CHAPTER III
WHEN AND WHY TO FAST
"The When The Why It Boots It Now To Tell."
Byron.
CHAPTER III
WHEN AND WHY TO FAST
IT is, perhaps, difficult for the average mind to grasp the fundamental natural principle of the Unity of Disease—to realize that disease is not only the warning of nature, but her remedy in sickness. The symptoms expressing disease may be specifically named and classified—it may be said that a patient suffers from Bright's Disease, from eczema, from diphtheria, or from smallpox, but behind the symptom lies the cause, and the body is not to be thought of as ill in a special locality or in an individualized organ. It is sick as a whole, though the signs of its ailment are more visible or more severely expressed in one locality or another. Illness results when balance no longer exists between nutrition and elimination, with the consequence that the blood-current is vitiated at its source, the resistive powers lowered, and germ-soil produced. One remedy alone can cope with this condition, and it is that which nature suggests and employs—elimination of the poisonous products of digestive ferment, and rest for organs, that have been functioning under stress. It is thus seen that, not only is a unity to be recognized in the cause of disease, but that there exists an equal unity in natural means of relief and cure.
Here is perceived the peculiar office of the fast—it is the unit cure. As pointed out elsewhere, the lower animals by instinct employ it when ill, and its efficiency in disease, functional and organic, when applied to humankind, is fully substantiated and daily corroborated.
Disease affects every cell in the animal body. The fast in its operation and results equally affects the body as a whole. What matter, if, in attaining the extreme ends of purification, the body is reduced to a minimum of flesh? Organs and frame—work still remain by which and upon which to build a new, purified, and resistive structure for future needs.
The simplest forms in which bodily illness is expressed are the various rashes that appear upon the skin. These result directly from stomach-abuse—from inability of that organ to carry on its work because of overwork or of food improperly supplied. Elimination through bowels, kidneys, and lungs is by nature continued to the limit of the power of these organs. They may be overtaxed, and then but one avenue remains for the escape of surplus impurity—the skin. It responds, and in responding, suffers. Sometimes it is the skin itself that is called upon to work to its limit, or it may be that it is affected by exposure and chill with closing of its pores; then the excess of waste is discharged through mucus membrane or through lungs, and colds and pneumonia appear. Equal balance must exist among all the organs of elimination. Each must perform its allotted task proportionately with the others. And the arms of the scale of intake and outgo must likewise remain at level, and they do so maintain balance in health. Any excess of weight on one side or the other means disease.
The fast as a remedy is universally indicated—never specially so. There are no diseases, but only one disease. And for this there is but one remedy. No need exists in health for the employment of measures for the alleviation of pain and distress, for the reason that these signs are non-evident when physical balance exists. Remedial means are necessary only in illness, and then, and then alone, should the fast and its accessories be applied.
Before entering upon a fast, illness must be manifested, and the patient, whether under guidance or conducting his own case, should fully grasp the details of the truth that physical lack of balance is due to a single cause. The symptoms that are present, or that may arise thereafter in the fast or when on diet, need occasion no alarm, for their source is understood, and their meaning is a therapeutic one. Nature is in process of purifying the body—is casting out its waste, and is cleansing the system in preparation for active, healthy rebuilding. The omission of food permits natural law to operate unhampered, and it is the only method by which natural assistance can be given with the assurance of permanent relief and cure. The alleviation of symptomatic distress is accomplished locally by simple hygienic means dry heat, hot fomentations, cold applications, sunlight, fresh air, osteopathic manipulation, chiropractic adjustment, and the enema.
The time to fast is when ill. And illness never occurs at the convenient moment. Its warnings may be present in summer or in winter, and they must promptly be heeded regardless of personal inclination or of climatic condition. To wait until disease develops locally is disastrous, and diagnosis is unnecessary, for natural treatment in any and all illness is identical in essence, and varies only in minor details. True, it is more pleasant to carry out a fast in warm weather, but this should never deter an ailing body from fasting in winter. Artificial means of maintaining room temperature are always available, and the hygienic requirements may be utilized with equal success whether the outer air be warm or cold.
