Therapeutic Fasting
By: Arnold DeVries, 1963
Therapeutic fasting is total abstinence from all food, but not water. The
purpose of therapeutic fasting is the promotion and restoration of health.
Therapeutic 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 thus an important, though in popular
conception, almost unknown, phase of the modern science of medicine, and
as such it is the subject of our present inquiry and analysis.
A Short History of Fasting
The origin of 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, though this is of course an instinctive procedure
rather than a planned therapeutic measure.
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.
Asclepiades and Thessalus employed fasting; 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 Tertullian wrote of
fasting, and 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.
Dr. Anton Nikolai followed in the next century with recommendations of fasting
instead of food for those who were ill. Later Dr. Von Seeland, of Russia, wrote:
"As a result of experiments I have come to the conclusion that fasting is not
only a therapeutic of the highest degree possible but also deserves
consideration educationally."
In Germany, Dr. Adolph Mayer asserted that: "fasting is the most efficient
means of correcting any disease" and Dr. Moeller wrote that: "fasting is the
only natural evolutionary method whereby through a systemic cleansing you
can restore yourself by degrees to physiologic normality."
It has been during the past century that the greater portion of scientific data
has been gathered. Both Europe (in particular, Germany) and America have
contributed heavily to the research on experimental and physiological fasting.
History affords evidence of the considerable amount of scientific and clinical
work done to determine the effects of fasting. 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
The development and evolution of the forms of human pathology are
governed by the physiological and chemical reactions that are taking place.
Anything that induces such reactions plays a role in determining the state of
human health.
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
rejuvenescence — the acquiring of fresh vitality and renewal of youthful
characteristics to the cells and tissues of the body.
Evidence of such regeneration comes from many quarters and is particularly
impressing with respect to experimental work done with the various forms of
lower animal life. Such work may then be given first consideration.
The British scientist, Prof. Huxley, has carried out experiments with young
planaria, more commonly known as earthworms. He fed an entire colony of
these worms their usual foods. One of the worms was isolated from the rest
and fasted at periodic intervals. In all other respects its diet and mode of life
were similar to those of the other worms. The isolated worm lived while 19
generations of worms in the colony lived and passed away.
Prof. Child, of the University of Chicago, likewise has used worms to
determine the effects of fasting. He took a group of small flat worms, which
had grown old and infirm and fasted them for months, until they had been
reduced to a minimum size.
Then he started feeding them again, and as they grew back to their normal
size, they were just as young, from a physiological standpoint, as they ever
were. In his Senescence and Rejuvenescence, Prof. Child remarks:
"Partial starvation inhibits senescence. The starveling is brought back from an
advanced age to the beginning of post embryonic life; it is almost reborn."
Other experiments, conducted by F. Schultz, have shown that hydra are
rejuvenated by fasting, the animals reverting back to an embryonic state.
At the University of Chicago, one insect, the normal life span of which is one
day, was fasted and lived for 15 days. There are some species of lower animal
life which normally pass through their life span in three or four weeks, but
when, because of lack of food, they are forced to fast at intervals, they often
remain young and active for three years.
Prof. Sergius Morgulis, in his experimental work with animals, has noted the
relation between fasting and rejuvenation. He states:
"Laboratory as well as clinical experiments corroborated the rejuvenating
effects of inanition. If it is not too prolonged it is distinctly beneficent and may
well be used in overcoming somnolence and lassitude as well as in improving
the fundamental organic functions (circulation, respiration), muscular strength,
or the acuity of the senses…
Biologically speaking, though the organism acquires no new assets it becomes
stronger by ridding itself of liabilities. In the foregoing it has been pointed out
that the cell-nucleus changes in such a manner as to increase the
preponderance of the nucleus.
Morphologically, therefore, the cells composing the entire organism assume a
more youthful condition. They resemble more the embryonic cells in this
respect, and this may account for the expansive growth which they display
under the proper nutritive regime."
One of the characteristics of old age is a decrease in the metabolic rate. It is
interesting to note, in this connection, that fasting produces rejuvenation by
inducing a permanent increase in the metabolic rate.
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."
