by Arnold De Vries 

V E G E T A R I A N N E W S D I G E S T 

2146 BRANDEN STREET 

LOS ANGELES 26, CALIFORNIA 



COPYRIGHT 1 9 5 I ARNOLD DE VRIES 

All rights reserved. 

This book, 

or parts thereof, 

must not be reproduced 

in any form 

without permission. 

SECOND EDITION 

P R O D U C E D B Y H I G G I N S I N C O R P O R A T E D , C H I C A G O , 

A N D P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A 



Table of Contents 

1. Forms of Fasting 1 

2. A Short History of Fasting 3 

3. Physiological Reactions to Fasting 6 

4. Efficiency of Fasting I* 

5. The Complete Fast 27 

6. Safety of the Fast 3 3 

7. Symptoms of the Fast 3 9 

8. Supervising the Fast 47 

9. Breaking the Fast 53 

10. Living after the Fast 57 

Bibliography 

Index 6 9 









F O R M S O F F A S T I N G 

T H E T E R M , FASTING, IMPLIES 

total or partial abstinence from food or water for any of a 
number of reasons. Thus one may refer to fruit fasts, 
vegetable fasts, milk fasts, water fasts and many other 
types. As the different reasons for fasting are considered, 
other divisions may be given—viz, religious fasting, pro-
fessional fasting, physiological fasting, pathological fast-
ing and accidental or experimental fasting. 

A fruit fast is abstinence from fruit; a vegetable fast 
is abstinence from vegetables; a milk fast is abstinence 
from milk; a water fast is abstinence from water, and 
similar fasts may be defined accordingly. Religious fast-
ing is abstinence to develop spiritual thought or fulfill a 
religious rite. Professional fasting is abstinence for pur-
poses of notoriety and publicity. Physiological fasting is 
normal inanition in nature, such as the hibernation and 
seasonal abstinence of certain animals. Pathological fast-
ing is associated with organic derangements which make 
one unable to take or retain food. Accidental or experi-
mental fasting is forced inanition among man or animals 
for purposes of scientific investigation. 

These are the recognized forms of fasting. Yet, there 
is another, and perhaps much more important, classifica-
tion which is seldom given mention or even known about. 
This is therapeutic fasting—total abstinence from all 

i 



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 is not the result of any particular 
new scientific discovery, but rather has proceeded to its 
present development as the result of centuries of experi-
mentation, observation and study. It is today the culmina-
tion 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 un-
known, phase of the modern science of medicine, and as 
such it is the subject of our present inquiry and analysis. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



2 

A S H O R T H I S T O R Y O F F A S T I N G 

T H E ORIGIN OF FASTING FOR 

illness perhaps dates back to the development of the 
present forms of animal life. Among undomesticated ani-
mals it is a common practice to fast when ill, though this 
is of course an instinctive procedure rather than a plan-
ned 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 an-
cient Egyptians were said to treat syphilis with their fast-
ing 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 great-
est remedy." In the seventeenth century, Dr. Hoffman 

3 



wrote a book entitled, Description of the Magnificent Re-
sults Obtained Through Fasting in All Diseases. Dr. Anton 
Nikolai followed in the next century with recommenda-
tions 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 Ger-
many, 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 evolu-
tionary method whereby through a systemic cleansing 
you can restore yourself by degrees to physiologic nor-
mality." 

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. Hundreds of publications have been the result of 
this work and they provide thorough and exact knowledge 
regarding many phases of fasting. Among the best known 
research scientists who studied fasting were: Sergius 
Morgulis, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of 
Nebraska College of Medicine; Professor Child, of the 
University of Chicago; Herbert Sidney Langfield, of 
Harvard University; Dr. Frederick M. Allen, of the 
Rockefeller Institute; Francis Gano Benedict and Ernest 
G. Ritzman, of the Carnegie Institute; Luigi Luciani, 
Professor of Physiology at the University of Rome, and 
Victor Pashutin, Director of the Imperial Military Medi-
cal Academy of pre-revolutionary Russia. Other scientific 
studies of fasting have been made by N. Pyaskovski, W. 
Skorczewski, N. J. Sands, A. Cleghorn, N. Morozov, P. 
B. Hawk, P. E. Howe, O. S. Soltz, C. A. Stewart, S. R. 
Wreath, C. M. Jackson, L. H. Hyman, N. Zuntz, Roger 
et Josue, Miescher, Mansfield, Rosenfeld and many 
others. All told, during the past century, hundreds of 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



scientific workers in many countries have added to our 
knowledge of the biological importance of fasting. 

In contrast to these scientists, who were concerned 
primarily with developing laboratory data from studies 
of experimental and physiological fasting, chiefly among 
animals and to a lesser extent among humans, we have 
the other men of science who were concerned with the 
clinical and therapeutic phases of fasting. They super-
vised tens of thousands of fasts, and as a result discovered 
the exact effectiveness of fasting as a remedy for specific 
diseases. Among these physicians were many of the nine-
teenth century, in addition to those now practicing. They 
include, among others: Dr. Isaac Jennings, Dr. Joel Shew, 
Dr. Russell Thacker Trail, Dr. Robert Walter, Dr. Henry 
S. Tanner, and Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey. The experi-
ence of these men was followed in the twentieth century 
by that of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard; Dr. Hereward 
Carrington; Dr. Eugene A. Bergholtz, of Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin; Dr. John M. Tilden, of Denver, Colorado; 
Dr. William Howard Hay, of Mount Pocana, Pennsyl-
vania, and Dr. George S. Weger, of Redlands, California. 
Today Dr. Herbert M. Shelton, of San Antonio, Texas, 
carries on the important work, and Doctors Esser, Benesh 
and Gian-Cursio are also making important contribu-
tions. 

History thus 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 
physician and layman. 

History of Fasting 5 



P H Y S I O L O G I C A L R E A C T I O N S T O 
F A S T I N G 

T H E DEVELOPMENT A N D EVOLU-

tion 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 witheld 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 pro-
cesses 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 thera-
peutic 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 ex-
periments with young planaria, more commonly known 
as earthworms. He fed an entire colony of these worms 

6 



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 senes-
cence. The starveling is brought back from an advanced 
age to the beginning of post-embryonic life; it is almost 
reborn." 

Other experiments, conducted by E. 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 re-
juvenation. He states: "Laboratory as well as clinical ex-
periments corroborated the rejuvenating effects of inani-
tion. If it is not too prolonged it is distinctly beneficent 
and may well be used in over-coming 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 

Physiological Reactions 7 



stronger by ridding itself of liabilities. In the foregoing 
it has been pointed out that the cell-nucleus ratio 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 con-
nection, that fasting produces rejuvenation by inducing 
a permanent increase in the metabolic rate. In experi-
ments 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 ob-
served. 

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, ap-
proximately 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 re-
maining 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 

8 IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



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, discolora-
tions and pimples tend to disappear. In the words of Dr. 
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 re-
juvenation in the skin is matched by manifest evidences 
of similar but invisible rejuvenescence throughout the 
body." i r . . T 

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 intra-cellular 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 ab-
scess "points" to the surface of the body to empty is con-
tents, autolysis was involved when the flesh between the 
abscess and the surface was digested by enzymes. 

While recognizing the existence of autolysis as a com-
mon fact of everyday life, it has been generally believed 
that the process could not be made subject to human con-
trol and put to practical use. Though it has been under-
stood that abnormal growths in the body might be ab-
sorbed through self-disintegration, the profound change 
in metabolism necessary to bring about such autolysis has 

Physiological Reactions 9 



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 produc-
ing 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 nec-
essarily 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 rec-
ognized for over a century by those who employed fast-
ing. In the early part of the nineteenth century, Sylvester 
Graham wrote that "it is a general law of the vital eco-
nomy" 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 dimin-
ished and often wholly removed under severe and pro-
tracted abstinence and fasting." 

During the fast, the body has the opportunity to re-
distribute 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 per-
manently removed. 

On the fast the assimilative powers of the body are in-
creased. 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 fast-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



ing. 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 firm-
ly fixed in their sockets while fasting, and swollen, in-
flamed 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 chroni-
cally 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 as-
similation 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 assim-
ilate too much of their food intake, and those who as-
similate too little, are helped by fasting. 

Fasting affords the organs of the body the closest pos-
sible approach to a complete physiological rest. Many 
organs are overworked and overstimulated, and hence 
weakened, through the constant use of defective foods 
and excessive quantities of foods. During a fast, the nec-
essary work done by the organs is reduced to the lowest 

Physiological Reactions 11 



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 in-
creased elimination. This, according to some observers, is 
the most important advantage of fasting. Part of the 
energy which would normally be devoted to the work of 
assimilation may, during a fast, be used to expell the ac-
cumulations 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 tis-
sues 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 do not occur 
in all cases, but there is always some outward indication 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



of increased elimination. The primary elimination, how-
ever, brought about simply by internal absorption and 
autolysis, is not apparent in outward reactions, except 
perhaps the loss of weight and general weakness. 

Fasting thus serves many purposes in terms of physi-
ology and chemistry. It produces rejuvenation of tissues, 
induces autolysis of abnormal growths, improves the 
power of digestion and assimilation, affords the organs of 
the body a physiological rest, increases elimination, re-
establishes normal chemistry and secretion, and perhaps 
improves functions 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. 

Physiological Reactions 13 



E F F I C I E N C Y O F F A S T I N G 

ON T H E BASIS OF OUR K N O W L E D G E 

regarding the physiological effects of fasting, we are justi-
fied in assuming that, theoretically at least, fasting should 
be a very efficient therapeutic agent. However, important 
as this is, it is not enough. A measure may be theoretical-
ly correct, and have a logical and reasonable basis in all 
respects, and yet in the treatment of disease it does not 
fulfill expectations. Thus it is necessary that fasting be 
given thorough consideration from the standpoint of 
statistics and available records of its use in the treatment 
of diseases of all types. 

The employment of fasting for therapeutic purposes 
has been very extensive. There are a number of prom-
inent physicians who can be referred to, each of whom 
has had experience in conducting thousands of fasts. 
Among these is Dr. Herbert M. Shelton, who has con-
ducted over 30,000 fasts at his institute ranging in length 
from a few days to as many months. This record involves 
more experience with fasting than that of any other liv-
ing physician, and perhaps also exceeds that of any phys-
ician of history. The work of the renowned Dr. William 
Howard Hay, while director of the great Pocana Haven 
sanatorium in Mount Pocana, Pa., included the super-
vision of several thousand fasts. Dr. George S. Weger 
listed the number of patients whom were treated at his 

14 



sanatorium at approximately 5,000. The experience of 
Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard covered nearly 2,500 pa-
tients. For decades Dr. John M. Tilden treated patients 
at his fasting institute in Denver, Colorado, and the large 
Bergholtz Clinic, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded by 
Dr. Eugene A. Bergholtz, published the case histories of 
many of its thousands of fasting patients. Other physi-
cians have likewise been active in this work, each con-
ducting scores, hundreds or thousands of fasts, and they 
have reported the detailed results of their experiences 
with fasting. 