As a matter of fact the substance of the argument indicates that winter is the natural season of rest and recuperation. Outdoor nature is dormant. Many animals hibernate, and all prepare for the growing period, the resurrection of spring. Mankind, because of artificial environment and custom, and with the mistaken idea that body-heat is derived entirely from fuel consumed, from food ingested, eats more heavily in winter, and approaches spring with a system overloaded with waste and in no condition to meet the work-time of the year. Spring-fever and spring-tonics are household terms, and epidemic disease is more prevalent then than at any other season. But again, remedy for disease should be used only when disease is manifested.
On the other hand, the social surroundings of a fasting patient are of the utmost import. The effect of mental states upon the physical body is too well known to dwell upon in this connection, and another chapter deals with this subject in all of its aspects. When friends and family object to the treatment, they object because of ignorance of the purpose of the method and of the details of its application. Affection, too, may enter into their opposition, and they, in their ignorance fear the outcome. The simple truth that underlies the method is usually easy to impress upon a mind situate in a body long diseased. But, often, convincing a patient is only half the battle, for relatives and friends resist to the point of compulsion. Since peace of mind and quiet environment are essential to successful issue, it is best to remove from anxious but misguided intimates, permitting them to await in ignorance of immediate trials the results that prove the wisdom of conviction.
Worry, anger, and grief are also most detrimental to progress towards cure. One instance comes to mind in which a case had fasted but eight days for functional disease of no especial gravity. Improvement had been continuous, but differences existed between the patient and her husband, and the latter, in an interview with his wife on the eighth day of her fast, so angered and distressed her that a nervous congestive chill, with suffusion of blood to the brain and lungs, occurred, and death resulted immediately from these causes. No amount of argument could convince the orthodox mind that the fast had not brought about death in this case. But the woman would have died just as surely had the scene described taken place before the omission of food, when the patient was ill and nervously weaker than at the time when anger and grief were so strongly excited.
In cases of functional disease, when the patient is not so depleted as to be bed-ridden, moderate daily exercise is most beneficial. In fact, it is recommended that the ordinary duties of life be continued, if such be possible. In many instances this can be done, and benefit accrues from exercise, because of its assistance to elimination, and from mental work, because of its value in diverting the mind from contemplation of physical ills. Numbers of fasters can safely follow their usual vocations, and, again, others are compelled to rest throughout the period of abstinence. The majority of the latter are, however, sufferers from organic defects, incipient or advanced in character, and sooner or later the facts are uncovered in the course of treatment.
One thought may be impressed at this point. The patient should so occupy himself, in so far as he can, that his illness and his treatment are not at any time uppermost in his mind. The method in its infancy has numbered among the majority of its patients chronic invalids, medically treated for years, and accustomed to constant thought of personal pain and distress. The relief occasioned by the fast very often permits these cases to forget their ailments, and to devote their attention to the duties of life. Occupation and amusement assist materially in accomplishing this result.
In the ordinary case of functional disease
the fast to complete purification should be J. G. Victim of drug habit. Photograph depicts appearance at end of his fast of fifty days. 
J. G. Six months after completion of fast. A complete
physical and moral transformation was the
result of treatment in this case. employed. The law of hunger determines its
duration, and, all other things being equal,
the surroundings and mental attitude in accord, this course will assure restoration to
health. When the environment is not congenial, or when, in the mind of the director
of treatment, the condition of the patient is
such as to require the suggestive effect of
food, occasions may arise when the partial
fast or the interrupted fast may be used to
advantage. Sometimes, too, the facilities for
carrying out a complete fast are not at hand,
and here the partial fast may be deemed a
better policy than its finished product. The
end is eventually identical, although it is
somewhat longer in accomplishment when
the partial or interrupted fast is employed.
