  Fasting is one of the oldest of remedial measures known to man, not only for the ills of the body, but for those of the soul. Oriental lore and literature make frequent reference to fasts. From the Bible we learn that Moses, Elijah and Christ each fasted forty days, and no bad effects are recorded. Addison knew the value of fasting and temperance. He wrote that, "Abstinence well-timed often kills a sickness in embryo and destroys the seeds of a disease." Unfortunately, he did not live as well as he knew how. Hence his brilliant mind had but a short time in which to work and the world is the loser. Our own great philosopher, Benjamin Franklin, had the same knowledge, for he wrote, "Against disease known, the strongest fence is the defensive virtue, abstinence." There is much prejudice against fasting, because people do not understand what fasting is and what it accomplishes. Fasting is not starving. To fast is to go without food when the body is in such condition that food can not be properly digested and assimilated. To starve is to go without food when the body is in condition to digest and assimilate food and needs nourishment. It is quite generally believed that if food is withheld for six or seven days the result will be fatal. Under proper conditions one can go without food for two or three months. Perhaps most people could not do without food for the latter period, but fasts of that duration are on record. Fat people can live on their tissues for a long time before they are reduced to normal weight, and slender ones can live on water for an extended period. Prolonged fasts should not be taken unless necessary, and then they should be taken under the guidance of someone who has had experience and is possessed of common sense. If a person is fearful or surrounded by others who instill fear into him, he should not take a prolonged fast. The gravest danger during the fast is fear. It takes many weeks to die from lack of food, but fear is capable of killing in a few days, or even in a few hours. The healer who undertakes to direct fasts against the wishes of the patient's friends and relatives, who have more influence than he has, injures himself professionally and throws doubt upon the valuable therapeutic measure he advocates. The indications that a fast is needed are pain and fever and acute attacks of all kinds of diseases. Some of the more common diseases that call for a complete cessation of eating are: The acute stage of pneumonia, appendicitis, typhoid fever, neuralgia, sciatica, peritonitis, cold, tonsilitis, whooping cough, croup, scarlet fever, smallpox and all other eruptive diseases; colics of kidneys, liver or bowels; all acute alimentary tract disturbances, whether of the stomach or of the bowels. Sometimes it is necessary to fast in chronic diseases, especially when there is pain, but as a rule chronic diseases yield to proper hygienic and dietetic treatment without a fast, provided they are curable. Here is where many people who advocate fasting go to extremes. A fast is the quickest way out of the trouble, but it is at times very unpleasant. By taking longer time the result can be obtained by proper living and the patient is being educated while he is recovering. In chronic cases it is especially important to eat properly. The only disease of which I know that seems to be unfavorably influenced by fasting is pulmonary tuberculosis in well advanced stages. Such patients quickly lose weight and strength on a fast, and they have great difficulty in regaining either. Perhaps others have had different experiences and have made observations that do not agree with this, for cases of tuberculosis have been reported cured through fasting. It is well to bear in mind that every case that is diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis is not tuberculosis. Many supposed-to-be cases of tuberculosis, some of them so diagnosed by most reputable specialists, are nothing more than lung irritation due to the absorption of gas and acid from the digestive tract. When the indigestion is cured, the so-called tuberculosis disappears. These are the only tubercular cases that I have seen benefited by fasts, and the improvement is both quick and sure. Doubtless tuberculosis in the first stages could be cured by fasting, followed by proper hygienic and dietetic care, for at first tuberculosis is a localized symptom of disordered nutrition. In this stage the disease is no more dangerous than many other maladies that are not considered fatal. The subjects brought to the dissecting table show plainly that a large proportion of them have at some time had pulmonary tuberculosis, the lesions of which were healed, and they afterwards died of some other affliction. However, if a patient is received after the manifestation of profuse night sweats, great flushing of the cheeks, high fever daily, emaciation, expulsion of much mucus from the lungs, and the presence of great lassitude and weakness, the rule is that the nutrition is so badly impaired that nothing will bring the patient back to normal. Under such circumstances fasting hastens death. The