Dr Herbert Shelton was, in my personal opinion, a great doctor who understood the great and various effects and stages of fasting. He had fasted himself and practiced what he preached. A truly great man that people should read more on, especially his books on fasting. No blog nor website on health is complete without one of his many writings such as the following. Thank you for reading and please do not forget to visit my youtube chanel http://www.youtube.com/user/healthyliving2012.
CHAPTER VI
The word starvation is derived from the Old English steorfan,
meaning to die. Today it is used almost wholly to designate death
from lack of food. When we mention fasting to the average person and
even the average physician, he immediately pictures to himself, the
dire consequences that he thinks must inevitably result from going
for even a few days without food. To him to fast is to starve--that
is, die.
This fear of fasting is kept alive by the press, which, ever so
often carries the story of somebody dying while fasting, and
invariably death is attributed to starvation. These deaths are
presented as "horrible examples" of the "evils of fasting." How rare
are these deaths! But it would be enlightening if we could have all
the details of each of these deaths. No doubt, we would find that
most of them are not due to abstinence from food at all. Most of
these deaths have been due to irreparable damage to some vital organ
(organic disease), an occasional one may have been due to pushing
the period of abstinence beyond the fasting period, a few have been
due to injudicious breaking of the fast, some of them have been due
to drugs. But every day people die from unnecessary
and "unsuccessful" operations and the press keeps quiet. Everyday
people die from drugging and the editors and newsmen ignore such
deaths. Fasting is their target.
There is no sense in the panicky fear of missing a few meals that
is so prevalent in both lay and professional circles today. The fear
of starving, expressed on every hand, is a foolish fear. "I am not
going to starve to death," says Mr. Average Man, when advised to
fast. They warn others who are fasting that they will starve to
death. Although we oppose letting people "starve to death," we make
no decided stand against them stuffing themselves to death; instead,
we rather encourage it.
In popular opinion fasting means starving. Physicians,
physiologists and others of the "learned professions" habitually
employ the two terms--fasting and starvation--synonymously. "I am
not going to starve," says a long-suffering invalid, upon being
advised to fast. Those who employ fasting are commonly referred to
as "starve-to-death doctors."
The uninformed physician imagines that the blood and the vital or
functioning tissues of the body begin to break down the moment food
is withdrawn; that organic destruction sets in immediately and that
every day the fast is prolonged means a greater destruction of the
vital tissues. That this idea is false will become apparent
presently.
In previous chapters it was shown that the body, at all times,
has stored within itself reserves of food sufficient to last for
considerable time in the event of scarcity of food, or of sickness,
when food cannot be digested. We saw how the body feeds upon this
food reserve and how the vital tissues of the body feed off the
least essential, so that even if actual starvation occurs, there is
almost no damage to the vital organs.
So long as the body's food reserves last, the individual
abstaining from food is fasting. When this reserve has been consumed
to the point where it is no longer able to sustain the functions of
life, further abstinence becomes dangerous; starvation begins. It is
only after this point is reached that any real damage is sustained
by the vital organs and their functions. As a general rule, under
proper conditions of environment, one may fast for weeks, and even
months, before the starvation point is reached. "It is perfectly
true," says Sinclair, "that men have died of starvation in three or
four days; but the starvation existed in their minds--it was fright
that killed them."
Laboratory workers describe destructive changes in the pancreas,
supra-renal glands and other organs and glands of the body, as a
result of starvation. But these changes occur after the period of
fasting proper has been passed. The vital cells of the organs and
glands--those doing the actual physical and chemical work of these
organs--do not begin to break down until actual starvation begins.
Morgulis says: "Apart from the purely pathological phenomena
occurring in the terminal stages (the starvation period) of fasting,
it should be mentioned that the histological peculiarities appearing
in the very beginning of inanition are associated with changes in
the colloidal condition of the protoplasm and are not at all
degenerative in kind. The progressive atrophic changes coincident
with inanition are simply due to the gradual withdrawal of
metaplasmic inclusions which represent the nutritive reserves of the
cells. The atrophic diminution of both cells and nuclei does not,
therefore, present a pathological phenomenon either. Moreover, the
morphological processes in inanition are not invariably destructive,
cell proliferation going on even when the organism has been deprived
of nourishment for a long time."
This means that, except during the actual starvation period, the
wasting of parts during a fast is the result of the using up of
those portions of the protoplasm of the cells containing the
products of their secretions and not of an actual destruction of the
cell proper. The metaplasm is slowly used as the fast progresses, so
that the size of the cells and, consequently, of the organ is
gradually reduced, but there is no actual deterioration in structure
of the cells, tissues and organ.
Dr. Morgulis makes the cautious, perhaps over-cautious, estimate
that a fast which involves a body loss of ten to fifteen per cent is
harmless and usually beneficial; and that the danger point in
fasting begins when from twenty-five to thirty per cent has been
lost. He has had animals recover normal health after a weight loss
of sixty per cent. We have seen the same thing in more than one man
and woman.
A number of people have died of serious organic "disease" while
fasting, and autopsies have been performed in many of these. In
every case there was still considerable subcutaneous fat, whereas,
this is always entirely absent where death has been caused by
starvation. Except in a case or two where the heart had never
sufficiently developed or where there was previous heart "disease,"
the heart was found to be normal in all cases; while in actual
starvation, the heart is always contracted or markedly atrophied.
The pancreas is little, if at all affected, in death during the
fast, whereas in death from starvation, this gland is almost
entirely absent. In these cases the blood was normal in amount with
no anemia present; while in starvation, the relative blood volume is
reduced and there is usually marked anemia.
In starvation the tongue remains coated, the breath offensive,
the pulse and temperature sub-normal and hunger may disappear for
days at a time.
Death may result at any time, feeding or fasting, due to the
failure of some particular vital organ, which is so far destroyed
that a fatal ending cannot be prevented by any means, but death from
abstinence from food cannot occur until all possible nutritive
material has been exhausted. "True starvation begins," says
Sinclair, "only when the body has been reduced to the skeleton and
the viscera."
Fortunately we are not left unprotected and unwarned in this
matter. Before the danger point is reached an imperious demand for
food will be made. We say, then, that so long as hunger is lacking,
the patient is fasting; but after hunger returns, if he continues to
abstain from food, he is starving. Besides the return of hunger,
there are other indications that the body is ready to take food, as
stated elsewhere.
Carrington has well summed up the matter in these words: "Fasting
is a scientific method of ridding the system of diseased tissue, and
morbid matter, and is invariably accompanied by beneficial results.
Starving is the deprivation of the tissues from nutriment which they
require, and is invariably accompanied by disastrous consequences.
The whole secret is this: fasting commences with the omission of the
first meal and ends with the return of natural hunger, while
starvation only begins with the return of natural hunger and
terminates in death. Where the one ends the other begins. Whereas
the latter process wastes the healthy tissues, emaciates the body,
and depletes the vitality; the former process merely expels corrupt
matter and useless fatty tissue, thereby elevating the energy, and
eventually restoring the organism that just balance we term health."
Prof. Morgulis divides what he calls starvation, or inanition,
into four periods--"each period comprising approximately one-fourth
of the total loss in weight sustained at the time of death."
The first of these periods of "every complete inanition,"
(by "complete inanition" is meant abstinence from all food until
death occurs) is a "transition from the condition of adequate
feeding to the basal metabolism of fasting"--"the organism is
readjusting itself from the prefasting metabolic level to the level
of the true physiological minimum characteristic for the particular
individual."
The division between the next two periods is not well marked or
defined. They constitute one period divided into "early and late
phases" and "are not very distinct but merge gradually one into the
other." During these "two periods," physiological activities are at
a minimum peculiar to this individual. The length of these two
periods will be determined by the size of the animal or man or the
surplus food reserves on hand.
The final or fourth stage of inanition "is characterized by the
predominance of pathological phenomena caused by the prolonged
stringency of nourishment and exhaustion of the tissues." This is
the true starvation period and sets in when the body's nutritive
stores are practically exhausted.
Prof. Morgulis refers to the whole period, from the omission of
the first meal until death finally ends the scene, as starvation and
as fasting. He uses the two words synonymously and does not
distinguish between fasting and starvation as we do. It will be
noted that all pathological phenomena, of which we are so frequently
warned, belong to the fourth stage of inanition; or, to the period
of starvation proper, as distinct from fasting, as we employ these
terms.
