Surgery and pharmaceuticals are Western medicine’s default solution for almost any ailment. But a therapeutic alternative, one that has existed for centuries, is gaining attention among researchers and physicians. This program examines the growing interest in fasting as a treatment for cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases. Journeying to the Goryaschinsk Spring sanatorium on the shores of Lake Baikal, in southern Siberia, the film shows how decades of secret clinical studies conducted by Soviet and post-Soviet doctors have led to new applications for fasting and caloric restriction—with astonishing results. Viewers also encounter dramatic case studies of liver damage reversal and arthritis mitigation at Germany’s Buchinger Clinic, as well as the findings of an innovative gerontologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Together, these stories suggest a paradigm shift in our understanding of healing and human physiology. (56 minutes)