Juice Fasting - Part Two

Royal Road To Health and Long Life

How Do You Fast?

Fasting usually begins with an effective bowel cleansing with the help of purgatives, such as Glauber's salts or castor oil. Dr. Buchinger uses an ounce and a half of Glauber's salts in one and a quarter pints of warm water on the morning of the first day of fasting. Since the Glauber's salt drink is not very tasty. it is usually followed by a glass of fruit juice. Glauber's salts will cause repeated and powerful evacuations and cleanse your bowels thoroughly. Some European clinics use castor oil for the same purpose. On the first day of fasting, one or two hours before an enema, 2 tbsp. of pure castor oil is taken in a glass of water to which the juice of half a lemon has been added. Of course, you can begin your fasting without a purgative, just be taking a double enema. First take 1 pint of plain water and let it out. Then repeat with a full quart of water, into which camomile tea or a few drops of lemon juice have been added.

The next day, and each following day of the fast, you follow this program:

Upon Arising: Enema.

After Enema: Dry brush massage, followed by hot and cold shower. (See directions in my Fasting book)

9:00 A.M.: Cup of herb tea - warm, not hot. Health food stores carry a large assortment of herb teas. When fasting therapeutically, use the herbs that are listed in my How To Get Well book - specific herbs for specific conditions.
11:00 A.M.: A glass of freshly-pressed fruit juice, diluted 50/50 with water.
11 :00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.: Walk or mild exercise, or sunbathing, if the weather permits. Various therapeutic baths or other treatments can be given at this time.
1:00 P.M.: A glass of freshly made vegetable juice or a cup of vegetable broth.
1:30 to 4:00 P.M.: Rest in bed.
4:00 P.M.: Cup of herb tea.
4:15 to 7:00 P.M.: Walk, therapeutic baths, exercises, and other treatments.
7:00 P.M.: Glass of diluted vegetable or fruit juice.
9:00 P.M.: Cup of vegetable broth.

Drink plain lukewarm water, or mineral water, when thirsty. The total juice and broth volume during the day should be between 1 1/2 pints and 1 1/2 quarts. Never dilute fresh juices with vegetable broth, only with pure water. The total liquid intake should be approximately 6 to 8 glasses - but don't hesitate to drink more, if thirsty.

I suggest that a therapeutic fast be supervised by a doctor or by someone who is well initiated in it. Under expert supervision, such a fast could be undertaken at home up to 30 days, if necessary. If you suffer from some illness, and are under your doctor's care, you may wish to show him this article or my fasting book and the fasting instructions, and ask him to supervise your fasting and examine your condition as the fast progresses. Without expert supervision, I would not advise fasting longer than one week to 10 days at a time. After a few weeks on an optimum health-building diet, your fasting program may be repeated.

If you do decide to fast on your own, I strongly urge that you acquire my juice fasting book, which contains all the detailed instructions for do-it-yourself fasting. When you fast, you should be well informed on all the details and phases of fasting, and thoroughly convinced of its safety and superior healing potential. My book is called How To Keep Slim, Healthy, And Young With Juice Fasting, and is available at health food stores. If your store does not carry it, you may order directly from: Health Plus Publishers, PO. Box 22001, Phoenix, AZ 85028.

How The Fast Is Broken

The main rules for breaking the fast are:

1. Do not overeat!
2. Eat slowly and chew your food extremely well.
3. Take several days of gradual transition to the normal diet.

First Day: Eat one half apple in the morning and a very small bowl of fresh vegetable soup at lunch, in addition to the usual juice and broth menu. Take at least 15 minutes to eat one half apple!

Second Day: A few soaked prunes or figs (with soaking water) for breakfast. Small bowl of fresh vegetable salad for lunch. Vegetable soup made without salt at dinner. Two apples eaten between meals. All this in addition to the usual juices and broths.

Third Day: Same as second day, but add a glass of yogurt and 5-6 raw nuts (finely ground in a seed grinder) for breakfast. Increase the salad portion at lunch. and add a boiled or baked potato. A slice of whole grain bread with butter and a slice of cheese with soup at evening.

Fourth Day: You may start eating normally, adhering to a cleansing Optimum Diet, as recommended in my books. If you fasted longer than 10 days, the break-in period should be extended one day for every 4 days of fasting.

