Fasting for Physical Rejuvenation

Many thousands of people have restored their health through therapeutic
fasting. Some, ill and distraught from years of discomfort and discouragement,
try fasting as a last resort. Fortunately, the majority of people who undergo a
supervised fast not only improve or recover (often from what are considered
incurable diseases) but also experience physical, psychological, and mental
rejuvenation. Fasting to heal one self can mean the difference between living
life pain-ridden and dependent on drugs, going from one doctor to another for
relief, and living a normal pain-free existence into old age.

Therapeutic fasting is not a mystical or magical cure. It works because the
body has within it the capacity to heal when the obstacles to healing are
removed. Health is the normal state. Most chronic disease is the inevitable
consequence of living a life-style that places disease-causing stressors on the
human organism. Fasting gives the body an interlude without those stressors
so that it can speedily repair or accomplish healing that could not otherwise
occur in the feeding state.

Fasting stops the continual work of the digestive tract, whose activity can
drain the body of energy and divert the healing processes. Each time we take
in food, the body must secrete digestive enzymes to break down the food,
move these simpler components into the cells lining the digestive tract, and
further move these nutrients into the bloodstream for distribution throughout
the body. All of these functions require a substantial amount of vitality and
energy — energy that might otherwise be used to fuel the healing process.

Each time we take in food we take in not only nutrients but also additives
and other toxins. The digestive tract, the liver, the kidney, and other organs
must work to remove these non-nutritive substances from the body. These
wastes include by-products of digestion, bacterial by-products from the
decomposition of inadequately digested foodstuffs, and excess nutrients the
body cannot use. All these as well as the waste products of normal cellular
metabolism must be actively eliminated for us to maintain excellent health.

Food, therefore, while providing essential nutrients for life, also introduces
toxins. Fasting, particularly when we are ill and the body is already
overburdened with self-produced wastes, can provide a welcome relief by
halting the introduction of further toxins and waste products. Without this extra
burden, the body is finally able to heal itself.

Individuals who suffer from chronic disease often have weakened or
abnormal digestive function. Indeed, this is often the reason they are ill to
begin with. In these cases, fasting allows the digestive tract to take a much
needed break to restore itself to normalcy.

When a person's appetite and hunger disappear, especially during an acute
illness, the loss of appetite indicates that the body has a much lowered capacity
for digestion. Forcing this person to eat can result in the absorption of partially
or improperly digested food, which will impede a quick and complete recovery.