Fasting as a Natural Cleansing Method
Hippocrates - "Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just
have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us
is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our
medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed
your sickness." Hippocrates, Greek physician (460 BC - 377 BC)
Dr. Herbert Shelton MD - "It is estimated that fasting for the alleviation of human
suffering has been practiced uninterruptedly for 10,000 years. No doubt it has
been employed from the time man first began to get sick. Fasting was part of
the methods of healing practiced in the Ancient Asculapian Temples of Toscurd
Guido, 1300 years before the time of Jesus. Hippocrates, the mythical Greek
"Father of Physic," seems to have prescribed total abstinence from food while
a "disease" was on the increase, and especially at the critical period, and
a spare diet on other occasions. Tertullian has left us a treatise on fasting
written about 200 A.D. Plutarch said: "Instead of using medicine rather fast
a day." Avicenna, the great Arab physician often prescribed fasting for three weeks or more."
Benjamin Franklin - "The best of all medicines are rest
and fasting"
Patricia Bragg Ph.D.- "Proven throughout history for physical,
mental and spiritual rejuvenation, fasting promotes cleansing and healing; helps
normalize weight, blood pressure, cholesterol; rebuilds the immune system; and
helps reverse the aging process. If we are to get these poisons out of our bodies
we must fast. By fasting we give our bodies a physiological rest. This rest
builds Vital Force. The more Vital Force we have, the more toxins are going
to be eliminated from the body to help keep it clean, pure and healthy."
Fasting triggers a truly wondrous cleansing process
Evart Loomis M.D.
Fasting is the world's most ancient and natural healing mechanism. Fasting triggers
a truly wondrous cleansing process that
reaches right down to each and every cell and tissue in the body. Within 24 hours of
curtailing food intake, enzymes stop entering the stomach and travel instead
into the intestines and into the bloodstream, where they circulate and gobble
up all sorts of waste matter, including dead and damaged cells, unwelcome microbes,
metabolic wastes, and pollutants. All organs and glands get a much-needed and
well-deserved rest, during which their tissues are purified and rejuvenated
and their functions balanced and regulated. The entire alimentary canal is swept clean.
Surely one of the most overlooked and yet most valuable modes of healing that will be rediscovered
in the future of the new medicine is the fast. This is because of the increasing
interest in looking to oneself for healing powers. For the fast is an inward process
and cannot be entered upon only from an outer approach with any expectation of
a lasting benefit. The person must invariably be involved with the overall results.
This therapeutic encounter is in direct contrast to the usual non-involvement in
the physician-directed, disease-oriented medical practice of today.
Fasting For Your Gut Microbiome Health
A pilot study, led by Dr. Ellen Mowry at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
is looking at the impact of intermittent fasting on our microbiomes,
the community of trillions of microbes, mainly bacteria, that live in our guts.
Your Intestinal Track is The Origin Of Disease
Proponents of fasting offer thousands of
testimonials from recovered asthmatics, arthritics,
insomniacs, and ex-sufferers of migraines, skin and digestive disorders, and
dozens of other ailments. They maintain that - with the exception of serious
conditions like tuberculosis, ulcers, diabetes, hypoglycemia, blood, liver,
kidney and heart diseases- systematic voluntary abstention from eating is almost
always a healthy first response to illness. Dr. Bernard Jensen, author of "Tissue
Cleansing Through Bowel Management" has supervised over 50,000 fasts at his
center in Escondido, CA."
"I was overweight, plagued with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high
tryglicerides and diabetic. Treatments by some of the "best" physicians (with
medication) in Israel and in California resulted in no significant improvement.
Three years ago I started to do my own research and got across Dr. Fuhrman's
book. Well written to be understood by layman and with scientific evidence.