It may also be pointed out that quite possibly much of the remaining part of the
body not lost in weight may also undergo significant changes of
rejuvenescence as a result of fasting.
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.
In the words of Dr. Herbert M. Shelton:
"The skin becomes more youthful, acquires a better color and better texture.
The eyes clear up and become brighter. One looks younger. The visible
rejuvenation in the skin is matched by manifest evidences of similar but
invisible rejuvenescence 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 or intracellular 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.
While recognizing the existence of autolysis as a common fact of everyday life,
it has been generally believed that the process could not be made subject to
human control and put to practical use.
Though it has been understood that abnormal growths in the body might be
absorbed through self-disintegration, the profound change in metabolism
necessary to bring about such autolysis has been thought to result only in
very rare cases following such conditions as extreme cachexia, the
puerperium, or menopause.
Such conditions, not always being within the realm of voluntary control, and
only occasionally producing the changes in question, offer no method
whereby autolysis can be instituted at will and put under control.
A complete revolution in such orthodox concepts necessarily follows
consideration of fasting. The fact is that fasting, in producing a profound
change in metabolism, serves as an immediate inducement to the
development of autolysis and can thus 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. In the early part of the nineteenth
century, Sylvester Graham wrote that:
"It is a general law of the vital economy" that "the decomposing absorbents
always first lay hold of and remove those substances which are of least use to
the economy; and hence, all morbid accumulations, such as wens, tumors,
abscesses, etc., are rapidly diminished and often wholly removed under severe
and protracted abstinence and fasting."
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. Patients, 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 prevented
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. Kagan observed that
after rabbits were fasted 17 days they gained 56 per cent in weight on a diet,
which, under usual conditions, would barely be sufficient to maintain a state of
equilibrium.
People, 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. Patients 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 proper. Thus both people who assimilate too much of food intake,
and those who assimilate too little, are helped by fasting.
Fasting affords the organs of the body the closest possible approach to a
complete physiological rest. Many organs are overworked and over
stimulated, and hence weakened, through 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.
Thus the organs are given a chance to recuperate and restore their vital
powers. 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 could 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. The
body thus gradually releases itself from a former burden of superfluous and
waste material.
Increased elimination of toxins is noted on the very first days of the fast. The
breath becomes very offensive, and the skin may also emit an offensive 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 increased, perhaps due to greater elimination via the
kidneys.
In some 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 primary elimination, however, brought about simply by internal absorption
and autolysis, is not apparent in outward reactions, except perhaps the loss of
weight and general weakness.
A marked improvement in nervous and mental function occurs on the fast.
Max Nordau declared that: "Pessimism has a physiological basis;" and it may
also be said that even the most severe forms of mental aberration usually have
a physiological basis.
Under the usual circumstances of civilized life, with its nutritive inadequacies
and its inclusion of chemical stimulants and depressants, both in the food
supply and as drugs for the treatment of disease, there is a tendency to the
reduction of nerve energy, or enervation as it is called. The capacity of the
brain is also impaired, giving rise to an assortment of nervous and mental
diseases.
While fasting, all enervating influences are discontinued and the entire
nervous system and brain undergoes the same physiological rest that the
balance of the body experiences.
Nerve forces are restored and mental powers are improved. The ability to
reason is increased. The powers of attention and association are quickened
while memory of past events is often recovered.
Dr. Tanner and others even testified to the development of psychic powers
during the fast, which Dr. Tanner felt explained: "why the old prophets and
seers so often resorted to fasting as a means of spiritual illumination."
Fasting thus serves many purposes in terms of physiology and chemistry. It
produces rejuvenation of tissues, induces autolysis of abnormal growths,
improves the powers of digestion and assimilation, reestablishes normal
chemistry and secretion, affords the organs of the body a physiological rest,
increases elimination, promotes nerve energy recuperation, strengthens the
mind, and perhaps improves function in various ways which we do not yet
understand.
Obviously these factors are of considerable importance in determining the
physical condition of the body. They may mean the difference between
strength and weakness, health and disease, and perhaps even life and death.