Most of the patients who have been treated at fasting 
institutes and sanatoriums had for years suffered from ill 
health. Many of them tried all other forms of healing— 
drugs, surgery, manipulation, massage, artificial fever 
treatments, electrical treatments, autosuggestion etc.— 
all to no avail. Finally, as a last resort they decided to try 
fasting. Heart disease, cancer, ulcers, colitis, asthma, 
sinusitis, arthritis, tumors, gall bladder infection and 
other ailments, which are so seldom completely and per-
manently remedied by orthodox means, were common 
among the afflictions of the patients. 

Yet the percentage of recoveries has been amazingly 
high—exceeding that resulting from the use of any other 
therapeutic measure. Many patients, after suffering for 
years from so-called incurable ailments, have been com-
pletely restored to health. All physicians caring for the 
fasting patients have pointed out the unusual efficiency 
of the fasting treatment. Dr. Shelton, for instance, has 
reported that 95 per cent of the patients at his institute 
have recovered health or claimed benefit, and others who 
have made lengthy observations of his patients under care 
do not deny the accuracy of his figure. 

Dr. William L. Esser has given statistics regarding the 
treatment of 155 patients that were cared for at his sana-
torium. These included all the patients who were fasted 

Efficiency of Fasting 15 



during a two year period. A total of 31 different types of 
disease were treated. These included, among others, 
ulcers, tumors, tuberculosis, sinusitis, pyorrhea. Parkin-
son's disease, heart disease, cancer, insomnia, gallstones, 
epilepsy, colitis, hay fever, bronchitis, asthma and arth-
ritis. The length of the shortest fast was five days; that of 
the longest fast was 55 days. In many cases the length of 
the fasts was restricted by time and financial limitations, 
with only about 20 per cent of the patients remaining in 
the sanatorium long enough to fast as long as recom-
mended. 

Of the 155 patients, 113 were completely restored to 
health; 31 were partially recovered, and 12 patients were 
not helped at all. Thus the rate of complete recovery was 
71 per cent; of partial recovery, 20 per cent, and of fail-
ure, 9 per cent. In view of the character of diseases treat-
ed, this represents a very high degree of efficiency, as 
compared to other therapeutic measures. 

Sinclair collected statistics of people who had fasted 
without professional supervision. In some cases their dis-
eases were diagnosed by physicians but the fasts were 
usually undertaken on the patients' own initiative. The 
fasts covered 117 people; the total number of fasts taken 
was 277, and the average number of days per fast was 
six. Ninety of the fasts exceeded four days in length, and 
six were 30 days or longer. Many of the fasts lasted only 
a few days. 

One hundred of the 117 people reported complete re-
covery or some benefit from fasting, indicating a total 
percentage of slightly more than 93 per cent who were 
helped. A total of 116 diseases, of 30 different types, were 
listed as completely or partially remedied. As some of 
the people suffered from more than one disease, the num-
ber of diseases helped was higher than the number of pa-
tients. Of those who were not helped, about half had 
fasted only a few days and some of the rest gave wrong 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



breaking of the fast as the reason for the failure. The 
therapeutic record of fasting can be further seen in con-
sidering the use of this measure in the treatment of a 
number of specific diseases. 

Prognosis in the case of many eye diseases is good if 
fasting is employed. Numerous cases of visual defects 
have been completely remedied by fasting, though some 
mechanical defects cannot be corrected of course, and 
certain eye ailments require aid which fasting cannot give. 
When the muscles of the eyes suffer from a lack of tone, 
strength, flexibility, suppleness and coordination, special 
eye exercises will give more benefit than fasting, or eye-
glasses will afford temporary relief, though fasting may 
be used to supplement these measures. 

Among the eye conditions for which fasting is often a 
specific remedy are cataract, congestion of the conjunc-
tiva, catarrhal and granular conjunctivitis, glaucoma, 
iritis, keratitis and stye. Early cataract generally disap-
pears on the fast; advanced cases may disappear, but 
recovery is. much less certain. Dr. Shelton records one 
case in which blindness of one eye (due to cataract) com-
pletely disappeared on a fast of 18 days. Dr. Gerald 
Benesh reports equal success in treating a complete cata-
ract, which yielded to a 21 day fast. The forms of conjunc-
tivitis require only cleanliness and fasting for r e c o v e r 
with short fasts in acute cases and long fasts in chronic 
cases. When glaucoma exists, the hardness of the eye tends 
to disappear, with the excessive fluid being absorbed, on 
fasts of two to three weeks in duration. In advanced cases, 
when complete atrophy is present, the prognosis is not 
favorable, with blindness the usual result. Iritis, keratitis 
and stye need only fasting, cleanliness and rest, with re-
covery the general rule unless previous suppressive treat-
ment leaves permanent damage to sight. 

Respiratory ailments respond quickly to the fast. Hay 
fever disappears in virtually all cases without any change 

Efficiency of Fasting 17 



of climate. Patients with catarrh recover on the fast, 
although eliminations may increase temporarily on the 
early days of the fast. Polyps, which may be present, are 
absorbed; the thickened membranes return to their nor-
mal thickness, though the atrophied structures of ad-
vanced catarrh cannot be rebuilt. Sinusitis responds 
readily to the fast; only a few days of fasting will bring 
relief in some cases; in others long fasts may be necessary. 
Chronic laryngitis yields quickly to the fast. Chronic 
cases of asthma usually attain much relief within just a 
few days of fasting, with complete recovery in a matter 
of weeks. Those asthmatics who are unable to sleep lying 
in bed and consequently sleep in a sitting position are 
usually relieved sufficiently within 36 hours without food 
to sleep in bed. Dr. Benesh refers to different patients re-
covering from severe and long-standing asthma on fasts 
of different duration. One case required two fasts of 15 
and 21 days; another responded to several short fasts of 
2, 5, 6 and 7 days; the third fasted 26 days, and two fasts 
of 23 and 26 days were necessary in the most advanced 
case. Of the hundreds of asthmatics treated by Dr. Shel-
ton with fasting, only three failed to recover. Congestion 
of the lungs is rapidly and safely remedied in all cases 
through fasting, and bronchitis responds equally well to 
treatment. The most important respiratory disease, tuber-
culosis of the lungs, has often been treated with the fast. 
When the disease is in its acute state the prognosis is often 
unfavorable, but chronic tuberculosis in the early stages 
is almost always remediable by fasting. A series of short 
fasts is given preference over a single fast of long dura-
tion in these cases. This is due to the difficulty some 
tubercular patients have in gaining weight after long 
fasts. 

Various forms of gland diseases have been treated by 
fasting. Chief of these are Addison's disease and goiter. 
In virtually all cases the former disease is regarded as in-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



curable when treated by orthodox means, with all pa-
tients expected to succumb within a few months to several 
years. When fasting is employed, complete recovery is 
not the usual rule, but the life is generally prolonged and 
rendered more comfortable. Treatment of the various 
forms of goiter is usually more successful. Dr. Weger 
states that "most hypertrophic goiters can be made to 
absorb," and that "almost without exception, exophthal-
mic goiter is curable without surgery." Dr. Tilden also 
points to the ease of curing exophthalmic goiter with fast-
ing. The cystic goiter does not respond as well to fasting 
and its complete absorption is quite rare. 

Fasting is important to all patients with pernicious 
anemia. Dr. Tilden remarked that "cases of pernicious 
anemia taken off their food will double their blood count 
in a week." Dr. Weger reports a less rapid increase and 
refers to one case in which hemoglobin increased 50 per 
cent and white cells were reduced 50 per cent on a 12 day 
fast. Dr. Hay's experience has been equally satisfactory, 
and he reports that, of the 101 pernicious anemia pa-
tients he had treated with fasting, only eight failed of 
initial recovery. Some who relapsed, presumably because 
of defective nutritional habits after the first fast, once 
again fasted and recovered. 

Another blood disease, leukemia, which has never, in 
recorded medical history, yielded to the usual methods of 
treatment, responds favorably to fasting. Leukemia is 
generally associated with an excess of white cells in the 
blood, an impairment of the cells of bone marrow, and 
in some cases, impairment of the lymphatic glands, with 
enlargement of the spleen. It was Tauszk who discovered 
that the number of white cells in the blood decreases on 
the fast, and since then Dr. Weger has reported the same 
thing with respect to his patients. Soltz, Meyers and 
Roger et Josue have described the changes fasting pro-
duces in the bone marrow, and Prof. Morgulis states that 

Efficiency of Fasting 19 



"the chemical changes of the marrow are most profound" 
while fasting. Prof. Morgulis also refers to the "rather 
abrupt diminution of the spleen" which occurs on the 
early part of the fast. Mann, Drip and Miescher have 
also studied fasting animals and pointed out the impor-
tant effect which fasting has on the spleen. 

In view of these facts, it is not surprising to hear that 
both Dr. Weger and Dr. Tilden report good results in 
treating leukemia with fasting. Dr. Shelton reports that 
his experience with leukemia, though limited, has shown 
satisfactory results. Recovery, however, is not often im-
mediate while fasting, but proceeds gradually after the 
fast during a period of correct nutrition and frequent 
sunbathing. Dr. Tilden claims that if patients suffering 
from leukemia in its advanced state "get well in six 
months or a year" they are "going very rapidly toward 
recovery." 

Fasting is of supreme importance in the treatment of 
all cases of poliomyelitis. In the acute form the prognosis 
as regards life is good, with a much lower death rate than 
follows either the Kenny treatment or orthodox treat-
ment. Cases of permanent disability are almost unknown 
when fasting is employed, with all paralysis rapidly dis-
appearing within a few weeks in most cases. In an aver-
age of 98 per cent of all cases recovery is complete while 
fasting or shortly after the fast. When chronic anterior 
poliomyelitis is present the prognosis is less favorable, 
though further degeneration is usually checked and the 
life is prolonged. Bulbar paralysis, a less common form 
of poliomyelitis, usually ends fatally no matter what form 
of treatment is given. Fasting, however, still gives the best 
chance of recovery and prolongation of life. 

