 1 month, the rats had a 400% increase in the anti-aging gene expression. He was using 1100 gene chip-type system at 400% and also anti-aging and anti-inflammatory. So what he concluded, now there's lots of research since the early 1900s that the less you eat, the longer you live, that's clear. But you usually thought it was actually just slowing the aging process down, right? KEVIN: A-ha. GABRIEL: But now we are talking something different after Spindler's research. You're actually activating the anti-aging genes. You actually had the potential to reverse the aging process. That is the whole of the statement. KEVIN: Wow. It does not stop, it's reversed. GABRIEL: Right. KEVIN: OK. GABRIEL: And what happens when you are fasting? Fasting usually begins in the 2nd or 3rd day and when the body goes into what we call autolysis where it begins going after the dead and dying cells, OK, and clearing them out. The pre-cancer cells and the not so healthy cells. And so that process speeds up. So by the end of the fast by 7 days, you have increased the healthy vibrant cells and you have decreased the dead and dying the cells, so you're really into a rejuvenation process. You see what I am saying? KEVIN: Yes. now,Tell me what do you see the article now