Fasting Protocol For Pain Relief and Inflammation

Fasting Protocol for Pain Relief and Inflammation

Everyone feels pain from time to time, after all, pain is your body’s way of telling you that there is an injury, illness, or other problem going on. However, chronic pain is a different ball game. A fasting protocol may help.

About 20 percent of the population is dealing with chronic pain due to chronic inflammation, health issues, or unknown reasons. If you are experiencing pain, I bet you are seeking natural pain relief to improve your life. A fasting protocol may be your answer to lasting pain relief.

In this article, you will learn about pain and inflammation, the benefits of a fasting protocol, intermittent fasting strategies, and the ins and outs of an extended fasting protocol. I will share everything you need to know about an advanced supplement protocol and additional supplements to support your fasting protocol and provide successful pain relief. 

Pain and Inflammation

Pain is often a sign of inflammation and inflammation often comes with pain. Pain and inflammation often co-occur and co-exist.

Inflammation is your body’s way to protect you from infections, toxins, injuries, and other harm. It’s part of your body’s inherent immune system. It’s essential for your health and promotes fast recovery. Without inflammation, wounds would turn septic and small infections could turn deadly. However, when inflammation turns chronic, it becomes a serious concern (2, 3).

Acute inflammation happens when you have an acute injury or illness. You may fall, cut yourself, catch a cold, or get bitten by a mosquito. Acute inflammation helps fast recovery. It reduces overtime and disappears within a few hours, days, or weeks.  However, when you are experiencing excessive physical, emotional, or chemical stress, your body becomes overwhelmed.

Chronic Inflammation and Pain

Chronic inflammatory stimulus results in an increased and ongoing inflammatory response and chronic inflammation. This increases your risk of chronic pain and chronic disease, including metabolic syndrome, autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia, migraines, asthma, and heart disease. Chronic inflammation may last for months, years, or a lifetime, unless you address it through dietary and lifestyle changes.

Chronic inflammation is often accompanied by chronic pain, for example, in the case of migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Pain is an unpleasant sensation that may range from mild to severe, may be localized or spread out, and may feel differently depending on its causes, circumstances, and your pain tolerance level.

Acute vs Chronic Pain

Pain is your body’s signal that something is not going right. It encourages you to slow down, pay attention and find the best relief and treatment. Pain is not your enemy but a warning sign and a form of protection. 

Just like inflammation, pain may be acute or chronic. Acute pain accompanies acute injuries, illness, accidents, and surgeries. It goes away within a few minutes, hours, days, or weeks as you recover. Chronic pain, on the other hand, is more persistent and may last for months, years, or a lifetime unless until the underlying issue is resolved. Chronic pain is sometimes the result of a chronic health condition, overuse injury, or inflammation, but it’s sometimes unexplained (1, 4).

Treatment and pain relief for chronic pain is more complicated, more difficult, and takes longer than for acute pain. Dietary and lifestyle changes often bring pain relief to those with chronic pain. A fasting protocol may be beneficial for pain relief as well.   

Fasting Protocol to Reduce Inflammation

Fasting is an ancient healing strategy to reduce inflammation and help cellular repair. Fasting is a powerful way to boost your immune system. It may boost the function of neutrophils in your body, which are the most abundant white cells in your body.

Low levels of neutrophils are associated with rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, depression, and autoimmune disease that may all come with pain. Following a fasting protocol may also have a positive impact on your gut microbiome (5, 6). 

A fasting protocol may also encourage cellular autophagy. Autophagy is the process in which your body breaks down old, weakened, and damaged cells and  recycles them for energy making room for new, healthy cells. Increased autophagy may also reduce pain and inflammatory conditions.

A fasting protocol may also improve genetic repair in your body, as well as improving insulin sensitivity reducing the risk of disease as a result (7, 8 , 9, 10, 11, 12).  You may learn about the powerful benefits of a fasting in this article.

Daily Intermittent Fasting Strategies

Intermittent fasting strategies come in all different variations. You may choose what’s right for you based on your personal goals and health. It is always the best to start with a shorter fast and build your way up to a more strict regiment. 

To start out, I recommend a simple fast and a cycle fasting protocol. Simple fasting is the shorter intermittent fasting protocol where you fast for 12 hours and have a 12-hour eating window. For example, if you finish dinner at 6 pm, you won’t eat until 6 am the next morning. Gradually you may increase your fasting window to 14 hours to eventually step up to a cycle fast. Cycle fast involves a 16-hour fasting window that you perform three times a week.

