Modernized Ancient Practice of Interval Fasting Trends At Northwest Primary Care Clinic In Oregon Offering Supervised, Individualized Programs

Portland, OR:  A northwest primary care clinic, Grain Integrative Health, begins offering fasting programs with a modern twist. The clinic will offer supervised and safe interval fasting under the care of licensed naturopathic doctors. Dr. Samuel Oltman notes, ‘’The practice of going a prolonged period of time without caloric intake, or fasting, is something humans have done unintentionally and intentionally for millennia. Whether it’s unintentionally due to famine and as part of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, or intentionally as an integral part of religious and cultural practices, human physiology has adapted to survive and thrive in these conditions.”

Dr. Samuel Oltman brings science forward to bear out the facts noting, “The question we must answer today in our calorically-excessive and indulgent society, is how to harness powerful metabolic medicine in a way that maximizes health benefits while minimizing deprivation.” The new programs with mirror the philosophy of the physicians at Grain Integrative Health in Portland, Oregon who believe strongly in the power of the body to heal itself and harnessing techniques like fasting to enhance well-being.

Grain Integrative Health doctors want patients to understand how fasting forces a body into a highly efficient state that conserves healthy cells and encourages the destruction of damaged/dysfunctional cells and cellular components. The fasting process, on a microscopic level, could potentially induce a process called “autophagy”, which is when your cells destroy and recycle their damaged parts while conserving the healthy, well-functioning cellular matter. Dr. Samuel Oltman notes the fasting programs are starting after the team of doctors at Grain Integrative Health realized they needed a new type of program to address lifestyle induced illnesses such as insulin sensitivity, lower adiponectin levels (a “hunger hormone”), and low testosterone and growth hormone levels were becoming the norm in Portland patients. The doctors aim to partner with their program patients to help reset dysfunctional hunger patterns.

Intermittent fasting is repeatedly sustaining periods of fasting for up to 24 hours, alternating with periods of eating- in this case, purposeful eating. Grain Integrative Health’s core technique has the same metabolic and cellular effects that extreme fasting does, but to a modern, tolerable degree. Dr. Samuel Oltman notes, “For example, an intermittent fasting regimen could be 18 hours of fasting followed by six hours when one can eat before going another 18 hours without food and repeating this more several days or weeks. The amount of hours can be modified based on goals and lifestyle, but the metabolic and cellular effect remains basically the same: out with the old, keep the new and get everything running cleaner and smoother.” The northwest primary care clinic clinic hopes the supervision aspect of their program will cut down on the complications many patients experience when trying to do unsupervised, at-home cleanses.