family and friends are not reticent about placing the blame on the healer. Moderate feeding will prolong life and add to the comfort of the sufferer. The customary overfeeding hastens the end. Cancer is said to be cured by fasting, but this is very, very doubtful. It is often difficult to differentiate between cancer and benignant tumors at first. Benignant tumors frequently disappear on a limited diet. I have seen many tumors disappear under rational treatment, without resorting to the knife, but I have never seen an undoubted case of cancer do so, though some of the tumors in question had been diagnosed cancer. Cancers, in the advanced stages, end in the death of the patient in spite of any kind of treatment. By being very careful about the diet, cancer patients can escape nearly all the pain and discomfort that generally accompany this disease. Moderation would prevent nearly every case of cancer, and especially moderation in meat eating. It is a disease that should be prevented, for its cure is very doubtful. Colds leave in a few days, with no bad after effects, if no food is taken. Typhoid fever treated rationally from the start generally disappears in from one week to twelve days if nothing but water is given, and fails to develop the severity that it attains under the giving of foods and drugs. There are no complications. Appendicitis is of longer duration, if it is a severe attack, lasting from two to four weeks, but after the first few days the patient is comfortable, under a no-food, let-alone treatment. Operation is not necessary. In cases of gall-stones, accompanied by jaundice and colic, it is not necessary to operate. Fasting and bathing will bring the body back to normal in a short time. In such cases it is necessary to give the baths as hot as they can be borne, and prolong them until the body is relaxed. It would be easy to enumerate many diseases, telling the benefits to be derived from fasting, but these point the way and are sufficient. The one unfailing symptom of a fast is the loss of weight. This loss is natural and there is nothing alarming about it. As soon as eating is resumed the loss of weight stops. For a while the weight may then remain stationary, but the gain is generally prompt. In time the weight will become normal again. According to Chosat, the loss sustained by the various tissues in starvation is as follows: Fat………………… 93 per cent. This table was made from animal experimentation, but agrees very well with other observations, except in the loss of blood, which others have found to be less than 20 per cent. It will be noticed that the highest tissue, nervous tissue, is hardly affected, but the lowest tissue, fat, almost disappears. When an individual needs to fast, his body is suffering from the ingestion of too much food and poor elimination. He overworks his nutrition and overdraws on his nervous energies so much in other lines that the body is unable to throw off the debris which should leave by way of the kidneys, the bowels, the skin and the lungs. He is poisoned by his retained excretions, suffering from what is called autointoxication or self-poisoning. He is filthy internally and needs a cleaning. If he has abused himself so that he lacks the power to assimilate food and throw off waste at the same time, obviously it is proper to stop eating until the lost power is regained. In cases of fever it is a physical crime to eat, for the glands cease secreting the normal juices. The mouth becomes parched for lack of saliva, and the gastric and intestinal juices are not secreted in proper amount or quality. Food eaten under such circumstances is not digested. The internal temperature in fever is above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and it does not take long for food to decay in such temperature, especially such aliments as milk and broth, which are the favorite foods for fever patients. These alimentary substances are excellent for growing nearly all the germs that are found in the body in disease. When in pain, it is harmful to eat, for the secretions are then perverted and digestion is interfered with. All violent emotions, such as hatred, jealousy, and anger, mean that no food should be taken until the body has had the opportunity to relax and regain some of its tone. Such emotions do not thrive so well in healthy individuals as among the sick, but then perfect health is a rarity. When going without food people are subject to various symptoms, which depend as much on the temperament as on the physical conditions. A hysterical woman can scare inexperienced attendants into doing her will by her antics. She may make them believe that she is dying. On the other hand, well balanced, fearless people can fast for weeks with very little annoyance. Fasting is not always pleasant and there are a number of symptoms that are often present. The faster loses weight, at first often as much as two pounds a day. This is mostly water. After the first ten days the loss may be but one-half of a pound, or less, per day. The loss of weight is greatest in heavy people and in those who have high fevers. The