Fasting: The only introduction you’ll ever need. Leon Chaitow, N.D., D.O.

the most undesirable way to fast is if you have a particular health problem and stop eating, fail to drink sufficient water and/or continue to take non-essential medication. Note that insulin, thyroid hormone and, in some instances, prednisone are regarded as ‘essential’ if you have become dependent upon their continued use to the extent that stopping their intake could produce a violent and possibly fatal result.

      The way a fast is conducted, and the way it is broken, are very important indeed, and you are urged to read all of this book, not just parts of it, and to fully appreciate the guidance offered before experimenting with a fast. Serious problems have been known to occur when rules are broken during fasts.

      To effectively and safely use fasting as a means of restoring (and maintaining) good health, it is necessary to fully understand the self-healing functions of the body and how they operate. These are explained in this book, and once you have grasped them and are fully aware of the rules, the potential of this marvellous method of regeneration is open to you, should you choose to use it.

       FIRST CHOICE IN FEVER

      There is probably no more powerful healing method than therapeutic fasting when it is applied correctly and used responsibly and safely, since fasting does not impose a solution on the disturbed workings of the body, but allows it space and time, a period of ‘physiological rest’, during which healing can occur naturally.

      In acute conditions, most notably fevers and infections, it should be the first choice of health care, since fasting dramatically increases the efficiency of the immune function, at least for the first 24 to 36 hours.

      In chronic conditions, such as heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis and eczema, there is a huge amount of evidence showing that controlled and supervised fasting can help such stubborn and sometimes life-threatening conditions to clear completely.

       LONG OR SHORT FASTS?

      In the UK, between the First and Second World Wars, Stanley Lief ND, DC, the gifted naturopathic healer, supervised thousands of successful lengthy fasts at Champneys, the health resort in Hertfordshire which he ran for over 30 years. The longest fast recorded at Champneys lasted for over three months (95 days), the outcome of which was the patient’s complete recovery from chronic ill-health (I know because I met the ‘patient’ some 30 years later during my own working period at Champneys in the early 1960s).

      In the USA, Herbert Shelton, the pioneer practitioner of Natural Hygiene, also initiated and supervised numerous fasts in severely ill patients, often with amazing results.

      If these two practitioners, and their countless followers, achieved such wonderful results, why are we not told more of fasting as a means of healing?

      Well, to be sure, we are, but you have to search for reports of fasting benefits in the medical journals, where only now and then evidence appears which supports the results claimed for this most ancient, efficient and potentially inexpensive of healing methods.

      In 1991, for example, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet published the results of a one-year study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had been treated by means of fasting and a vegetarian diet.

       WHAT PREVENTS THE WIDER USE OF FASTING?

      The results of fasting patients with rheumatoid arthritis were so good that there can now be no doubt at all that fasting should be the treatment of choice for this condition – and for almost all auto-immune conditions in which the body’s defence systems attack parts of itself. That few rheumatologists employ fasting for their patients is indicative of both the lack of awareness of such studies by most doctors, and the power of the pervading idea that we have to ‘take something’ to assuage symptoms, or to control pain and disability.

      To be fair, even when faced with the evidence of the value of fasting, many people will still opt for the dubious convenience of swallowing pills and potions rather than doing something for themselves to restore their health by methods which are slow, sometimes uncomfortable, and which involve effort and will-power.

      Fasting involves commitment, acceptance of responsibility for getting well, and a dedicated sense of purpose, and these qualities are not always the first to present themselves when we are faced with a choice between a means of treatment which someone may not fully understand and something which has the backing of current medical authority.

      This is why it is so important to be fully aware of the facts about fasting – including its drawbacks, requirements, benefits and potentials before embarking on its use.

       DRAWBACKS

      There are several potential drawbacks to fasting which need to be highlighted at the outset.

       Long fasts (of more than two days) require supervision by a suitably qualified health care professional. This raises the question of cost and time, since staying in a clinic (often for many weeks) where appropriate supervision is available, or paying for regular home visits over an extended period of time, could prove very expensive. Also, since awareness of the value of fasting is limited amongst orthodox medical practitioners, a level of determination is sometimes required to find someone suitably qualified. You will need to look for a fully trained naturopath, a German ‘heilpraktiker’, an Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) practitioner or a clinical ecologist.

       Many people find the whole idea of stopping eating for weeks on end too bizarre to contemplate, and they would undoubtedly have anxieties which could make the starting of such a process unwise. For the best results it is essential that the person fasting should be comfortable with the idea, aware of the processes involved, and happy to participate in the healing process.

       There is evidence to suggest that because of the increase in levels of environmental toxicity, to which we are all exposed in one way or another, the progress of a fast is far less predictable than it was just 50 years ago when Lief and Shelton were at the peak of their practice of therapeutic fasting.

      During a fast, such pollutants and residues from previous medical treatment (e.g. steroid medication) or from ‘social’ use (e.g. tobacco and other drugs) can be released when fat stores are used up – fat is where many toxins are safely stored or ‘dumped’ by a body overloaded with toxic debris – possibly producing reactions of an unpredictable nature as a ‘cocktail’ of chemicals hits the bloodstream.

       AN EFFECTIVE COMPROMISE

      Given the above drawbacks, which may preclude many from enjoying the benefits of fasting, what modifications are possible which might allow for fasting to be inexpensively and safely applied?

      To avoid expense, to make the process less intimidating and, above all, to ensure greater safety – regular short fasts are suggested as an alternative to lengthy or ‘open-ended’ fasts.

      The process of detoxification and healing is bound to be less dramatic with this alternative, but it is really the only option open if you cannot afford the expense or the time (leaving out the toxic danger referred to) needed for an open-ended, supervised fast.

       WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

      In this compact but complete introduction to fasting for both health enhancement and spiritual growth, the different techniques and modifications of fasting (long and short) are explained, backed up by research evidence for its use in the treatment of various ailments. It also includes the pros and cons of using fasting as part of a weight maintenance strategy.

      Associated detoxification methods are outlined – including various forms of hydrotherapy and the vexed question of supplementation (should you or shouldn’t you during a fast?).

      Indications