Morgulis points out that "the morphological changes observable in
advanced starvation are practically identical with those generally
found in every pathological condition and present nothing peculiar"
and suggests that perhaps all "pathological changes of tissues are
primarily inanition effects."
Further applying his division of "starvation" into four periods,
Prof. Morgulis says: "All the scientifically studied fasts of men
have been of relatively short duration. In the longest fast of this
kind lasting 40 days Succi lost only 25 per cent of his original
weight. Judging by the loss of weight, therefore, the experiments on
inanition with human subjects have not extended far beyond what may
be regarded as the second stage of inanition and, regardless of the
length of time of the abstinence, had no deleterious effect whatever
upon the subjects because the fasts were invariably discontinued
long before the exhaustion stage had been reached."
Taking up the study of Levanzin's fast for 31 days, undergone at
Carnegie Institute, Morgulis says that this fast extended over the
first two inanition periods. The first of these periods, lasting
fifteen days saw a loss of ten per cent of Levanzin's weight and
represents "the transition from the metabolism of the well nourished
condition to that of the fasting condition."
By the end of his 31 days' fast, Levanzin lost about 20 per cent
of his weight. "Assuming the maximum loss he could possibly have
survived 40 per cent," says Morgulis, "it is clear that the fast
could have extended another month before a fatal termination. In
other words, the fast was broken at a relatively early stage." If we
take into consideration the fact that the second 20 per cent of
Levanzin's weight would not have been lost nearly so rapidly as the
first 20 per cent, it is very certain that he could have fasted much
more than another month before a fatal termination.
The rule that man or animal can sustain a loss of 40 per cent of
his or its body weight before death results must not be taken too
seriously in practice. Obviously an emaciated man or woman weighing
only 90 or 100 pounds cannot afford to lose 40 per cent of his or
her weight. On the other hand a man who ought to weigh about 150
pounds, but who actually weighs 350 pounds, can afford to lose much
over 50 per cent of his weight. Exhibition fasters have survived a
reduction of body weight of thirty per cent without anything like a
total collapse of vital vigor.
Within recent years physiologists have tried to determine how
long man can live without food by figuring on a basis of the period
of time required for animals, particularly mammals, to starve to
death. Their experiments indicate that the period in which death
from starvation ensues is proportionate to the cube root of the body
weight.
A mouse weighing 18.0 grams dies after five or six days without
food. The corresponding "starvation period" in man would be 15.6
times as long or 96.5 to 109 days. A dog weighing twenty kilograms
dies in sixty days; the corresponding period for man is eighty-nine
days. A cat weighing twenty-one kilograms can live eighteen days
without food; the corresponding period for man would be fifty-five
days. A rabbit weighing 24.22 kilograms dies after twenty-six days;
the corresponding period in man would be seventy-nine days.
From these figures, Dr. A. Putter, a German physician, who has
made a study of fasting, concludes that there is nothing in
comparative physiology to show that man cannot live from ninety to a
hundred days without food, if he were kept under proper conditions
of warmth, rest, fresh air, water and emotional poise.
Sylvester Graham denied that the fat man lives longer on
prolonged abstinence from food than does a thin one. He says, "If
the it be designed for the nourishment of the body during protracted
fasts, etc., then if a very fat man, in the enjoyment of what is
ordinarily considered good health, and a lean man in good health, be
shut up together, and condemned to die of starvation, the fat man
ought to diminish in weight much more slowly, and to live
considerably longer than the lean man; but directly the contrary to
this is true. The lean man will lose in weight much more slowly, and
live several days longer than the fat man, in spite of all the
nourishment which the latter may derive from his adipose deposits."--
Science of Human Life, pp. 193-194.
Trall took a similar view, as does Carrington, who says of
Graham's statement: "I may say that this has been my own experience,
precisely." The explanation offered is that, while the fat person
has a large store of fat on his frame, he is deficient in other food
requisites. Fatty tissue, these men think, is invariably diseased
and deficient tissue. Trall said, "Feed a dog on butter, starch, or
sugar alone, and you will save in him the consumption of fat, but
the dog will die of starvation. He will be plump, round, embonpoint,
and yet die of inanition."--Alcoholic Controversy, pp. 148-149. This
seems to be what they thought will take place in the fasting fat man.
This is an a priori conclusion, since the experiment has never
been made, and it is not borne out by animal experimentation. There
is, as I have emphasized elsewhere, a vast difference between a fast
and a very deficient diet, such as the diets described by Trall. The
ultimate results of the two types of nutrition are very different.
Nevertheless, there may be cases of fat individuals who would
actually starve to death before a thinner person would do so, for
the reason that the nutritive reserves in the fat person may be so
unbalanced that he cannot go long without food. I have, myself,
cared for fat men and women who did not fast well and who did not
hold up under fasting as well as do many who are actually skinny.
But I have never been sure that in these patients, the trouble was
not largely if not wholly mental. In view of the fat person's love
of food and his worrying and fretting when deprived of it, he may
actually kill himself while the thin man is still philosophizing
about life and death.
If there can be such a thing as unbalanced reserves, and I
presume that such may exist, there is as much reason why the thin
man, eating the same type of diet as that eaten by the fat man, may
have an unbalanced reserve as there is that the fat man may have
this. The greatest losses in the fast, however, are in those very
nutritive factors that are most abundant in the diet of most people,
while the body clings to the factors that are commonly lacking. The
tendency is for nutritive balance to be restored. The fact that the
fat man who does not fast well, loses all of the difficulties that
appear to have come from fasting, as soon as he gets his first half-
a-glass of fruit juice, indicates that his troubles are mental.
Graham's statement that the fat man will lose weight much faster
than the thin one is literally true, but what he overlooked is that
this rapid loss of weight is not continued. Indeed, we often see fat
women who undertake to fast to reduce, lose twenty to twenty-five
pounds the first two weeks, but six pounds the third week and two
pounds the fourth week. The rapid rate of loss does not continue. It
should be observed at this point, also, that some thin people lose
rapidly the first few days of their fast.
A fast of a hundred days or more can be survived even under the
most favorable conditions, only by the individual who possesses
sufficient food reserves to sustain his vital organs and vital
functions for this period of time. The smaller the amount of food
stores one has in reserve, all things else being equal, the earlier
is the starvation period reached.
What Morgulis classes as the first three stages of starvation, we
class as the period of fasting; while his fourth period of
starvation is classed by us as the starvation period. Fasting begins
with the omission of the first meal and ends with the return of
natural hunger. Starvation begins with the return of hunger and
terminates in death. Fasting is distinctly beneficial; starvation is
distinctly harmful. It is precisely because the average medical man
does not distinguish between these two major phases of abstinence
from food, and because he imagines that the pathology developed
during the starvation period belongs, also, to the fasting period,
that he offers his false objections to fasting.
It was conclusively demonstrated in the laboratory, by Lasarev,
that the changes in the various organs of the body are definitely
related to particular stages of fasting and starvation. Vital organs
do not begin to break down as soon as the first meal is omitted.
Fasting belongs to that period during which there are ample food
reserves to maintain vital integrity. The fasting period is,
therefore, determined by the amount of reserves the body has on
hand. Starvation sets in after the reserve stores have been
sufficiently exhausted that they are no longer adequate to maintain
functional and structural integrity.
Thousands of fasts, ranging from a few days to three months in
duration, in men, old and young and both sexes, in all conditions of
life, have demonstrated not only that man can go for long periods
without food and not be harmed thereby, but also, that he will
receive great benefit from a rationally conducted fast. To starve is
to die; to fast is to live.
Fasting Is Not Starving by Dr. Herbert Shelton
CHAPTER VI
The word starvation is derived from the Old English steorfan,
meaning to die. Today it is used almost wholly to designate death
from lack of food. When we mention fasting to the average person and
even the average physician, he immediately pictures to himself, the
dire consequences that he thinks must inevitably result from going
for even a few days without food. To him to fast is to starve--that
is, die.
This fear of fasting is kept alive by the press, which, ever so
often carries the story of somebody dying while fasting, and
invariably death is attributed to starvation. These deaths are
presented as "horrible examples" of the "evils of fasting." How rare
are these deaths! But it would be enlightening if we could have all
the details of each of these deaths. No doubt, we would find that
most of them are not due to abstinence from food at all. Most of
these deaths have been due to irreparable damage to some vital organ
(organic disease), an occasional one may have been due to pushing
the period of abstinence beyond the fasting period, a few have been
due to injudicious breaking of the fast, some of them have been due
to drugs. But every day people die from unnecessary
and "unsuccessful" operations and the press keeps quiet. Everyday
people die from drugging and the editors and newsmen ignore such
deaths. Fasting is their target.
