Fasting

Forms of fasting…

The term fasting, implies total or partial abstinence from food or water for any of a number of reasons. Fruit fasts, vegetable fasts, milk fasts, water fasts and many other types. Different reasons for fasting are considered,  religious fasting, professional fasting, physiological fasting, pathological fasting and accidental or experimental fasting. A fruit fast is abstinence from fruit; a vegetable fast is abstinence from vegetables etc.

Religious fasting is abstinence to develop spiritual thought or fulfill a religious rite. Professional fasting is abstinence for purposes of notoriety and publicity. Physiological fasting is normal inanition in nature, such as the hibernation and seasonal abstinence of certain animals. Pathological fasting is associated with organic derangements which make one unable to take or retain food. Accidental or experimental fasting is forced inanition among man or animals for purposes of scientific investigation. Therapeutic fasting is total abstinence from all food, but not water. The purpose of therapeutic fasting is the promotion and restoration of health. It is associated with experimental and physiological fasting in the sense that studies of the latter provide the knowledge and information which make therapeutic fasting possible.

Therapeutic fasting

This type of fasting is not the result of any particular new scientific discovery, but rather has proceeded to its present development as the result of centuries of experimentation, observation and study. It is today the culmination of a large number of scientific investigations and discoveries which have reached their climax during the past century. Fasting for therapeutic purposes is important and though grounded in conception, is not widely known among the readers of Grazia and Vogue. More likely creams and other external remedies are highly recommended, have little or no effect on the symtom in hand and in turn line the pockets of some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.

The origin for fasting for illness perhaps dates back the development of the present forms of animal life. Among undomesticated animals it is a common practice to fast when ill. The first records of human fasting for the remedy of disease go back to the ancient civilizations of Greece and the Near East. Both Plato and Socrates are said to have fasted for 10 days at a time to “attain mental and physical efficiency.” Pythagoras fasted for 40 days before taking his examination at the University of Alexandria, and then he also required his pupils to fast before they could enter his class.

The ancient Egyptians were said to treat syphilis with their fasting cures, and the great Greek physician, Hippocrates, prescribed fasting during the critical periods of disease. Celsus is said to have used it in the treatment of jaundice and epilepsy, and the Arab physician, Avicenna, prescribed fasting for three to five weeks at a time. Later Plutarch said: “Instead of using medicine better fast a day.” During the sixteenth century, the renowned Swiss physician, Paracelsus claimed that, “Fasting is the greatest remedy.” In the seventeenth century, Dr. Hoffman wrote a book entitled, Description of the Magnificent Results Obtained Through Fasting in All Diseases.normality. It has been during the past century that the greater portion of scientific data has been gathered.

The therapeutic measure is not a new and untried method, but on the contrary has been recognized for centuries and has been studied by some of the most brilliant minds in the science of medicine and related fields. The importance of these studies may be readily seen upon examination of the unique record of fasting, as regards its curative influence in the case of many specific diseases. A careful scientific appraisal of therapeutic fasting may then be of significance to both the physician and layman.

Physiological Reactions to Fasting 

Whenever food is withheld from consumption beyond the usual period in the case of man or other animals there are certain changes in the function, chemical reactions and life processes of the cells and tissues. It is these changes which give fasting its therapeutic properties. By considering the physiological reactions to fasting we can thus gain an understanding of the reasons which determine its therapeutic value. Of great importance among the physiological effects of fasting is rejuvenation and slowed degredation — the acquiring of fresh vitality and renewal of youthful characteristics to the cells and tissues of the body.

In experiments conducted at the Hull Biological Laboratory of the University of Chicago, both dogs and humans were fasted for extended periods. In fasts of from 30 to 40 days a five to six per cent increase in the metabolic rate was observed. Of course rejuvenation does not occur in man to the extent that it does in the lowest forms of animal life. However, the effects of rejuvenescence are nevertheless very noticeable in the case of human fasting.

Dr. Carlson and Dr. Kunde, of the Department of Physiology in the University of Chicago, placed a 40 year old man on a 14 days fast. At the end of the fast his tissues were in the same physiological condition as those of a 17 year old youth. In reference to fasting Dr. Kunde remarks: “It is evident that where the initial weight was reduced by 45 per cent, and subsequently restored by normal diet, approximately one-half of the restored body is made up of new protoplasm. In this there is rejuvenescence. Mention may also be given to the case of the late Mahatma Gandhi, who was well known for his numerous fasts. On May 18, 1933, when Gandhi was in the tenth day of fasting, he was examined by his physicians. One of the physicians stated that “despite his 64 years, from a physiological point of view the Indian leader was as healthy as a man of forty.”