By: Arnold DeVries
Article: Therapeutic Fasting
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/articles/classics3.html#2
By: Arnold DeVries, 1963
Therapeutic fasting is total abstinence from all food, but not water. The
purpose of therapeutic fasting is the promotion and restoration of health.
Therapeutic 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 thus an important, though in popular
conception, almost unknown, phase of the modern science of medicine, and
as such it is the subject of our present inquiry and analysis.
A Short History of Fasting
The origin of 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, though this is of course an instinctive procedure
rather than a planned therapeutic measure.
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.
Asclepiades and Thessalus employed fasting; 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 Tertullian wrote of
fasting, and 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.
Dr. Anton Nikolai followed in the next century with recommendations of fasting
instead of food for those who were ill. Later Dr. Von Seeland, of Russia, wrote:
"As a result of experiments I have come to the conclusion that fasting is not
only a therapeutic of the highest degree possible but also deserves
consideration educationally."
In Germany, Dr. Adolph Mayer asserted that: "fasting is the most efficient
means of correcting any disease" and Dr. Moeller wrote that: "fasting is the
only natural evolutionary method whereby through a systemic cleansing you
can restore yourself by degrees to physiologic normality."
It has been during the past century that the greater portion of scientific data
has been gathered. Both Europe (in particular, Germany) and America have
contributed heavily to the research on experimental and physiological fasting.
History affords evidence of the considerable amount of scientific and clinical
work done to determine the effects of fasting. 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
The development and evolution of the forms of human pathology are
governed by the physiological and chemical reactions that are taking place.
Anything that induces such reactions plays a role in determining the state of
human health.
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
rejuvenescence — the acquiring of fresh vitality and renewal of youthful
characteristics to the cells and tissues of the body.
Evidence of such regeneration comes from many quarters and is particularly
impressing with respect to experimental work done with the various forms of
lower animal life. Such work may then be given first consideration.
The British scientist, Prof. Huxley, has carried out experiments with young
planaria, more commonly known as earthworms. He fed an entire colony of
these worms their usual foods. One of the worms was isolated from the rest
and fasted at periodic intervals. In all other respects its diet and mode of life
were similar to those of the other worms. The isolated worm lived while 19
generations of worms in the colony lived and passed away.
Prof. Child, of the University of Chicago, likewise has used worms to
determine the effects of fasting. He took a group of small flat worms, which
had grown old and infirm and fasted them for months, until they had been
reduced to a minimum size.
Then he started feeding them again, and as they grew back to their normal
size, they were just as young, from a physiological standpoint, as they ever
were. In his Senescence and Rejuvenescence, Prof. Child remarks:
"Partial starvation inhibits senescence. The starveling is brought back from an
advanced age to the beginning of post embryonic life; it is almost reborn."
Other experiments, conducted by F. Schultz, have shown that hydra are
rejuvenated by fasting, the animals reverting back to an embryonic state.
At the University of Chicago, one insect, the normal life span of which is one
day, was fasted and lived for 15 days. There are some species of lower animal
life which normally pass through their life span in three or four weeks, but
when, because of lack of food, they are forced to fast at intervals, they often
remain young and active for three years.
Prof. Sergius Morgulis, in his experimental work with animals, has noted the
relation between fasting and rejuvenation. He states:
"Laboratory as well as clinical experiments corroborated the rejuvenating
effects of inanition. If it is not too prolonged it is distinctly beneficent and may
well be used in overcoming somnolence and lassitude as well as in improving
the fundamental organic functions (circulation, respiration), muscular strength,
or the acuity of the senses…
Biologically speaking, though the organism acquires no new assets it becomes
stronger by ridding itself of liabilities. In the foregoing it has been pointed out
that the cell-nucleus changes in such a manner as to increase the
preponderance of the nucleus.
Morphologically, therefore, the cells composing the entire organism assume a
more youthful condition. They resemble more the embryonic cells in this
respect, and this may account for the expansive growth which they display
under the proper nutritive regime."
One of the characteristics of old age is a decrease in the metabolic rate. It is
interesting to note, in this connection, that fasting produces rejuvenation by
inducing a permanent increase in the metabolic rate.
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."
