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Health Benefits of Fasting
Dr. Cinque's Facts about Fasting
Definition: "Fasting is the complete abstinence from all substances except pure water, in an
environment of total rest."
These are some of the benefits of fasting, according to Dr. Ralph Cinque, who has experience with full-
time therapeutic fasting supervision since 1976.

1. Fasting initiates rapid weight loss with little or no

hunger. Most people are surprised at how little
desire for food they have while fasting.

2. Fasting promotes detoxification. As the body

breaks down its fat reserves, it mobilizes and
eliminates stored toxins.

3. Fasting gives the digestive system a much-

needed rest. After fasting, both digestion and
elimination are invigorated.

4. Fasting promotes the resolution of inflammatory

processes, such as in rheumatoid arthritis.

5. Fasting quiets allergic reactions, including asthma

and hay fever.

6. Fasting promotes the drying up of abnormal fluid

accumulations, such as edema in the ankles and
legs and swelling in the abdomen.

7. Fasting corrects high blood pressure without

drugs. Fasting will normalize blood pressure in the
vast majority of cases, the blood pressure will
remain low after the fast, if the person follows a
health-supporting diet and lifestyle.

8. Fasting makes it easy to overcome bad habits and

addictions. Many people have overcome tobacco and
alcohol addictions by fasting, and even drug
addictions. Fasting rapidly dissipates the craving for
nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and other drugs.

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9. Fasting clears the skin and whitens the eyes. It is
common to see skin eruptions clear while fasting,
and the whites of the eyes never look so clear and
bright as they do after fasting.

10. Fasting restores taste appreciation for

wholesome natural foods. People say that their taste
buds come alive after fasting and that food never
tasted so good.

11. Fasting increases the acuity of other senses as

well, including hearing and smell, and sometimes
even vision. Fasting can sharpen the mind too.

12. Fasting is the perfect gateway to a healthful diet

and lifestyle. Going on a fast gives you the
motivation and enthusiasm to make a fresh start.

Diuretics: More Medical

Mischief That Needs To
Stop

Please note: This article of mine

concerning medical diuretics is
important. Even if you are not taking
a diuretic, I still think you should
read it because it is an example of a
very common medical practice that is
misguided and harmful. And, what I
say here about diuretics applies to
many other medical drugs. And, it’s
very likely that you know someone
who is taking a diuretic. So, do pass it
on if you think it can help someone,
and I thank you for reading it.

by Dr. Ralph Cinque

www.drcinque.com

The greatest thing about the Internet is

that it allows public debate of issues that
would not otherwise be publically

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debated. For instance, although almost 10
years have passed since 9/11, the 9/11
truth movement is alive and well and
growing strong, and it's all because of the
Internet. The JFK truth movement too has
benefited greatly from the Internet.

Likewise, the Internet has become a

bastion for medical skepticism. Look what
happened in 2009 with the alleged swine
flu pandemic. Tens of millions of
Americans refused to get the swine flu
shot. The majority of Americans didn't get
it. Where did such skepticism come from?
It came from the Internet. And it's not
just the swine flu shot. The Internet has
put all medical drugs on trial like never
before. Do an online search, and you can
find a torrent of information about the
harms from statin drugs, NSAIDs, acid
blockers, arthritis medicines, horse
estrogen (i.e. Premarin), and more. I dare
say: if you are prescribed a drug, and you
don't do an online search about it before
taking it, something is wrong with you.

However, there is one class of

prescription drugs that has largely
escaped critical analysis on the Internet:
diuretics. That is about to change. This
article makes the case against diuretics
and why you should think twice about
taking them. And, they are a very widely
prescribed class of drugs. Diuretics are
considered first-line treatment for high
blood pressure, congestive heart failure,
kidney failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and
edema from just about any cause. You
don't like the puffiness around your eyes
in the morning? A doctor will give you a
diuretic for that too.

We all know what diuretics do- increase

the urinary output- but how do they do it?
To grasp that, you have to understand
how the kidneys work.

Kidney filtration starts with blood passing

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through a specialized cluster of high-
pressure capillaries called a glomerulus.
Because of the high pressure, water and
dissolved substances are forced out of the
capillaries into the capsule that surrounds
the glomerulus, called Bowman's capsule.
Then comes a long tubular system known
as the renal tubule. There, the body
reclaims some of the initial filtrate,
including about two-thirds of the salt and
water, and virtually all of the organic
compounds, such as glucose and amino
acids. The whole idea is to reclaim the
good and leave behind the bad and to get
the balance of everything just right. The
whole filtering unit is called a nephron,
and there are about a million nephrons in
each kidney.