The outward manifestations of regeneration are quite noticeable in many cases of fasting. The rejuvenating effect upon the skin in particular is important. Lines and wrinkles become less apparent, and blotches, discolorations and pimples tend to disappear.  The skin becomes more youthful, acquires a better color and better texture. The eyes clear up and become brighter. One takes on the appearance of looking younger. The visible rejuvenation in the skin is matched by manifest evidences of similar but invisible rejuvenation throughout the body.” Literally the word, autolysis, means self-loosing.

In physiology it is used to denote the process of digestion or disintegration of animal tissue by ferments and enzymes which are generated by the body cells themselves. Thus it is a process of self-digestion. Autolysis forms a normal part of the physiological activities of the body. The action of enzymes upon such substances in the body as glycogen, fatty tissue and bone marrow, in preparing these materials for entry into the blood stream, is normal autolysis. Likewise when an abscess “points” to the surface of the body to empty its contents, autolysis was involved when the flesh between the abscess and the surface was digested by enzymes.

The fact is fasting, in producing a profound change in metabolism, serves as an immediate inducement to the development of autolysis and can act as a control of this process. This is no new discovery in physiology, but has been recognized for over a century by those who employed fasting. It is a general law of the body that the decomposing absorbents always first take hold of and remove those substances which are of least use to the system and in doing so, all unwanted accumulations, such as sebum, tumors, abscesses, etc., are rapidly diminished and often wholly removed under severe and extended abstinence from food.

During the fast, the body has the opportunity to redistribute its nutritive supplies — the surpluses and non-vital supplies being consumed and utilized first. The absorption of normal muscles and tissues on a fast is readily observable, and the flesh, blood and bone of a tumor, being less important to the needs of the body, are absorbed much more rapidly, with the essential tissues being utilized in nourishment and the remainder permanently removed. On the fast the assimilative powers of the body are increased. This is shown both in the improvement of the blood during the fast and the rapid assimilation of food after the fast. People who suffer from conditions such as anemia, with either an insufficiency of red blood cells or an excess of white cells, are generally normalized by fasting. In some cases fasting has brought about an increase in the number of erythrocytes from only one million to the normal five million count. The explanation lies in the improvement in assimilation which the fast affords.

The iron and other elements which are stored in the body are taken up by the blood and used. Prior to fasting, general physiological inefficiency prevents this. Perhaps this also explains why dental decay is often arrested during the fast. In some cases teeth that were loose become firmly fixed in their sockets while fasting, and swollen, inflamed and bleeding gums are also restored to health. The improvement in assimilation during the fast actually brings about recovery of certain “deficiency” diseases. Assimilation after the fast is at the highest possible level.  Those who are chronically underweight in spite of eating very heavily, often gain weight to the normal level after a fast, even though large quantities of food are not taken. The improved assimilation enables the body to utilize more of its food intake. It may be mentioned that it is really a normalization of assimilation which occurs on a fast.

People who fast to rid themselves of excessive weight may gain weight to normal after the fast, but that is usually where the gain ends if nutrition is appropriate. Both people who assimilate too much of food intake, and those who assimilate too little, can be helped by fasting. Fasting affords the organs of the body the closest possible approach to a complete physiological rest. Many organs are overworked and overstimulated, and hence weakened, rough the constant use of defective foods and excessive quantities of foods. During a fast, the necessary work done by the organs is reduced to the lowest possible minimum. As there is no further intake of food, assimilation in the body only involves the redistribution of the elements already stored there. So your organs are given a chance to recuperate and restore their vital function.

Repair of damaged structures may take place. Broken bones, wounds and open sores heal much more rapidly. If inflammation is present it tends to subside. The body undergoes a general healing process. Associated with physiological rest of an organ is increased elimination. This, according to some observers, is the most important advantage of fasting. Part of the energy which should normally be devoted to the work of assimilation may, during a fast, be used to expel the accumulations of waste and toxins. Decomposing food in the digestive tract, which is often an important source of toxins, is quickly eliminated. The entire alimentary canal becomes almost free from bacteria. The nourishment of cells on a fast is first derived from the less essential tissues and portions of impaired and diseased tissue. The surplus material on hand is utilized first.