In order to benefit from fasting to the greatest possible extent, it is of paramount importance that after fasting, a build-up diet of vital natural foods be maintained. Such a diet will supply the healing and regenerative forces of your body with all the needed elements, so that the cleansing, regenerative, rejuvenative, and healing processes, initiated by the body during fasting, can be continued.

But first, and foremost, always keep in mind the first rule of breaking the fast; do not overeat! This rule also happens to be the first rule of keeping healthy and staying younger longer.

Important Tips On Fasting

1. ENEMA. During fasting, a huge amount of morbid matter, dead cells and diseased tissues are burned; and the toxic wastes which have been accumulating in the tissues for years, causing disease and premature aging, are loosened and expelled from the system. These wastes are eliminated from the system by way of kidneys, bowels, skin, and lungs. But the alimentary canal, the bowels, is the main road by which these toxins are thrown out of the body. Since, during fasting, the natural bowel movements cease to take place, the toxic wastes would have no way of leaving the system, except with the help of enemas. If you fast without enemas, these toxins remain in your colon and are re-absorbed into the system, poisoning your whole body. Your body will try to get them out through other eliminative organs, particularly through the kidneys, which, as a result, may often be overloaded and even damaged.

   This is why enemas during fasting are an absolute must. Enemas during fasting will assist the body in its cleansing and detoxifying effort by washing out all the toxic wastes from the alimentary canal.

   Enemas should be taken at least once, but preferably twice a day: the first thing in the morning and the last thing before going to bed. One pint to one quart of lukewarm water is sufficient. Enema bags are available in any drugstore.

2. DRUGS. As a rule, a complete withdrawal of drugs is advised during fasting. Exceptions are: digitalis in heart disease, insulin in diabetes, and cortisone in arthritis - if these drugs have been taken previously for prolonged periods of time. Those who are on any kind of drugs would be wise to have their fast supervised by an experienced practitioner.

3. VITAMINS. During fasting, the intake of vitamins and food supplements should be discontinued completely. Three exceptions: a) In serious heart cases, vitamin E should be taken while fasting; b) Very sick persons, or those suffering from colds or flu, can be given extra vitamin C (up to 3,000 mg. a day) with fruit juices; c) Very weak patients can be given 1 or 2 tsp. of natural honey, possibly as a sweetener in herb teas. All must be closely supervised.

4. SMOKING AND DRINKING. No smoking, no alcohol, and no coffee, of course. Incidentally, fasting is the best way to quit smoking and drinking. After about two weeks of fasting, all the desire for smoking or alcohol will be gone, as testified by hundreds of fasting patients.

5. CONTRA-INDICATIONS. In advanced cases of diabetes, hypoglycemia, active tuberculosis, active malignancies, mental diseases, during pregnancy and lactation, and weak hearts in older patients, fasting is not recommended. Where there is any kind of disease, do not attempt fasting without consulting your doctor and abiding by his decision on the advisability of undertaking a fast in your situation. Also, children under the age of 14 should not fast more than a few days.

6. JUICES. All juices should be made fresh immediately before drinking. Do not use canned or frozen juices. This means that if you fast on your own, you have to have your own juicer. Health food stores sell juicers. Canned or frozen juice can be used sparingly, only in an emergency situation when fresh juices are not available.

7. HERB TEAS. The best herb teas to drink during fasting are peppermint, rose hips and camomile; but you may drink any of your favorites. Your health food store has a good supply of these and many other herb teas. When fasting for the purpose of healing, use specific herbs for specific conditions as suggested in How To Get Well.

8. WORK. Must you discontinue your regular work and rest or stay in bed while fasting? Not at all! On the contrary, staying in bed while fasting is definitely harmful, except for sleeping at night and for an afternoon siesta. You may live your normal life and do your regular work while you fast. You will have plenty of strength to do it, too - unless you are a ditch digger, of course, in which case we advise you to take it easy.

9. EXERCISE.Your body needs a lot of assistance in the form of fresh air, motion, and exercise, in order to accomplish a thorough cleansing of the blood and tissues and effectively regenerate and revitalize all the bodily functions. Therefore, you should do lots of walking and mild exercising in the fresh air - especially deep breathing exercises - in addition to sunbathing. Always sleep with windows open.

10. DAILY BATHS. About one third of all body impurities and wastes are eliminated through your skin. Since the internal cleansing and speedy elimination of toxic wastes is a prime purpose of fasting, it is important to keep the skin pores wide open and the elimination through the skin as efficient as possible. Daily showers, especially in connection with dry brush massage are recommended. If the heart and circulation are good (your doctor must determine this) then hot baths, sauna, and hot and cold showers should be taken frequently.