Since applying Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations, I lost 70 pounds in 5 months (the
first 40 in 6 weeks). All indicators went back to better than normal after two
weeks into the program. I later experienced 20 days fast. It was the best experience
in my life. Since then, I bought more than 3 dozens of the book and gave it
to everyone I care about. This book is my new bible. It is a great reading material
for understanding and reinforcement. If practiced by everyone, physicians' rows
will be cut by 90%. Not to be missed if you serious about your health, your
well being and those around you."
Fasting for health in The Animal Kingdom
Animals will instinctively
go without food, fasting when overcome with sickness or serious injury.
"A sick animal
retires to a secluded place and fasts until their body is restored
to normal. During the fast it partakes only of water and the medicinal herbs
which inherited intelligence teaches it instinctively to seek" - Juliette de Bairacli Levy
William Pollak D.V.M. on fasting: "Many experts on
canine nutrition recommend occasional fasting, such as one day without solid
food per week or month, to simulate the natural conditions in which these animals
evolved. Fasting gives the digestive organs an opportunity to rest and helps
the body repair itself. In the wild, predators alternate between gorging themselves
and going for one or several days without food, so a once-a-week or once-a-month
fast is both beneficial and easy for most dogs to adjust to."
In her
marvelous book, "Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What
We Can Learn From Them", Cindy
Engles, Ph.D. documents how injured and sick animals retreat in an isolated
place to rest and fast until healed. When they get sick or injured they will find a safe place
to hide, usually near a water source, and do nothing but rest, sleep and drink water.
To put it another way, they fast and give their body a chance to heal and repair itself.
"Often the first indication of sickness is that an animal goes off its food
- an observation that has led many traditional herbalists to conclude that fasting
is a natural and beneficial response to sickness... This lack of appetite can
be an effective way of speeding recovery. Bacteria need iron, and the body makes
many adjustments to reduce the availability of iron during an infection.
If an animal keeps eating, any iron in its food also feeds the pathogens, so force-feeding
a sick animal or patient can be counterproductive. Fever reduces appetite, so
if a fever is artificially suppressed with drugs and appetite returns, not only
do we lower temperature but the increased iron intake can keep the infection
going longer. The traditional dictum 'Starve a fever' is medically sound advice."
Cindy Engel Ph.D.
"We are justified in studying every phenomenon which may throw
light upon the subject and thus enable us to better apply the fast in our
dealings with the sick. The fasting habits of man and animals are all
legitimate objects of study. Not alone the fasting practices of sick animals
, but fasting in healthy animals, whether voluntary or enforced, will aid us
in more clearly understanding this subject. Particularly will such a study
aid us in overcoming our cultivated fear of fasting. Hence
the following studies."Herbert
Macgolfin
Shelton, N.D.
Juice Fasting is a Powerful Healing Therapy
"When you don't feel well, stop eating and go to juices." The first thing
an animal does when it is sick is stop eating. They fast themselves.
Likewise, the first thing we need to do when we don't feel well is: stop food. There are
a lot of reasons for that. Food takes a tremendous amount of energy to digest--and
that's blood and energy. Our digestive system, basically the muscles and the
tissues, fill with blood. When you stop eating, your digestive system rests,
and all that blood and energy can be put somewhere else to heal you.
Use the Healing Power of Fresh Juice to Feel Young
and Look Great : The Fastest Way to Restore Your Health
by Steve Meyerowitz
The human body has an incredible capacity for healing and longevity. Within
it is an innate intelligence more powerful than any drugs or a surgeon's knife.
Fasting gives your body a well deserved vacation and the potential to repair
itself. The power that made the body can heal the body. Fasting and juice therapy
revamp your health from the inside out.
This book shows you how to tap that
power and how to fit it into a busy lifestyle. It's easier than you think. Even
just one fast day per week provides 50 rejuvenating days per year. Give your
cells and yourselves the opportunity to cleanse, nourish, rejuvenate and heal.