There is no sense in the panicky fear of missing a few meals that
is so prevalent in both lay and professional circles today. The fear
of starving, expressed on every hand, is a foolish fear. "I am not
going to starve to death," says Mr. Average Man, when advised to
fast. They warn others who are fasting that they will starve to
death. Although we oppose letting people "starve to death," we make
no decided stand against them stuffing themselves to death; instead,
we rather encourage it.
In popular opinion fasting means starving. Physicians,
physiologists and others of the "learned professions" habitually
employ the two terms--fasting and starvation--synonymously. "I am
not going to starve," says a long-suffering invalid, upon being
advised to fast. Those who employ fasting are commonly referred to
as "starve-to-death doctors."
The uninformed physician imagines that the blood and the vital or
functioning tissues of the body begin to break down the moment food
is withdrawn; that organic destruction sets in immediately and that
every day the fast is prolonged means a greater destruction of the
vital tissues. That this idea is false will become apparent
presently.
In previous chapters it was shown that the body, at all times,
has stored within itself reserves of food sufficient to last for
considerable time in the event of scarcity of food, or of sickness,
when food cannot be digested. We saw how the body feeds upon this
food reserve and how the vital tissues of the body feed off the
least essential, so that even if actual starvation occurs, there is
almost no damage to the vital organs.
So long as the body's food reserves last, the individual
abstaining from food is fasting. When this reserve has been consumed
to the point where it is no longer able to sustain the functions of
life, further abstinence becomes dangerous; starvation begins. It is
only after this point is reached that any real damage is sustained
by the vital organs and their functions. As a general rule, under
proper conditions of environment, one may fast for weeks, and even
months, before the starvation point is reached. "It is perfectly
true," says Sinclair, "that men have died of starvation in three or
four days; but the starvation existed in their minds--it was fright
that killed them."
Laboratory workers describe destructive changes in the pancreas,
supra-renal glands and other organs and glands of the body, as a
result of starvation. But these changes occur after the period of
fasting proper has been passed. The vital cells of the organs and
glands--those doing the actual physical and chemical work of these
organs--do not begin to break down until actual starvation begins.
Morgulis says: "Apart from the purely pathological phenomena
occurring in the terminal stages (the starvation period) of fasting,
it should be mentioned that the histological peculiarities appearing
in the very beginning of inanition are associated with changes in
the colloidal condition of the protoplasm and are not at all
degenerative in kind. The progressive atrophic changes coincident
with inanition are simply due to the gradual withdrawal of
metaplasmic inclusions which represent the nutritive reserves of the
cells. The atrophic diminution of both cells and nuclei does not,
therefore, present a pathological phenomenon either. Moreover, the
morphological processes in inanition are not invariably destructive,
cell proliferation going on even when the organism has been deprived
of nourishment for a long time."
This means that, except during the actual starvation period, the
wasting of parts during a fast is the result of the using up of
those portions of the protoplasm of the cells containing the
products of their secretions and not of an actual destruction of the
cell proper. The metaplasm is slowly used as the fast progresses, so
that the size of the cells and, consequently, of the organ is
gradually reduced, but there is no actual deterioration in structure
of the cells, tissues and organ.
Dr. Morgulis makes the cautious, perhaps over-cautious, estimate
that a fast which involves a body loss of ten to fifteen per cent is
harmless and usually beneficial; and that the danger point in
fasting begins when from twenty-five to thirty per cent has been
lost. He has had animals recover normal health after a weight loss
of sixty per cent. We have seen the same thing in more than one man
and woman.
A number of people have died of serious organic "disease" while
fasting, and autopsies have been performed in many of these. In
every case there was still considerable subcutaneous fat, whereas,
this is always entirely absent where death has been caused by
starvation. Except in a case or two where the heart had never
sufficiently developed or where there was previous heart "disease,"
the heart was found to be normal in all cases; while in actual
starvation, the heart is always contracted or markedly atrophied.
The pancreas is little, if at all affected, in death during the
fast, whereas in death from starvation, this gland is almost
entirely absent. In these cases the blood was normal in amount with
no anemia present; while in starvation, the relative blood volume is
reduced and there is usually marked anemia.
In starvation the tongue remains coated, the breath offensive,
the pulse and temperature sub-normal and hunger may disappear for
days at a time.
Death may result at any time, feeding or fasting, due to the
failure of some particular vital organ, which is so far destroyed
that a fatal ending cannot be prevented by any means, but death from
abstinence from food cannot occur until all possible nutritive
material has been exhausted. "True starvation begins," says
Sinclair, "only when the body has been reduced to the skeleton and
the viscera."
Fortunately we are not left unprotected and unwarned in this
matter. Before the danger point is reached an imperious demand for
food will be made. We say, then, that so long as hunger is lacking,
the patient is fasting; but after hunger returns, if he continues to
abstain from food, he is starving. Besides the return of hunger,
there are other indications that the body is ready to take food, as
stated elsewhere.
Carrington has well summed up the matter in these words: "Fasting
is a scientific method of ridding the system of diseased tissue, and
morbid matter, and is invariably accompanied by beneficial results.
Starving is the deprivation of the tissues from nutriment which they
require, and is invariably accompanied by disastrous consequences.
The whole secret is this: fasting commences with the omission of the
first meal and ends with the return of natural hunger, while
starvation only begins with the return of natural hunger and
terminates in death. Where the one ends the other begins. Whereas
the latter process wastes the healthy tissues, emaciates the body,
and depletes the vitality; the former process merely expels corrupt
matter and useless fatty tissue, thereby elevating the energy, and
eventually restoring the organism that just balance we term health."
Prof. Morgulis divides what he calls starvation, or inanition,
into four periods--"each period comprising approximately one-fourth
of the total loss in weight sustained at the time of death."
The first of these periods of "every complete inanition,"
(by "complete inanition" is meant abstinence from all food until
death occurs) is a "transition from the condition of adequate
feeding to the basal metabolism of fasting"--"the organism is
readjusting itself from the prefasting metabolic level to the level
of the true physiological minimum characteristic for the particular
individual."
The division between the next two periods is not well marked or
defined. They constitute one period divided into "early and late
phases" and "are not very distinct but merge gradually one into the
other." During these "two periods," physiological activities are at
a minimum peculiar to this individual. The length of these two
periods will be determined by the size of the animal or man or the
surplus food reserves on hand.
The final or fourth stage of inanition "is characterized by the
predominance of pathological phenomena caused by the prolonged
stringency of nourishment and exhaustion of the tissues." This is
the true starvation period and sets in when the body's nutritive
stores are practically exhausted.
Prof. Morgulis refers to the whole period, from the omission of
the first meal until death finally ends the scene, as starvation and
as fasting. He uses the two words synonymously and does not
distinguish between fasting and starvation as we do. It will be
noted that all pathological phenomena, of which we are so frequently
warned, belong to the fourth stage of inanition; or, to the period
of starvation proper, as distinct from fasting, as we employ these
terms.
Morgulis points out that "the morphological changes observable in
advanced starvation are practically identical with those generally
found in every pathological condition and present nothing peculiar"
and suggests that perhaps all "pathological changes of tissues are
primarily inanition effects."
Further applying his division of "starvation" into four periods,
Prof. Morgulis says: "All the scientifically studied fasts of men
have been of relatively short duration. In the longest fast of this
kind lasting 40 days Succi lost only 25 per cent of his original
weight. Judging by the loss of weight, therefore, the experiments on
inanition with human subjects have not extended far beyond what may
be regarded as the second stage of inanition and, regardless of the
length of time of the abstinence, had no deleterious effect whatever
upon the subjects because the fasts were invariably discontinued
long before the exhaustion stage had been reached."
Taking up the study of Levanzin's fast for 31 days, undergone at
Carnegie Institute, Morgulis says that this fast extended over the
first two inanition periods. The first of these periods, lasting
fifteen days saw a loss of ten per cent of Levanzin's weight and
represents "the transition from the metabolism of the well nourished
condition to that of the fasting condition."