tongue becomes badly coated, and the breath foul, showing that the mucous membrane is busy throwing out waste. The tongue remains coated until the system is clean, and then it clears off. Most people feel weak when they attempt to walk or work, but they feel strong when resting. Others, who are badly food-poisoned, gain strength as the system eliminates the harmful substances from the body. For a day or two the craving for food may be quite insistent and persistent. Then hunger generally leaves and does not return until the tongue is clean. The mind becomes clearer as the body becomes cleaner. This benefit to the spirit, or the soul, has been recognized by religious organizations for centuries. A little discharge of blood from the bowels at first should cause no alarm. In some cases a great deal of yellow mucus is thrown into the lower bowel. The liver at times throws off so much bile that it makes the patient alarmed. This should cause no uneasiness. When the bile is forced upward into the stomach it is very disagreeable. The discharges from the bowels are often very dark. There is a tendency toward chilliness, especially to have cold hands and feet. Skin eruptions and heart palpitations are occasional symptoms. Nervous, irritable and fearful people have symptoms too numerous to mention. The more they are sympathized with the worse they become. Many medical men have misinterpreted the symptoms of the fast, and hence they have condemned the procedure. They see the foul coating on the tongue, the loss of weight and at times peculiar mental manifestations. They can smell the foul breath and the disagreeable odor from the skin and from the bowel discharges. These they interpret as signs of physical deterioration and degeneration. These manifestations indicate that the entire body is cleansing itself, throwing out impurities that have accumulated, because the system has had so much work to do that it has lacked the power to be self-cleansing. Nothing is needed to prove this fact except to continue the fast until the odors disappear and the tongue becomes clean. The bad odors given off by the body resemble the odors in severe fevers with much wasting, and hence they alarm those who have had little or no experience with protracted fasts. These odors are often bad at the end of about one week of fasting, though there is no fixed period for their appearance. They should cause no alarm for they simply indicate that the body is cleansing itself, and that is exactly what is desired. Under proper conditions I have neither seen nor heard of a fatality coming from a short fast. Those who are in such physical shape that they will die if fasted from five to ten days would die if they were fed. Another symptom that may alarm the attendant is the lowered blood pressure. This is natural and should cause no anxiety. Eating and drinking keep the blood pressure up. When the food intake is decreased, the blood pressure is reduced. When the food intake is stopped, the blood pressure is still further reduced. This fact should give the intelligent healer the hint to reduce the food intake in such abnormal conditions as arteriosclerosis and apoplexy. During prolonged fasts the blood pressure generally becomes quite low. Some fasting people can continue with light work, and when they are able to do this, it is best, for it keeps them from thinking about themselves all the time. If there is a lack of energy, dispense with work and vigorous exercise. In acute diseases there is no choice. One is compelled to cease laboring. In chronic diseases it depends on the patient and the adviser. Dismiss fear from the mind and do not discuss the fast or any of the symptoms with anyone except the adviser. It is best not to tell any outsiders about the fast, for the public has some queer ideas on the subject. If you are afraid, or if you have to fight with neighbors, friends, relatives, or perhaps with the health authorities, as sometimes happens, it is better not to take the fast. Drink all the water desired. At first the more one drinks the more quickly the system cleanses itself. A glass of water every hour during the day, or even every half hour is all right. The water may be warm or cold, but it should not be ice-cold nor should it be hot. Both extremes produce irritation. In acute inflammation of the stomach, nothing should be given by mouth. Small quantities of water may be given by rectum every two or three hours. In appendicitis only very small quantities of water are to be given by mouth at first, until the acute symptoms have subsided. Large quantities of fluid may excite violent peristalsis with resulting pain. In all eases of nausea, give nothing by mouth, not even water, until the nausea is gone. Symptoms are nature's sign language, and when properly interpreted they tell us what to do and what not to do. Even though there be no thirst or desire for water, some should be taken. If it can be taken by mouth give at least a glassful every two hours, not necessarily all at once. Some are so sensitive that one-half of a glass of water is all they can tolerate. If the stomach