CHAPTER VI
THE DURATION OF THE FAST
"Physic, quick to affect the body, can never produce the perfect results of the slow operations of exercise and temperance the two great instruments of health."
Addison.
CHAPTER VI.
THE DURATION OF THE FAST
THE duration of the complete fast is a matter that can neither be foretold nor prescribed in any individual case, for the treatment has its beginning in disease and its end in the hunger that marks the return of digestive power. Until the latter makes itself apparent, and it cannot be mistaken, the fast should continue. Then, and not till then, is the system in condition again to receive and transform food into tissue structure.
The sensation of hunger is a safeguard established by nature to insure bodily maintenance. It is the first instinct that the infant exercises at birth, and its office in all life is that of a watchful caretaker entrusted with interests beyond the ordinary in value.. The natural consciousness of hunger has, in most individual instances, been usurped by artificial craving produced through the cultivation of the sense of taste and through regularity in the habits of feeding. Hunger is an involuntary function of the system as much so as is the beating of the heart. It is not created by the individual, nor does it make its appearance at stated hours by exercise of the will. But appetite, its counterfeit, is easily called into being and may be made apparent at set times.
In diseased conditions hunger is absent; and, in the fast, appetite ordinarily disappears after the first few days. When the elimination of toxic products is complete, hunger, not appetite, returns. Hunger is normal, appetite abnormal. This distinction with a difference is most important considered in connection with the breaking of a fast. The question of the resumption of feeding does not lie for answer in the hands of either physician or patient. It rests with the law of hunger alone. During the fast and until hunger returns, food of any kind is an intruder, and all of the energy of the body is being directed through the organs of elimination towards the cleansing of the system from its self-manufactured poison. The coated tongue, the foul breath, are simple signs of the decomposition of excess food and of worn-out tissue. And, being signs of decomposition, they are also signs of the death of life substance and of living organism, the products of which are harmful unless removed from the functioning body. When the elimination of these toxins has reached the point that rebuilding is demanded lest the body die, hunger will manifest itself. Hunger is the abiding law of animal existence; it is not a creation of man nor of the animal, but is the signal of instinct by which all animate creatures know that food is needed for the repair and growth of the organism. And, with its manifestation, the clean tongue, the sweet breath, and normal life symptoms return.
In functional disease the fast may be carried to its logical end without a particle of anxiety, for the law of hunger marks the limit beyond which abstinence cannot continue lest death occur. And to this nature has added another safeguard, almost its equal in importance. Resident in the body there exists at all times a supply of tissue pabulum for use in repair and growth, both ordinary and extraordinary. This is constantly called upon for the nourishment and upbuilding of nerves and brain, and the latter never suffer deterioration in substance nor in structure unless they themselves are organically diseased. Even in instances of death from alleged starvation, nerve tissue shows no loss. It makes use of the normal food reserve stored in the interstices of muscular tissue, and; fasting or feeding, it draws upon this accumulation for support. The whole nervous system regains its energy by rest alone, but it maintains its substance at par by the means described. Hence, so long as there remain tissue and blood sufficient to carry on the work of the functions and of the circulation, brain and nerves must continue their directing task, and they cannot waste in the process.
The statement, that a supply of healthy tissue-food exists during a fast and is not exhausted until natural hunger returns, does not rest for proof upon the mere assertion of medical observation in alleged starvation. In the chapter of the text devoted to cases cured by fasting an instance is cited of healing by first intention during a fast of fiftyeight days of a sore three inches in diameter, so virulent in character that the .periosteum of the sacrum was exposed. Two cases of pregnancy are also noted in which the mothers fasted twenty-two and thirty days respectively. In the bodies of each of these women the growth of the foetus was progressive and normal, despite the total omission of food intake. Due to disease, hunger was absent in the pregnant women, but a supply of nourishment sufficient to maintain the body of the mother and to build that of the forming child existed within and was utilized until natural hunger returned at the completion of the fast. This stored nourishment is always present in tissue structure; it is the factor of safety in physical economy, and it is eliminated only at the time when in the fast complete purification of the system has occurred and hunger is asserted.
The signs of a fully completed fast are most easily recognized. The tongue is pink and clean, the breath, sweet, and appetite or false hunger is replaced by natural desire for food, a sensation exquisite beyond description, that may be realized only by a clean, pure, regenerated system. Natural hunger relishes natural food, and, once it is known, no morsel is without delight.
If the human body ate only when hunger makes demand, perfect balance would at once be created between intake and outgo, upbuilding and waste. Mastication, which is the mechanical part of ingestion, must, of course, be correctly accomplished to insure this result. Hunger is discriminative and preserves the body. Appetite is abnormal desire and ultimately destroys. Hunger is primarily indicated in the mouth, and, if not relieved, becomes an organic craving that can be satisfied only by digestible food; but appetite is silenced when even indigestible substances are ingested.
After the fast, with the return of normal hunger, the food selective sensations of taste and smell are also restored. These faculties in average existence are trained to accept material and odor abhorrent to naturally constituted organisms; but in normal state, while dependent upon true hunger, they act as minor indicators in determining the point that marks the conclusion of the fast. And with them thirst appears not that desire for liquid produced by stimulation or by drug-exhaustion of the fluids of the body, but that which makes known the immediate need for their renewal. The body that eats when hunger, not appetite, calls, that drinks when thirst, not stimulation, demands, and that follows unquestioningly the selective sensations of taste and of smell, need never know disease.
It is sometimes the policy of good judgment to break the fast before the system is completely cleansed, to return to it after an interval of dieting; but this is so, solely because of the wide-spread ignorance of the human body and its care, and because of the advantage that orthodoxy has taken of this fact for commercial and other reasons. The mind of the patient thus becomes imbued with groundless fear of death, and more harm than good results on account of the mental strain. From the same motive, policy may indicate shortening the period of abstinence when the certainty of the presence of organic disease exists, or when preparation has been carelessly performed or entirely omitted. But, even though organic defects are present, the body in disease is more certain of recovery when the fast is applied, since the labor of the organs is in process of gradual reduction, and progressive relief is afforded the system as a whole. The only hope of partial recuperation or of permanent cure lies in the rest given to overworked or defective organs, permitting them, if possible, to recover and to resume their functions. The question regarding the duration of a fast is, then, one that can never be answered with certainty, and it is to be remembered that each individual develops his own case, and that each case has its own limitations and requirements. In view of these conditions, the fact is to be faced that no matured human body, in which disease is manifest, can be brought to health within a limited period of time. It has required years of abuse and of drugging to cause disease, and it is unreasonable to assume that nature in a few short weeks or months can bring about the physiological changes necessary to perfect functioning.
The fast completed, the body exists in a sphere of natural condition, and there are no circumstances in which there is so much of real gratification in the simpler acts that constitute physical life. To eat rationally, to eat only at the demand of hunger and not to excess, become exquisite pleasures, marred with no grief for the flesh pots nor for the loss of appetite.
What the fast requires is ability to follow logically the details of a great but simple law, the law of hunger, which, once obeyed, brings health for the asking, and demands only individual reason, effort, and will; but, once violated, condemns the offender to condign and lasting punishment.