Literally thousands of abnormal growths have under-
gone dissolution and absorption on fasts. Most of these 
were benign tumors; others were malignant tumors—or 
cancer. Shelton, Hazzard, Tilden, Weger and Rabag-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



liati, among others, report many such cases. As a general 
rule, benign tumors disappear more rapidly than those 
which have become malignant. 

Armstrong, of England, writes that he has "seen lumps 
in female breasts treated to a fast, some after diagnosis 
by experts, the bulk after self-diagnosis, and to disappear, 
on water only, in from four to twenty days." Macfadden 
remarks that his experience has shown "beyond all pos-
sible doubt that a foreign growth of any kind can be ab-
sorbed into the circulation by simply compelling the body 
to use every unnecessary element contained within it for 
food." 

Dr. Shelton reported recovery of one case diagnosed 
as cancer in as little as three days of fasting. Dr. Hazzard 
records a case in which 55 days of fasting were required 
before recovery was complete. In most cases the neoplasm 
of cancer is absorbed slowly on fasts. In certain cases 
there is not complete absorption, though further growth 
is usually checked. Complete recovery may or may not 
occur. Early cancer is usually completely remedied by 
fasting. Patients with late cancer are much less fortunate 
and the death rate is higher, though fasting under such 
conditions still gives the best chance of a cure. 

Fasting is of exceptional value in the treatment of ap-
pendicitis. Recovery generally takes place within a few 
days to two weeks of fasting. The advantage of fasting 
over surgery in such cases, especially those which are 
most severe, is seen by the fact that the mortality rate in 
cases of acute, gangrenous, ruptured appendicitis with 
peritonitis is only 1.43 per cent when the operation is de-
ferred. Immediate operations for the same condition have 
provided a mortality rate of 10.64 per cent (Reference: 
Journal of the American Medical Association, Dec. 5, 
1936, page 1910). Further, the average death rate in all 
forms of appendicitis when surgery is resorted to is slight-
ly less than 4 per cent, with 25,000 of an average of 

Efficiency of Fasting 21 



520,000 patients dying annually in the United States. The 
efficiency of fasting in such cases is shown by the experi-
ence of Dr. Hay, who treated over 400 patients who were 
afflicted with acute and chronic appendicitis. In nineteen 
cases the appendix had already ruptured. Yet complete 
recovery occurred in every case without a single failure 
or fatality. In no instance was surgery resorted to. Each 
patient was fasted until .recovery was complete. 

Fasting has been used with success in the treatment of 
various forms of sexual disorders and venereal diseases. 
Dr. Hazzard points out that the bacillus of gonorrhea 
"cannot long exist if the products of elimination are nor-
mal, and if cleanliness, especially of the female, is proper-
ly observed." She states that the "irritating symptoms of 
local venereal infection yield to treatment (fasting) in a 
few days, and convalescence brings no supervening an-
noyance as expressed in urethral stricture, prostatic con-
gestion, etc." 

Regarding syphilis, Dr. Shew wrote that "The hunger-
cure is nowhere more applicable." The great medical 
authority, Dr. Robert Bartholow, also pointed out the 
value of fasting in such cases. Dr. Shelton states that 
"without exception" his patients with syphilis "have got-
ten well in four to eight weeks under hygienic care." Dr. 
Tilden refers to recovery from syphilis "in from six weeks 
to two months without aftermaths of any kind" when the 
fasting treatment, followed by correct diet, is employed. 
Dr. Weger claims that the "local lesions of the first-stage 
heal with startling rapidity," and that "pharyngeal, 
labial, and buccal ulcerations frequently disappear before 
the tenth day of fasting." 

Diabetes was first treated with fasting by the famous 
French clinician, A. Guelpa, of Paris. Dr. Guelpa noted 
that fasting for three or four successive days rendered 
the urine of the patient with severe diabetes sugar-free, 
and effected pronounced improvement in the state of 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



health, with no aggravation of the disease in any case. 
The American physician, Dr. Heinrich Stern, was next 
to treat diabetes with fasting and reduced nutritional in-
take, and his many hundreds of patients as a rule re-
sponded favorably. Dr. Stern found that, though there 
were certain cases of the severest types of diabetes "which 
no amount of fasting would render sugar-free," the ma-
jority of patients "cease to excrete sugar within forty-
eight to sixty hours," with an occasional patient fasting 
six days or longer before the glycosuric symptom disap-
peared. In approximately seventy-five per cent of all 
cases the urine was also rendered free from ketones, 
though this required a longer period of fasting. Dr. 
Frederick Allen, of the Rockefeller Institute, has also 
employed the "starvation treatment" of diabetes, and his 
important work with fasting and restricted diet in 1915 
effected a 60 per cent reduction in deaths from diabetic 
coma. 

Also treated in many instances by fasting is the serious 
disease, epilepsy. Several decades ago Dr. Rabagliati 
noted that fasting "seems to be of very great efficacy in 
the treatment of epilepsy." In 1932 Dr. C. Climmessen 
came to a similar conclusion as a result of his work at the 
Hospital for Nervous and Mental Diseases in Dianlund, 
Denmark. On the basis of 155 fasting treatments for 
epilepsy, Dr. Climmessen found that in the great ma-
jority of cases, fasting caused the epileptic attacks to 
cease within four to five days, irrespective of the previous 
duration of illness. Fasting was equally effective whether 
the epilepsy was of organic nature or cryptogenetic, and 
it seemed to be most effective in cases with very frequent 
seizures. 

Other diseases appear to respond in the same effective 
and consistent manner to fasting. Dr. Shew noted that 
"There is nothing in the world that will produce so great 
relief in hemorrhoids as fasting," and Carrington stated: 

Efficiency of Fasting 23 



"I may add that I have observed some most striking ex-
amples of such cures myself." Arthritis and related 
diseases are usually speedily remedied by fasting, with 
gradual disappearance of the severe pains and swelling 
and the complete or partial absorption of the deformity 
by autolysis, providing complete ossification of the joint 
is not present. Fasts of one to four weeks usually alleviate 
acute arthritis, with longer fasts being employed if de-
formities are present. Simple acne disappears on short 
fasts. The more severe forms, and also eczema, require 
longer fasts, often ranging in length up to three or four 
weeks. Both colitis and ulcers respond favorably to 
fasting, with disappearance of pain after the first few 
days, and complete recovery within a matter of weeks. 
Patients with heart disease are often helped by fasting. 
Angina pectoris, acute myocarditis, fatty overgrowth of 
the heart, endocarditis and ordinary pericarditis are 
those forms which respond most favorably. Dilation of 
the heart, hemopericardium (blood in the pericardium), 
and calcified pericardium can usually be remedied only 
partially when any form of help is possible. Simple gall 
bladder and bile duct infection is generally completely 
remedied on fasts of one to three weeks in duration, with 
somewhat longer fasts required when stones have formed 
in the gall bladder. High blood pressure is cured by the 
fast, and one case has been reported in which a systolic 
pressure of 295 was brought down to 115 after three 
weeks of fasting. Even leprosy has yielded to fasting— 
Shelton reporting one case of complete recovery from this 
disease in as little as 21 days. Other diseases, such as 
arteriosclerosis, Hodgkin's disease, varicose veins, catar-
rhal deafness and mental disorders, have been in success-
fully treated by fasting. 

In particular it is true that fasting is of extraordinary 
value in the treatment of all acute diseases. Regardless 
of the forms such ailments have taken, fasting has been 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



employed as the first requirement and continued until 
the acute symptoms subsided. Not only is recovery much 
more rapid than when the customary treatments are 
given, but the mortality rate is much lower than usual. 
Indeed, some fasting practitioners report no mortality 
rate at all for the acutely-ill, and Dr. Shelton states 
that, of the hundreds of such patients he has cared for, 
"not a single one" has "died or failed to recover" or de-
veloped complications of any kind. 

Typhoid fever patients recover in about two weeks 
while fasting, in absence of most of the distressing symp-
toms which result from feeding and giving medication 
to such patients. Smallpox takes only the form of a light 
disease when fasting is instituted immediately. There is 
only very slight itching, no complications, and very 
rarely any pitting at all. In cases of scarlet fever, the 
rash disappears within four to seven days and the fever 
is gone by the fourth day. Mumps disappear within six 
to ten days of fasting, with no danger of complications. 
Regarding rheumatic fever, Dr. Weger claims that "in 
no case in which food was withheld from the onset did 
the temperature remain above normal for longer than 
ten days, and recovery was prompt without merging into 
the sub-acute and chronic stage." In the case of influenza, 
Dr. Weger points to the "rapid decline of all symptoms 
and abatement of temperature usually within three 
days," while fasting, with no mortality rate at all. Erysi-
pelas, he declares, is "readily checked without pursuing 
its usual round-trip course." Fever disappears on the 
third or fourth day, with no abscesses or secondary infec-
tions. Dr. Weger not only refers to recovery from 
malaria "in all stages," but states that no relapses "have 
been reported on return from fever-infested surround-
ings." j . I 

There are no age barriers to fasting. Both aged indi-
viduals and young children have fasted with great bene-

Efficiency of Fasting 25 



fit. Even infants may be placed on short fasts, and there 
is one record of a 2-year-old child fasting to recovery 
from poliomyelitis, with paralysis, on a 47-day fast, 
during which time the weight fell from 32 pounds to 15 
pounds. Obviously such long fasts in children are the 
exception rather than the general rule, and they are 
not always to be recommended. Nor is long fasting often 
necessary during childhood, most children's diseases disap-
pearing rapidly during short fasts. 

The only periods of life in which the use of fasting 
may be questioned are those of lactation and pregnancy. 
Fasting stops the secretion of milk and hence prevents 
the mother from nursing her child. During pregnancy 
long fasts to remedy chronic diseases are certainly inad-
visable, though when acute disease exists, there may be 
a short fast until most or all of the symptoms subside. 

Clearly, in terms of strict efficiency, fasting is of excep-
tional value as a therapeutic measure. It is in no sense 
a cure-all, nor is it the only method whereby health can 
be restored. As was noted, some conditions in their ad-
vanced stages do not always recover on the fast. Further, 
the same results which often occur while fasting may 
occur by employing certain diets, though the latter 
method frequently is much less certain and incomparably 
slower than the fast. For speed and certainty in recovery 
the fast has no equal in the cases of most diseases, as 
the employment of fasting in thousands of cases has 
clearly shown. As regards efficiency, it is in a class by 
itself. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



5 

T H E C O M P L E T E F A S T 

IT IS T H E COMMON A N D POPULAR 

opinion that fasting and starvation are synonymous. Upon 
first hearing of therapeutic fasting, many speak of it as the 
"starvation cure." Actually, there is an important differ-
ence between fasting and starvation, and though both 
imply abstinence from food, the physiological effects are 
in no sense similar. 