objects to water, give it by rectum. Always do this in cases of much nausea. After a few days the water intake may be reduced. Take a quick sponge bath every day and if there is any inclination toward chilliness, the water should be tepid or warm. Follow with a few minutes of dry towel friction. People who are overweight, with good heart and kidney action, can take prolonged hot baths, if they wish. An olive oil rub immediately after the bath, about twice a week, is grateful. However, this is not necessary. The colon is to be washed out every day. No definite amount of water can be prescribed. Occasionally enemas are taken under difficulties, for some cramp when water is introduced into the bowel. Those who are not accustomed to enemas should use water about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. One quart is a small enema. Two quarts make a fairly large one. Introduce the water, lie still for a few minutes and then allow it to pass out. If the bowels are very foul, use two or three washings. If there is much fermentation, use some soda in the water. Salt, about a tablespoonful to two quarts of water, stimulates the bowels, but its disadvantage is that it draws water from the intestinal walls, thus robbing the blood of a part of its fluid. The same is true of glycerin. Perhaps the least harmful ingredient that can be put into the water to stimulate action is enough pure castile soap to render the water opaque. The soap, however, has a tendency to wash away too much of the mucus which lubricates the bowel. On the whole, nothing is better than plain water. If it gives good results use nothing else. Those who are very sensitive and weak often find that the expulsion of water from the bowel not only further weakens them, but causes pain. In such cases Dr. Hazzard recommends a rectal tube (not a colon tube), which is very good, for it allows the emptying of the bowel without any cramping. The tube is to be inserted about six inches. To take the enema, assume either the knee-chest position (kneeling with the shoulders close to the floor) or lie on the right side with the hips elevated. These positions allow water to flow into colon by aid of gravity. When it is necessary to supply liquid to the body by rectum, simply introduce a pint or less of plain water, moderately warm. Repeat as often as necessary to keep away thirst, which will rarely be more than every three hours. Keep the body warm at all times. If it is difficult to keep warm, go to bed and use enough covers, having the windows open enough to supply fresh air. At night use artificial heat in the foot of the bed. If hot-water bottles, warm bricks or stones are used, they should be quite large; otherwise they become cold by two or three o'clock in the morning, when heat is most needed. If a large receptacle, such as a jug, is used to keep the water in, the bed clothes are lifted off the patient's feet, and this is often a great relief. No special food is suited to break all fasts on. It is necessary to begin with plain food in moderation. Overeating or eating of indigestible food at this time may result in sickness and even in death. If the faster lacks self-control, the food should be brought to him in proper quantities by the attendant. If the fast has lasted but two or three days, no special precautions are necessary, except that the first few meals should be smaller than usual. As indiscretions in eating compel nearly all fasts it is necessary to do a little better than previously, or the fast must be repeated. It is best to live so that fasts are not necessary. If the fast has been prolonged it is best to begin feeding liquid foods. What shall we feed? That depends on the patient and circumstances. The juice of the concord grape is not good for it ferments too easily. Many of those who are compelled to fast or else die have been so food-poisoned, and their digestive organs have been in such horrible condition for years that they have been unable to eat acid fruits. This is especially true of those who consume large quantities of starch. Sometimes they are unable to eat fruit for a while after the fast. At other times the irritability of the digestive organs disappears while food is withheld. For such people broths and milk may be employed. The juice of oranges, pineapples, California grapes, cherries, blackberries or tomatoes may be given. The tomatoes may be made into broth and strained, but nothing is to be added to this broth except salt. Stout people should do well on fruit juices. They are not to be so highly recommended for very thin, nervous people, for fruit juices are both thinning and cooling. Milk is very useful, and may be given either sweet or clabbered or in the form of buttermilk. Thin, nervous people can safely be given broths, preferably of lamb, mutton or chicken. Trim away all the fat, grind up the lean meat, and allow it to simmer (not boil) until all the juices are extracted from the meat. Strain and put away to cool. When cold, skim off the fat. Then warm the broth and serve. This broth is not to be seasoned while it is being cooked, but a little salt may