Diuretics work by sabotaging the

reclamation process so that more of the
initial glomerular filtrate reaches the
bladder. So, more water comes out, and
also more minerals, including sodium,
potassium, and magnesium. There are
different kinds of diuretics. For instance,
loop diuretics interfere with reabsorption
at the ascending loop, whereas thiazide
diuretics interfere at the distal convoluted
tubule. There are other kinds of diuretics,
but those two seem to be the most widely
prescribed. Keep in mind that the function
of the kidneys is a very delicate and
intricate process. It's influenced by
multiple hormones, some of which are
produced by the kidneys, and some of
which are produced by other glands, such
as the pituitary and the adrenals. It's
influenced by the body's pH, because,
among other things, your kidneys work to
maintain the proper acid/base balance.
It's a vast, complicated, finely-tuned,
precision process, and again: it's very
delicate. To go in there, as with a
sledgehammer, and pharmacologically
force changes on this delicate process is
certain to cause havoc. You wouldn't try
to adjust a wrist watch with a

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sledgehammer, but they might as well be
doing that when they give people
diuretics.

So, do diuretics make your kidneys work

better? No, they make them work worse.
The fluid output goes up but only because
the whole discriminatory process has
been seriously corrupted. The result is
pharmacological dehydration. That's what
you get when you take a diuretic. A
diuretic adds a layer of pharmacological
dehydration to whatever condition you
started with. It doesn't address the
causes of the original condition. It doesn't
normalize anything. On the contrary, it
adds another abnormality to the one that
already exists. It certainly does not cure,
fix, or correct anything. What it does do is
camouflage the original condition. So, no
matter what disease you started with, you
now have two diseases, one naturally
occurring, and the other drug-induced.
The result of that morbid combination
may kind-of, sort-of, look like normal.
But, the devil is in the details.

Hey, don't be fooled by appearances! Any

improvement that seems to come from
taking a diuretic is false. It isn’t real. Just
because your swelling goes down a little
in response to the diuretic does not mean
you are getting better. You are being
deceived, and so is your doctor. The
"improvement" is just a trick, a charade,
a medical shenanigan. Nothing gets
resolved by taking a diuretic. All it does is
mask symptoms while putting an
additional strain on the body. I suppose it
wouldn't matter if it were harmless. But,
it is not harmless. It starts a train of evils
that reaches far and wide. For example,
JAMA reported in 2002 that patients in
kidney failure who were given diuretics to
"help" their kidneys had a 68% higher
death rate!

Being a bicyclist, I like to make an

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analogy to a bicycle wheel being "out of
true." To get that perfect rotation back, a
wobbly wheel is placed in a device, and
then the spokes are adjusted- some
tightened and some loosened until the
wheel rotates evenly again. But, you can't
go about it willy-nilly. If you don't know
what you're doing, and you start
cavalierly tightening and loosening spokes
to correct a wobble, you can easily create
a worse wobble elsewhere. You'd be
surprised how easy it is to make a bad
wheel worse when trying to fix it- if you
don't know what you're doing. You can
easily dig yourself in deeper. And that's
exactly what happens when you take a
diuretic; you're just digging yourself in
deeper, making a bad situation worse.
You're just complicating your condition
and taking your whole biological system
further "out of true." And you are setting
yourself up for unending medical
dependency. So, don't be lured by the
prospect of a symptomatic improvement
from taking a diuretic. It's not worth it. It
will always prove to be meager and
temporary. No real good comes from it. I
assure you that diuretics never restored
anyone to health. It's really just a trap- a
deceptive medical trap. The list of
potential side effects from diuretics is
long: headaches, weakness, faintness,
nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, muscle
cramps, etc. etc., but, what concerns me
most is the damage to the kidneys (which
is irreversible) and the cardiac
arrhythmias (which can cause sudden
death).

So, what should you do instead of taking

a diuretic? We’ll take it one condition at a
time, but I first, let me say that nothing
resolves edema as well or as quickly as
fasting. I am referring to a complete,
water-only fast. And in cases of severe
edema, I might even restrict water
consumption to some extent. I don’t
mean to an uncomfortable degree, but I

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might advise the faster to, temporarily,
limit water intake in order to encourage
reabsorption. But now, let’s review the
conditions:

Heart Failure: If your heart is failing,

taking diuretics is not going to make it
stronger. Fluid pools in the legs with
right-sided heart failure. I say just live
with it. Don't cover it up with diuretics.
What you need is a total health program
to rehabilitate your heart. That means
getting the right food (ie, whole natural
foods, with plenty of fruits and
vegetables, while avoiding junk carbs and
junk fats) the right exercise (being careful
and diligent about it, respecting your
limitations) shedding excess weight,
tightly controlling sodium (ie, the amount
you put in your mouth, not what your
kidneys do with it), etc. It is also useful to
consider fasting. Heart-supporting
supplements such as Coenzyme Q10,
Taurine , Acetyl-l-carnitine, high-dose
Vitamin D3, and others should be
considered. And of course, you should
work with a doctor, but not one who is
going to lace you with diuretics. Look, the
fluid in your legs is there; you can live
with it for a while. Just accept it. Use it as
a way to monitor your progress. If you do
many things right, the fluid buildup will
slowly dissipate- without forcing
measures. The quickest way to make it go
away is to fast. And as it starts going
down- on its own accord- you'll know you
are on the right track. What you want is a
real recovery- not some medical
fabrication.

