Competent Guidance Is Required For Protracted Fasts:
Short Fasts:
Corrective Dietary

Much though it is to be desired by those who know the inestimable benefits to be derived from a fast that is scientifically conducted, there is but small hope that this natural means of bodily purification, of disease eradication, will ever prove a popular method of health restoration. Self-denial and self-control are two virtues that the average mortal is content to relegate to the side-lines in the game of life. Or, if he be not content so to do, it is easy to shift responsibility to those whose profession it is to prescribe a remedy the purpose of which is to suppress the manifest symptom, to ease present distress or disturbance. The cause of local expression, of the symptom or symptoms, has no place in a philosophy of this character, yet, unless the source of disease is attacked and removed, health is really never his who depends upon symptomatic alleviation. And again, when one is ill, no real self-denial or control is needful to curtail or even entirely to omit food. And, while it is many times accentuated in the text that food withdrawal is the easy, and at once the natural and the scientific measure to be employed whenever illness occurs, since hunger and disease never exist simultaneously in the animal body, few possess courage to apply it.

Now, while in acute or chronic disease there are difficulties to be encountered in prolonged fasting, the results of a "fast to a finish", to the cleansed systemic condition produced by the process of elimination thus engendered, are nevertheless those that thereafter, with proper care of the body, insure continued normal physical existence. And, as above stated, nature constantly indicates abstention from food in disease, but especially does she do so when acute prostrating illness develops, as well as when certain symptoms, become chronic in character, are present.

In more than thirty years of experience with the fast as a therapeutic agency, the writer has discovered that by far the most satisfactory diet upon which to break a fast is one confined to vegetable broths or soups, prepared in such manner as to preserve both vitamin and mineral content, excluding at the same time all but finely comminuted solid matter. Broths thus made, when eaten slowly, are fully insalivated, easily digested, and their food material is absorbed and assimilated without difficulty. In casting about for a dietary that would accomplish these ends, much observation and experiment were in order, and in the course of investigation it was determined that where, in functional disease, a fast protracted in length made upon its subject demand for absolute rest, hence precluding attention to daily duty in business or otherwise, a diet restricted to soups similar to those upon which a fast is broken in great degree permitted the function of elimination to preponderate, satisfied stomach craving if present, and did not, excepting in slightest measure, interfere, either psychologically or physiologically, with intake and outgo of vital force.

Naturally when corrective eating is substituted for fasting, the process of bodily purification, of systemic cleansing, is prolonged; but the symptoms produced are in modified form similar to those noted during the progress of an absolute fast continued to its logical end, the return of natural hunger. And the results that accrue, though delayed and not equal to those obtained by a "fast to a finish," are eminently satisfactory.

For many reasons, quite obvious ones too, complete abstention from food in illness occasions in those who are uninformed upon the benefits that follow in its train, and who are ignorant of the physical resources of the human body and of the physiological changes that abstinence occasions, thoughts that are decidedly deterrent. And this though, as is so often iterated herein, no real desire for food exists at the time. The patient himself may be fully cognizant of body resource and of the advantages that follow abstinence, and he may possess the necessary will to impose upon himself the discipline needful for successful issue; but in the usual instance there are relatives and friends, who are not, as is the sufferer, in touch with nature, and here opposition often evolves that in effect annuls the action, if not the inclination. On the other hand, there is this to be said: if the patient has the will and the determination to carry to conclusion an absolute fast, if, under guidance during its continuance, he employs the essential eliminative agencies, and, if no serious organic condition is uncovered, as it surely will be if it exists, relief with recovery will occur much more rapidly and satisfactorily than is possible when even the small amount of sustenance contained in the restricted regimen described is ingested.

And this brings us to the purpose of this short chapter, which is intended both as caution and as counsel. No one, unless so acutely ill as to be compelled to do so, should attempt protracted abstinence from food unless competent guidance is available. The "fast to a finish" is not an affair for personal conduct. In it organic disease may be uncovered, and from day to day after the first week or so symptoms may and will develop that need to be dealt with by the expert hand. Without the advice and encouragement of one skilled in the therapy of inanition fear may drive out courage, and then hasty and ill advised attempts to relieve mental and physical distress will surely entail calamitous issue.

But for him to whom the tenets of the text appeal a happy mean exists. In incipient illness, in times of slight physical depression when preventive measures are in order, or when functional disturbance of character more or less severe occurs, then shorter periods of abstention from food may safely and with benefit be personally employed. The omission of food for periods ranging from one to ten days need in the ordinary instance occasion no difficulty nor engender fear. But always the eliminative accessories that are dwelt upon in connection with fasting, absolute or partial, and with restricted diet in illness, are faithfully to be used. Daily colon flushing, daily cleansing baths, and every aid to elimination through every natural channel must accompany and assist the basic procedure.

Alternating with these shorter fasts there should occur intervals of corrective dieting, and the broths already mentioned, prepared to suit individual taste and requirement, will here fit the condition presented. The soups may be varied in ingredients, and one pint is in amount sufficient for one meal. Baths and enemas should he taken as during the fasting stage, but their administration is to be timed so as not to interfere with digestive function. Preferably they should precede the meal, allowing at least an interim of about one hour before ingestion. It may be that in certain cases the system will for a time object to the ingestion of the specially prepared broths. Fruits, however, may be and usually are tolerated, and here a change may be made to a dietary of fruit alone, taking care that but a single sort be eaten at a meal and that this be perfectly ripened.

Children in illness readily respond to the fast, yet, with growing bodies and with undeveloped physical resource, the absolute fast, excepting for periods one or several days in duration, is, unless there is acute disease, here to be inhibited. But always recourse may and should be had to the one-food dietary, either interrupted or continuous, at the same time, as for the adult, plying enemata and cleansing tub baths.

In the list of vegetables that may be utilized for the preparation of broths none can quite take the place of the tomato. This plant occupies a position that lies between the classifications of fruit and vegetable; it contains food elements of every sort in varying proportion, including relative parts of virtually all of the mineral matter needful for systemic maintenance, being especially rich in potassium and sodium; and it carries the three essential vitamins, "A", "B", and "C". Its acid content is one that acts in the nature of a solvent, aiding in the digestion of other foods. Used when thoroughly ripe, in its natural or in its canned state, it satisfies both taste and nutrition, and broth made from it is the ideal form of sustenance for breaking a fast and for use during times of corrective eating, when the latter are interspersed with short fasts. There are subjects by whom a diet of tomato alone may be eaten with benefit for several weeks or longer, excluding the while intervals of total abstinence from food, but always employing the eliminative aids. The onion is also valuable in this respect, and a "tomato fast" or an "onion fast", weeks in duration, may ordinarily be personally conducted with great benefit when the eliminative accompaniments are included in the procedure.

It is explained that for the purposes of the text to fast means to abstain from all food material save water. The latter is to be used at all times for drinking, whether the subject be fasting or dieting--this when thirst demands. But during abstinence drinking increased quantities of water, hot or cold, makes for solvency and assists in replenishing body fluids, and in flushing body organs.

In summation, long experience confirms the conclusion that fasting protracted in length of duration should never be undertaken unless the subject be under competent direction. In usual instances, even though essential accessory detail be faithfully observed, personal conduct may and probably will, for reasons given, lead to disaster. But a series of short fasts, interspersed with intervals of corrective eating, may with safety and with benefit be personally conducted, as may periods of partial abstinence on the one-food plan, the latter liquid in form. It remains to be added that many times, in order to secure best results, the competent director will deem it advisable or essential to make use of the interrupted or of the one-food fast when dealing with temperaments who by nature possess or who develop in disease certain mental or physical idiosyncrasies.