be added when it is ready to serve. To one pound of lean meat there should be about one quart of broth. A teacupful to begin with is enough for a meal, and it is often necessary to give less than this. The gravest mistake is to be in a hurry about returning to full meals. The remarks about moderate feeding also apply to milk and fruit juices. Ordinarily, fasts are not broken on starchy foods, but this may be done at times to advantage, especially in cases that have been accustomed to large quantities of starch and but little of the fresh raw foods. The starch must, however, be in an easily digestible state and should be in the form of a very thin gruel made of oatmeal or whole wheatmeal. It should be cooked four to six hours and dressed with nothing but a little salt. A few can break the fast on a full meal without any bad results, but most people can not do it without suffering and the results may be fatal. So it is a safe rule to break the fast on simple liquid food, taken in moderation. Four or five days after breaking the fast, one should be able to eat the ordinary foods. The following is a suggestion of the manner in which to feed immediately after a fast of about two weeks: First day: Tomato broth once; mutton broth twice. Second day: Breakfast, orange juice. Lunch, buttermilk. Dinner, sliced tomatoes. Third day: Breakfast, buttermilk. Lunch, salad of lettuce and tomatoes, dressed with salt. Dinner, poached egg, celery. Fourth day: Breakfast, baked apple and milk. Lunch, toasted bread and butter. Dinner, lamb chops, stewed green peas, celery. If a meal causes distress, omit the next one and continue omitting meals until comfort and ease have returned. If the digestion is very weak, or if the illness has been protracted, do not feed solids as soon as recommended above. In all cases it is necessary to exercise self-control, moderation and common sense. The meals must be moderate. Gradually increase until the amount of food taken is sufficient to do the necessary bodily rebuilding. The longer the fast, the more care should be exercised in the beginning. It is no time to experiment. If the fast is to be of permanent benefit it is necessary to learn how to eat properly afterwards, and to put this knowledge into practice. This is the most important part to emphasize, yet all the books I have read on the subject have failed to pay any attention to it. In nearly every case the fast is necessary because of repeated mistakes in eating and drinking. Those mistakes built bodily ills in the first place and if the faster goes back to them they will do it again. The disease does not always take on the same type as it did in the first place, but it is the same old disease. During a fast there is recuperation because the body has a chance to become clean, and a clean body can not long remain unbalanced, provided there are no organic faults. By making mistakes in eating after the fast is over, the body again becomes foul and full of debris and that means more disease. Perhaps it may not require more than one-third as much abuse to cause a second break-down as it did to bring about the first one. Some people fast repeatedly, and are somewhat proud of it. They should be ashamed of the fact that they must fast time after time, for it shows either ignorance or a weak, undeveloped will power. The fast should teach every intelligent being that it is an emergency measure, and emergencies are but seldom encountered in a well regulated life. Food debauches following fasts should be avoided. A little will power properly applied will prevent them. Gross eating may compel another fast. We must eat and it is better to eat so that we can take sustenance regularly than to be compelled to go without food at various intervals. He who is moderate in his eating, uses a fair degree of intelligence in the selection of his food, is temperate in other ways and considerate and kind in his dealings with others will not be ill. A fast is efficacious in clearing up a brain that is unable to work well because it is bathed in unclean blood. It is remarkable how well the brain works when the stomach is not overworked. Overfeeding the body causes underfeeding of the brain. On a correct diet the brain is efficient and clear and able to bear sustained burdens. There is no question but that a fast, followed by a light diet, containing less of the heavily starchy and proteid foods and more of the succulent vegetables and fresh fruits, with their cleansing juices and health-imparting salts, would result in the recovery of over one-half of the insane. Most of them are suffering functionally and here the outlook is very hopeful. Christ cured a lunatic "by prayer and fasting." Proper feeding would work wonders in prisons. It would also be very beneficial for wayward girls and young men who are passion's slaves. St. Peter recommended fasting as an aid to morality, which is another evidence of the profundity of his wisdom. How long should a fast last? Until its object has been accomplished. It is rarely necessary to fast a month, but sometimes it is advisable to continue the fast for forty days, or