by Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
Hello everyone,
Recently, Tiffany spoke with Dr. David Jockers at the Fasting Transformation Summit. For a more in-depth interview, click here.
With an autoimmune disease, which you’re often told it’s going to be lifelong, many people are going to be on medications for the rest of their life. There’s nothing they can do for it, but we found and we work with patients all the time to get into remission with autoimmunity.
We wanted to get the information out there, that’s why we wrote the book, The Lupus Solution, and hosted the Lupus and Autoimmunity Summit. We want to just get the information and the hope out to people that remission with autoimmunity is not only possible, but people can start doing that today. Here are some things to consider when you have an autoimmune disease.
Fasting
When you’re talking about autoimmune diseases, fasting in an option for you. Fasting is naturally anti-inflammatory, but it also can help reset the immune system. It basically forces your body into “clean house” mode, where you get rid of old, damaged or weak cells. And with the immune system, it forces your immune system to recycle all the old, damaged white blood cells and then return. You actually start to produce and regenerate new, healthier white blood cells and immune cells. Fasting can be effective in as little as three days, you can get a good reset of your immune system.
Reducing Stress
Stress is a big driver of autoimmune diseases, we find that people are so stressed out on a daily basis. A lot of times, they don’t even realize that they’re stressed out, or that there’s other forms of stress in their bodies. It’s not always mental, emotional stress. It might be the physical, chemical stresses that they’re encountering. Whether it’s like hormonal issues, insulin surges, microbiome problems, nutrient deficiencies, Even here in sunny California, people are deficient in vitamin D all the time.
Cortisol is a huge component of stress. We find that most people with autoimmune disease have problems with their adrenal glands to some degree. One of the biggest things that we work on with people in the lifestyle realm, is working on stress management. This includes identifying where their stressors are coming from, helping them kind of get some good habits in their day, whether it’s exercise or meditation or breathing, or journaling, to help them be able to handle and get through stress easier.
It doesn’t have that longer lasting, negative impact, because just like inflammation, acute stress is helpful, chronic stress is not. We see that that’s a big perpetuator of the autoimmune process.
Nutrient and Mineral Balance
There’s a lot of adaptogenic herbs that help regulate stress. One of the most common that people know about is ashwagandha, a lot of people use that. Even B vitamins are important too for adrenal function. Adaptogens help keep cortisol more consistent, but there’s also some more things like licorice that can be more stimulating for cortisol.
Magnesium is a good modulator with cortisol. This can help regulate your sleep cycle, especially if you’ve chosen to fast. AdrenaCalmis a topical blend of different herbs that also help regulate sleep. Even things such as passionflower and lemon balm are really calming and soothing. Using these before bed can help you both fall and stay asleep.
Not only is autoimmunity preventable, but it’s also reversible.
You can get an autoimmune disease into a remission state. So you can always have the chances of it flaring up later, but our goal is to keep it where it’s non active, and it’s not creating complications or destruction.
You need to continue moving forward to not only support your immune system, but just to support more optimal health in your body. It makes it so that you’re not only fixing the problem and getting rid of their symptoms, but then it’s more of a lifelong, healthier way to maintain these complications too.
If you are avoiding flare ups and complications, and you’re also avoiding another autoimmune disease. When you have one autoimmune disease, the chance of developing another one is much higher.
Educating autoimmune patients is a big part of what we do. We are so glad we can provide the tools and knowledge to keep people going.
Healthy Regards,
Dr. Tiffany Caplan & Dr. Brent Caplan PS:
Reader Interactions
Comments
Shelley Hurguy I love the rationale. But I was hoping for more “strategies” in regards to fasting for AI. Timing? Length of fast?
Thanks for all you guys do to educate the community. I love following you!Reply
- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
Thanks for this insight. There are a lot of strategies out there and many times we find the strategy that will fit best within someones lifestyle may be better then the one with the most “benefits”. Because.. it only works if you do it. This would be a good follow-up blog to go over more strategic approaches to fasting.
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- Nata Etherton
Hi. How does fasting work for folks like me, with Type 2 Diabetes?
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- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
There can be significant benefits for those with Type 2 Diabetes. Make sure you are mindful of your blood sugar dropping too low, especially if you are taking diabetic medication.
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- Linda
Is ashwaganda safe to take with statins and BP meds like losartan?
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- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
We do have many practice members safely taking ashwagandha who were on statins and hypertensive medications. I would recommend consulting with your healthcare provider as I do not know your full health history.
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- Jennefer
When I’m fasting how long should fasting last? Should I stop meditation during fasting?
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- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
This needs to be personalized to the individual so I would recommend consulting your healthcare provider.
