When somebody gives you a diagnosis, it can scare the hell out of you.
Suddenly there is a name for what is wrong. Then, before you have even had much time to think about it, somebody may be talking about medications, procedures, surgery or what you are supposed to do next.
I think this is one of the places where modern medicine can go badly wrong.
A diagnosis can very quickly become a treatment plan, and a frightened person can become a passenger in his or her own health.
I don’t believe it has to work that way.
A Diagnosis Is Information, Not a Command
I want people to understand one simple thing: you still have choices.
A doctor may know things you don’t know. A test may reveal something important. A diagnosis may be completely correct. None of that means you have to stop thinking for yourself.
Ask questions. Find out what they actually know and what they are assuming. Ask what happens if you wait. Ask what the alternatives are. Get another opinion if you need one. Read. Learn. Pay attention to your own body.
Most importantly, don’t let fear make every decision for you.
I’m not talking about ignoring an emergency. If you can’t breathe, you’re having a heart attack, you’ve broken your leg or something is obviously going seriously wrong, get the help you need. Modern medicine can be remarkable in an emergency.
I’m talking about that enormous area between a genuine emergency and blindly doing whatever you are told because somebody has put a medical name on something.
That Is Where Fasting Comes In for Me
Fasting has been part of my life for more than 50 years.
My father first introduced me to it when I was young by giving me a book by Paul Bragg. I started experimenting with fasting in my twenties, and I never really stopped. I am now 74.
Over the years I have done countless shorter fasts and many longer water fasts. I have fasted for 10 days, 14 days and, on occasion, as long as 21 days. Since turning 70, I have generally done a longer water fast in the spring and another in the fall.
I don’t do that because somebody on the internet told me to. I was fasting long before it became fashionable.
I do it because of what more than half a century of personal experience has taught me.
You can read more about that experience in my article about water fasting.
Sometimes I Want to Stop Everything and Listen
One of the things I value about fasting is that it removes a lot of noise.
Food stops coming in. The constant cycle of eating, snacking and digesting changes. I become much more aware of what my body is doing and how I feel.
For me, fasting has often been a way to step back rather than immediately adding something else to the equation.
That does not mean I believe fasting magically cures every disease. I don’t.
It means I have enough confidence in my own body to sometimes give it time before I start interfering with it.
Researchers continue to study fasting and its effects on metabolism, blood sugar, blood pressure, inflammation and other aspects of health. The science is interesting, but I did not wait for science to discover fasting before I began paying attention to what it did for me. Research into fasting and health continues to evolve.
I Believe the Body Is Doing More Than We Give It Credit For
We seem to have developed a strange habit of assuming that every uncomfortable symptom needs to be immediately suppressed.
I don’t look at my body that way.
A fever, inflammation, fatigue, loss of appetite, pain or another symptom may be telling me something. Before I automatically try to shut that signal down, I want to know why it is happening.
What have I been eating? Am I moving enough? Am I sleeping properly? Have I exposed myself to something harmful? Am I under unusual stress? Is there something obvious in my lifestyle that needs to change?
I believe we should be asking those questions a lot more often.
That thinking is also behind why I have largely given up on modern medicine as my first approach to health. It is not because I think doctors know nothing. It is because I refuse to hand over complete responsibility for my body to anybody else.
Fasting Is Not Something to Be Casual About
I also don’t want anyone reading this to think that because I have completed long water fasts, everybody should go out tomorrow and do the same thing.
I built up my experience over decades.
Long fasts are very different from missing a meal. They can affect hydration, electrolytes, blood pressure, blood sugar and the way medications behave in the body. They are not appropriate for everybody.
If you are pregnant, underweight, have a history of an eating disorder, take medications or have a medical condition that makes fasting risky, those things matter.
My point is not, “Everybody should do exactly what I do.”
My point is, don’t automatically assume you have no choice.
Take Back Your Seat at the Table
I think too many people have been trained to believe that health is something somebody else manages for them.
You get sick. You go somewhere. Somebody tells you what is wrong. Somebody gives you something. You go home.
Where are you in that process?
Your health belongs to you.
That means learning. It means questioning. It means accepting responsibility for what you eat, how much you move, how you sleep and what you put into your body. It means understanding that prevention really is the best health insurance.
And sometimes, in my life, it has meant doing nothing for a while except drinking water, stepping back and giving my body a chance to show me what it can do.
Your Second Opinion Can Start With You
I still believe strongly in the idea behind the original title of this article.
Your second opinion does not always have to begin with another doctor or another prescription pad.
Sometimes it begins by stopping, thinking and asking whether you really understand what is happening before you make a major decision.
For me, fasting has often been part of that process.
After more than 50 years of doing it, I have developed a great deal of confidence in my body. I have learned that I do not have to panic every time something changes. I can pay attention. I can ask questions. I can make decisions. And when circumstances allow it, I can give my body some time.
That is what I want other people to understand.
You have a voice. You have choices. It is your body.
Use doctors when you need them. Use modern medicine when it makes sense. But don’t surrender your ability to think for yourself.
Put your health decisions back where they belong—in your own hands.
To your health—and Insure Your Health Yourself!