It may also be pointed out that quite possibly much of the remaining part of the
body not lost in weight may also undergo significant changes of
rejuvenescence as a result of fasting.
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.
In the words of Dr. Herbert M. Shelton:
"The skin becomes more youthful, acquires a better color and better texture.
The eyes clear up and become brighter. One looks younger. The visible
rejuvenation in the skin is matched by manifest evidences of similar but
invisible rejuvenescence 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 or intracellular 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.
While recognizing the existence of autolysis as a common fact of everyday life,
it has been generally believed that the process could not be made subject to
human control and put to practical use.
Though it has been understood that abnormal growths in the body might be
absorbed through self-disintegration, the profound change in metabolism
necessary to bring about such autolysis has been thought to result only in
very rare cases following such conditions as extreme cachexia, the
puerperium, or menopause.
Such conditions, not always being within the realm of voluntary control, and
only occasionally producing the changes in question, offer no method
whereby autolysis can be instituted at will and put under control.
A complete revolution in such orthodox concepts necessarily follows
consideration of fasting. The fact is that fasting, in producing a profound
change in metabolism, serves as an immediate inducement to the
development of autolysis and can thus 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. In the early part of the nineteenth
century, Sylvester Graham wrote that:
"It is a general law of the vital economy" that "the decomposing absorbents
always first lay hold of and remove those substances which are of least use to
the economy; and hence, all morbid accumulations, such as wens, tumors,
abscesses, etc., are rapidly diminished and often wholly removed under severe
and protracted abstinence and fasting."
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. Patients, 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 prevented
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. Kagan observed that
after rabbits were fasted 17 days they gained 56 per cent in weight on a diet,
which, under usual conditions, would barely be sufficient to maintain a state of
equilibrium.
People, 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. Patients 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 proper. Thus both people who assimilate too much of food intake,
and those who assimilate too little, are helped by fasting.
Fasting affords the organs of the body the closest possible approach to a
complete physiological rest. Many organs are overworked and over
stimulated, and hence weakened, through 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.
Thus the organs are given a chance to recuperate and restore their vital
powers. 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 could 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. The
body thus gradually releases itself from a former burden of superfluous and
waste material.
Increased elimination of toxins is noted on the very first days of the fast. The
breath becomes very offensive, and the skin may also emit an offensive 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 increased, perhaps due to greater elimination via the
kidneys.
In some 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 primary elimination, however, brought about simply by internal absorption
and autolysis, is not apparent in outward reactions, except perhaps the loss of
weight and general weakness.
A marked improvement in nervous and mental function occurs on the fast.
Max Nordau declared that: "Pessimism has a physiological basis;" and it may
also be said that even the most severe forms of mental aberration usually have
a physiological basis.
Under the usual circumstances of civilized life, with its nutritive inadequacies
and its inclusion of chemical stimulants and depressants, both in the food
supply and as drugs for the treatment of disease, there is a tendency to the
reduction of nerve energy, or enervation as it is called. The capacity of the
brain is also impaired, giving rise to an assortment of nervous and mental
diseases.
While fasting, all enervating influences are discontinued and the entire
nervous system and brain undergoes the same physiological rest that the
balance of the body experiences.
Nerve forces are restored and mental powers are improved. The ability to
reason is increased. The powers of attention and association are quickened
while memory of past events is often recovered.
Dr. Tanner and others even testified to the development of psychic powers
during the fast, which Dr. Tanner felt explained: "why the old prophets and
seers so often resorted to fasting as a means of spiritual illumination."
Fasting thus serves many purposes in terms of physiology and chemistry. It
produces rejuvenation of tissues, induces autolysis of abnormal growths,
improves the powers of digestion and assimilation, reestablishes normal
chemistry and secretion, affords the organs of the body a physiological rest,
increases elimination, promotes nerve energy recuperation, strengthens the
mind, and perhaps improves function in various ways which we do not yet
understand.
Obviously these factors are of considerable importance in determining the
physical condition of the body. They may mean the difference between
strength and weakness, health and disease, and perhaps even life and death.
By: Arnold DeVries
Article: Therapeutic Fasting
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/articles/classics3.html#2
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