Fasting helps increase energy and improve mental alertness; Heal chronic ailments
without drugs; lose weight without the hassle of diets; maintain stamina with
absolutely no hunger. Fast at home or at work---it's perfect for a busy lifestyle
and all the while enjoy dozens of quick and delicious juice recipes.
Toxemia and Internal Cleansing
Dr. Mercola - "Every act of every cell in the body produces waste. This waste
is poisonous, it is incompatible with the life of the cell..." "The cells throw
their waste into the lymph that carries it back to the blood. The blood takes
the waste to the excretory organs mentioned above for elimination." "Normal
elimination keeps the blood and lymph clean. Toxemia is hence
the aftermath of Enervation. Enervation in brief is the sum total of all our
expenditures of nerve energy involved in our day to day living. When the sum
of our daily expenditure is greater than we can or than we do recuperate daily,
we become enervated. When an enervated individual is saturated with toxins,
any additional enervating influence that puts an added check to elimination
will cause the toxemia to be pushed above the point of toleration,
and will precipitate a crisis, a process of compensatory elimination through
channels whose main work is not elimination, e.g., en mucous membranes (colds,
catarrh, inflammation and skin eruptions)."
What is Toxemia?
"Natural Hygienists know the cause and they also know how to remove it. Fasting
will enable the body to rid itself of toxins and hygienic living will prevent
their recurrence." - Doctor Keki Sidhwa
The science of Natural Hygiene is about enhancing physical, emotional and
mental well-being through education. It provides us with a simple, straightforward
system for regaining and maintaining superb human health and beauty. Hygiene
is personally empowering and liberating. It teaches independence and rational
action. It banishes fear and ignorance regarding human health and how to keep
it. Ultimately it is about freedom.
The Importance of a Clean, Healthy GI Tract
Several factors linked to modern civilization threaten your internal health, including
unsafe vaccinations, environmental toxins, pollutants, the overuse of antibiotics
(all the foods they contaminate), and even chlorinated and fluoridated water.
Add to the list the burgeoning consumption of alcohol and drugs (prescription
and recreation) plus poor diets, and you have only a few of the modern-day enemies
endangering your gastrointestinal health!
Autointoxication or "self-poisoning" from the bowel
was a recognized cause of disease in the early 1900s. Dr. H. H. Boeker stated
in 1928, "It is now universally conceded that auto intoxication is the underlying
cause of an exceptionally large group of symptom complexes." Recent research
seems to support these earlier conclusions about intestinal toxemia.
Virtually every state of health is affected by the GI tract. In addition to processing
nutrients as the principal pathway of the digestive system, the gastrointestinal
tract (GI tract.) is a prominent part of the
immune system,
providing various levels of defense against pathogenic microorganisms and potentially
toxic substances throughout the path of digestion. If these waste products are
not regularly eliminated, they begin to poison the body and blood. Unchecked,
this auto intoxication may ultimately lead to disease and even death.
Sixty to 80 percent of the lymphatic system is in your small intestine.
Called the gut-associated lymphoid tissue ,
it is almost synonymous with the term immune system. The gigantic task of your
GALT is to discriminate between nutritious components and possible antigens
passing through your bowel.
VelociTea Detox Tea - formulated by
Dr. Bill Miller Ph.D. - is a unique herbal blend of safe, all-natural ingredients
designed to gently cleanse the digestive tract and detoxify the body. Its name
is taken from the traditional name of one of the ingredients, a widely-used
medicinal herb known as Holy Thistle, and is not intended to imply any religious
significance - although grateful users who experienced remarkable health improvements
after drinking Holy Tea often thank God for this gift of healing!
The Ancient Path of Cleansing: The History of Colonic Hydrotherapy
Colon Hydrotherapy (enema) is a gentle internal massage and bath using warm,
purified water that can help to eliminate stored fecal matter, gas, mucus and
toxic substances from the colon. Death begins in the colon.