11. DRINKING WATER. The fasting program. as suggested in this article, will give you 6 glasses of juices, broth and herb teas during 24 hours. If you still feel thirsty, you may drink additional regular water: pure and uncontaminated, of course. Avoid chlorinated or fluoridated water. Natural, hard water is better than distilled water, although distilled water can be used for a short fast.

12. HUNGER. Will you feel hungry while fasting? Yes, naturally, but only during the first 3 or 4 days. After that, the unbelievable will happen; the longer you fast, the less hungry you will feel, until the time when the body has completed its cleansing work, at which time you will suddenly feel an excruciating hunger - a reliable signal that it is time to break the fast and start eating.

13. POSITIVE ATTITUDE. Mental attitude during fasting is of paramount importance. Avoid negative influences or thoughts. Don't listen to the terrified relatives and "friends," and their "warnings." Have total confidence in what you are doing. Remember, hundreds of thousands of people have done it successfully before you. Perhaps thinking that you are on a juice diet instead of juice fast will make you feel safer!

14. DIET AFTER THE FAST. The wonderful results achieved by fasting will be nullified in a very short time if fasting is followed by the improper diet that created the undesirable condition of ill health in the first place - a condition that fasting corrected so successfully. The regenerative, rejuvenative and healing processes initiated by your body during fasting must continue after the fast is broken.

    Therefore, fasting should be followed by the Optimum Diet - the health-building diet of optimum nutrition as described in my book, How To Get Well. Following the Optimum Diet for optimum health after your fasting will insure that you are building upon - not tearing down - the good results the fasting has accomplished.

15. FASTING AND SPIRITUAL AWARENESS. Fasting not only accomplishes a physiological regeneration and revitalization of your body, but has a profound stimulating effect on your mental faculties. It also increases your spiritual awareness. It is important, therefore, to adopt a proper relaxed attitude. Try to dissociate yourself from the usual everyday problems and the worries of the material world, and let the refinement and perfection of your inner self come to the fore as the ultimate purpose of your existence. Fasting is a time of rest, meditation, and renewal of body, mind, and spirit. In most religions - Oriental, Hebrew, Christian, Muhammadan - periodic fasting played a vital part for two reasons: one, to keep the body (the temple of the spirit) clean; two, to keep the spirit attuned with its Divine source. You will notice that during fasting your visual and mental perception and awareness of aesthetic beauty will be sharpened and that your thoughts will gradually raise from a lower, everyday level of unpleasant realities to higher realities, concerned with the purpose and meaning of your Divinely designed life. Your daily walk in the woods will be a new and totally different experience. The singing of the birds will sound like the most inspiring Bach oratory, and the tall trees will appear as mystic Gothic cathedrals. Your heart will rejoice, your earthly problems will seem unimportant, and you'll feel happy to be alive. You will count your blessings instead of your problems. And you will be amazed at how your mental activity will be sharpened and how thoughts and new ideas will flow with ease.

    All in all, your fasting will be a wonderful, holistic experience, which will recharge, heal, renew, and rejuvenate your whole personality - body, mind, and spirit.

References

1. Selye, Hans, The Stress of Life, McGraw-Hill Book, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1956.
2. Berg, Ragnar, Why We Die, Nordiska Bookhandelns Forlag, Stockholm, 1947.
3. Buchinger, Otto, H.F., About Fasting, Thorsons Publishers, Ltd., London, 1966.
4. Airola, Paavo, Health Secrets From Europe, Arco Publishing Co., Fourth printing, 1976.
5. Schonk, E.G., Prof., in Therapeutic Fasting by Arnold DeVries, Chandler Book Co., Los Angeles,1963.
6. Zabel, W., Das Fasten, Hippokrates Verlag, Giessen-Stuttgard, 1951.
7. Airola, Paavo, Are You Confused?, Health Plus Publishers, P.O. Box 22001, Phoenix, AZ, 1971.
8. Lancet, British Medical Journal, 1966.
9. Airola, Paavo, How To Keep Slim, Healthy, and Young with Juice Fasting, Health Plus Publishers, P.O. Box 22001, Phoenix, AZ, 1971
10. Lanyi, Georg, "Raw Juices instead of Drugs", Tidskrift For Halsa, June, 1967, Stockholm, Sweden.

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