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 ab-
stinence. From the start of every fast, the body com-
mences 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. In children the skeletal structure continues to 
grow, the marrow being drawn upon for nourishment for 
this purpose. 

Such is the nutritive aspect of fasting. The body con-
tinues to receive, from its reserves, the sustaining mate-
rials of life. There is of course a limit to this supply. 
When all normal food reserves have been exhausted the 

27 



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. 

This is the stage which Prof. Morgulis states "is 
characterized by the predominance of pathological 
phenomena caused by the prolonged stringency of nour-
ishment and exhaustion of tissues." Morgulis further 
points out that "the morphological changes observed in 
advanced starvation are practically identical with those 
found in every pathological condition and present noth-
ing peculiar." During this period the healthy tissues are 
wasted, the vitality is depleted, and the body is ema-
ciated. The blood atrophies; the cells of the liver, heart, 
kidneys, pancreas and other organs become the seat of 
degenerative processes. As the conditions reach their ad-
vanced stages, death occurs. 

Fasting begins with the omission of the first meal and 
ends with the exhaustion of all food reserves. Starvation 
begins at this time and ends with death. Thus where the 
one process ends, the other begins. Whereas scientific 
fasting is accompanied by beneficial results, the elimina-
tion of pathology, and rejuvenation, starvation is accom-
panied by the development of pathology, degeneration, 
and the most disastrous consequences. 

When the food reserves of the body have been con-
sumed, 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 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



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 condi-
tions 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. 

Dr. Hereward Carrington describes the feelings of the 
fasting patient at the completion of the fasting period in 
these words: " A sudden and complete rejuvenation; a 
feeling of lightness, buoyancy, and good health steals over 
the patient in an irresistible way, bringing contentment 
and a general feeling of well being, and the possession of 
a superabundance of animal spirits." 

Recognition of the great difference between fasting 
and starvation, and the symptoms which denote the end 
of one period and the beginning of the other, is of vital 
importance in the employment of therapeutic fasting. 
Abstinence from food can be exceedingly dangerous if 
one attempts to set in advance , the length of a period 
of fasting without regard to the differences between the 
two phases of inanition. On the other hand, an under-
standing of these points eliminates all danger of true 
starvation. The symptoms which indicate the end of the 
fasting period are easily recognizable in all cases, and the 
simple knowledge of what these are can be of assurance 
to both the physician and layman that the fast will not 
be extended too long. 

The Complete Fast 29 



The fast which lasts to the return of hunger and the 
consequent end of the fasting period is said to be "com-
plete." It has carried the work of renovation, rejuvena-
tion and cleansing to its final consummation. The pa-
tient has then undergone the most thorough therapeutic 
treatment that is possible to provide. His body has lost 
most or all of its superfluous materials, waste matter and 
diseased or dead tissues. It is then in an ideal condition 
upon which to build new healthy protoplasm, with con-
sequent vigorous health. 

The tune required for the fast to reach completion 
varies in the individual cases. Some have exhausted their 
food reserves after as little as 20 per cent of the body 
weight was lost, with others remaining in the fasting 
period when over half—even up to 60 per cent—of the 
body tissues were consumed. It is easily understood, of 
course, that the overweight individual can fast longer 
than one who is thin. Among those who are particularly 
obese, the extra layers of fat and other tissue will pro-
vide the body with nourishment long after the normal 
patient would reach the termination of the fasting period. 

Measuring the fast in terms of days, weeks and months, 
we find that some patients have fasted as long as ninety 
days before experiencing the return of hunger and other 
symptoms denoting the end of the fast. Sinclair reported 
what was perhaps the shortest complete fast on record, 
that of his wife, in which case the tongue rapidly cleared 
after only ten days of abstinence from food. For most 
patients, however, the completion of the fasting period 
is not reached at such extremes. Though exact statistics 
listing the length of the average complete fast are not 
available, an estimate of from four to seven weeks is 
probably fairly close. 

A number of physicians have maintained that every 
fast should be carried to completion, unless adverse symp-
toms force other action. Among these were Dewey, Car-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



rington and Hazzard. Dr. Dewey mentioned cases in 
which the patients broke their fasts prematurely and 
were unable to digest the foods, vomiting everything that 
was eaten. Upon resumption of fasting, and continuance 
to the return of hunger, normal digestive powers were 
restored and foods could be handled with ease. Dr. Car-
rington referred to the artificial breaking of a fast before 
the return of hunger as "an abomination, and an outrage 
upon the system which cannot be too strongly depre-
cated." Dr. Hazzard believed that "Not until hunger 
indicates the need for food is the organism in condition 
to receive and transform it into tissue structure." 

Today the majority of practitioners accept, with re-
servations, the advisability of carrying the fast to its 
natural termination. The complete fast is looked upon 
as an ideal, but seldom as a necessity. Cases in which 
digestion is difficult or impossible until the fast is "com-
plete" are very rare and most present-day physicians 
have not encountered them. If the correct foods are 
given, a fast for chronic disease can be broken at almost 
any time without trouble. When acute disease is present, 
digestion is often impossible for a time and the fast must 
continue, though this is due to the disease itself rather 
than the fast. 

Certainly it is true that the utmost benefit is derived 
from a complete fast. In the case of some severe degener-
ative diseases recovery is impossible without such a fast, 
and in rare instances one complete fast may not even 
be sufficient, with fasting again being resumed after a 
long period of eating to rebuild the food reserves of the 
body. For the majority of acute diseases, on the other 
hand, a complete fast is very seldom necessary, with re-
covery usually taking place long before the termination 
of the fasting period is reached. For chronic diseases in 
their early stages, a short fast of a week or two often 
gives the desired results. When the patient is very weak 

The Complete Fast 31 



or emaciated, certainly a complete fast is not called for. 
It is apparent that no strict rule applying to all pa-

tients and diseases can be applied here. The length of 
each fast must be determined individually; it cannot 
safely and effectively be called in advance. All that can 
first be given is a general estimate; as the fast progresses 
and the symptoms subside, the correct time to give food 
can be chosen. For those whose condition and circum-
stances are most favorable, the fast can perhaps be car-
ried to completion if this is so desired. For others—no 
doubt the majority—this will be considered neither nec-
essary nor desirable. Each physician or individual must 
give judgment in these cases as he sees fit. The problem 
is not a difficult one; with adequate knowledge, observa-
tion and care, the fast may be broken at the most oppor-
tune time, without danger, and with the possible bene-
fits and objects in view having been secured. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



6 
S A F E T Y O F T H E F A S T 

W H I L E RECOGNIZING T H E V A L U E OF 

fasting as a specific remedy for certain diseases, it is also nec-
essary to consider the question of safety. It is one thing to 
be given the possibility or probability of recovery; it is an-
other to be given this without any attendant danger, with 
assurance that a gamble is not being made which may 
involve disadvantages as well as advantages. 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 thera-
peutic 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 position of fasting in these 
respects. 

Generally speaking, initial consideration of fasting is 
associated with fear both of death and the possibility of 
doing serious harm to the body. On the surface, at least, 
such fear may have a logical and reasonable basis, con-
sidering the fact that tradition has provided the almost 
universal impression that just a week or two of absti-
nence is associated with grave danger and possible death. 
This has led to analysis of fasting by many physicians 
who considered any observations of actual fasting to be 

33 



completely out of the question. The conclusions thus 
drawn inevitably were completely theoretical and specu-
lative, there being no actual cases of fasting present upon 
which practical deductions could have been made. 

Unfortunately reports of fasting all too frequently are 
founded upon the very basis mentioned, with the result 
that objections to fasting have been made which, though 
they may sound logical from the theoretical evidence 
at hand, are completely fantastic to those who have done 
either laboratory or therapeutic work with fasting. In 
consequence statements have been made that fasting 
weakens the heart, causes the heart to collapse, causes 
the stomach to atrophy or makes the digestive juices di-
gest the stomach, produces deficiency disease, causes the 
teeth to decay, lowers the resistance of the body to dis-
ease, causes degeneration of cells, is opposed to our nat-
ural instincts, causes edema, causes acidosis, and last 
but not least, creates a grave danger of death. 

In actual experience not a single one of these objec-
tions to fasting has been found to have any basis in fact. 
Quite apart from being weakened or collapsed by fast-
ing, 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. Patients who have 
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 min-
erals 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 

34 IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



is not used in the work of digestion and assimilation, the 
need for minerals is lowered. The reserves of these ele-
ments 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 to the body to digest, assimi-
late and metabolize the flour. Hence, not one, but many, 
severe deficiency diseases quickly arise on such a diet. 
Deficiency diseases frequently even recover on the fast, 
due to better assimilation of elements already stored in 
the body. In this connection, the contrast between defi-
cient diets and fasting is pointed out by Prof. Morgulis, 
who states that "our observation that the chronically 
underfed dog became debilitated in a measure not com-
monly noted in animals which undergo a straight fast 
is also borne out by more extensive study of this matter 
by Benedict, Miles, Roth and Smith." 

Claims that fasting causes degeneration of cells result 
from studies of animals in the last stages of starvation. 
Kellogg, for instance, refers to the work of Statkewitsch, 
who found that prolonged fasting in many animals was 
associated with degeneration. Not distinguishing between 
the periods of fasting and starvation thus leads to wrong 
impressions. Rejuvenation rather than degeneration is 
the result of fasting. 

Quite apart from lowering resistance to disease, and 
producing diseases such as tuberculosis, which are be-
lieved to follow low resistance, fasting increases the resist-
ance to disease and has been used successfully as a 
specific remedy of tuberculosis. Resistance depends upon 
chemical balance, abundant nerve force and all of the 
physiological conditions which fasting produces. The nu-
merous complete recoveries from disease which occur 

Safety of the Fast 35 



while fasting are in themselves evidence that the power to 
overcome infection is raised on the fast, rather than 
susceptibility increased. 

Animal experiments substantiate these points. Roger 
and Jause found that fasting produces an increased tol-
erance toward bacilli coli in rabbits. Three to eleven 
days after the animals had fasted for five to seven days, 
the inoculation of bacterial culture took place. Without 
exception all control rabbits developed the infection, 
whereas the rabbits which had been fasted escaped all 
symptoms of infection. 