By the end of his 31 days' fast, Levanzin lost about 20 per cent
of his weight. "Assuming the maximum loss he could possibly have
survived 40 per cent," says Morgulis, "it is clear that the fast
could have extended another month before a fatal termination. In
other words, the fast was broken at a relatively early stage." If we
take into consideration the fact that the second 20 per cent of
Levanzin's weight would not have been lost nearly so rapidly as the
first 20 per cent, it is very certain that he could have fasted much
more than another month before a fatal termination.
The rule that man or animal can sustain a loss of 40 per cent of
his or its body weight before death results must not be taken too
seriously in practice. Obviously an emaciated man or woman weighing
only 90 or 100 pounds cannot afford to lose 40 per cent of his or
her weight. On the other hand a man who ought to weigh about 150
pounds, but who actually weighs 350 pounds, can afford to lose much
over 50 per cent of his weight. Exhibition fasters have survived a
reduction of body weight of thirty per cent without anything like a
total collapse of vital vigor.
Within recent years physiologists have tried to determine how
long man can live without food by figuring on a basis of the period
of time required for animals, particularly mammals, to starve to
death. Their experiments indicate that the period in which death
from starvation ensues is proportionate to the cube root of the body
weight.
A mouse weighing 18.0 grams dies after five or six days without
food. The corresponding "starvation period" in man would be 15.6
times as long or 96.5 to 109 days. A dog weighing twenty kilograms
dies in sixty days; the corresponding period for man is eighty-nine
days. A cat weighing twenty-one kilograms can live eighteen days
without food; the corresponding period for man would be fifty-five
days. A rabbit weighing 24.22 kilograms dies after twenty-six days;
the corresponding period in man would be seventy-nine days.
From these figures, Dr. A. Putter, a German physician, who has
made a study of fasting, concludes that there is nothing in
comparative physiology to show that man cannot live from ninety to a
hundred days without food, if he were kept under proper conditions
of warmth, rest, fresh air, water and emotional poise.
Sylvester Graham denied that the fat man lives longer on
prolonged abstinence from food than does a thin one. He says, "If
the it be designed for the nourishment of the body during protracted
fasts, etc., then if a very fat man, in the enjoyment of what is
ordinarily considered good health, and a lean man in good health, be
shut up together, and condemned to die of starvation, the fat man
ought to diminish in weight much more slowly, and to live
considerably longer than the lean man; but directly the contrary to
this is true. The lean man will lose in weight much more slowly, and
live several days longer than the fat man, in spite of all the
nourishment which the latter may derive from his adipose deposits."--
Science of Human Life, pp. 193-194.
Trall took a similar view, as does Carrington, who says of
Graham's statement: "I may say that this has been my own experience,
precisely." The explanation offered is that, while the fat person
has a large store of fat on his frame, he is deficient in other food
requisites. Fatty tissue, these men think, is invariably diseased
and deficient tissue. Trall said, "Feed a dog on butter, starch, or
sugar alone, and you will save in him the consumption of fat, but
the dog will die of starvation. He will be plump, round, embonpoint,
and yet die of inanition."--Alcoholic Controversy, pp. 148-149. This
seems to be what they thought will take place in the fasting fat man.
This is an a priori conclusion, since the experiment has never
been made, and it is not borne out by animal experimentation. There
is, as I have emphasized elsewhere, a vast difference between a fast
and a very deficient diet, such as the diets described by Trall. The
ultimate results of the two types of nutrition are very different.
Nevertheless, there may be cases of fat individuals who would
actually starve to death before a thinner person would do so, for
the reason that the nutritive reserves in the fat person may be so
unbalanced that he cannot go long without food. I have, myself,
cared for fat men and women who did not fast well and who did not
hold up under fasting as well as do many who are actually skinny.
But I have never been sure that in these patients, the trouble was
not largely if not wholly mental. In view of the fat person's love
of food and his worrying and fretting when deprived of it, he may
actually kill himself while the thin man is still philosophizing
about life and death.
If there can be such a thing as unbalanced reserves, and I
presume that such may exist, there is as much reason why the thin
man, eating the same type of diet as that eaten by the fat man, may
have an unbalanced reserve as there is that the fat man may have
this. The greatest losses in the fast, however, are in those very
nutritive factors that are most abundant in the diet of most people,
while the body clings to the factors that are commonly lacking. The
tendency is for nutritive balance to be restored. The fact that the
fat man who does not fast well, loses all of the difficulties that
appear to have come from fasting, as soon as he gets his first half-
a-glass of fruit juice, indicates that his troubles are mental.
Graham's statement that the fat man will lose weight much faster
than the thin one is literally true, but what he overlooked is that
this rapid loss of weight is not continued. Indeed, we often see fat
women who undertake to fast to reduce, lose twenty to twenty-five
pounds the first two weeks, but six pounds the third week and two
pounds the fourth week. The rapid rate of loss does not continue. It
should be observed at this point, also, that some thin people lose
rapidly the first few days of their fast.
A fast of a hundred days or more can be survived even under the
most favorable conditions, only by the individual who possesses
sufficient food reserves to sustain his vital organs and vital
functions for this period of time. The smaller the amount of food
stores one has in reserve, all things else being equal, the earlier
is the starvation period reached.
What Morgulis classes as the first three stages of starvation, we
class as the period of fasting; while his fourth period of
starvation is classed by us as the starvation period. Fasting begins
with the omission of the first meal and ends with the return of
natural hunger. Starvation begins with the return of hunger and
terminates in death. Fasting is distinctly beneficial; starvation is
distinctly harmful. It is precisely because the average medical man
does not distinguish between these two major phases of abstinence
from food, and because he imagines that the pathology developed
during the starvation period belongs, also, to the fasting period,
that he offers his false objections to fasting.
It was conclusively demonstrated in the laboratory, by Lasarev,
that the changes in the various organs of the body are definitely
related to particular stages of fasting and starvation. Vital organs
do not begin to break down as soon as the first meal is omitted.
Fasting belongs to that period during which there are ample food
reserves to maintain vital integrity. The fasting period is,
therefore, determined by the amount of reserves the body has on
hand. Starvation sets in after the reserve stores have been
sufficiently exhausted that they are no longer adequate to maintain
functional and structural integrity.
Thousands of fasts, ranging from a few days to three months in
duration, in men, old and young and both sexes, in all conditions of
life, have demonstrated not only that man can go for long periods
without food and not be harmed thereby, but also, that he will
receive great benefit from a rationally conducted fast. To starve is
to die; to fast is to live.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Concentrate or reconstituted?
Concentrate or reconstituted?
When choosing to buy a juice, always always read the back label and check for these two words: concentrate or reconstituted. Both words are used interchangeably and literaly refer to the same process of degrading the fruit or vegetable, for elongated shelf life, more profits and no need to keep the product refrigirated. What you basically are paying for is a powdered version of the juice, which was heat treated - no enzymes to aid in the digestion of the juice, has little to no nutrition and is a quick way to make money. If you want the best juice possible, juice the stuff yourself and have 100% real juice. No matter what the company nor what the government has to say about there being nothing different from the real stuff to the powdered stuff, do not believe such lies. That is like saying there is no difference in a food being radiated or grown organically!
The following is just information and articles from other sites, for your convenience of knowing more about the subject. Thank you for reading and please do not forget to visit my youtube chanel for videos and links to other useful information and videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/healthyliving2012.
What is a concentrate?
A concentrate is a form of substance which has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension such as the removal of water from fruit juice.
One benefit of producing a concentrate is that of a reduction in weight
and volume for transportation as the concentrate can be re-constituted
at the time of usage by the addition of the solvent.(1)
Concentrate juice, also known as fruit juice concentrate or
concentrated juice, contains far less water than normal, or
not-from-concentrate forms of juice. Through a set of advanced
filtration and extraction processes, normal fruit juice becomes better
suited for storage, shipping and resale in grocery stores and
warehouses.
The Concentration Process
In order for natural fruit juice to get converted into concentrated
juice, the diluted liquid must receive a heat treatment that evaporates
nearly all of the water from the naturally squeezed mixture. Once the
water gets depleted from the liquid, only the flavorful contents remain
behind.
This concentrate juice then becomes more powerful through reverse
osmosis. The contents get packaged, froze and stored or shipped.
Misconception
Several parties feel as though concentrated juice contains harmful
ingredients or actually lessens the nutritional value of the natural
fruit juice. However, the concentration process literally works to keep
the nutrients found within fruits by only removing water which dilutes
the overall mixture.
