Yordanka "Dani" Shtilyanova

Yordanka Shtilyanova, or as her friends like to call her – Dani – was born in Vratsa, a small city in north-western Bulgaria. After graduating from the Pharmaceutical College in Kursk, Russia, she attended the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, where she specialised in economics. Her career started with occupations in financial companies and medical institutions. The past six to seven years she has spent as a pharmacist in a leading drug store chain.

Dani : on healing starvation and its basics
Dani has been a passionate follower of healing starvation for many years. While starvation is well known in its various forms – based solely on water, bouillons or vegetables – Dani believes in the practice of the so-called fruit healing. Its menu includes only tea, fruits and honey. The patients usually have a strict eating schedule of two-hour-long breaks between the healthy "meals". The prescribed total amount of food per day should not exceed four teaspoons of honey and one to 1.5kg fruit.

The basic idea underlying the success of mild starvation is that the human body assumes an excessively natural mode of living as it is fed with raw food only. The patient eats just fruit, which takes up very little energy to be digested. As a result, he or she burns the consummated calories over the execution of his or her basic daily activities and his or her ability to work properly is not hurt at all. Additionally, his body gets thoroughly cleansed and all toxins are eliminated. According to Dani, that is the reason starving heals and eradicates illnesses so successfully.

It is essential to note, however, that the healing procedure must always be done under the supervision of a doctor. The rule applies especially in cases when the body is starved for the first time. An important part of the curative process is the first 10- to15-day period after the diet. It is crucial that, at this point, the patient adds new foods to his or her menu very slowly, because otherwise the diseases and their symptoms will reappear.

Personal Experience
Dani first heard about a healing starvation programme in a specialised sanatorium in 1991-1992. Although at the moment she was healthy, she decided to try it out. Not long after, she felt so rejuvenated and refreshed that she immediately became a convert to the method. Eating healthy, raw food soon became her way of life and the time spent at the sanatorium, an annual vacation.

Despite the fear the term starvation causes in most people, Dani shares that she actually feels hunger only during the first three to four days, so she is neither psychologically, nor physically, burdened or strained. When that period is over, she feels lighter, happier and “looks upon the world from a different perspective”. When it ends, however, she never assumes the common unhealthy habits of most people: natural food is all you will ever find in her refrigerator.

What does starvation cure? Does it have side effects?
As opposed to medical pills, which usually have negative effects on the body, starvation is absolutely harmless. It is a natural method of healing that can be safely practiced by anyone. The only exception are patients who are sick with mental illness or cancer. If followed properly, a starvation diet can heal an impressive number of sicknesses: high/low blood pressure, constipation, obesity, migraine, high cholesterol level, gastritis, common cold; a wide range of additional illnesses are also curable as long as the healing procedures are repeated intensely.
 
Traditional vs non-traditional medicine
The battle between traditional and non-traditional medicine has a long and intriguing history. The issue is controversial even today: while open-minded liberal individuals tend to defend the idea that established medicine provides solely conservative means of healing, conventional thinkers would very rarely trust anything but a pill. According to Dani, the truth is that traditional medicine takes care of the symptoms, but not the illness itself. As a result, the cause remains untreated and un-eliminated. As mentioned earlier, however, there are extreme cases (mental illnesses, cancer, severe car incidents) when it is too late for starvation. Otherwise, however, Dani recommends the remedial diet as a very intelligent and effective way of treating one’s body.

Is starvation popular in Bulgaria?
As someone who is undeniably well acquainted with medical life in Bulgaria, Dani has a firm view on the question: she believes that people still do not consider starvation a serious approach to one’s health. The reason ordinary patients do not talk about alternative methods is probably the doctors’ own lack of information, she adds. Alternative medicine is not studied in medical schools, most doctors do not enrol in additional courses once they start their careers and, consequently, they take on their practice without questioning its efficacy. Logically, if the doctor does not advise the patient that there is much more to medicine than pills, Dani adds, there is no way the patient himself would undertake anything.

Is alternative medicine in Bulgaria well developed?
Although many people are still skeptical of the achievements of non-traditional methods, healing starvation diets are gaining popularity, says Dani. As a follower of the method and someone who has personally experienced its effects, she is positive that the number of people who trust natural healing processes has increased in the last four to five years.