Though instinct is not given as a scientific reason for 
fasting or anything else, it is only fair to point out that 
fasting is not opposed to our natural instincts in the sense 
that is often reported. It is said that to fast is to thwart 
our normal sensations of hunger. The implication here 
is that hunger is normal throughout the fast, whereas 
the fact is that it only exists for the first few days, and 
when acute disease is present, it often does not exist at 
all. Unquestionably the customary practice of forced 
feeding in the case of acute disease is opposed to our nat-
ural instincts. Even among wild and domestic animals 
fasting appears to be an instinctive practice. In case of 
an occasional illness, or a serious wound resulting from 
accident or battle, they frequently fast until recovery is 
well under way or complete. 

Beliefs that fasting produces edema have resulted from 
the misuse of fasting. Frederick Hoelzel writes that he 
has "not known of any case of fasting, even when for 
only days, where some post-fasting edema was not pres-
ent." In Mr. Hoelzel's experience, cotton fibre, lemon 
juice, and salt were given as food after fasting. It is quite 
surprising that the aftereffects were not more serious 
than actually occurred. The development of edema under 
such a regime, with liberal amounts of water, is to be 
expected. On salt-water fasts, or when salt is used liber-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



ally with water immediately after fasts, the tissues be-
come water-logged, as the body attempts to protect it-
self from the irritating effects of the salt by holding it 
in solution, even though this calls for an excess of water 
in the tissues. The objection here is to salt, not fasting. 
In the general use of fasting, no salt-water is ever used, 
and edema has not developed, except in very rare in-
stances when the fasts were broken on incorrect food or 
when excessive amounts of food were ingested immedi-
ately after fasting, practices which of course are avoided 
by all physicians experienced with fasting. It may be 
added here that fasting is frequently used as a remedy 
for edema, and results have proven very satisfactory. 
Quite apart from causing the ailment, it is the most 
effective means of causing its disappearance. 

It is true that blood alkalinity is slightly lowered dur-
ing the fast. However, this never reaches the point that 
true "acidosis" exists. There are always sufficient alka-
line reserves in the body to prevent this condition. In all 
cases the blood is rapidly restored to its normal alkalinity 
when eating is resumed, and there is no evidence to 
indicate that the slightly lowered alkalinity during the 
fast has any detrimental effects. 

The mortality rate of patients who fast is extremely 
low. It is true, of course, that in rare instances people 
have died while fasting, though this cannot rightly be 
ascribed to the fast unless improper care was taken of 
the fasting patient or the fast was broken on improper 
food. The fact is that there is no record of death from a 
properly conducted fast. Deaths while fasting are gener-
ally due to the presence of organic disease. Of the 2,500 
fasting patients of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, eighteen 
died, indicating a mortality rate of only seven-tenths of 
one percent. In the case of each death an autopsy was 
performed, and in no instance was the death found due 
to fasting. In each case the medical examiners gave the 

Safety of the Fast 37 



presence of organic disease as the cause of death. 
It must be remembered that people who have fasted 

usually were victims of the most serious diseases. Most of 
them tried many forms of other medical and drugless 
treatment before ever considering fasting. It is generally 
as a last resort that the fasting method is employed. 
Many are near death when they start the fast. It is 
obvious that, under such conditions, some of the patients 
will die whether they fast or not. The development of 
pathology has simply gone too far, and nothing, not even 
fasting, can always prevent death in such cases. Actually 
the percentage of deaths while fasting is unquestionably 
much lower than is the case when the same diseases are 
treated by the usual orthodox means. 

In terms of safety, fasting is without doubt one of the 
best and most practical therapeutic agents. There are 
virtually no contradictions in fasting, in the sense that 
one part of the body is helped while another is harmed. 
In this respect it differs from so many other methods of 
treatment, which suppress one symptom, only to create 
others. Fasting helps the diseased organ in the same 
sense that it helps all other organs and tissues. Thus in 
securing a remedy for one disease, the body is made 
less liable to be afflicted by others. Health is restored by 
the safest and most effective means. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



7 

S Y M P T O M S O F T H E F A S T 

FASTING INVOLVES A C O N T I N U A L 

physiological change in the body. Rejuvenescence, auto-
lysis, increased assimilation, elimination and other pro-
cesses 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, a marked 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 hun-
ger 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 can even 
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. 
Dr. Weger reported that about one in each forty of his 
patients failed to lose their hunger on the fast. Other 
physicians also reported similar experiences. No reason 
is known to account for this abnormal reaction, and 

39 



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 fast-
ing. Here too there are very rare exceptions. Dr. Shel-
ton reports three cases in his experience in which the 
tongue remained clean throughout the fast. Patients 
have also been observed who exhibited a clean and sweet 
breath while fasting. In the usual cases, when the reac-
tions 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 de-
gree with different fasting patients. 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, with some patients 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 tempera-
ture is a symptom of only the starvation period, marking 
the complete exhaustion of the body's food reserves. 
Among animals in the starvation period, the temperature 
falls rapidly for two to six days before death. 

Even though body temperature may be normal while 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



fasting, there is occasionally a slight tendency towards 
chilliness. This is presumably due to decreased cutaneous 
circulation, and requires additional clothing or bed 
covering. The feet often become cold, and in such cases 
a hot water bottle may be applied to maintain comfort 
during sleep. 

There is usually some variation in the pulse rate dur-
ing the fast. In some cases it has risen as high as 120, 
and Macfadden records one case in which it dropped to 
20. In most cases of chronic disease, the pulse rises slightly 
at first, then falls to about 40 or slightly more, after 
which it rises again to about 60. When there is a disease 
of the heart present, the pulse rate often varies con-
siderably from the standard. An erratic pulse is quite 
frequent while fasting. Only when there is a persistent 
very erratic pulse, or when the pulse remains very high 
or very low for long periods should the fast be broken. 
The usual variations and short periods of erratic pulse 
should be taken for granted. 

Most fasting patients sleep less than usual. In some 
instances no more than three or four hours a day are 
spent sleeping. Others, especially those who have previ-
ously suffered from insomnia, sleep longer during the 
fast, with insomnia patients having slept as much as 20 
out of each 24 hours in some cases. 

During the first few weeks of fasting there is occa-
sionally an actual increase in strength. Prof. Luciani 
found that his fasting subject, Succi, registered a stronger 
grip on the dynamometer on the twenty-first day of 
the fast than when it began, and he further stated that 
the fatigue curve obtained by Succi was the same on 
the twenty-ninth day of the fast as is obtained from 
individuals under normal conditions. Dynamometric 
tests taken of Agnostino Levanzin, on his experimental 
thirty-one day fast at the Nutrition Laboratory of the 
Carnegie Institute, showed no decrease in strength. The 

Symptoms of the Fast 41 



one-time famous boxers, heavyweight Harry Wills and 
lightweight Freddy Welsh, both used short fasts during 
their training periods. In 1913 Macfadden supervised 
seven days of fasting of athletes who then appeared on 
the eighth day at Madison Square Garden to perform 
athletic feats, primarily weight-lifting, which would have 
been exceptional for even the best athletes while eating. 
It was on this occasion that Gilbert Low, after breaking 
his fast at the end of the eighth day, established nine 
world records for strength and endurance. 

An increase in strength is especially noticeable for 
those who are very weak at the beginning of the fast. 
Patients have been carried into fasting institutions on 
stretchers and gained strength so rapidly while fasting 
that they were walking about again within a few weeks. 
Macfadden, Carrington, Shelton and others have re-
ported increases in strength among their fasting patients. 
As a rule they have found that in these cases the increase 
in strength generally lasts to about three weeks, after 
which there is a gradual lessening of strength. 

Though cases such as have been mentioned are fre-
quent occurrences on the fast, there are many, perhaps 
the majority, of fasting patients who gradually lose 
strength from the beginning of the fast to the very end. 
There are others who maintain strength while fasting, 
as shown in tests, but who feel weak and languid when 
not exercising. This feeling appears to be the general 
rule among many fasting patients. In nearly all cases, 
there is a much greater feeling of weakness in the ad-
vanced stages of prolonged fasting than at the beginning 
of the fast. 

While recognizing the variation in strength and weak-
ness during the fast, it should be understood that this 
is not an important determining factor in the recovery 
of most fasting patients. In any event strength which 
may have been lost on the fast is rapidly regained when 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



food is again taken. Only in those very rare cases of 
extreme weakness need concern be given. Extreme ema-
ciation, 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. Usually overweight patients 
lose weight most rapidly. Dr. Rabagliati and Dr. Car-
rington have reported cases in which a slight gain of 
weight was registered during short fasts. Such occur-
rences are very rare and difficult to explain. 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 be-
comes inactive and there is usually very little bowel 
action. The intestines become empty, in fact, sterile, and 
bowl movements are infrequent or altogether absent. 
Benedict reported that his fasting subject, Levanzin, 
passed no feces during his fast. People have fasted as 
long as fifty days with no bowel action, and though this 
is exceptional, it indicates the tendency here given men-
tion. 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. 

There is considerable variation in the sexual desire 
and activity of fasting patients. In most cases the desire 
is either reduced or abolished, with temporary impotency 
developing during long fasts. Occasionally patients con-
tinue to indulge sexually throughout the fast, and in rare 
cases fasting has produced an increase in the sexual 
desire. After the fast the sexual powers return with re-
newed vigor. Men who had been impotent prior to fast-
ing have often regained virility, and sterility among 
women is also frequently corrected. 

Symptoms of the Fast 43 



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, spit-
ting crises, skin eruptions, headaches, backaches, dizzi-
ness, hiccoughs, fainting spells, sore throat, slight colds 
and cramps. Though such symptoms are discomforting 
to a degree, they are no cause for concern. Many are 
simply indicative of increased efforts of elimination. Of 
course, practically no patients experience all of these 
symptoms; many experience none at all, and others expe-
rience them on a few short periods during the fast. 

The therapeutic action of the fast is exactly the op-
posite of that of drugs. Whereas the latter often suppress 
the symptoms of disease, it is the purpose of fasting to 
"bring out" such symptoms, eliminate all toxins present, 
and thus provide permanent recovery. 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, and thus given imme-
diate 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 symp-
toms cease and the patients are much the better for the 
experience, generally being cured of future catarrhal ail-
ments. A disease may become more intense during the 
early days of fasting, and as renovation continues to com--
pletion, all symptoms gradually subside until the patient 
has fully recovered. Thus many, if not most, of the symp-
toms of fasting may be ascribed to the curative action of 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



the fast itself. On no instance can we consider them the 
development of new pathology, as is shown by their 
rapid disappearance and failure to return after fasting. 