even longer. If the fast is taken on account of pain, continue until the pain is gone. If for fever, until there is no more fever. In chronic cases it is not always necessary to continue the fast until the tongue is clean. When the patient is free from pain and fever and comfortable in every way, start feeding lightly. People who are thin and have sluggish nutrition, one symptom of which is dirty-gray mucous membrane in mouth and throat, should not be fasted any longer than it is absolutely necessary, for they generally react slowly and poorly. If people would miss a meal or two or three as soon as they begin to feel bad, no long fasts would be necessary, because when the system first begins to be deranged it very quickly rights itself when food is withheld. It is impossible for a serious disease to develop in a fasting person, unless he is in an exceptionally bad physical condition at the beginning of the fast, for when food is withheld there is nothing for disease to feed upon. No new disease can originate during a fast. Fasts often bring people back to health, who can not recover through any other means known to man, unless it be eating almost nothing—a semi-fast. Occasionally a patient dies while on a long fast or immediately thereafter, but please remember that millions die prematurely on this earth every year who never missed their meals for one day. Also remember that those who go on prolonged fasts are generally "hopeless cases," who have been given up to die by medical men. People who fast generally become comfortable, so why envy a few men and women an easy departure when they are no longer able to live, and why heap undeserved censure on those who are doing their best to ease the sufferers by means of our most valuable therapeutic measure, fasting? There is much prejudice against fasting, but a calm study of the facts will remove this. Typhoid fever, conventionally treated, often proves fatal in 15 per cent. or more of the cases and those who survive have to undergo a long, uncomfortable illness which often leaves them so weakened and with such degenerated bodies that the end is frequently a matter of a few months or years. Pneumonia and tuberculosis find a favorable place to develop and in these cases prove very fatal. On the other hand, cases of typhoid treated by the fast, and the other hygienic measures necessary, recover in a short time, there are no evil sequels and the body is in better condition than it was before the onset of the disease. I have never seen a fatality in a properly treated case, and the mortality is conspicuous by its absence. It is the same in curable chronic diseases. Where feeding and medicating add to the ills, fasting with proper living afterwards brings health. It is also well to remember that where one individual dies while fasting (not from the effects of fasting, but from the disease for which the fast was begun), perhaps one hundred thousand starve because they have too much to eat. Silly as this may sound, it is the truth, and this is s the explanation: Overfeeding causes digestive troubles and a breakdown of the assimilative and excretory processes. The more food that is taken while this condition exists the less nourishment is extracted from it. The food ferments pathologically, instead of physiologically, and poisons the body. The more that is eaten under the circumstances, the worse is the poisoning and at last the tired body wearily gives up the fight for existence, perhaps after a long chronic ailment has been suffered, or perhaps during the attack of an acute disease. The chief cause of death is too much food. Avicena, the great Arabian physician, treated by means of prolonged fasts. For the benefit of those who fear the effects of fasts of a few days' duration a few quotations are given from various sources: "My next marked case is a wonderful illustration of the self-feeding power of the brain to meet an emergency, and a revelation, also, of the possible limitations of the starvation period. This was the case of a frail, spare boy of four years, whose stomach was so disorganized by a drink of solution of caustic potash that not even a swallow of water could be retained. He died on the seventy-fifth day of his fast, with the mind clear to the last hour, and with apparently nothing of the body left but bones, ligaments, and a thin skin; and yet the brain had lost neither weight nor functional clearness. "In another city a similar accident happened to a child of about the same age, in whom it took three months for the brain to exhaust entirely the available body-food."—Dr. E. H. Dewey. This shows the groundlessness of the fear parents have of allowing their children to fast when necessary. It is beneficial for even the babies who need it. In the cases quoted above the conditions were very unfavorable, for the children were suffering from the effects of lye burns, yet they lived without food seventy-five and ninety days, respectively. If necessary, deprive the children of food, and keep them warm. Then comfort yourself with the fact that they are being treated humanely and efficiently. |
|