The effusions, dropsical swellings, fat, infiltrations, etc., are absorbed with great rapidity on a fast. Increased elimination of toxins is noted on the very first days of the fast. The breath becomes unpleasant,  the skin also may also emit an unwelcome odor, possibly because of greater eliminative effort on the part of both the lungs and skin. Catarrhal eliminations usually increase during the early days of the fast, until towards the end of the fast elimination is completed and recovery occurs. The toxicity of the urine is greater due to increased elimination from the  kidneys. In some rare cases, considerable waste material is lost through the process of vomiting. Of course each of these symptoms does not occur in all cases, but there is always some outward indication of increased elimination.

The Complete Fast

When food is consumed at regular intervals, the body stores sufficient quantities of nutritive matter to last for a considerable period of time during later periods of abstinence. From the start of every fast, the body commences to nourish and feed itself upon such reserves. The cells accordingly diminish in size and there are changes in the colloidal condition of the protoplasm. Cell proliferation itself continues. The chief weight losses consist of fat, muscle, tissue, blood and water. Such vital body parts as the brain, spinal cord, nerves, teeth and bones are well sustained on the fast with practically no losses. The body continues to receive, from its reserves life sustaining material. There is of course a limit to this supply. When all normal food reserves have been exhausted the body must derive other means of nourishment. It then enters a period of true starvation and feeds upon the vital tissues and hitherto unchanged body parts.

Fasting begins with the omission of the first meal and ends with the exhaustion of all food reserves.  When the food reserves of the body have been consumed, certain symptoms occur which indicate the end of the fasting period. There is invariably a return of hunger and a removal of coating from the tongue. The edges and tip of the tongue clear first, with the rest quickly following. The bad taste in the mouth and the offensive breath likewise disappear at this time. The pulse and temperature, which may have been abnormal, become normal. The eyes frequently brighten, salivary secretion is normalized, and the urine, which may have been discolored, becomes clear. Of these symptoms, the return of hunger and clearing of the tongue are the most important, and are regarded by some as the only certain and unmistakable signs which denote the completion of the fast.

The others are usually present also, but it is the return of hunger and the condition of the tongue which are regarded as the determining factors. The return of hunger and the clean tongue do not always arrive at exactly the same time. One may arrive a few hours or more before the other. Under any conditions the fast should be broken at the appearance of either symptom. One should not, for instance, hesitate to break the fast if there is an unmistakable desire for food even though the tongue is not clean, and vice versa. In those very rare cases in which hunger is not lost on the fast, the clearing of the tongue will suffice as a guide in determining the completion of the fast.

Safe Fasting  

While recognising the value of fasting as a specific remedy for certain diseases, it is also necessary to consider the question of safety. A valuable therapeutic measure should both provide good results in treating disease and at the same time be associated with a minimum of danger. In the case of many therapeutic measures this requirement is not met, and one disease is being cured, while perhaps more serious ones are being created through the toxic influences of drugs or the loss of important organs through surgery. It is important to understand the outcome of fasting in these situations.

Statements have been made that fasting weakens the heart, causes the heart to collapse, causes the stomach to atrophy or makes the digestive juices digest the stomach, produces deficiency disease, causes the teeth to decay, lowers the resistance of the body to disease, causes degeneration of cells, is opposed to our natural instincts,  causes acidosis, and last but not least, creates a grave danger of expiration. In actual experience not a single one of these objections to fasting has been found to have any basis in fact. Quite apart from being weakened or collapsed by fasting, the heart is given a rest and thus allowed to gain new strength.

Serious cases of heart disease have actually recovered while fasting. The stomach, in fact the entire digestive tract, is strengthened by fasting. There is no atrophy or impairment whatsoever. People who’ve always suffered from digestive weakness fully recover while fasting. As for deficiency diseases — these do not occur while fasting. Beliefs to the contrary have resulted from studies of deficient diets. As a result, nutritionists speak of the “probable appearance of deficiency disease” on long fasts. It is assumed that if diets lacking sufficient minerals and vitamins produce deficiency diseases, a fast, which supplies no additional minerals and vitamins, must do likewise.

During a fast, when the body’s energy is not used in the work of digestion and assimilation, the need for minerals is lowered. The reserves of these elements  in the body are sufficient to meet all needs. It is for this reason that no deficiency diseases, including dental decay, occur on the fast, though they often follow a diet of refined foods. Man can live much longer on water alone than he can on a diet of white flour and water simply because use of the flour increases the need for other elements to enable the body to digest, assimilate and metabolize the flour. Deficiency diseases frequently even recover on the fast, due to better assimilation of elements already stored in the body.