As proof, she states the fact that healing has developed in terms with the climate here: land is fruitful and there are plenty of herbs and fruits. Therefore, all programmes in the sanatoriums and those promoted by doctors are scheduled accordingly. Doctors in the northern European countries have a similar approach. Although it is colder there and fruits are a rarity, there are plenty of vegetables – carrots and potatoes, for instance. And hence the reason for their vegetable-based diet.

Who resorts to natural healing?
Throughout her experience with starvation, Dani has met many people, and she has noticed that they all share one trait: natural intelligence. A person might hold high social standing or be the boss of a prosperous firm, but if he or she cannot comprehend the philosophy of the method, he or she will not make it to the last day of fasting. “It is due to their inability to comprehend the unconventional idea,” she explains. “Only a liberal mind could realise that the more naturally one eats and lives, the healthier and happier one would be.”

Why does the notion of starvation scare so many people?
Although she lives among people who support her choices, Dani has confronted disbelief and rejection, too. The pharmacist thinks that most people find the term "starvation" scary and never care to further research it. “The term is misleading and it could frighten you only if you are uninformed or not ready to grasp its essence.”

In reality, however, it is not complete starvation at all, Dani adds. The healthy programme includes food, which simultaneously gives much energy and is easily broken down by the body – so, as a result, it is not even stored as fat. “The problem is that we have been raised up with the idea that to be healthy we need to eat a lot. All parents and grandparents have repeated that idea to their growing children.” History, however, shows that Bulgaria has had the most longevities when people worked very hard and ate very little, warns the young lady. Today, with manufactured food and chemicals dominating the market, Bulgaria is one of the countries with the most heart attacks in Europe.

What should one eat once the starvation period is over?
Starvation itself is useless unless it is followed by a diet just as strict. In fact, if one returns to one’s previous (unhealthy and unbalanced) menu, one may injure one’s body very severely. For this reason, even after fasting is over, the patient should still consult his doctor before going to grocery shop. He should still stick to the fruits-tea-honey recipe, too – the only change being he will add small portions of different vegetables every day.

Once the organism adapts itself to normal eating patterns, food should still be in their natural state. Meals must include as much raw vegetables and fruits, beans, grains and fish as possible. Milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs, as well as all meat products, are not recommended at all. Because they are animal products, those foods usually contain more toxins and chemicals (a result of the manufacturers’ ambition to increase body weight and speed up natural development) than they do any healthy components. Hence, once the disastrous hormones get into the bloodstream, they cause irreparable damages.

If a person really cannot make it without meat though, he or she may have a portion, but not more than once a week. Sugar, salt and wheat are also not considered healthy food; however, there are substitutes. Wheat, for instance, can be quite successfully replaced with all types of kernels: walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. They contain about 600-700 kcal per 100g, so most specialists consider them a good energy source.

Dani emphasise the importance of food combination and strict daily schedules as well. Here is what she recommends for the readers of The Sofia Echo and what she herself is eating every single day of her life:

Breakfast: A glass of water/tea/juice or coffee
Brunch: Fruit
Lunch: Vegetable salad with rice, beans or potatoes (or any calorific vegetable or plant)
Late lunch: Fruits, kernels or dried fruits
Dinner (before 6pm): A very big salad – cabbage, carrots, peppers – depending on the season.

Natural food menus do not exclude cooking itself: baking is allowed, as long as you do not fry. If one buys the appropriate culinary books or simply tries to be more imaginative, one can come up with a remarkable variety of recipes. The essential rule is that you eat no fast food, junk food or animal food; small portions and early dinner are a must, too. As impossible as it might sound, it does pay out: Dani has not bought pills for many years and more importantly, she feels young and happy.

Does your family respect your choice of medicine?
Dani believes she is a very lucky woman: not only do her relatives support her, but they also practice alternative medicinal methods. Her husband, for instance, used to suffer from continuous and painful colds. He would take many antibiotics but the illness would not cease. Determined to stop poisoning his body with drugs, he considered trying out mild starvation.

Dani jokes that to date, he is more persistent in his diet even than she. At the age of 40, her husband is perfectly healthy – has neither high blood pressure nor high cholesterol levels.

Dani’s daughter has a similar experience with alternative medicine. As a little child, she would frequently have a cold and severe strep throat. Although she consulted many specialists and doctors, there seemed to be no cure. Again, it was thanks to mild starvation that Dani found solution to her problems. Today, her child does not take any medications, either.