Healthy Times Ahead

By Mike Bundrant

A few months ago my wife Sylvia disclosed to me that she had been experiencing arthritis pain in her hands and feet, especially on cold mornings. The pain made it tough for her to walk barefoot, and impossible to open sealed jars. I knew she’d been asking me to open a lot of jars for her in recent months, but I thought she was just trying to make me feel macho….

We took an afternoon to discuss what course of action we might take. We knew a visit to a family doctor would be wise. We also considered acupuncture, homeopathy, and naturopathy - all worthwhile pursuits in our book. We talked about nutritional strategies we knew of and what dietary changes might be helpful. At length Sylvia decided that, to start with, she would do a 10-day juice fast. I offered to participate – fasting is so much easier when someone is doing it with you.

After 5 days of nothing but water, homemade vegetable broth, and fresh squeezed lemonade, Sylvia had had enough fasting for a while. She didn’t make it the 10 days as planned. It was interesting, though, that all of the pain in her hands and feet had subsided - and her former strength had returned to her hands. We were in awe.

Two weeks later the pain was back. We wondered if ultimately Sylvia’s diet needed adjusting. She was pretty motivated at this point, so she eliminated all refined and processed foods, including all forms of refined sugar from her diet. She also vowed to increase her intake of raw fruits and vegetables. She kicked off this new dietary strategy with a 3-day juice fast. After 2 days of fasting the pain was gone and has not returned in the months since. We haven’t pursued any other form of treatment.

One skeptical friend of ours remarked that since the pain subsided as a result of fasting and dietary changes, it could not have been arthritis, because there is no cure for arthritis. Now, that’s interesting. Now we’re in the territory of paradigm. I find this issue fascinating! From the perspective of paradigm, Sylvia did not, in fact, have the kind of arthritis our friend was referring to – the kind that includes the belief that it is incurable. So, in a sense he was absolutely correct. This is a concept worth pondering….

This is not a column to promote the healing of pain through fasting. However, Sylvia’s experience illustrates very clearly the reason we started this publication. It’s simply to say that there is so much we can do to become healthy than we ever thought possible – if we are willing to explore the possibilities.

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