Rejuvenation rather than degeneration is the result of monitored fasting. Quite apart from lowering resistance to disease, and producing diseases such as tuberculosis, which are believed to follow low resistance, fasting increases the resistance to disease and has been used successfully as a specific remedy of tuberculosis. Resistance depends upon chemical balance, abundant nerve force and physiological conditions which fasting produces. The numerous complete recoveries from disease which occur while fasting are in themselves evidence that the power to overcome infection is raised on the fast, rather than susceptibility increased.

Symptoms of the Fast 

Fasting involves a continual physiological change in the body. Rejuvenescence, autolysis, increased assimilation, elimination and other processes are taking place. Under these conditions it is to be expected that there will be outward manifestations of the changes occurring in the body. Such manifestations may be either pleasant or discomforting, more often the latter, and, though in no sense a cause for concern, they should be understood and expected. During the first day of the fast, an increased desire for food is usually present by afternoon or evening. On the second day the desire is often greatly increased, with the degree of hunger reaching its climax. On the third day the hunger usually abates and in some cases it entirely disappears. In nearly all cases the disappearance of hunger is complete by the fourth or fifth day. From this time onward there is not only no desire for food, but marked repugnance for food. Nausea and vomiting have been documented to occur at the sight and smell of food!

This state continues until natural hunger returns weeks or months later, or until the fast is broken, when appetite rapidly returns. In a controlled fast, it was reported that about one in each forty of human participants failed to lose their hunger on the fast. Physicians working in a number of well known medical institutions have documented the study of fasting and also report similar experiences. No reason is known to account for this abnormal reaction, and though it in no way diminishes the effectiveness of the fast, it does make fasting rather difficult. Fortunately such cases are the exception rather than the general rule. The tongue usually becomes heavily coated, and the breath very offensive, within the first few days of fasting. Here too there are very rare exceptions.  In the usual cases, when the reactions of the tongue and breath are normal, the tongue gradually becomes clean, and the breath sweet, as the hunger returns toward the end of the fast, or when the fast is broken. Both of these symptoms while fasting appear to be manifestations of the increased elimination within the body.

The reactions of body temperature vary to some degree with different types of fasting. When there is acute disease, with fever, the temperature gradually drops to normal during the fast. When the temperature is below normal at the beginning of the fast, as is often the case when chronic disease is present, it gradually rises to normal and remains there, although the rate of rise is not always the same,  fasting two, three or more weeks before the rise is to be noted. In rare cases, when no acute disease exists, the temperature rises above normal for short periods. A rapid fall in body temperature has been recorded in a few instances during the very last stages of fasting. Such reaction calls for immediate breaking of the fast and the application of external heat. As a rule the rapid fall in body temperature is a symptom of only the starvation period, marking the complete exhaustion of the body’s food reserves.

While recognizing the variation in strength and weakness during the fast, it should be understood that this is not an important determining factor in the recovery from the fast. In any event strength which may have been lost on the fast is rapidly regained when food is again taken. Only in those very rare cases of extreme weakness need concern be given. Extreme emaciation, with weakness to the point of frequent fainting and inability to walk alone, is of course an indication that the fast should be broken. A loss of weight while fasting is of course normal and to be expected. The average loss is perhaps about one pound a day, with a greater loss in the beginning of the fast than towards the end. There is of course no danger from the loss of weight while fasting; it is rapidly regained when eating is again resumed.

After the last meal is digested the digestive tract becomes inactive and there is usually very little bowel action. The intestines become empty, in fact, sterile, and bowel movements are infrequent or altogether absent. People have fasted as long as fifty days with no bowel action, and though this is exceptional, it indicates the tendency here given mention. The lack of frequent bowel action on the fast is quite normal and no cause for concern. Bowel action is quickly restored after the fast. If and when bowel action does take place on the fast, the movements may be easy or difficult, depending in part on the type of food that was consumed immediately prior to the fast. Fasting feces become hard, much drier and pillular, and frequently cause considerable uneasiness. This is true in some cases when the pre-fasting diet was composed predominately of refined and cooked foods. The use of an enema is then required to obtain relief. This condition does not tend to occur, however, when the meals immediately prior to the fast were composed exclusively of raw fruits and raw vegetables.