Other intermittent fasting strategies include strong fasting, warrior fasting, and fat fasting. Read this article for my best intermittent fasting protocol recommendations. For women, I recommend crescendo fasting which you may learn about here. If you are already experienced with fasting, you may want to try the One Meal a Day (OMAD) fasting protocol. You may learn about it here

5-Day Water Fast

While intermittent fasting is a powerful tool for cellular repair, extended fasting protocols, such as water fasting provides an even higher level of repair. For those who are experienced with fasting and want further pain relief and health benefits, a 5-day water fasting protocol may be a great choice.

The first two days of your 5-day water fasting protocol may be the most difficult. On day one, you may experience hunger, lethargy, fatigue, mood changes, sleep disturbances, and frequent urination.

On day two, you may feel even more fatigued, but by day three, you should start to feel better. by day four and five you may notice more energy and mental sharpness. By the end of your fasting protocol, you may feel like a recharged person.  To learn more about a 5-day water fasting protocol, read this article.

Preparation for The Fasting Protocol

Proper preparation for an extended fasting protocol is key to success. Remember, during a fasting protocol, your body is making a lot of metabolic adaptations and repair. It’s important that you support it properly. 

Drink plenty of filtered water strategically. Have some good salts handy and try a sweet drink if needed. Create a low-stress schedule, get grounded, gently move your body, rest plenty, enjoy the sunshine if possible.   To learn more about proper preparation and tips for your extended fasting protocol, make sure to read this article carefully.

Advanced Supplements for Fasting Protocol

Fasting alone can have a powerful impact on pain relief. However, for faster results, you can try this 5-day fasting protocol. This fasting protocol is not meant to treat or cure any medical conditions, however, I have seen people who have done it successfully and experienced great improvement in pain relief issues. This protocol will also impact biofilms and have a cleansing and healing impact on the gut.

When you are trying this fasting protocol, remember that these are very high therapeutic dosages of these supplements, hence they ramp up the process of shutting down inflammatory pathways in your body. You can try this 5-day fasting protocol while practicing intermittent fasting or while doing an extended fast.   

Proteo Enzymes

Proteo Enzymes are one of my favorite supplements to use for any fasting protocol. They support joint health and mobility, break down microbial biofilms, support a healthy immune response, and strengthen your tissue integrity. Most importantly, it supports your body’s natural ability to heal. 

Your body uses systemic enzymes to carry out practically every metabolic function. They are necessary for your entire body from your immune system to your digestion. They are essential for preventing and lowering inflammation and pain in your body (13, 14).

Take 10 capsules of Proteo Enzymes twice a day for the best benefits. Make sure to always take it as far away from your meals as possible. They work best when taking along with anti-inflammatory herbs and flavonoids.

Inflam Defense

Inflam Defense is a powerful supplement with clinical benefits for inflammation. I regularly recommend it to my patients who are dealing with inflammation, pain, and chronic health issues.

This supplement supports a healthy inflammatory response and helps to protect you against oxidative stress and supports healthy circulation and lymphatic function. It is a powerful source of antioxidant compounds. Let’s look at its potent ingredients one by one.  Take 6 capsules of Inflam Defense twice a day for the best benefits. Make sure to always take it as far away from your meals as possible. 

Turmeric

Turmeric has been used since 250 BC as documented in Susruta’s Ayurvedic Compendium. It is the most anti-inflammatory and well-researched spices out there. The US National Center for Biotechnology alone has over 6,000 studies available on its benefits.

Its secret lies in its active compound, a powerful antioxidant called curcumin. Curcumin and turmeric have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation, and improve ulcerative colitis, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and lupus (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21).  I recommend using this herb in a supplement form to help reduce pain during the fasting protocol.  

Ginger

Ginger is a potent anti-inflammatory herb similar to turmeric in many ways. It has been used in India and China for 5,000 years and became popular in Europe during the Roman Empire.

Just like turmeric, ginger has incredible benefits for inflammation and pain. Research has shown its benefits for osteoarthritis, exercise-induced muscle pain, obesity-related inflammation, and digestion issues (22, 23, 24, 25).  This is an excellent herb to take in a supplement or herbal tea form during the fasting protocol.

Rosemary

Rosemary is a delicious anti-inflammatory herb commonly used all over the world. Rosemary has been shown effective to reduce inflammation and pain in various conditions. It may particularly beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis patients (30, 31).