Obviously this sort of analysis may give indication that 
the nature of disease itself is somewhat different than has 
been generally believed. In the past we have been accus-
tomed to speak of disease as "attacking" the body as 
some sort of destructive force, and as such have at-
tempted to "destroy" or suppress the disease itself with 
equally destructive agents, and even to remove the part 
of the body in which the disease was present. Here we 
see, in fasting, the action of disease as being curative in 
nature, which is intensified and brought to its culmina-
tion. Perhaps it is this which has induced many physi-
cans who employed fasting to claim that disease itself 
may be a defensive mechanism that induces an "elimina-
tive" crisis in the case of acute disease, or an "adaptive" 
crisis in the case of chronic disease. The validity of this 
concept remains to be seen, and it is not our purpose to 
consider it here, but rather to point out its relationship 
to the development of symptoms on the fast. 

The most important danger signals of fasting, as re-
gards the pulse and temperature, have been given, and 
there are but few other symptoms which may be con-
sidered sufficient reason for breaking the fast sooner than 
otherwise would be desired. Even temporary delirium on 
the fast (which has occurred seldom) is rarely considered 
as reason for giving food, unless the delirium is associated 
with heart palpitation. The palpitation of the heart it-
self, 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 

Symptoms of the Fast 45 



no hard and fast rules in this respect, and each physi-
cian must use his own judgment in considering a particu-
lar case. 

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 dis-
appears, 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 to an extent not commonly expected. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



S U P E R V I S I N G T H E F A S T 

GREAT CARE IS T A K E N IN T H E 

administration of most therapeutic agents. Many forms of 
medication can be very dangerous if used by the layman 
without complete knowledge of technique and quantity. 
Massage, manipulation and other forms of physical 
therapy can be useless when not properly applied. Fast-
ing is no exception to this principle in the sense that 
certain precautions must be taken by all patients. These 
are not as complex as one often finds in the field of medi-
cine, and ignoring them usually does not have the disas-
trous consequences found in the misuse of other thera-
peutic agents. Yet both physician and layman should 
recognize certain fundamental rules which permit super-
vision of fasting at maximum efficiency and a minimum 
degree of danger. 

Rest is the first recommendation to all fasting pa-
tients. Some physicians require rest in bed in all cases 
of fasting, and whereas this is perhaps taking the extreme 
attitude, it is founded upon a sound physiological basis. 
Observations made during many long fasts show that 
the active individual consumes his nutritive reserves and 
energy more rapidly than the patient who rests most of 
the time. The resting patient can fast longer and emerges 
from the fast in better condition. 

People have often worked throughout long fasts. In 

4 7 



one instance a New York athlete received considerable 
attention by walking cross-country over 500 miles during 
20 days of fasting. No permanent harm was observed in 
this or similar cases and satisfactory results were ob-
tained. The question here is not what is necessary, but 
what is advisable. Both active and resting individuals 
receive benefit from fasting, though the latter perhaps 
recover more rapidly and are more comfortable during 
the fast. 

During short fasts, less than 10 days in duration, doing 
light work, and perhaps even taking a few exercises, 
should be quite harmless. Even on longer fasts some very 
light work or exercise may be permitted, but caution is 
much more important in such cases. The important thing 
here is to avoid excesses. The patient who is weak at 
the start of the fast can obviously be less active than the 
athlete or strong individual. Providing activity is not car-
ried to the point of excessive weakness or exhaustion, the 
efficiency of the fast is perhaps not impaired. However, 
Puriton's recommendations of "loafing, resting, lazing 
along and not caring" are perhaps most appealing to 
any fasting patient, from the standpoint of comfort 
alone, and whenever possible the fast should be conducted 
accordingly. 

The second important need of fasting patients is 
warmth. This is especially true in the advanced stages of 
fasting, when the patient can freeze to death at tem-
peratures which normally would be found only a little 
discomforting. Also, lack of warmth probably impedes 
the process of elimination to a degree and interferes with 
the efficiency of the fast. 

If the patient continually complains of being too hot, 
but has cold extremities, the fast should be broken and 
artificial heat applied. In event of an extreme chill the 
fast should not be continued and all efforts must be made 
to provide sufficient warmth. Under normal conditions, 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



with proper care, conditions such as these do not arise, 
but when, through carelessness, warmth is not main-
tained, especially during prolonged fasts, the precau-
tions given mention should have immediate and careful 
attention. 

Many fasting institutions employ sunbathing with 
fasting. The beneficial effects of exposure to sunshine 
have long been well-known and sunbathing is no doubt 
helpful to the patient. However, it is very important to 
avoid extremes in this respect. Sunbaths should always 
be of comparatively short duration during the fast. A 
sunstroke is possible when there is excessive exposure, 
and whereas there is generally rapid recovery in such 
cases, a little care is certain to prevent them in the first 
place. While fasting it is always best to take the sun-
baths during the early morning and late afternoon when 
the temperature is not at its highest. As the fast pro-
gresses, the length of the sunbaths should gradually be 
decreased. 

It is particularly important to avoid fear and negative 
mental influences while fasting. The ill effects of anger, 
grief and shock are more pronounced while fasting than 
at any other time. Sinclair remarks that the faster 
"should not have about him terrified aunts and cousins 
who will tell him that he looks like a corpse, that his 
pulse is below forty and that his heart may stop beating 
in the night." Certainly this is true in all cases, and a 
group of well-meaning friends and relatives can be a 
great interference to the efficiency of fasting when they 
have no knowledge or understanding of the purposes and 
principles of the fast. If for reason of the environment, 
or other reasons, the patient is living in dread and fear 
of the consequences of fasting, the fast should not be 
continued. 

Cleanliness and fresh air are important during the fast 
just as at all other times. During bathing, extremes of 

Supervising the Fast 49 



temperature should be avoided, and the bath should not 
last too long. When the patient is very weak, a sponge 
bath only should be used. There should be fresh air in 
the room whenever possible, though in cold climates this 
should not be carried to the point of interfering with 
warmth. 

There has been some controversy as to the amount of 
water to drink while fasting. Theoretical observers have 
advocated water-free fasts, and still others have recom-
mended several quarts of water a day on the fast. Ex-
perienced physicians have not gone to such extremes, 
but have instead recommended thirst as a reliable guide. 
There is little doubt but what several quarts of water a 
day while fasting is greatly in excess of actual needs, and 
hence probably impedes elimination. Water-free fasts, on 
the other hand, are dangerous and should never be em-
ployed. There are no records of anyone living longer than 
seventeen days with neither food nor water. A certain 
amount of water may be regarded as essential on every 
long fast. Fasting two or three days without water prob-
ably does no harm, but longer fasts in the absence of 
water are inadvisable. The actual desire for water on a 
fast is usually not great, but can be relied upon to meet 
all needs. It usually calls for about a pint to a quart or 
two of water each day, depending upon each individual 
case. Occasionally days may arise on the fast in which 
no water is desired, in which none need be taken if the 
length of time does not exceed a few days. It may be 
added that distilled water is to be recommended while 
fasting. Ordinary spring water may be a second choice, 
whereas chlorinated water should be avoided if any other 
form is available. 

A certain amount of debate has also centered upon the 
use of the enema while fasting. Though the enema has 
been widely used in some fasting institutions, most expe-
rienced physicians today either refrain from using it alto-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



gether or use it very seldom. Recommendations of the 
enema are based upon the assumption that toxins and 
waste matter are being deposited in the colon during the 
fast, and that the same materials are in turn re-absorbed 
by the blood. Cleansing the lower bowel with an enema 
each day supposedly prevents such re-absorption. 

Actually the colon is not fundamentally an organ from 
which much absorption occurs, and experienced physi-
cians have noted that the entire alimentary canal, includ-
ing the colon, becomes quite free of all waste materials 
during the fast. There is no evidence to indicate that the 
supposed deposits into the colon occur. The use of the 
enema is to some degree a drain on the patient's vitality, 
which is already at a low ebb. It further tends to 
weaken the colon muscles and produces future constipa-
tion when used habitually. It has further been noticed 
that bowel action is generally restored more rapidly after 
the fast when the enema has not been used. 

The chief, and perhaps only, time in which the enema 
may be recommended is in those few cases in which there 
is considerable gas in the digestive tract, and even here 
it should be used only often enough to afford relief. Thus 
the enema is perhaps best used for practical reasons only, 
not upon theoretical assumptions as to the function of 
the colon, but only upon the personal needs of certain 
patients. 

It is important to avoid all forms of drugs while fast-
ing, as these are readily absorbed by the patient, who in 
turn does not handle them as well as the normal indi-
vidual. The danger of drugs on the fast was noted in 
particular by Aducco, when fasting dogs were given co-
caine, strychnine and phenol. In all cases the reactions 
were much more intense than when doses were given to 
well-nourished animals, with a rapid rise in temperature, 
pronounced motor reflexes, and occasionally violent con-
vulsions resulting in such cases. Delafuoy also found 

Supervising the Fast 51 



that fasting animals are very sensitive to drugs, and 
Mansfield reported that drugs which produced only slight 
effects on ordinary rabbits, produced severe reactions and 
violent convulsions when given to the animals while 
fasting. Other investigators indicate similar results, and 
with humans an equal sensitivity to drugs while fasting 
must be expected. 

Serums and injections of all forms must also be avoided 
while fasting, as is the case with different methods of 
physical therapy, such as spinal manipulations, gastric 
lavages, Turkish baths, cold baths, electrical treatments, 
etc. The fasting cure does not harmonize well with a 
variety of other therapeutic measures. Most of these are 
a further drain on the patient's vitality, and in the cases 
of serum or vaccine injections, there is extreme danger 
with possible death. It must be remembered that the 
physiological effects of fasting are the exact opposite in 
many respects of those of other therapeutic agents. A 
combination of such methods, quite apart from being 
useless, only produces complex reactions which tend to 
contradict each other. 

It can be seen that therapeutic fasting is complete in 
itself. It is not a procedure which is to be used along 
with too many adjuncts and other therapeutic devices. 
The principles of its technique are few and render its 
application both safe and practical. With a reasonable 
degree of care, the fasting patient may pass through a 
comfortable period of therapeutic treatment and regain 
health in the most effective and pleasant manner. 

5 2 IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



9 

B R E A K I N G T H E F A S T 

OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO T H E 

fasting patient 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 de-
cidedly unfavorable. Many laymen have conducted their 
fasts with the greatest care, only to break them on what-
ever food happened to be most convenient and find them-
selves 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 fashion. To 
give inadequate attention to this matter is to court near-
disaster; it may mean the difference in certain cases be-
tween life and death. 

