In the animal kingdom, fasting is quite common. Some animals fast during
hibernation or estivation (sleeping throughout the summer in tropical climates).
Some animals fast during the mating season and in many cases immediately
after birth and during the nursing period. Animals instinctively fast when sick or
hurt. The ill or wounded animal finds a warm secluded spot where it can lie
quiet and undisturbed to rest and fast for a period of time until health is
restored. The ill animal sips only water until well again. Nature, with her
superior wisdom, has provided the animal world with an instinct to do that
which will facilitate optimal physical well-being.
Most people do just the opposite of the animals when they are sick. They
maintain their hectic work schedule, continue to eat a rich diet, and take
anything they can find to gain comfort. Any drug advertised to hide their signs
and symptoms is ingested. Drugs, well recognized as toxic and harmful if
ingested when we are well, are suddenly seen as healthful and healing when
the body is suffering with an acute illness.
Many people are unaware that symptoms such as a runny nose or fever are
the treatment the body has prescribed to remedy the condition. Increased
mucus production is the body's means of washing away infected cells and
removing virus particles from the body. Fever aids in the body's immune
defenses, activating the white blood cells and inducing interferon secretion
from the brain. Interferon is a powerful substance that stirs the fighting arm of
the immune system into action. Typical cold symptoms that people attempt to
suppress with drugs are nothing more than attempts of the body to restore
homeostasis and remove the disease itself. By drugging away their symptoms,
people keep themselves sick longer and can even turn a minor disease into a
major one.
Rather, we should do as the animals do. We should listen to our bodies when
appetite is diminished or absent. If we are not feeling well, we should sip water
and rest. It is amazing how quickly patients recover from viral syndromes when
this advice is taken. Recovery in this case leaves the body in a clean and
healthy state, rather than contaminated with toxic medications; we have thus
laid the groundwork for future good health.
In both acute illnesses and chronic disease there is no greater delusion than
that an individual needs ―strength‖ to fast. What is true is that such people
have bodies that are too weak to digest the food they take in. The people who
are most helped by a fast are those who are in most need. Too often the weak
patient is told he or she must eat to regain health or strength. In many cases,
while feeding, the person remains ill and fatigued.
Frequently, even extremely thin individuals who have been losing weight
while feeding themselves rich foods show a tremendous improvement in their
digestive capacity and begin to gain weight and strength after a moderatelength
fast. Fasting enables them finally to reach a normal weight. This
illustrates their weakened powers of digestion or assimilation or the presence of
serious chronic disease such as digestive impairment or autoimmune illness,
which improves or resolves as a result of the fast.
The job of fasting is to supply the body with the ideal environment to
accomplish its work of healing. During the period of a fast the blood pressure
will drop, the level of retained metabolic wastes will fall, and the blood vessels
will begin to soften and rid themselves of hard sclerotic plaque. In a short
period of time the heart and brain, as well as other organs and muscles, will
receive a more adequate blood supply and oxygenation. The tissues throughout
the body's systems will begin to purify themselves and the rejuvenation
process of the fast will have begun.
The goal of the body at all times is to keep the individual healthy. When the
disease-causing stresses are removed, the natural healing and self-repairing
powers of the body begin to work unhindered. Within a short period of time,
allergic and mucus-filled individuals clear their nasal passages, asthmatics
breathe easier, arthritis sufferers report their pain is resolving, and cardiac
patients begin to have increased circulation to their hearts. Healing has begun.
Healing and rejuvenation occur because fasting is an opportunity for the
human body to take a rest from all of the stressful elements of life, such as
physical labor and emotional stress. It is also an opportunity for the internal
organs and digestive system to take a physiological vacation.
In our society, most people eat heavy foods during much of their waking
hours. This not only overworks the digestive tract, but also forces the body to
continue its work of digesting and absorbing foodstuffs and eliminating foodderived
wastes well into the night. This prevents the body from totally directing
its energies toward repair and self-cleansing of its tissues.
To regain normalcy or health, individuals suffering from chronic illnesses
must rid their systems of the burdens of toxic material and excesses, such as
fatty or swollen tissues or atherosclerotic plaque. It may be possible, over time,
to eliminate the excesses while on a restricted diet that calls for taking in foods
that support the body. Fasting, however, offers a much more efficient means of
accomplishing healing that is dependent on the elimination of retained waste.
This is because fasting gives the body an opportunity to focus completely on
the elimination of the waste deposits and the purification of its tissues that are
necessary to reach a recovered state of health.
When no calories are consumed, the body is living off its nutritional stores,
primarily its fat reserves. The innate wisdom of the body is such that, while
fasting, it will consume for its sustenance superfluous tissues, carefully
conserving vital tissues and organs. The body's wondrous ability to autolyze (or
self-digest) and destroy needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel
plaque, and other nonessential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential
tissues, gives the fast the ability to restore physiologic youth to the system. By
removing or lessening the burden of diseased tissue, including the fatty tissue
narrowing the blood vessels, fasting increases the blood flow and subsequent
oxygenation and nutrient delivery to vital organs throughout the body.
Conceptually, fasting provides a comparative rest for the digestive tract,
while, throughout the entire body, from the blood vessels and nerves in the
feet to the noxious retained substances irritating the central nervous system,
the body conducts an internal ―spring cleaning.‖ Fasting enables the entire
system to focus on the elimination of superfluous tissue and the retained waste
that it was unable to break down and remove in the feeding state.
When an individual has a. serious chronic disease, we need to combine a
fast with necessary dietary changes before and after the fast to achieve a
recovery. By combining the fast with a healthy diet and life-style, the individual
can maintain the benefits from the fast and remain healthy.
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