Store bought fruit juice concentrates sometimes contain additives
that work to maintain color, flavor and nutritional content within the
juice. Mainly, the concentration process occurs only to extend the life
of the fruit juice and save money for fruit harvesting and juicing
companies which sell their products.
If all juices were sold as not-from-concentrate products, an
excessive amount of fruits would go to waste, namely because fresh
juices go bad much more quickly than frozen concentrate juice varieties.
Nutritional Values
When compared to not-from-concentrate juices, the actual concentrated
forms of similar fruit juices provide equal nutritional content.
However, much like dried fruit, one serving size of non diluted
concentrate juice compared to an equal serving size of not from
concentrate juice will greatly differ in nutritional content.
When fresh fruit gets dried, it loses all of its natural water
content, shrinking in size. This process works identical in fruit juices
as well. The natural state of freshly squeezed fruit juice contains far
more water weight volume than that of a concentrated comparison.
Consequently, one cup of non diluted concentrate juice will contain
purely sugars and nutrients found within the fruit, while the same
serving size of bottled juice varieties will contain only a fraction of
those same nutrients.
Most concentrated juices get used to make diluted juices. The main
objective of juice concentration involves saving time, money and space.(2)
Health fears over cheap imported juice concentrate
By Brian Williams
CITRUS growers believe a Brazilian fruit concentrate may contain a fungicide implicated in birth defects.
Growers say the concentrate is found in 95 per cent of orange juice on our shelves.
Citrus
Australia chief executive Judith Damiani said yesterday the only way
Australian consumers could avoid Brazilian products was to squeeze their
own local oranges or buy fresh juice supplied by local growers who did
not use the fungicide carbendazim.
Carbendazim is registered for
use in Australia for the control of diseases in crops but it has a low
uptake and citrus growers stopped using it more than two years ago.
Australian growers want the Federal Government to significantly increase
testing for the fungicide.
The issue came to light in the US two
weeks ago when a juice manufacturer found 35 parts per billion of the
fungicide in brands which include Brazilian orange concentrate.
Although that level is well below the mandated maximum residue level
of 200 parts per billion, the alarm was raised because of potential
health issues.
On January 4, the US suspended all imports of
foreign orange juice and began stringent testing for carbendazim. "In
Australia, over 300,000 tonnes of oranges are imported every year in the
form of cheap Brazilian concentrate," Ms Damiani said. "We call on the
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to increase testing of all
imported citrus juice for chemicals banned in Australia."
Ms Damiani said AQIS tested a relatively minor amount of concentrate.
Brazilian
oranges were grown in tropical conditions, using a high amount of
fungicide and there was every reason to expect tainted products could
have come in.
"We have a low level of confidence in products from
Brazil, Mexico and China," she said. Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig's
office did not respond to the issue.
The Australian citrus
industry is worth $540 million a year and has about 2000 growers. It is
the largest fresh fruit exporter, with annual export earnings of about
$190 million. Local growers cannot produce oranges cheaply enough to
make it worth turning into concentrate.
South Australia's Riverland is one of the four major citrus growing areas in Australia.
The
Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority has been
reviewing carbendazim since 2007 after concerns were raised that
exposure might pose a risk.(3)
The Truth About Reconstituted Fruit Juice
What Is Reconstituted Fruit Juice?
Reconstituted fruit juice is juice produced from a fruit juice
concentrate. It differs slightly in taste to fresh juices, carrying a
different texture and aroma. Like freshly squeezed juices, juice is
produced from a juicing machine, which then has as much water removed
from it as possible, reducing it to a to a concentrate. Many juice
companies around Australia and around the world use the concentrated
form of juice for transportation and storage, hydrating the concentrate
(typically with 80% off water that was originally removed) only once it
has arrived where it is to be packaged and distributed.
Frozen packets or tubes of reconstituted juice may also be purchased at your local supermarket. They can be stored in you home freezer for a number of years, leaving you with the the DIY job of adding the water when there is a need.
Frozen packets or tubes of reconstituted juice may also be purchased at your local supermarket. They can be stored in you home freezer for a number of years, leaving you with the the DIY job of adding the water when there is a need.
Is Reconstituted Fruit Juice Nutritious?
Unsurprisingly, reconstituted fruit juices do not offer the high
nutritional qualities of their freshly squeezed counterparts. Enzymes
required for adequate food metabolism and the immune system are
destroyed through the process of heating and reconstitution. Vitamin C
levels are also depleted significantly, but artificially added back by
most manufacturers at a later date.
Reconstituted fruit juice labels may also be misleading, as there is no current Australian regulation to enforce juice companies' list where the concentrate itself originates. Domestic harvests can great vary season to season in Australia, and shortfalls of juice concentrate used to in the reconstituted juices may be imported from offshore. This is especially concerning when there is possibility the concentrate comes from countries such as China, where there are no strict health codes of practice in place. It is also worth checking the labels to ensure the reconstituted juice hasn't been produced from less expensive juices such as apple or grape, which offer a significantly less nutritional value. Please keep your eye out for reconstituted juices that contain the artificial preservative sodium benzonate as well.
Reconstituted fruit juice labels may also be misleading, as there is no current Australian regulation to enforce juice companies' list where the concentrate itself originates. Domestic harvests can great vary season to season in Australia, and shortfalls of juice concentrate used to in the reconstituted juices may be imported from offshore. This is especially concerning when there is possibility the concentrate comes from countries such as China, where there are no strict health codes of practice in place. It is also worth checking the labels to ensure the reconstituted juice hasn't been produced from less expensive juices such as apple or grape, which offer a significantly less nutritional value. Please keep your eye out for reconstituted juices that contain the artificial preservative sodium benzonate as well.
If you are looking for an environment-friendly juice option,
reconstituted juice may not be the product for you either, especially
when you consider the huge amounts of energy (in the form of fuels which
could otherwise be conserved) that is spent in the processing,
transportation, and reconstitution of the juice. This only leaves you
with a heavier environmental conscious, and the world with yet another
reason to contribute to global warming. All in the name of juice that
essentially tastes the same to its freshly squeezed counterpart.(4)
With the next lot of information, I personaly would not believe a government website when it comes to health. Especially if they say no added sugar, concentrates are not different that freshly squeezed , etc.
General & Technical FAQ's
1. What is
'reconstituted'?
Oranges are squeezed using machines much like that found in the home. This juice is then 'condensed' by removal of water using heat. The resultant concentrate is transported to factories around Australia where the water is added back to the concentrate. This process is called reconstitution. The primary reason for using reconstituted juice is economic transportation and to ensure availability all year round.
Oranges are squeezed using machines much like that found in the home. This juice is then 'condensed' by removal of water using heat. The resultant concentrate is transported to factories around Australia where the water is added back to the concentrate. This process is called reconstitution. The primary reason for using reconstituted juice is economic transportation and to ensure availability all year round.
2. Why do you need preservatives?
Preservatives are needed to maintain product quality for the required shelf-life so that juice can be made available conveniently. Many preservatives can be found naturally in raw foods, such as citric acid (in oranges and lemons) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
Preservatives are needed to maintain product quality for the required shelf-life so that juice can be made available conveniently. Many preservatives can be found naturally in raw foods, such as citric acid (in oranges and lemons) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
3. Do you use imported juice?
Although Australia grows an excess of 600 kilo tonnes of oranges every year, the harvest can vary greatly due to seasonal variations. Shortfall of concentrate availability necessitates importation of juice during some
periods.
Although Australia grows an excess of 600 kilo tonnes of oranges every year, the harvest can vary greatly due to seasonal variations. Shortfall of concentrate availability necessitates importation of juice during some
periods.
4. It is out of date - is
it alright?
The juice does not become spoiled on the use by date. The juice will last past this date as long as it has been stored properly. The quality may not be as good as when first made. It should be assessed if it is 'fit to drink'. If in doubt throw it out.
The juice does not become spoiled on the use by date. The juice will last past this date as long as it has been stored properly. The quality may not be as good as when first made. It should be assessed if it is 'fit to drink'. If in doubt throw it out.
5. Why doesn't freshly squeezed
juice taste like what comes out of the bottle?
Most juices on the market are made from concentrate which does not have the 'fresh aroma' due to the heat treatment.
There are some products on the market which are made only from juice which has not been concentrated. These juices do taste more like the 'home made' product.