After the fast the sexual powers return with renewed vigor. It has been noted that men who had been impotent prior to fasting have often regained virility, and sterility among women is also frequently corrected. In women previously affected by congestion in the ovaries and uterus, the menses may appear at irregular intervals while fasting and appear almost viscid in consistency with an offensive odor. This is believed to result from the natural cleansing of the reproductive system. In most other cases the menses may be barely perceptible during the fast or it may not appear at all.   To the most important symptoms given may be added literally dozens of others which may or may not occur, and which are quite unimportant insofar as the progress of the fast is concerned. Among these are vomiting, spitting crises, skin eruptions, headaches, -, dizziness, hic-coughs, fainting spells, sore throat, slight colds and cramps. Though such symptoms are uncomfortable to a degree, they are no cause for concern. Many are simply indicative of increased efforts of elimination.

A disease which in the past has been inactive, or suppressed with drugs, may become active through fasting, as tissues are healed and elimination increased. It has been said that we “have to live our diseases over again” while fasting, and this is true to the extent that the weakest parts of the body are being rejuvenated and cleansed, in so giving immediate renovative activity. People, for instance, who have been susceptible to catarrhal conditions in the past, may eliminate streams of mucus from the colon, vagina, throat, sinuses and nose, depending upon the location of their original catarrhal condition, while fasting. After elimination is complete, or the fast is broken, such symptoms cease and one starts to feel much the better for the experience, generally being cured of future catarrhal ailments. A disease may become more intense during the early days of fasting, and as renovation continues to completion, all symptoms gradually subside until one has fully recovered. For many, if not most, of the symptoms of fasting may be ascribed to the curative action of the fast itself.

The most important danger signals of fasting, as regards the pulse and temperature, have been given, and there are but few other symptoms which may be considered sufficient reason for breaking the fast sooner than otherwise would be desired. Even temporary delirium on the fast (which has rarely been noted) is seldom considered as reason for giving food, unless the delirium is associated with heart palpitation. The palpitation of the heart itself, or pain in the heart, while fasting is quite uncommon and not considered dangerous. As a rule most symptoms of the fast must be considered in relation to others. Very few symptoms in themselves are sufficient reason for breaking the fast. It is the combination of many severe symptoms which, even though not always dangerous, is occasionally used as a reason for giving food. There are no hard and fast rules in this respect.

The symptoms of fasting, quite apart from being a cause for worry or concern, can thus be seen to be only outward manifestations of the gradual recovery to health being made. Few are seriously discomforting, and one symptom, the loss of hunger, even makes the fast much more pleasant. In the final analysis, it is hunger itself which is most dreaded on the fast, and when this disappears, fasting is quite easy, with little annoyance or discomfort. Certainly it is not so difficult an ordeal as going through continued ill health, and many do not look upon it as an “ordeal” at all, but rather enjoy their fast. It can be seen that therapeutic fasting is complete in itself. Fasting is not to be used along with too many other treatments such as liver flush. The principles of its technique are few and render its application both safe and practical. With a reasonable degree of care,  fasting  may pass through a comfortable period of therapeutic treatment and regain health in the most effective and pleasant manner.

Breaking the Fast  

Vital importance to this practice is the method of breaking the fast. The period of abstinence may be completely successful, but if this is not terminated properly the results can be decidedly unfavorable. Many have conducted their fasts with the greatest care, only to break them on whatever food happened to be most convenient and find themselves in dire distress. A few physicians, unfamiliar with the general technique of fasting, have likewise broken fasts in an experimental or careless manner, and found their patients to react in the most alarming way. To give inadequate attention to this matter is to court disaster; it may mean the difference in certain cases between life and death. The many reports of fasts which have been broken incorrectly well substantiate this and give vivid illustration of the possible aftermaths. Referring to two documented  fasts broken by an incompetent physician on chocolate candy, which were followed by extreme gastric and intestinal acidity and great distress throughout the body. Another reference is made to a fast broken on toast….. followed by malnutritional edema.

In the extreme a case was recorded in which a 28 day fast was broken on a meal of beefsteak, potatoes, bread and butter, after which violent vomiting spells occurred, with inability to retain even water which was afterwards given. Another report tells of a 31 day fast, broken on several beef sandwiches which ended fatally.  A different case involved a 28 day fast, broken on boiled potatoes. The digestive organs cease to exercise their natural function; the digestive glands do not produce the usual enzymes, and the stomach shrinks to much less than its usual size. All this is an associated requirement of the physiological rest. After many days of fasting the body thus loses its immediate power to digest and handle food in the usual manner.

