In this story on the New York Times wellness blog the author highlights the gaining awareness of fasting & the benefits it entails.

While this story, like most press & studies, is focused on diabetes and weight loss there is some mention of some useful points for the sufferer of an autoimmune disease…

fasting promotes ketosis fasting decreases insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) which in turn promotes autophagy (lots of evidence emerging that this could be very beneficial for those diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease & likely other autoimmune disorders) that fasting is tough at first but gets easier (just like exercise) like exercise the short-term stress on the body causes long-term benefits that protects against chronic disease and aging that there are many roads into fasting, its not all or nothing (intermittent fasting, 5:2 diet, fast mimicking diet, etc) that there are a lot of health benefits to fasting & research is just beginning

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/intermittent-fasting-diets-are-gaining-acceptance/?_r=0