Some thoughts on fasting

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Hi..., *the name has been deleted to protect the innocent :-)*

Here are some books you can read on fasting.

Make Your Juicer Your Drug Store - Dr. L. Newman

How To Keep Slim Healthy & Young with Juice Fasting - Dr. Paavo Airola

Doctor-Patient Handbook - Dr. Bernard Jensen

Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management - Dr. Bernard Jensen

I don't agree with everything in these books as they often disagree on

key points, but it is an interesting introduction. Don't expect these to

be scientifically referenced treatises either. There are several books I

have read by MD's as well but the names escape me at the moment. For a

quick intro I think the interview of Dr. Schulze should help you get

started: http://www.curezone.com/schulze/herbal_news_juice_fasting.asp.

His fasting approach is, IMO, better (on most points) than what you will

read above, although he leaves many questions unanswered. If you want a

skeptical (but not totally dismissive) view of fasting you can check out

the article on webmd.com.

Both Schulze, Jensen, and myself have had our experiences about fasting

grow out of actual experience working with patients. That is why when I

find myself disagreeing with Dr. Jensen I do so cautiously and with great

reflection. The guy lived to be 94 years old. When he himself had

prostate cancer very late in life he cleaned it up with...ahem...goat

milk. The people whom he personally worked with enjoyed great success.

He, like Dr. Schulze, actually healed people, often from terrible and so

called incurable diseases, unlike most folks with a MD, DC, ND, PH.D, or

what have you behind their name.

Unlike AV, I have seen fasting act as an enormous help in the recovery

from disease. But AV is death on water fasting, which for the most part I

would agree. Juice fasting or flushing is the way to go although AV has

his reservations even for such a protocol. I think I read that he

advocates using small amounts of cream and maybe even eggs if you want to

fast. Okay, the liver flush contains (which I use) lots of fat.

Nevertheless there is a group of Doctors who are using water fasting

with some apparent success in the treatment of less severe maladies and

actually have had their work appear in a peer reviewed journal:

http://www.healthpromoting.com/Research/research.htm

But fasting, like the liberal use of raw animal foods, evokes intense

responses from lots of folks (often out of fear) and severe resistance

from the mainstream medical establishment. All that to say it will be a

long time before we see any mainstream articles " validating " our way of

eating and healing. And even when we get establishment folks to check

this stuff out, they often get the " Becker " treatment, i.e ignored by the

mainstream even with impeccable credentials (academically speaking) and

thorough scientific validation. I refer to Becker, MD who wrote

the Body Electric, which should be read by all, particularly the last

portion of the book. Talk about medical people who aren't interested in

the truth! And the failure of the peer review process (and...ahem...gov't

intervention)! A valuable lesson for those who naively think that

medicine is objective and impartial and consciously searching for the

truth . There are others who would it in that category (i.e. " Beckered " )

as well - Price, Voison and Crewe come immediately to mind.

Here is a Doctor (vegetarian) who actually had tested the various

compounds coming from his body while fasting to cure himself of

ulcerative colitis:

http://www.geocities.com/fastinguc/

Here are some websites on fasting. These folks are all over the place

nutritionally (with stuff to sell about their viewpoint) but again it

interesting to read the various takes on the subject.

http://www.fasting.com/

A Doctor on fasting: http://www.drfuhrman.com/store.htm#Excerpts

Fasting Center:

http://www.freedomyou.com/level%202/Fasting%20Page%20Guide.htm

Listing rare and unusual books:

http://www.healthresearchbooks.com/categories/fasting.htm

And finally some thoughts on fasting over the centuries:

" Fasting is, without any doubt, the most effective biological method of

treatment. It is the 'operation without surgery'. It is a cure involving

exudation, reattunement, redirection, loosening up and purified

relaxation. While fasting, the patient improves her or his physical

health and gains much. But he or she will have neglected the most

important thing if the hunger for spiritual nourishment that manifests

itself during fasting is not satisfied. "

Otto Buchinger, Sr., M.D., Germany's self-described " fasting therapist "

" Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its

work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest

force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine

should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your

sickness. "

Hippocrates, M.D., 460?-370? B.C., Father of Western Medicine

" Fasting is a safe and effective approach for not only fibroid tumors,

but also for most noncancerous tumors. Nasal polyps, lipomas, benign

ovarian tumors, and benign tumors of the breast often respond favorably

to therapeutic fasting, especially when the person is not very

overweight. "

" Fasting is the greatest remedy--the physician within! "

Hope this helps,

Bianca