Most juices on the market are made from concentrate which does not have the 'fresh aroma' due to the heat treatment.
There are some products on the market which are made only from juice which has not been concentrated. These juices do taste more like the 'home made' product.
6.
Are fruit juices irradiated?
In Australia no food including fruit juices can be irradiated by law.
In Australia no food including fruit juices can be irradiated by law.
7.
How does orange juice produced by diffusion/counter current
extraction methods differ from conventional orange juice?
The diffusion or counter current extracted product differs from conventional orange juice in that it combines a percentage of juice extracted from the inside of the peel as well as from the flesh of the orange.
This extraction is done using technically very advanced processes, so that the product sold is nutritionally, analytically and organoliptically equivalent to conventional orange juice.
This development will enable Australian producers to compete economically with overseas countries in the supply of orange juice and also give the Australian consumer an equivalent product at a lower price.
The diffusion or counter current extracted product differs from conventional orange juice in that it combines a percentage of juice extracted from the inside of the peel as well as from the flesh of the orange.
This extraction is done using technically very advanced processes, so that the product sold is nutritionally, analytically and organoliptically equivalent to conventional orange juice.
This development will enable Australian producers to compete economically with overseas countries in the supply of orange juice and also give the Australian consumer an equivalent product at a lower price.
8.
What is 100% Juice?
100% juice is the liquid obtained from fruits or vegetables. It does not include juice derived from concentrate or contains any additives whatsoever.
100% juice is the liquid obtained from fruits or vegetables. It does not include juice derived from concentrate or contains any additives whatsoever.
9.
What is Organic Juice?
These juices are prepared from fruit grown without the use of ‘chemicals’ and not derived from genetically modified crops. All manufacturers are independently certified before they are able to use the term organic.
These juices are prepared from fruit grown without the use of ‘chemicals’ and not derived from genetically modified crops. All manufacturers are independently certified before they are able to use the term organic.
10.
What is Natural?
Does not contain food additives (unless they are natural components) or have any part removed or changed.
Does not contain food additives (unless they are natural components) or have any part removed or changed.
11.
What Does “No Added Sugar” Mean?
No added sugar - products must not contain any added sugar (includes honey, malt, malt extract or maltose) but, of course, still contain the natural sugars of the fruit juice.
No added sugar - products must not contain any added sugar (includes honey, malt, malt extract or maltose) but, of course, still contain the natural sugars of the fruit juice.
Health and Nutrition FAQs
1. Does reconstituted juice have any added sugar?
Definitely not. Juice is transported around Australia and indeed the world in a concentrated form (two thirds of the water has been removed). The reason for this is that it is expensive to transport this extra volume. The water is extracted by evaporation, but the juice retains all its nutritional characteristics except for the fact that it loses some of its Vitamin C. Reconstituted juice is simply this concentrated juice with the same amount of water added back as was originally evaporated off. You would have noticed in the ingredient labelling of most brands containing reconstituted juice that the company has added Vitamin C to more than compensate for that lost during the evaporation process. No sugar is added or removed during the concentration process.
Definitely not. Juice is transported around Australia and indeed the world in a concentrated form (two thirds of the water has been removed). The reason for this is that it is expensive to transport this extra volume. The water is extracted by evaporation, but the juice retains all its nutritional characteristics except for the fact that it loses some of its Vitamin C. Reconstituted juice is simply this concentrated juice with the same amount of water added back as was originally evaporated off. You would have noticed in the ingredient labelling of most brands containing reconstituted juice that the company has added Vitamin C to more than compensate for that lost during the evaporation process. No sugar is added or removed during the concentration process.
2. If a juice uses reconstituted juice but the bottle
doesn’t
list a sugar under ingredients or doesn’t say “No
added sugar” on the label - is it likely that
sugar has been added?
Again, if sugar is not mentioned in the ingredient listing there should definitely not be any sugar added to the product.
Again, if sugar is not mentioned in the ingredient listing there should definitely not be any sugar added to the product.
Fruit Juice Australia (FJA), through its
voluntary Code of Practice, actually monitors fruit juice
samples from the marketplace and analyse their contents for
truth in labelling on an ongoing basis to ensure compliance
to the Australian Food Standards and the safety of consumers.(5)
Fruit Juice, Pulp & Concentration Plants
The
study, design & manufacturing of this processing line are the result of
many years of efforts devoted to the research of processing methods focused
on preserving the organoleptic, physical and aromatic characteristics of the
processed fruit in order to produce a juice of high quality in color and
clearness.Subsequently it dicfortes the quantity of concentrates and the fruit juice powders. Fruit processing industry has been declared as "Thrust Industry" for its potential and vast utilisation of fruits.
Fresh juices are best in taste and color and are best to be consumed fresh. The efforts to preserve them & to ensure their quality, various techniques are to be adopted. This includes various process and preservation methods. The most important aspect is to ensure such methods which helps to retain these properties to the maximum extent.
SSP offers complete line for fruit processing and concentration. This plant is for processing of fruits like mango, orange, apple, pears, etc. and for making juice concentration, paste, jam, jelly, ketchup, etc.
The plant size ranges between 1 Ton/day to 200 Ton/day or even more depending on availability of fruits.
THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS INVOLVED IN PROCESSING OF JUICES AND BEVERAGES ARE:
- Selection and preparation of fruits
- Extraction of Juices
- Straining, Filtration and clarification
- Blending Pasteurisation.
- Filling, Sealing and sterlization
- Cooling, Labelling and Packing
For Juice Concentration, vacuum evaporation is another step in fruit
processing line. The final concentrate can be filled in aseptic bags in
drums for export purposes.
Clear Juices can be formulated, blended and spray dried at best conditions to convert them into readily soluble powders.
Clear Juices can be formulated, blended and spray dried at best conditions to convert them into readily soluble powders.
SSP OFFERS MULTIPLE FRUIT PROCESSING PLANT FOR PRODUCTION OF JUICES/PULPS
- Apple, Pineapple
- Mango
- Tomato
- Papaya
- Guava
- Berrys
- Grapes
- Oranges
- Lemon
Multi Fruit Processing Line
Reconstitution Plant For - Juice, Ketchup & Puree
For economic transportation of Fruit Juice concentrates
and reduction of volume, two third of the water from the juice is extracted
through evaporation process & the resultant concentrate is transported
to factories, where the same amount of water or vitamin contents that was
extracted before, is again added back or reconstituted. The process is
called the Fruit Juice Reconstitution System.
Unloading of paste from aseptic drums into a tank with a agitator.
Transfer of paste to a formulation tank where the other ingredients are added for dilution.
The formulation can be done for tomato juice, puree and ketchup. For juice and puree the dilution will take place in the formulation tanks and passes through the pasturizer before filling and packing is done.
For ketchup preparation, sugar desilation and other ingredients will take place in separate tank. These ingredients are pumped to the blending tanks where the paste / puree is already in place. Heat in supplied through steam in the Jacket and all the ingredients are processed to confirm the ketchup requirements. The formulated ketchup is then pasturized and packed into paper packet/ glass bottles.
Unloading of paste from aseptic drums into a tank with a agitator.
Transfer of paste to a formulation tank where the other ingredients are added for dilution.
The formulation can be done for tomato juice, puree and ketchup. For juice and puree the dilution will take place in the formulation tanks and passes through the pasturizer before filling and packing is done.
For ketchup preparation, sugar desilation and other ingredients will take place in separate tank. These ingredients are pumped to the blending tanks where the paste / puree is already in place. Heat in supplied through steam in the Jacket and all the ingredients are processed to confirm the ketchup requirements. The formulated ketchup is then pasturized and packed into paper packet/ glass bottles.
Fruit Juice Powder Plant
Converting
Juice into powder can be a solution for long shelf life and essy packing and
transportation.SSP offers juice powder processing plants of various capacity to suit the client requirment.(6)
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrate\
2 http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/understanding-concentrate-juice.html
3 http://www.news.com.au/business/health-fears-over-cheap-imported-juice-concentrate/story-e6frfm1i-1226245001017
4 http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/reconstituted_fruit_juice
5 http://fruitjuiceaustralia.org/faq/
6 http://www.sspindia.com/fruit-juice-processing.html
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Reactions to Cleaning Out the Body
Fasting, Cleansing & Detoxification Reactions
During a fast, cleanse or detox the body takes the opportunity to eliminate a lot of toxins that have built up over the years. The toxins are predominantly stored in fat and mucous cells. But also other tissues throughout the body. There are many different types of detox recipes a person can follow and also a lot of reactions that can occur, some of which can be very unpleasant.
