Why This World-Famous Cardiologist Fasts From January Until June

In his most recent book The Plant Paradox, Dr. Gundry calls an entire group of plant proteins—called lectins—into question, linking their consumption to weight gain and gut health issues. The book was nothing short of controversial, Gundry himself admitting that "Trust me, 12 years ago, if I was reading my own book claiming that one tiny plant protein—in collaboration with other disrupters—was the cause of so much illness...I would have thrown it in the trash." In other words: He's someone who likes to think for himself and think outside of the box.

If this seems just a little bit crazy to you, you're not alone. He explains it like this: We have a 24-hour biological clock, that regulates our body's sleep-wake cycle. But we also have a yearly clock, and in the past, humans always experienced a period of growth and one of regression. He packs on some weight in the summer and fall and then drops that weight in the spring, just like our ancestors used to. During this time of food deprivation, he explains that his "cells clean house and go through apoptosis. If we don't do this, we are constantly in a state of growth—we don’t have a system of putting on the breaks. We never tell cells that aren’t pulling their own weight to die." He believes this plays a critical role in the cancer epidemic, a disease that is characterized by cellular growth that has spun totally out of control.

Come June, he still doesn't eat breakfast, but he does start adding in a half cup of nuts and a salad at lunch. At the end of the summer, he adds berries to the list, to cycle with the seasons. Just like lectins, at first this seems extreme. But once he explains his reasoning, it's hard not to feel on board—or at least intrigued enough to hear more. We can't say we'll be abandoning our inflammation-fighting daily 12-hour fast for a two-hour eating window five months out of the year, but we do have a newfound appreciation for the way our ancestors lived and how far we can stretch the therapeutic properties of fasting.