WHY FASTING IS SO EFFECTIVE AND HOW SAFE IT IS

Apr 29 2009

Let me quote from my book, There Is a Cure for Arthritis: The therapeutic value of fasting is based on the following physiological facts:

Autolysis is a known metabolic phenomenon of self-digestion or disintegration of the body’s own tissues.

Therapeutic fasting induces the development of autolysis and directs its physiological effect for constructive healing purposes.

To clarify: when disease takes hold of the body it is usually because of the weakened defensive mechanism and impaired normal functions of the vital organs. Due to continuous neglect in feeding the body properly and failure to observe the other rules of health, the glandular activity and metabolic rate slows down and the eliminative organs lose their efficiency. Many of the toxins and metabolic wastes remain in the body and are deposited in the tissues, causing autointoxication.

Now, we must recognize the fact that the body’s own healing powers are constantly trying to correct any and all defects, disturbances, and damages if given the slightest chance. Such an opportunity for self-regeneration and healing is made possible during the fast.

First, during prolonged fast (after the first three days) the body will burn and digest its own tissues by the process of autolysis, or self-digestion. In its wisdom—and here lies the secret of the extraordinary effectiveness of fasting as curative therapy!—the body will decompose and burn only those substances and tissues which are diseased, damaged, or of lesser importance to the body economy, such as all morbid accumulations, tumors, abscesses, damaged tissues, fat deposits, etc. In fasting, the body metabolizes the most impure or inferior materials. These are consumed and utilized first. The essential tissues of vital organs are spared. Dr. Otto H. F. Buchinger calls fasting a “refuse disposal” or “burning of rubbish.”

Second, the eliminating and cleansing capacity of the eliminative organs—lungs, liver, kidneys, and skin—is increased during fasting, and masses of accumulated metabolic wastes and toxins are quickly expelled. This is evident in the following typical symptoms of fasting: offensive breath, dark urine (concentration of toxins in urine ten times higher than normal [Professor E. G. Schonk]), continuous and generous discharge of feces, skin eruptions, perspiration, catarrhal elimination, etc.

Third, a fast affords a physiological rest to the digestive and protective organs of the body. After fasting, the digestion and utilization of food are greatly improved, which makes the assimilation of all the important nutrients more effective.

Fourth, a fast exerts a normalizing and stabilizing effect on all the physiological, nervous, and mental functions. The nervous system is regenerated; mental powers improved; glandular chemistry and secretions are normalized.

It is easy to see from the above why fasting is such an effective healing measure in the treatment of a great variety of diseases.

Swedish fast marches have certainly proven very dramatically the safety of fasting.

Although fasting is without doubt one of the safest healing agents known to medicine, in the minds of the uninitiated and uninformed it is often associated with the fear of doing harm to the body, or even with the fear of death. Notwithstanding the fact that nobody ever died as a result of a few weeks of intentional fasting, such fears are quite understandable.

The truth is that you can live without food for months! As a matter of fact, you can more easily kill yourself by overeating than by fasting.