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- Chris Holmberg
I have some type of auto immune, but not a specific DX. It contributes to my DX of Interstitial Lung Disease (5yrs) . I also have a gene that increases my inflammatory reaction. I take Mycophenolate at a low dose to decrease my white count, thereby decreasing inflamation in my lungs. Have been pretty stable last 3 years on this regime. Would attempting a fasting then interfere with white cell suppression?
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- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
There are some studies concluding short term fasting can decrease WBC count.
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- Becky
I have MS.. have wondered about fasting.. how long /how many days?
Water is ok though right?Thank you, have a good night,
BeckyReply
- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
There is a lot of different types of fasting. Short term intermittent fasting can be done safely by most individuals, but for longer term fasting I cannot give advisem*nt without knowing your full health history.
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- Flowers Fields
I have fasted a lot. 42 years ago I fasted on and off in diluted juices sometimes up to 6 weeks. And I’d do mostly raw vegan in between. I did one water fast. Through the years I’ve done some water fasting for up to a week. I’ve been vegan all these years mostly with no nightshades and no gluten. My psoriasis was mostly minimal with very few outbreaks. In April I had the worse outbreak. Where it got under all my nails. Never had this before.
No gluten no nightshades no oils (although today I started 1 Tablespoon cold pressed organic flax oilI’m doing NO: sugars or fruit (yes to berries) and all things fermented or yeast. No tamari, Braggs, vinegar, miso, shea butter, etc.
It’s gotten much better so I’ve added apples that are not so sweet.
I soak feet in urine, sea salt, epsom salt.I drink morning urine
Slippery elm
American Saffron tea at night
Activated Coconut charcoal before bed
Probiotics
B12 every few days
I eat three Brazil nuts daily and pumpkin seeds. I also do hemp, chia, flax, purslane daily and an omega algae oil with vit K every few days.Will it disappear totally? I hope so. Maybe I should fast. But Dr. Klaper says I shouldn’t because I’m very petite. 5’2” at 106 lbs.
Your thoughts Please.
Are your recipes vegan?
Reply
- Flowers Fields
I have fasted a lot. 42 years ago I fasted on and off in diluted juices sometimes up to 6 weeks. And I’d do mostly raw vegan in between. I did one water fast. Through the years I’ve done some water fasting for up to a week. I’ve been vegan all these years mostly with no nightshades and no gluten. My psoriasis was mostly minimal with very few outbreaks. In April I had the worse outbreak. Where it got under all my nails. Never had this before.
No gluten no nightshades no oils (although today I started 1 Tablespoon cold pressed organic flax oilI’m doing NO: sugars or fruit (yes to berries) and all things fermented or yeast. No tamari, Braggs, vinegar, miso, shea butter, etc.
It’s gotten much better so I’ve added apples that are not so sweet.
I soak feet in urine, sea salt, epsom salt.I drink morning urine
Slippery elm
American Saffron tea at night
Activated Coconut charcoal before bed
Probiotics
B12 every few days
I eat three Brazil nuts daily and pumpkin seeds. I also do hemp, chia, flax, purslane daily and an omega algae oil with vit K every few days.I also add fresh lemon balm (I grow lots) or dried in the winter to my smoothies. Will get back to ashwaganda.
Will it disappear totally? I hope so. Maybe I should fast. But Dr. Klaper says I shouldn’t because I’m very petite. 5’2” at 106 lbs.
Your thoughts Please.
Are your recipes vegan?
Reply
- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
I can’t give personal advice without really knowing your case in detail. Fasting can be great for autoimmune issues like psoriasis, especially if there is a gut trigger (leaky gut, food sensitivities), as it gives the gut immune system a break. If the triggers are not taken away though, the psoriasis will not completely go away. We have a lot of different recipes, including vegan. We don’t discriminate with nutritional approaches as we believe it should always be tailored to the individual needs.
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- Rosalind Hamilton
Thank you for working so diligently on such a complicated issue as autoimmune diseases. This is not an easy area of study but the information that is being shared is surely appreciated. I look forward to find SOME relief form this autoimmune deficiency.
Thank youReply
- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
We’re happy to be of support!
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- Deborah
Thank you for this. Do you have specific suggestions for fasting. Is dropping one meal sufficient? Thank you.
DeborahReply
- Dr. Tiffany Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP & Dr. Brent Caplan, DC, CFMP, IFMCP
There are various different types of fasting strategies. One of the simplest one is intermittent fasting. This can be done by just fasting 12 hours (even without skipping a meal). Even more benefits come when fasting for at least 16-hours which can be done by skipping just one meal.
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