There are cases in which the poisonous products of digestive putrefaction are present in such quantity as to tax the eliminative organs beyond their capability. In fact, when serious and extreme symptoms occur after the beginning of a fast, it is virtually certain that organic defects exist, and caution and knowledge are then needed in carrying the fast to its conclusion. Because of the general belief that every symptom is a separate disease, the ordinary mind regards the symptom to the exclusion of the disturbance producing it. When a symptom of disease appears in aggravated form after years of intermittent occurrence, experience leads to the conclusion that organic change has taken place, and that disease is due no longer to functional derangement, but to actual organic defect. Here the partial or the interrupted fast is found desirable, not because the protracted fast would not accomplish the results with better prospect of successful outcome, but because the average patient regards the symptom as the cause, and fails to appreciate what its temporary aggravation in the protracted fast implies. Increase in severity of symptom may occur and does occur in periods of dieting also.
An organ mechanically defective, especially if it be eliminative in function, cannot be expected to work to full capacity. It may be able partially to perform its task, but, pushed beyond a point, it will assuredly fail to respond. In the fast all vital parts are engaged in a supreme process of purification of casting out waste matter. And, when it is seen, through aggravated symptoms, that one or other of these is incapable of full duty, the progress of elimination may be checked by interrupting the periods of abstinence with intervals of diet.
The only alleviation that can be accomplished when distress occurs in a fast, is that which may be obtained by assisting nature hygienically. Little can be done in case of severe symptoms save to await results, but the enema is an all-important ally, and invariably brings immediate relief, while hot applications for pulse and temperature below normal, and cold applications for the opposite condition, are essential as well. The partial and the interrupted fast, whether indicated in the manner described or entered into from policy, are always beneficial.
The post mortem examinations cited in the text reveal the fact that it is impossible for one to die in the fast unless the vital organs are in such condition prior to entering abstinence that death is inevitable whether food is taken or not. Symptoms severe in character result, in the fast or out of it, from organs that are below normal in size or that are misplaced or defective in structure. And, when distressing conditions arise in the fast, the safer and the saner thing to do is to continue the omission of food to the point of purification, rather than to return to feeding or to resort to the partial fast. The process of elimination accomplishes but one thing the casting out of waste and to return to feeding puts extra labor upon organs already overtaxed. Vital parts are often defective in structure due to wrong treatment in the growing period, or to inherent deficiency, and then, when the fast is invoked, the symptoms are invariably distressing. When, during the omission of food, symptoms of pain and distress are aggravated, and resort to food is taken, the trouble is only increased, and the patient finds himself in deeper water than before.
Fruit juices and liquid vegetable foods are the proper diet indicated when the fast is broken before its completion or at its logical end, since these are easily handled and place no great tax upon digestion. When acid fruits are not tolerated, the fast may be broken on vegetable broths alone. Various vegetables and cereals lend themselves readily to the preparation of broths suitable for the purpose named. Tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, rice, and barley, and garden produce generally may be utilized. But nothing can quite take the place of the broth from tomatoes, for this vegetable, though slightly acid in composition, seems to satisfy both taste and nutrition at any and all times. Even in a fast, when serious symptoms are present, the broth from the tomato may be given for the relief of distress. The preparation of this vegetable may be referred to as a counterpart of that of the others, and it is here described. Two pounds of tomatoes are stewed with about two cups of water. The boiling should continue for approximately fifteen or twenty minutes, and the broth should be slightly seasoned, then strained so that no large solid particles enter the stomach. One cup of this product served hot often answers as a means of complete relief from pain, and it is the ideal food upon which to break a fast as well.
The drinking of water during a fast is not needful unless thirst is indicated. When the latter sensation makes demand, only sufficient water to satisfy it should be taken. The forcing of water upon the body when no desire exists taxes organs already burdened. Water should not be thrown into the stomach in gulps. It should be sipped, especially when fasting, for it then causes no shock to the system. Thirst is not always evident in a fast, since, when properly conducted, water is supplied to the body through absorption from the vehicle of the enema. The kidneys are flushed from this source, and the fluids of the tissues are maintained in the same manner. A knowledge of this fact will relieve the tortures of the shipwrecked mariner, for an enema of sea-water, in addition to its cleansing properties, will satisfy thirst.