When foods are again taken it only gradually regains its power of normal function. If the first intake is of a solid nature and difficult of digestion, the organs may entirely rebel; there will be little or no digestive activity, and the foods will decay and ferment, causing much distress and discomfort.  This then gives good reason for selecting foods (as suggested soups, juices and pulses) with the utmost care after the fast. With few exceptions there is general unanimity of opinion that the first nutriment should be of a liquid nature, it can then be rapidly absorbed and is easier of digestion.

It is also more soothing and less abrasive to the delicate mucous membrane lining, which is especially sensitive at this time. Fruit and vegetables juices, vegetable broths, flesh broths and milk have all been employed. They have not, however, given equally satisfactory results. Milk is too difficult of digestion for some people immediately after the fast, and, if taken in large amounts, it is not always assimilated without trouble and tends to delay the return of normal bowel action. Broths or soups containing meat have other disadvantages, and after long fasts they may give adverse reactions, even though there is ease of digestion. The strained broth of cooked vegetables is much better, but of widest use and generally most satisfactory results are the uncooked juices of fresh fruits and vegetables. Discomfort is practically unknown when these foods are used.

There is ease of digestion, rapid assimilation and quick restoration of bowel elimination. Though both are practical, fruit juices are usually chosen over those of vegetables for breaking the fast. Unstrained slightly dilute orange juice is given preference by most practitioners, especially for the first few feedings, and it provides perhaps the easiest and most effective return of normal bowel action. Juices of the grapefruit,, grape, pineapple, peach, pear, apricot, apple, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberry and other juicy fruits may also be used, either to break the fast or to supplement orange juice after the fast is broken. Of vegetable products, carrot juice is considered most appropriate at this time.

The fast should be broken on one-half glass of juice, followed by the same amount every hour, or by one glass every two hours, for the rest of the day. On the second day the same schedule may be followed, or the juices may be taken at less frequent intervals; a three-meal-a-day plan may be adopted if desired, about one pint of juice being taken at each meal. On the following days the quantity of juice taken may be increased, but care must always be taken to avoid excesses which might produce digestive discomfort. At no time on the post-fasting juice diet should more than an approximate pint of juice be taken at any one sitting. The best uncooked juices for use after the fast are freshly extracted. This is true for palatability as well as nutrition.

The sweetness and richness of flavor of freshly extracted juices are especially acceptable for the post-fasting patient. Within minutes after being made, however, juices tend to lose their fine flavors through the process of oxidation. Enzymes, vitamins and other nutrients are lost in the same way. For this reason, all forms of bottled juices, which were prepared long before consumption, should be avoided after fasting provided some form of fresh juice is available. The juices used immediately after the fast are best served at room temperature, which permits easiest digestion. Cold and iced juices should always be avoided at this time. The first juices should be sipped very slowly. If they are consumed in great haste, without proper insalivation, stomach cramps and the formation of gas can result. If the juices are “chewed” before being swallowed, the acid and sugar of the fruit is mixed with saliva and work of the stomach is reduced to a minimum.

The duration of the juice diet may vary from one to approximately six days, depending primarily upon the length of the fast. Whereas the juice diet increases in length in accordance with the extension of the fast, the rate of increase is a decreasing one. The ratio of the fast to the juice diet may be only two or three to one in the case of very short fasts, about four or five to one in the case of fasts of moderate duration, and seven to one or more in the case of very long fasts.  The first regular meals following the juice diet should be small in size. On successive days the quantity of food may be gradually increased. However, please take great care to avoid excesses. A gradual transition into very large meals, to compensate for previous restrictions, is definitely unnecessary.

Moderation in eating is always favoured, and this is more important following a period of prolonged abstinence. Equally important is the proper mastication of all foodstuffs. Chew, chew and chew again! Liquids should be sipped slowly and solids must be chewed to the point of involuntary swallowing. Adequate attention to these factors will prevent overtaxing the digestive organs at a time when they are regaining their full working capacity. The importance of breaking the fast properly can hardly be overestimated. Certainly more difficulties have resulted from incorrect breaking of the fast than from all other form of fasting mismanagement, these difficulties can easily be avoided. Only remember that the proper application of the uncooked juice diet is the basic key to success in the immediate post-fasting period. When this is followed by a varied diet of uncooked foods, consumed in moderate quantities and well masticated, the normal physiological adjustment of the body is completed for ideal results!

Go forth and fast responsibly, add years back onto your life and look stunningly young for your age whilst you’re at it!

Information collated from various studies conducted by several well known and respected Universities and other independent agents;

University of Nebraska College of Medicine

University of Chicago

Harvard University

Rockefeller Institute

Carnegie Institute

University of Rome

Military Medical Academy Russia

 

Adonai