The Health Blog

1.  During a prolonged fast (after the first three days), your body will live on its own substance. When it is deprived of needed nutrition, particularly of proteins and fats, it will burn and digest its own tissues by the process of autolysis, or self-digestion. But your body will not do it indiscriminately! In its wisdom – and here lies the secret of the extraordinary effectiveness of fasting as curative and rejuvenative therapy! – your body will first decompose and burn those cells and tissues which are diseased, damaged, aged or dead. In fasting, your body feeds itself on the most impure and inferior materials, such as dead cells and morbid accumulations, tumors, abscesses, fat deposits, etc. Dr. Otto Buchinger, M.D., perhaps the greatest fasting authority in the world, calls fasting – very pertinently – a “refuse disposal”, a “burning of rubbish.” The essential tissues and vital organs, the glands, the nervous system and the brain are not damaged or digested in fasting.

2.  During fasting, while the old cells and diseased tissues are decomposed and burned, the building of new, healthy cells is speeded up. This may seem unbelievable, since no nourishment, or only a limited amount of nourishment during a juice fast, is supplied. But this is nevertheless a physiological fact. During the famous Swedish fast marches, when first 11 and then 19 men walked from Gothenburg to Stockholm, a distance of over 325 miles, in 10 days while on a total fast, it was observed that the protein level of the blood (serum albumin reading) of the fasting people remained constant and normal {blood sugar levels also remained normal]) throughout the fasting period, in spite of the fact that no protein was consumed. The reason for this is that proteins in your body are in the so-called dynamic state, being constantly decomposed and resynthesized and re-used for various needs within the body. When old or diseased cells are decomposed, the amino acids are not wasted, but are released and used again in the process of new-building of young, vital cells.

3.  During a juice fast, the eliminative and cleansing capacity of the eliminative organs – lungs, liver, kidneys and the skin – is greatly increased, and masses of accumulated metabolic wastes and toxins are quickly expelled. For example, during fasting, the concentration of toxins in the urine can be ten times higher than normal. This is due to the fact that the alimentary canal, liver and kidney are relieved from the usual burden of digesting foods and eliminating the resultant wastes, and can concentrate on the cleansing of old accumulated wastes and toxins, such as uric acid, purines, etc., from the tissues. This eliminative process is evidenced by the following typical symptoms of fasting: offensive breath, dark urine, continuous and generous discharge from the colon with enema, skin eruptions, excessive perspiration, and catarrhal elimination of mucus.

4.  Fasting affords a physiological rest to the digestive, assimilative and protective organs. After fasting, the digestion of food and the utilization of nutrients is greatly improved, and sluggishness and further waste retention are prevented.

5.  Finally, the fast exerts a normalizing, stabilizing and rejuvenative effect on all the vital physiological, nervous and mental functions. The nervous system is rejuvenated; mental powers are improved; glandular chemistry and hormonal secretions are stimulated and increased; the biochemical and mineral balance of the tissues is normalized.

It is easy to see from the above why fasting is such an effective health-restoring and rejuvenative measure.

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GENERAL HEALTH

Many persons spend more money for food than for any other item. Today’s consumer faces great challenges in selecting food from the thousands of items available in any supermarket. Dietitians and nurses in their daily work and also in their neighborly contacts within their own communities are constantly asked about the comparative values of foods.

The tremendous rise in food costs in recent years means that the homemaker tries to be much more selective in her food marketing. She is anxious to know how one product compares with another not only in quantity per unit price but also in nutritive values. Many people are concerned about the additives in foods and want to know what protection they have that these additives are indeed safe and serve a useful purpose. Other individuals require modified diets. For example, someone who is allergic to wheat and eggs needs to be able to identify the products that are wheat-free and egg-free. Another person whose physician has prescribed a cholesterol-restricted fat-controlled diet is interested in the cholesterol and fat content of foods.

These and many other consumer problems are answered through knowledge of legislation that protects the quality of the food supply as well as the honesty of claims made for the product. The regulations for labeling will help consumers to make wise choices for nutritional values as well as ingredients. Finally, consumers need information concerning good choices within the several food groups.

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GENERAL HEALTH