The history of Colon Hydrotherapy reaches far into the past. Reports about enemas
were found on ancient Egyptian papers dating to 1500 B.C. The Chinese Medicine
used Colon Hydrotherapy even earlier than that. Cleaning the colon also plays
an important role in Ayurvedic medicine. Until the beginning of the 20th century
Colon Hydrotherapy was a well-known therapy. Today's sophisticated technology
promotes both the safety and sanitation of this popular cleansing practice.
The historians tell us that the practice colon hydrotherapy, or in its more
basic form, the enema, was passed down from the Gods to the Egyptians. There
are numerous reports of the frequent use of the enema by
the Egyptians, with all of them referencing a papyrus of the 14th century B.C.,
that is stored in the Royal Museum of Berlin.
Use of the enema was not limited just to Egyptians. Information on the use of enemas
was recorded on the cuneiform inscriptions on Babylonian and Assyruan tablets,
as early as 600 B.C., and there are references recorded in Hindu medical texts
such as the Susruta Smhita, the work of Susruta, the father of Hindu surgery.
Susruta describes the use of "syringes and bougies as well as a rectal speculum."
From the eleventh century to the fifteenth century, the early enema syringe
was still relatively unknown and was not available to the masses. The preferred
and most readily available apparatus remained a tube made of bone, reed or metal
connected to a sleeve or animal bladder called the "clyster purse". The bag
was emptied by squeezing it between the two hands. Dr. Russell reports that
in Spain, the method was called "playing the bagpipes". During the middle ages,
information on the enema continued to grow and the use of the enema became the
popular vogue of the wealthy and even reached to the highest levels of the royalty.
With this growth in popularity, the evolution of the apparatus had to follow.
Dr. Herbert M. Shelton MD - "The colon has been accused of being lazy; it has
been claimed to be superfluous and its removal advocated; it has been blamed
as the source of almost all the so-called diseases with which man suffers. As
a consequence of this, it has been goaded and pricked with laxatives, cathartics,
and purges, cut with knives, filled by injection, with plain water, soapsuds,
molasses, oils,and other substances to force it to act. It has been filled from
above withstand, wheat bran, rough, bulky vegetables, psyllium seed, agar-agar,
mineral oil, olive oil, etc.
All of these and many more agents have been employed
to force the colon to empty itself. They have been employed by those who cannot
trust the functions of life to the laws and forces of life, but who feel that
they must constantly interfere with the functions of life if life is to continue.
They either irritate the bowels and cause them to act vigorously to eject the
source of irritation, or fill them so full of bulk that they are forced to "move"
to make room for the succeeding load of bulk. This plan works on the same principle
as that of the hay bailer. One bail of hay is forced out by the one that comes
after. It is a plan of remedying sluggish bowels by giving them more work to perform."
Fasting With the Right Kind of Water
Drinking quality water is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Your system will flush properly,
detox, and a persistent regimen of drinking enough water will hydrate, and maintain good health.
Establishing a good source of water would be an excellent beginning point. Please don’t assume that your
tap or bottled water meets quality criteria. Now trending are quality water filtration
systems that can be purchased at an affordable price, and if your used to buying bottled water, will pay for itself in a short amount of time.
Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D.Although nowadays the common response to
illness is usually to "take something," it may be advisable to try the opposite. Therapeutic fasting is an excellent
self-healing practice. It induces metabolic changes that are inherently cleansing
and repairing. The organs empty and rest, conserving energy, promoting the elimination
of waste and accumulated toxins, and making cell regeneration much more efficient.
Fasting is mankind's most ancient healing strategy. Many traditional cultures,
including Oriental, east Indian, and Native American, have long regarded it
a dependable curative and revitalizing personal health measure. Hippocrates
prescribed fasting, as did Galen and Paracelsus, and it was practiced by Plato,
Socrates, Pythagoras, and Mahatma Gandhi. In modern Europe, reputable clinics
that support therapeutic fasting are quite common. In Sweden it's practically
a national sport.