Boswellia 

Boswellia, also known as Indian Frankincense, is a popular anti-inflammatory herb commonly known by Asian and African and Asian cultures. Research has shown that boswellia may be fantastic for pain and inflammation. It may be particularly effective for pain and inflammation related to osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer (26, 27, 28, 29).

Bioflavonoids: Quercetin and Rutin

Bioflavonoids, or flavonoids, are a group of pigments that are abundant in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-allergic, and anti-carcinogenic properties. They may protect against inflammation, pain, and disease.

Quercetin, a bioflavonoid, can be found in leafy greens, broccoli, tomato, and berries, whereas rutin may be found in apples, citrus, figs, green tea, black tea, and buckwheat among other fruits and vegetables. Both flavonoids have powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-supporting benefits. (32, 33).  On a fasting protocol you can take them in supplement extract form during the fasting window.  

 If you want to learn more about these powerful herbs and flavonoids, I recommend this article. 

Additional Things to Apply

Besides this fasting protocol, for successful pain relief and inflammation reduction, you may also try CBD oil or magnesium with MSM.

CBD Oil

Cannabidiol, or CBD, or CBD oil is a form of cannabinoid in the cannabis plant, including hemp and marijuana. Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana, CBD doesn’t have any psychoactive properties and doesn’t make you feel ‘high’. This makes CBD oil an appealing pain relief option for many people.

One of the main benefits of CBD oil is pain relief. It may be used for arthritis pain, chronic pain, headaches, migraines, fibromyalgia, menstrual cramps, muscle pain, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer-related pain, among other issues (34, 35, 36, 37, 38). 

You may use CBD oil in various ways. You may use it internally as a capsule, pill, or sublingually. CBD pills and capsules are simple and allow you to measure your exact dose.

Sublingual use provides the fastest relief. You may also use CBD oil topically as a cream, lotion, or roller. Topical application is particularly effective for muscle aches and tension. To learn more about CBD oil and pain relief, read this article.

Magnesium with MSM

Magnesium is an essential mineral for normal bone density, cardiac rhythmicity, pulmonary function, and blood glucose regulation. Though it is one of the most common worldwide deficiencies that play a role in many common pain and health issues, it is also the most often missed by doctors. MSM is organic sulfur compound that is used to reduce pain and inflammation and supports the benefits of magnesium (39, 40).

Magnesium with MSM supports restoring your body’s cellular magnesium levels. It helps to relieve pain, reduce stress, improve your mood, detoxify your body, protect your health on the cellular level, and encourage healthy skin. 

Use it topically. Apply as much as necessary for efficient absorption and rub it well into your skin. Rinse or wipe off after 20 minutes. You may experience gentle tingling after applying. This is normal and may reduce after the first few applications.

Fasting Protocol Contraindications

While this fasting protocol may have powerful pain relief and health benefits, it is not for everyone. Read this section to make sure that this fasting protocol is for you. As always, consult your doctor first if you have a health condition, taking medication, pregnant, breastfeeding, or have any questions otherwise.

Do not do this if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or you have a history of stomach or intestinal ulcers.  If you are taking blood-thinning medications then do not do this protocol. If you are taking medications, it is important to discuss this and any other lifestyle change with your doctor before starting.  

If you feel pain in your stomach or intestines when using these supplements, it may mean that you have a very weak stomach or intestinal lining and you should reduce your dosage or discontinue taking the supplements. Try to take only one capsule of one of the supplements and see if you notice any pain. If not, then gradually add capsules until you are just below the threshold. Make sure to follow these instructions carefully for your safety and health benefits.

The Fasting Transformation Book

If you want to improve your metabolic health and burn fat, improve your brain and overall energy levels…intermittent and extended fasting are incredibly powerful strategies.

That is why I want to introduce you to my best-selling book, The Fasting Transformation.  It goes into the most recent scientific research and strategies for implementing intermittent and extended fasting into your life.

This book is the best book on fasting the world has ever seen and I have read them all!  It is now, my great honor to present this to you and I am deeply appreciative of your support!

Inflammation Crushing Ebundle

The Inflammation Crushing Ebundle is designed to help you improve your brain, liver, immune system and discover the healing strategies, foods and recipes to burn fat, reduce inflammation and Thrive in Life!

As a doctor of natural medicine, I have spent the past 20 years studying the best healing strategies and worked with hundreds of coaching clients, helping them overcome chronic health conditions and optimize their overall health.

In our Inflammation Crushing Ebundle, I have put together my very best strategies to reduce inflammation and optimize your healing potential.  Take a look at what you will get inside these valuable guides below!

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