Note that with left-side heart failure, fluid

accumulates in the lungs (pulmonary
edema), which makes it hard to breathe,
and it can advance to an emergency
situation where suffocation becomes
possible. Obviously, that is a medical
emergency calling for emergency
treatment. I don't dispute the possible

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use of diuretics in that case. But, the
protocols of an emergency do not carry
over to the usual chronic situations.
Outside of emergencies, say no to
diuretics.

High Blood Pressure: You could say that

most people with high blood pressure
have walking high blood pressure,
meaning that there is no emergency, and
they don't feel sick. It means they have
time to apply natural methods and avoid
the pharmaceutical route. Again, it starts
with natural diet, exercise, weight control,
habit control, de-stressing, de-
caffeinating, etc. etc. And again, fasting is
very valuable and effective for high blood
pressure. Also, there are natural
supplements worth considering, such as
fish oil, resveratrol, CoQ10, policosonal,
magnesium, and more. It's all very safe.
But, why take a diuretic? Your kidneys are
not something to trifle with. And as I
explained, you can't normalize your
kidneys by taking diuretics. Even the
seeming good that comes from taking a
diuretic for high blood pressure isn't all
that much. Why do you think they often
combine diuretics with other anti-
hypertensive drugs? It's because the
results from taking a diuretic alone is
often and usually unsatisfactory and
inadequate. So I say: forget about it.
Adding a layer of pharmacological
dehydration to your condition is not going
to help you. And don't let them use fear
to control you. OH, you're going to have a
heart attack or a stroke if you don't start
taking the drugs right away! You may
have had high blood pressure for years
without knowing it. Millions of Americans
have it right now and don't know it. And
yes, some of them will go on to have
heart attacks and strokes, but don't
assume for a second that those who take
diuretics and other drugs for hypertension
become immune to heart attacks and
strokes. That's part of the big lie. They're

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selling this stuff- just like flu vaccine.

There is one caveat regarding high blood

pressure, and that concerns malignant
hypertension. Malignant hypertension is a
condition in which the blood pressure
spikes so high and so fast, that it is truly
a medical emergency. Symptoms are
acute: extreme headache, visual
disturbances, gait disturbances, cognitive
disturbances- even speech impediments. I
am not challenging emergency medical
treatment of malignant hypertension.
However, keep in mind that it comprises a
very tiny percentage of cases of
hypertension. The vast majority of
patients fall into the walking hypertension
category, for which natural alternative
methods are far superior.

Venous insufficiency: This is where the

venous valves which prevent backflow are
defective causing the ankles and legs to
swell, and there is also an unsightly
appearance of the broken, damaged
veins. If it were me, I would walk as
much as possible, use the slant board
every day, wear supportive legwear, raise
the foot of my bed slightly, eat well
(again, lots of fruits and vegetables), and
I would take natural botannicals that have
been shown to support vascular health,
such as horse chestnut, butchers broom,
and grape seed extract. But, I would not
take diuretics, which can only mask the
condition.

Ascites: This is where the abdomen swells

because of liver disease. There are a lot of
things you can do to aid an ailing liver,
but taking diuretics is not one of them. On
the contrary, diuretics strain the liver.
Obviously, the lifestyle issues must be
addressed, including eating habits,
drinking habits, drugs habits, etc. And, I
have seen fasting work wonders in cases
of ascites. Also, there are supplements
that can aid an ailing liver, including

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 Silymarin from milk thistle, NAC, SAM-e,
TMG, lipoic acid, and more. Obviously, a
bloated abdomen can look alarming, but
it's not usually painful. Just let it subside
by itself (which it will) when you do
everything else right. And again, as the
swelling slowly subsides, you will know
that you are on the right course. So, you
can use it as a barometer of your
progress. There is no good reason to
mask it with diuretics.

This doesn't begin to cover all the

conditions for which diuretics are used,
but hopefully, you are getting the idea.
Am I saying that there is no legitimate,
beneficial use of diuretics? Let me put it
this way: Outside of an emergency
situation, where it's imminent life or
death, I can't think of a single condition
for which I, Ralph Cinque, would be
willing to take a diuretic. Not one.
Whatever the problem might be, I would
deal with it in other, more constructive
ways. I would not manage an ongoing
chronic condition by incorporating a
diuretic into my daily life.

In case I haven't made myself clear, I

DON'T LIKE DIURETICS. They don't do
any good. They just create the illusion of
improvement. You can't force your
kidneys to work better. It just isn't
possible. It only invites trouble. Serious,
major trouble.

Definition: "Fasting is the complete abstinence from

all substances except pure water, in an environment
of total rest."

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