The many reports of fasts which have been broken 
incorrectly well substantiate this and give vivid illus-
tration of the possible aftermaths. Dr. Shelton refers to 
two fasts broken by an incompetent physician on choc-
olate candy, which were followed by extreme gastric and 
intestinal acidity and great distress throughout the body. 
He refers to another fast broken on toast, followed by 
malnutritional edema. Dr. Havard recorded a case 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 

S3 



was afterwards given. He writes of another fast, 42 days 
in duration, broken on coarse bread, and followed by-
vomiting and extreme irritation of the stomach. Another 
report tells of a 31 day fast, broken on several beef sand-
wiches, followed by death. 

Prof. Ehret has pointed to a fast by a diabetic patient, 
broken on dates, which ended fatally. A different case 
described by Ehret involved a 28 day fast, broken on 
boiled potatoes. An operation was necessary to remove 
the food, which was held in the contracted intestines, 
after which the patient died. Sinclair writes of a man 
"who fasted fifty days, and then ate half a dozen figs, 
and caused intestinal abrasions from which he lost a 
great deal of blood." Regarding one of his own fasts, Sin-
clair states that it was broken on a thoroughly ripe Japa-
nese persimmon which "doubled me up with the most 
alarming cramp—and in consequence I do not recom-
mend persimmons for fasters." 

When intake of food is stopped, the body adjusts it-
self to the new conditions. The digestive organs cease to 
exercise their natural function; the digestive glands do 
not produce the usual juices, and the stomach itself 
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. If this happens along the 
lower section of the digestive tract, in the small intes-
tine, the reactions are most severe, and when peristaltic 
action to move the food is yet impossible, death may 
ensue. 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



Hence the reason for selecting foods 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, for it thus is more 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 vegetable 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 patients 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. Flesh broths have other dis-
advantages, 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. Discom-
fort 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 
given preference over those of the vegetables. The juices 
of the orange and grapefruit are used most frequently; 
those of the tomato, grape, pineapple and melon are 
perhaps equally valuable. 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. The first juices should be sipped very slowly. 

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 larger amounts of juice may be allowed, 
care always being taken, however, to avoid excesses 

Breaking the Fast 55 



which might produce digestive discomfort. 
The length of time the diet of fruit and vegetable 

juices, or simply the diet of fruit juices, should continue 
depends chiefly upon the length of the fast. It is general-
ly advisable to live upon the juices about one day for 
each five days of fasting. For instance, a fast of five days 
or less would be followed by one day of the juice diet; a 
ten day fast, by a two day juice diet; a fifteen day fast, 
by a three day juice diet, and a twenty day fast, by a 
four day juice diet. The same principle is applied to all 
fasts—the longer the food has been withheld, the longer 
the juice diet should be employed. 

These guides are general rather than specific. Slight 
deviations from them may be made in different cases. 
Some patients need not employ the juice diet quite as 
long as others who have fasted an equal length of time. 
The patient who shows a history of digestive weakness, 
constipation or hemorrhoids should live upon juices the 
longest and start consuming them in the smallest 
amounts. The object, in any case, should be to live upon 
juices until the digestive organs have regained their 
power of normal function and until bowel action is re-
stored. 

Upon the conclusion of the juice diet all types of un-
cooked foods may be eaten. A slow transition to a 
normal diet, which has frequently been recommended, 
is unnecessary if the juice diet is employed for the speci-
fied length of time. However, the first regular meals 
should be quite small. It is particularly important that 
overeating be avoided at this time. 

5 6 IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



L I V I N G A F T E R T H E F A S T 

T H E PURPOSE OF THERAPEUTIC 

fasting is to remove the causes of ill health. Once these 
causes are removed, the various manifestations of disease 
which were present tend to disappear and the patient 
is said to have recovered. However, just as faulty living 
habits created the causes of illness in the first place, so 
can these same living habits, if continued after fasting, 
create the conditions which may produce diseases all 
over again. 

There is no therapeutic agent of any nature which is 
certain to offer a permanent remedy of disease if no 
thought is given to the mode of living after the agent is 
used. Most therapeutic methods, in fact, fail to preserve 
health permanently irrespective of the mode of living 
which follows their use. The suppression of symptoms 
with drugs, for instance, or the use of vaccine and serum 
therapy, are not even expected by those who employ them 
to remove the causes of disease. They are expected to 
exert important influences which will aid the patient, it is 
true, but in few instances can their results be expected to 
be permanent. 

Thus fasting, though its results are more permanent 
than is the usual rule in therapeutics, does not make one 
"disease-proof" in the sense that the conditions which 
favor the development of disease cannot be built all over 

57 



again. There are manifestations of disease that disap-
pear during the fast and never return, no matter how the 
patient lives thereafter. There are other diseases that 
return rapidly after a fast if the mode of living is not 
correct. The determining factors in such cases are many 
and involve the character and type of disease present, 
and its stage of development, as well as the strength and 
general vitality of the patient. On the other hand, if 
care is taken to adhere to good living habits, a true con-
trol is made over the preservation of good health; per-
manence of recovery from specific manifestations of dis-
ease may be regarded as probable, and in many cases, 
virtually certain. 

There are many theories as to the causes of ill health. 
These may be grouped into four main categories—chemi-
cal, bacterial, mechanical and mental. Whereas it is not 
to be denied that each of these is of some importance 
in determining the state of physical well-being, the pre-
ponderance of scientific knowledge seems to favor the 
viewpoint that it is primarily chemistry which dominates 
the efficiency of physiological functions in the body, with 
bacterial, mechanical and mental conditions acting 
chiefly as secondary causes, being dependent upon the 
initial chemical condition of the body. It is not our 
object here to go into detail regarding this matter, but 
simply to state that this assumption as to the causes of 
disease is generally accepted by physicians who employ 
fasting and that their consideration of the care of patients 
after fasting is determined accordingly. 

Basically the chemistry of the body is determined by 
nutrition. Sunshine, exercise, fresh air, mental tran-
quility, as well as other factors, are also of some impor-
tance. The initial intake of minerals, vitamins and other 
vital elements is made through our consumption of food. 
Sunshine adds vitamin D and also seems to act as a 
catalytic agent which creates certain changes in the 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



chemistry of the blood, with the calcium and phosphorus 
content in particular increased during sunbaths. It thus 
appears that sunshine may induce the secretion of certain 
hormones or ferments which permit the body to use 
certain chemicals that it otherwise would not be able 
to use. Exercise stimulates the functional activities 
throughout the body, increases the supply of oxygen 
through deep breathing, and increases the flow of nutri-
tive matter to the cells. The purity of air is important, 
with many harmful toxins being taken into the lungs 
when the atmosphere of cities is infiltrated with smoke 
and smog from industrial plants. Emotional reactions 
may alter the activity of various glands and stimulate or 
decrease their internal secretions, as the case may be. 

Defective nutrition after the fast results in part from 
consuming foods that have been altered chemically 
during the processes of refining, cooking, canning and 
pasteurization. Refined foods have lost the greater part 
of their mineral and vitamin content, and marked 
amounts of these elements are lost when foods are heated. 
Even prolonged storage often causes important losses of 
elements in foods. Many kinds of chemical treatment 
are also destructive, with the bleaching of flour, vege-
tables and other foods, insecticide spraying of many 
plants, sulphering of dried fruits, and chemical additions 
to many meats and canned foods having the most marked 
effects. Many chemicals, in addition to or instead of 
lowering the food value, give toxic reactions in the body 
as well, especially when taken in large amounts. 

In the case of cooking there occur a number of chemi-
cal changes which are probably just as important as the 
losses of minerals and vitamins. Many tissue enzymes 
are known to be heat-liable; hormones are also affected 
by heat. Proteins are definitely denatured in the presence 
of heat, with some of the protein factors rendered much 
less valuable for nutritive purposes. Fats, especially 

Living after the Fast 59 



those of vegetable origin, often have toxic effects after 
being heated at very high temperatures. Other activa-
ting substances and vitalizing factors are also changed 
under the presence of heat. The complex chemical bal-
ance of all food elements is altered, with the entire physi-
co-chemical change being sufficient to produce serious 
physical impairment among those consuming large 
amounts of the foods. 

This is clearly shown, under different conditions, by 
both animal experiment and human experience. Nutri-
tionists maintain white rats, guinea pigs, cats, monkeys 
and other experimental animals in perfect health by 
feeding them an exclusive diet of unrefined and uncooked 
foods in the fresh and natural state. By adding a certain 
percentage of foods which have been either refined or 
heated they are able to produce different diseases almost 
at will—both those of the acute and degenerative types. 
Eventually, if sufficient cooked foods are included in the 
diet over many generations, reproduction itself becomes 
impossible, and the strains of animal stock completely die 
out. 

With humans the effects are less severe, but they are 
nevertheless marked. In the civilized world, the cus-
tomary dietary habits have permitted survival but in-
sured a very low standard of public health. In spite of 
the widespread availability of medical services, and our 
very great improvements in sanitation, many of the de-
generative diseases are rapidly increasing in number, and 
even some of the infectious kinds are becoming more 
common. 

What a remarkable contrast we then find among the 
different primitive racial groups which still retain their 
native dietary habits, using no refined foods and a 
smaller percentage of those which have been cooked. 
Scientists have observed and studied isolated and semi-
isolated groups of such people and found them to be 

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



enjoying a state of health unheard of in civilization. 
Dental decay is entirely absent; the dental arches are 
of perfect form and regularity; infectious diseases are 
quite rare, and many of the degenerative processes are 
entirely unknown. At the same time chemical analysis 
of their foods shows a content of minerals and vitamins 
many times as high as is normally found in modern foods. 
Some of the typical primitive diets—those of the healthi-
est groups—have been found to contain over ten times 
the amount of fat-soluble vitamins as in the displacing 
diets, with the proportion of certain minerals being from 
five to twenty-five times as high. 

This all finds a very important correlation with the 
experiences of patients after a period of fasting. Those 
which once again return to the conventional diet—this 
largely refined and heat-processed—often receive the 
surprise and disappointment of seeing their old diseases, 
which disappeared on the fast, return in the same inten-
sity and manner. In the nineteenth century era of fast-
ing, when the science of nutrition was in its early ex-
perimental stages, physicians often gave little thought 
to the patient's diet after fasting, and the problem of 
obtaining a permanent cure was then very real. Today 
the relation between fasting and nutrition is well rec-
ognized, and the usual patient is given careful instruc-
tions for eating after the fast. 

The general nutritional requirement may be stated 
very simply: to the degree that foods are used in their 
completely natural state, without treatment or proces-
sing, are they adapted to support life and maintain im-
munity to disease. It is the purpose of fasting to restore 
health; it is then the purpose of scientific nutrition, with 
other hygienic factors, to maintain it. After the fast, 
the diet should be both unrefined and uncooked to as 
great an extent as possible. For some patients, com-
pletely adequate nutrition may be established; others 

Living after the Fast 61 



will doubtless deviate from the optimum nutritional 
standard, but all can keep the general goal in mind, and 
endeavor to follow it as much as the circumstances per-
mit. 