The reason for the cleansing and fasting reactions is that toxins are released into the system via the blood and other eliminating fluids. As these toxins circulate through the body on their journey out, they can cause other parts of the body to be affected. For example a common detoxification reaction is the headache. This occurs because the toxins in the blood cause it to thicken and hence cause a headache. A simple remedy is to drink more water, have a bowel movement or slow the cleansing down by moderating the herbs you are on. I will go more into reactions and what to do later.
List of Reactions
EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES - During fasting a person is forced to stop eating and in many people, eating was done as some kind of emotional comfort. Eatingcan be a distraction from some underlying problem. So during a detox this problem, or problems may arise. This is a good time to look deeply within and meditate to overcome the disturbance.HEADACHES - Toxins can cause muscle tightness in the neck and shoulders. This can result in tension headaches. Massaging the neck and shoulders will help relieve the tension. The herb Fever Few, which is available in health food stores, is well worth trying. The thickness of the blood also can cause headaches.
COLD VIRUS - Is a cold virus what we have been led to believe or is it actully a symptom of the body eliminating toxins.In any case try to drink more water and rest, because once your body is free of toxins, you will not get the 'flu'.
MUSCLE TIGHTNESS - The muscles may become tight and sore due to toxin irritation. The legs can be the worst affected as toxins accumulate in the legs. A self massage, hot baths, stretching and exercising will help to release the toxins. Keep exercise light as you need to conserve your electrolytes for the liver.
NAUSEA - When waste is released too quickly by the lymph glands, some of the toxic overload is taken by the liver and secreted with bile into the stomach. This causes nausea. Drinking water or carrot juice will dilute the bile and toxin mixture helping to flush it from the system.
BACKACHES - Back pain may increase due to toxins in the lower intestine. The blood vessels that draw nutrients from the colon are very close to the nerves of the spine. Back pain often decreases after elimination of the toxins. Back exercises also can relieve some pain. A cold pack also will help. Using an enema kit will be the best remedy.
BAD BREATH - Waste passes through the lungs
which are an eliminative organ. Brushing the tongue with a tooth
brush, using dental floss and rinsing with herbal mouthwash
will reduce bad breath.
CANKERS - These may develop from a toxic buildup in the mouth. Unhealthy bacteria increases between the teeth. The tongue becomes coated with waste. To stop cankers, gargle with apple cider vinegar mixed with water several times daily. Dabbing the sore with tea tree oil or vitamin E quickens the healing process.
DIARRHEA - Fruit juices have a laxative effect which is more pronounced after water fasting. It can be stopped by using the enema. Using psyllium husk during diarrhea will help regulate the system. Also cut back on laxative herbs if you are taking them.
BLACKOUTS - During fasting the body conserves energy. The heart pumps slower and blood pressure lowers. The blood is also thicker due to toxins. Standing or moving quickly from a resting position will cause the blood to flow to the legs. For a few seconds, the brain may not get enough oxygen, causing blackouts and dizziness. To stop a blackout get down on one knee or sit. Lowering your center of gravity will instantly stop a blackout. Blackouts are more frequent during water fasting.
NERVOUSNESS - The elimination of toxins can irritate damaged nerves. Exercise will relieve tension. Use quarter slices of avocado to slow the fast.
SKIN DISTURBANCES - The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or boils. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. When cleansed of mucus and toxins, the skin will be healthy, soft and unblemished.
TIREDNESS - Tiredness is normal during water or restricted juice fasting. If the tiredness is too much, increase the quantity of sweet juices like melon and carrot juice. The tiredness is also caused by the body using most of it's energy to break down and eliminate the toxins.
HYPOGLYCEMIA - Do not juice fast unless you use bananas and avocados to balance the blood sugar level.
KIDNEY PROBLEMS - Fasting can irritate damaged kidneys due to the amount of toxins they filter. Try short juice fasts of 3 to 5 days before progressing to longer fasts. Avoid high-protein meals, refined flours, commercial oils and fats.
LIVER DISEASE - The liver can become toxic due to abuse. If the liver is badly degenerated, cleansing must be done in stages. Start with short juice fasts and lead to fasts over five days. Avoid heavy proteins, refined flours and fatty foods. Eat meals of fruits or vegetables between the fasts.
AGING - There is no such thing as being too old to fast--it is exactly what the body needs to feel young again. Shorter fasts are recommended to start. Assess your physical state as you proceed. If juice fasting becomes too intense, bananas and avocados will lessen the intensity by slowing the cleansing.
ULCERS - Fasting will help significantly. Choose the juices that do not irritate the condition.
-Do an enema
-Eat something light or have some fruit juice, depeding on what kind of fast you are on. If on the Arise and Shine cleanse then you can eat a baked potato if you have performed the above steps and they don't work.
-If taking herbs, take a little less.
-Do not allow cleansing reactions to go on for to long at an unbearable rate, there is no need to "tough it". Just slow it down a little. You can always do another cleanse later, or stretch this one out a bit more.
Source: http://www.detox.net.au/articles/fasting-detoxification-reactions.htm
CANKERS - These may develop from a toxic buildup in the mouth. Unhealthy bacteria increases between the teeth. The tongue becomes coated with waste. To stop cankers, gargle with apple cider vinegar mixed with water several times daily. Dabbing the sore with tea tree oil or vitamin E quickens the healing process.
DIARRHEA - Fruit juices have a laxative effect which is more pronounced after water fasting. It can be stopped by using the enema. Using psyllium husk during diarrhea will help regulate the system. Also cut back on laxative herbs if you are taking them.
BLACKOUTS - During fasting the body conserves energy. The heart pumps slower and blood pressure lowers. The blood is also thicker due to toxins. Standing or moving quickly from a resting position will cause the blood to flow to the legs. For a few seconds, the brain may not get enough oxygen, causing blackouts and dizziness. To stop a blackout get down on one knee or sit. Lowering your center of gravity will instantly stop a blackout. Blackouts are more frequent during water fasting.
NERVOUSNESS - The elimination of toxins can irritate damaged nerves. Exercise will relieve tension. Use quarter slices of avocado to slow the fast.
SKIN DISTURBANCES - The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or boils. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. When cleansed of mucus and toxins, the skin will be healthy, soft and unblemished.
TIREDNESS - Tiredness is normal during water or restricted juice fasting. If the tiredness is too much, increase the quantity of sweet juices like melon and carrot juice. The tiredness is also caused by the body using most of it's energy to break down and eliminate the toxins.
Specific Health Conditions and Fasting Advice
HEART DISEASE - Include bananas and avocados when juice fasting to balance the blood sugar level. Toxins in the blood and reduced blood sugar levels may cause a weak heart to labor. Like any other organ, the heart needs nutrients, a toxin-free environment, and time to heal.HYPOGLYCEMIA - Do not juice fast unless you use bananas and avocados to balance the blood sugar level.
KIDNEY PROBLEMS - Fasting can irritate damaged kidneys due to the amount of toxins they filter. Try short juice fasts of 3 to 5 days before progressing to longer fasts. Avoid high-protein meals, refined flours, commercial oils and fats.
LIVER DISEASE - The liver can become toxic due to abuse. If the liver is badly degenerated, cleansing must be done in stages. Start with short juice fasts and lead to fasts over five days. Avoid heavy proteins, refined flours and fatty foods. Eat meals of fruits or vegetables between the fasts.
AGING - There is no such thing as being too old to fast--it is exactly what the body needs to feel young again. Shorter fasts are recommended to start. Assess your physical state as you proceed. If juice fasting becomes too intense, bananas and avocados will lessen the intensity by slowing the cleansing.
ULCERS - Fasting will help significantly. Choose the juices that do not irritate the condition.
General Advice for Cleansing, Detox and Fasting Reactions
-Drink more water-Do an enema
-Eat something light or have some fruit juice, depeding on what kind of fast you are on. If on the Arise and Shine cleanse then you can eat a baked potato if you have performed the above steps and they don't work.
-If taking herbs, take a little less.
-Do not allow cleansing reactions to go on for to long at an unbearable rate, there is no need to "tough it". Just slow it down a little. You can always do another cleanse later, or stretch this one out a bit more.