Though correct diet is important as a permanent phase 
of living after the fast, it is especially so for the first few 
weeks or months, when the body is regaining normal 
weight. During this period a very high percentage of 
nutriment is being absorbed from the food, and if the 
new protoplasm being built is to be healthy and biologi-
cally adequate, the source materials must be of high 
quality. If reconstruction is made entirely from the 
same foods which rendered the body ill in the first place, 
the eventual advantages of the fast may be virtually nulli-
fied. Once the body weight is stabilized, and mainte-
nance is the only requirement, the food will cease to be 
so vital a determining factor, though it will still affect 
the health in a very definite manner and should be select-
ed with care. 

Many are disappointed to learn that permanence of 
recovery resulting from fasting is very largely dependent 
upon their manner of living thereafter, with particular 
emphasis upon dietary habits. The fast is regarded as 
a sufficiently trying ordeal in itself, without having to 
undertake special restrictions or health measures there-
after. Upon conclusion of the fast, however, such dis-
appointment is much less common. The appetite is 
sharpened, and pleasure is obtained from consuming 
foods which may formerly have been avoided. In most 
cases a diet composed entirely of natural foods proves 
completely satisfying in the post-fasting period. 

So long as correct nutrition is maintained do the proper 
foods remain a source of pleasure and satisfaction. There 
is usually no desire or craving for the commercially 
denatured and devitalized foodstuffs, and even the want 
for alcoholic beverages and tobacco may have disappear-

IO T H E R A P E U T I C F A S T I N G 



ed. If change is then made, however, back to a more 
conventional mode of nutrition, this ceases to hold true and 
many of the old desires return. Appetite is chiefly a 
result of habit, and though it may be normalized by 
fasting, it can again be restored to a condition of ab-
normality and perversion, insofar as the associated intake 
of food supplies, in adequate measure, the nutritional 
needs of the body. 

Fasting thus must be recognized only as a means of 
promoting the remedy of disease and the creation of 
health. It is not a method of maintaining health. This 
depends, as it always has, with both man and animals, 
upon the general hygienic factors of proper nutrition, 
sunshine, exercise, pure air, etc. The purpose of fasting 
is basically therapeutic, and in this sense it not only 
meets the requirements of most patients, but is perhaps 
the most effective measure ever to be employed. 

Clearly the extraordinary value of fasting has not 
been recognized by the professions of healing as a whole. 
In spite of the careful scientific work done with fasting 
by physiologists, biologists and physicians, and the almost 
universal recommendation of the method by these people, 
orthodox medicine has scarcely recognized that fasting 
even has therapeutic properties or has been used for any 
other purpose than a religious rite. The ordinary physi-
cian is as completely unaware of fasting as is the layman. 
Hence the purpose of this short treatise. Here we have 
covered some of the important points of fasting, which 
may serve to incite inquiry for further investigation 
among physician and layman alike, and perhaps to some 
degree act as a limited guide in the employment of fast-
ing for therapeutic purposes. 

Living after the Fast 63 





B I B L I O G R A P H Y 

1. ASH, J. E., The blood in inanition. Arch, inter. Med., 
14:8-32, July, 1914 

2. BASSLER, A., The fasting cure answered. Month. 
Cycle & Med. Bull. 4:332-334 

3. BENEDICT, F. G., The influence of inanition on 
metabolism. Publications, Carnegie Institution, Wash-
ington, 1907 

4. BENEDICT, F. G., A study of prolonged fasting. 
Publications, Carnegie Institution, Washington, 1915 

5. C A R L S O N , A. J., The control of hunger in health 
and disease. Chicago 

6. C A R R I N G T O N , H., Vitality, fasting, and nutrition. 
Rebman Co., 1908 

7. CHILD, C. M., Senescence and rejuvenescence. The 
University of Chicago Press, 1915 

8. C L E M M E S E N , C., Inanition and epilepsy: studies 
on the influence of inanition upon epileptic attacks. 
Copenhagen, Levin and Munksgaard, 164 pp., 1932 

9. DEWEY, E. H., The true science of living. London, 
Henry Bill Pub. Co., 1895 

10. DEWEY, E. H., The no-breakfast plan and the fast-
ing cure. London, L. N. Fowler & Co., 1900 

11. EHRET, A., Rational fasting. Los Angeles, Ehret 
Pub. Co., 1926 

12. F R A Z I E R , B. C., Prolonged starvation. Louisville 
Month. J. Med. and Surg., 15:147-254, 1908 

13. G O R D O N , A prolonged fast. Montreal Med. J., 36: 
482, 1907 

14. GUELPA, A., Starvation and purgation in the relief 
of disease. Brit. Med. J., 2:1050, 1910 

6s 



15. GUELPA, A., Autointoxication and disintoxication. 
New York, Rebman Co. 

16. H A Y , W. H., Health via food. Sun-Diet Health 
Foundation, 1929 

17. H A Y , W. H., A new health era. Pocan Haven, 1933 
18. H A Z Z A R D , L. B., Fasting for the cure of disease. 

Physical Culture Pub. Co., 1910 
19. H A Z Z A R D , L. B., Scientific fasting. New York, 

Grant Pub., 1927 
20. H O W E , P. E. and H A W K , P. B., Nitrogen partition 

and physiological resistance as influenced by repeated 
fasting. J .Am. Chemical Soc., 33:215-254, 1910 

21. H O W E , P. E. and H A W K , P. B., A metabolism 
study on a fasting man. Proc. Am. Soc. Biol. Chem., 
31, 1912 

22. H O W E , P. E. and H A W K , P. B., On the differential 
leucocyte count during prolonged fasting. Am. J. Phy-
siol., 30:174-181, 1912 

23. LANGFIELD, H. S., On the psychophysiology of a 
prolonged fast. Psychol. Monogr., 16:5, 1914 

24. M A C F A D D E N , B. A., Fasting for health. Macfad-
den Publications, 1923 

25. M E L T Z E R , S. and M O R R I S , C. H., On the influ-
ence of fasting upon the bacteriological action of the 
blood. J. Exp. Med., 4:131-135, 1889 

26. M E Y E R S , A. W., Some morphological effects of pro-
longed inanition. J. Med. Research, 36:51-77, 1917 

27. M I N O T , C. S., Senescence and rejuvenation. J. Phy-
siol., 12:97-153, 1891 

28. M O R G U L I S , S., Contributions to the physiology of 
regeneration. J. Exp. Zool., 7:595-642, 1909 

29. M O R G U L I S , S., Fasting and undernutrition. E. P. 
Dutton & Co, 1923 

30. OLDFIELD, J., Fasting for health and life. London, 
C. W. Daniel Co., 1924 

31. P A T O N , N. D. and S T O C K M A N , R., Observations 

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on the metabolism of a fasting man. Royal Soc. Edin-
b u r g h , ^ 3,1889 

32. P U R I N T O N , E. E., Philosophy of fasting. New York, 
Lust Pub., 1906 

33. SANDS, N. J., Prolonged fasting as a factor in the 
treatment of acute disease, with special reference to 
affections of the alimentary canal. N. Y. State J. 
Med., 4:55, 1904 

34. SHELTON, H. M., The hygienic system, vol. 3, San 
Antonio, 1934 

35. SHELTON, H. M., The hygienic system, vol. 7, San 
Antonio, 1941 

36. SINCLAIR, U. P., The fasting cure. M. Kennerly, 
1913 

37. STERN, H., Fasting and undernutrition in the treat-
ment of diabetes. New York, Rebman Co., 1912 

38. S Z E K E L Y , E. B., The therapeutics of fasting. Tecate, 
1942 

39. TILDEN, J. M., Criticisms of the practice of medi-
cine. 1909 

40. WEGER, G. S., The genesis and control of disease. 
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Bibliography 67 





I N D E X 

Acute diseases and fasting, 24, 25 

Age and fasting, 25, 26 

Anemia and fasting, 18, 19 

Appendicitis and fasting, 21 

Asclepiades, 3 

Autolysis, 9 

Avicenna, 3 

Bibliography, 65-67 

Body changes in fasting, 10-13 

Chemistry and nutrition, 58 

Heat, maintenance of, 48 

Breaking the fast, 53 

Causes of disease, 58 

Celsus, 3 

Completion of fast, 30, 31 

Contraindications to complete fast, 32 

Damage to food in cooking, 59 

Defective nutrition, 59 

Deficiency diseases and fasting, 34, 35 

Diabetes and fasting, 22, 23 

Diet after fasting, 61 

Drugs, use of in fasting, 51 

Duration of complete fast, 30 

Edema and fasting, 26 

Efficiency of fasting, 14 

Elimination, increase of in fasting, 40 

Epilepsy and fasting, 23 

Experimental fasting, 4 

Eye diseases, fasting in, 17 

Fasting, definition of, 1 

history of, 3 

recognized forms, 1 

use of enema in, 50 

Hippocrates, 3 

Hoffman, 3 

Hunger, 39 

Hydra, rejuvenation of, 7 

Impotence, 43 

Liquids after the fast, 55 

Living after the fast, 57 

Mahatma Gandhi, 8 

Mayer, Adolph, 4 

Mental hygiene in fasting, 49 

Mortality rate and fasting, 37 

Nikolai, Anton, 4 

Objections to fasting, 34 

Origin of fasting, 2 

Paracelsus, 3 

Permanency of cure, 57 

Planaria, experiments with, 6 

Plato, 3 

Plutarch, 3 

Poliomyelitis and fasting, 20 

Primitive diets, 60 

Pulse rate, changes of, 41 

Pythagoras, 3 

Reaction, physiological, 6 

Recoveries from illness in 
fasting, 15-25 

69 



Rejuvenation and fasting, 7-9 

Resistance to disease, 35 

Respiratory illness and fasting, 17 

Rest during fasting, 47 

Safety of fast, 33 

Sleep during fast, 41 

Socrates, 3 

Starvation, definition, 29 

Strength, increase of, 42 

Sunbathing during fasting, 49 

Supervision of fast, 47 

Symptoms of the fast, 28, 39 

Temperature, changes of, 40 

Tertullian, 3 

The complete fast, 27 

Thessalus, 3 

Toxins, elimination of, 12 

Tumors and fasting, 20, 21 

Venereal diseases and fasting, 22 

Von Seeland, 4 

Water intake and fasting, 50 

Weight, loss of, 43 

70