Source: http://www.detox.net.au/articles/fasting-detoxification-reactions.htm
Father of the Detox Bath - Louis Kuhne
The Origin Of The Detox Bath Method
Louis Kuhne created a unique hydrotherapy panacea, including the
friction sitz bath, to successfully heal a wide spectrum of diseases.
The late 19th century and early 20th century saw the birth of Neo-Naturopathy,
particularly in Germany. Father Sebastien Kneipp, Dr Benjamin Lust,
Louis Kuhne amongst others, were but a few disappointed with the
impotence of modern medicine in the face of serious disease.
These men all turned to nature in a quest to heal a diseased body and
maintain a lifetime of good health. Inspired by the work of the father
of medicine, Hippocrates (400 BCE) who stated that "Nature is the
physician of disease" they started successfully experimenting with
various methods using water as a healing agent. Hippocrates is famous
for studying the healing powers of water, and subsequently creating
thalassotherapy.
Dr Benjamin Lust called Louis Kuhne a "Genius in the art of healing". Kuhne created the friction sitz bath, on which the Detox Bath
is based. He believed that the origin of all disease is an accumulation
of waste matter and toxins in the body. He reckoned that this deposited
matter could sometimes even deform the body, as in spinal distortion
for instance. This realisation gave birth to his doctrine of the "Unity
of Diseases".
His diagnosis method, the Science of Facial Expressions
consists in examining the face and neck for -sometimes invisible- signs
of accumulated waste matter, which results in a wide spectrum of
diseases and ailments. Those range from cancer to heart, respiratory,
circulatory and digestive problems and even skin problems.
Louis Kuhne devised and successfully practised the friction sitz bath, father of the Detox Bath,
or for over 3 decades. He created an establishment in Leipzig, Germany
in 1883, where he cured thousands of various illnesses and diseases. The
fact that he successfully alleviated and cured such diverse conditions
with a unique hydrotherapy panacea surely validates his theory of the
"Unity of Diseases".
Kuhne was personally suffering from a severe early hereditary cancer in
his stomach and lungs. He had been bitterly disappointed with the
inability of orthodox medicine to help him. He turned to natural cures
in an attempt to find a way to overcome the terrible pain caused by a
disease that was devouring him inside.
Not only did he succeed in alleviating his own symptoms, and keeping his
serious disease at bay, but he was also able to devote his life to
treating the sick. He proved beyond the shadow of a doubt the efficacy
of the healing system he devised.
Kuhne demonstrated through his doctrine of the Unity of Diseases that
the origin of all disease is a lifelong accumulation of waste matter and
toxins in the body, either inherited or acquired, which manifests in
various organs depending on heredity or genes. He observed that poor
digestion was the cause of all subsequent ailments and that the body can
only be healthy if the digestive organs are functioning correctly. This
discovery allowed Kuhne to create a unique cure system for all disease
manifestations. Kuhne's cure consisted chiefly in altering his patient's
diet to vegetarian, coupled with frequent and regular steam, hip and
especially friction sitz bath treatments.
The fact that Kuhne's patients came to his establishment as a last
resort, when orthodox medicine had pronounced them incurable, and were
subsequently successfully healed by him, is an irrefutable confirmation
of the efficiency and viability of his unique cure.
According to Kuhne, when waste matter accumulates in the body it pushes
outwards and upward to areas from which it can no longer be eliminated,
and consequently causes organ malfunction and disease. The function of
the friction sitz bath, as he advocated it, (and the Detox Bath)
is to push back the excess load of accumulated waste matter and toxins
and redirect it back towards the intestines, from which it is later
evacuated.
It is not difficult to imagine what causes these surcharges and morbid
excesses to accumulate in the body. Through our mouth, skin and nose,
various fumes we inhale, vapours, colorants and additives in food,
pesticides as well as food excesses, penetrate the body and create
deposits. Undigested organic matter also has a similar effect inside the
body. When it putrefies, it creates illness and fever.
This excess load makes the body incapable of normal elimination and
nutrient absorption. The result is an accumulation of toxic deposits and
fats that develops first around the stomach, hips, buttocks and thighs,
and later travels towards the upper body and extremities. Kuhne devised
the friction sitz bath (Father of the Detox Bath) specifically to deal
with this action and redirect waste matter and toxins back towards the
intestines for elimination. He demonstrated how, when used regularly,
this particular bath could rid the body of disease and excess fat and
help maintain optimal health.
This method is nothing but a reflection of our body's inherent ability to cleanse, heal and eliminate toxic waste.
Sources: http://www.pureinsideout.com/louis-kuhne.html and Louis Kuhne and Benjamin Lust's book: Neo-Naturopathy: The New Science of Healing or the Doctrine of Unity of Diseases
Fasting and its many wonders.
Although I have written about fasting as much as I could in my book, this blog is to give further evience, information and 'advice'on fasting.
In History
Fasting, in the various forms that people have observed
throughout history, has been known to have a beneficial effect on
health. However in a religious context, it is primarily a technique for
seeking proximity to God and the divine. It seems that every religion
knew the practice of fasting in one form or another. In the archaic
practices of Hinduism there were certain days of the year set aside for
fasting by women, and others for men. In our day, the Brahmin caste in
India still observes a complete abstinence from food and drink on the
eleventh and twelfth days of every Hindu month.
Hippocrates (400 BCE), the mythical Greek "Father of
Medicine," 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.
Fasting was also known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Similarly,
the ancient scriptures of Persia advocate fasting and confirm its value
as a means for spiritual purification. The Jews of the Old Testament
were known to observe fasts on days of danger and misfortune and on
several fixed days in their calendar, of which the best known to
non-Jews is the fast of Yom Kippur. Jesus is said to have fasted forty
days and nights before his final entry into Jerusalem.
The early Christians, most of whom observed the Mosaic Law, also fasted
on the Day of Atonement. But with time, less emphasis was placed on
exact adherence to the practices observed by Jesus, and the Lenten fast
assumed a largely symbolic role, involving abstention from certain types
of food only.
Muslims observe an annual fast, during the month of Ramadan. Between
first light and sundown, adult Muslims in good health abstain from food,
drink, cigarettes, and sex. The fast lasts for an entire lunar month of
between 28 and 30 days. It is described in the Quran thus "so that you
may attain taqwa or God-consciousness" and is another instrument for
bringing believers closer to our natural state and for cleansing this
state from the dross of any disobedience and corruption.
Fasting to Detoxify
In the strict dietary sense, fasting is the complete abstinence from all
substances except pure water, in an environment of total rest. Juice
fasting, a popular variation, is abstinence from all food and drink
except water and fresh vegetable and fruit juices. A modified fast
includes small amounts of solid food, usually raw fruits as well as raw
and steamed vegetables.
Other types of fasts sometimes include brown rice fast, whereby only
brown rice is eaten for a week, accompanied by water. Detoxification is
the foremost argument presented by advocates of fasting.
Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating or neutralising
the toxins resulting from biochemical functions through the colon,
liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph nodes, and skin. Fasting precipitates this
process because, when food no longer enters the body, the latter turns
to its fat reserves for energy.
When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, they release
the stored chemicals from the fatty acids into the system and are then
eliminated through the above mentioned organs.
Another benefit of fasting is the healing process it triggers. During a
fast, energy is diverted away from the digestive system, since there is
no food to mobilise it, towards the metabolism and immune system. This
is one reason why animals stop eating when they are wounded, and the
reason why we feel less hungry when we're sick.
Fasting also triggers rapid weight loss. Once the body is in fasting
mode, it becomes accustomed to go without food after a few days. After a
fast, the stomach actually shrinks and is restored it to its normal
size. People tend to be satisfied with less food after fasting, as the
latter signals to your body that you've altered the way you eat.
Beware of bingeing after a fast, especially if you starved your body to
extreme! You could defeat the whole purpose of the fast.
When is a good time to fast?
Spring fasts are highly recommended because the increased physical
vitality and availability of fresh produce and vegetables in the spring
and summer can make the cleansing process pleasant and beneficial. For a
winter fast, plan a short 2 day program, like a weekend fast for
instance.
Long, unsupervised fasts can be dangerous. If you plan to fast for more
than 2 or 3 days in a row, you must consult your natural health
practitioner or doctor before you start.
Source: http://www.pureinsideout.com/fasting-for-detox.html
The author of the excerpts of the material is Patricia Bragg, from her book The Miracle of Fasting.
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