Title : Chapter 4:A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING.: The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair from archive.org
link : Chapter 4:A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING.: The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair from archive.org
Chapter 4:A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING.: The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair from archive.org
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING.
Recently I published a request that
those who had tried the fast as the
result of my advocacy would write to
advise me of the results. I stated that
I desired to hear unfavourable results
as well as favourable; that I wanted
to get at the facts, and would tabulate
the results exactly as they came. The
questions asked were as follows :
1. How many times have you
fasted ?
2. How many days on each occa-
sion?
3. From what complaints did you
suffer ?
4. Were these complaints ever
diagnosed by regular physicians? If
101
THE FASTING CURE
SO, give the names and addresses of
these physicians.
5. Do you consider that you were
definitely benefited by the fasts? If
so, in what way?
6. For how long did the benefit
continue ?
7. Do you consider that you were
completely cured ?
8. Do you consider that you were
definitely harmed? If so, in what
way?
9. Have you ever been examined by
any regular physician since the cure?
If so, give name and address.
10. Are you willing that your
name and address should be quoted
for the benefit of others ?
The total number of fasts taken was
277, and the average number of days
was 6. There were 90 of five days or
102
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
over, 51 of ten days or over, and 6 of
30 days or over. Out of the 109 per-
sons who wrote to me, 100 reported
benefit, and 17 no benefit. Of these 17
about half give wrong breaking of the
fast as the reason for the failure. In
cases where the cure had not proved
permanent, about half mentioned that
the recurrence of the trouble was
caused by wrong eating, and about
half of the rest made this quite evi-
dent by what they said. Also it is to
be noted that in the cases of the 17 who
got no benefit, nearly all were fasts of
only three or four days.
Following is the complete list of
diseases benefited — 45 of the cases
having been diagnosed by physicians :
indigestion (usually associated with
nervousness), 27; rheumatism, 5; colds,
8; tuberculosis, 4; constipation, 14;
poor circulation, 3; headaches, 5;
103
THE FASTING CURE
anaemia, 3; scrofula, 1; bronchial
trouble, 5 ; syphilis, 1 ; liver trouble, 5
general debility, 5 ; chills and fever, 1
blood poisoning, 1; ulcerated leg, 1
neurasthenia, 6; locomotor ataxia, 1
sciatica, 1; asthma, 2; excess of uric
acid, 1 ; epilepsy, 1 ; pleurisy, 1 ; impac-
tion of bowels, 1 ; eczema, 2 ; catarrh,
6; appendicitis, 3; valvular disease of
heart, 1 ; insomnia, 1 ; gas poisoning, 1 ;
grippe, 1; cancer, 1.
There follows a brief summary of
some of the most interesting cases. A
number of longer letters will be found
in the Appendix.
Mrs. Lulu Wallace Smith, 324 W.
White Oak Ave., Monrovia, Cal. Age
28. Fasted 30 days for appendicitis
and peritonitis, diagnosed by four
physicians. ** Yes, indeed, I have
definitely been benefited by fasting.
104
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
My stomach is not distressed after
meals, I have regular evacuations of the
intestines, which I had not had since
I was seventeen. I feel perfectly
healthy and look the same."
William N . Syphilis, with ad-
vanced ulcers in throat. Physicians
declared the case hopeless. Complete
disappearance of symptoms after four
days' fast, but they gradually reap-
peared, and longer fast intended.
Dora Jordan, Connersville, Md.
Indigestion, extreme nervousness,
neuralgia in its worst form. Fasted
thirty days ; did most of cooking for a
family of five, was at no time tempted
to eat. "I am no longer troubled
with the old diseases, and weigh more
than ever before. After my fast I felt
as happy and care free as a little
child."
105 11
THE FASTING CURB
C. L. Clark, Greenville, Mich.
Nervous, poor digestion. Fasted nine
days. " I have been wonderfully
benefited, and am a rabid convert.
Alas, for the poor mortal who shows
the faintest spark of interest in my
fast — I hand him the whole works,
lock, stock and barrel ! I feel a new
power and new incentive in life.
Whenever I see a sick person, I feel
like telling him that for all he knows
to the contrary, good health has been
and may be only eight or ten days
away and waiting for years for him
to claim it."
T. S. Jacks, Muskegon, Mich.
Twenty days, followed by shorter fasts,
for stomach trouble, diagnosed by Dr.
M as cancer. " He advised me
to be operated on. Since my fast,
three years ago, I have had no trouble
106
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
with my stomach. I am entirely
cured, and am enjoying fine health."
Gordon G. Ives, 147 Forsythe Bldg.,
Fresno, Cal. " Have fasted a good
many times since 1899, to cure catarrh
of stomach, constipation, deafness of
four months' standing, neuralgia, etc.
Duration, from one to sixteen days.
Never failed in accomplishing a cure.
Benefit continued until I had over-
eaten for a long time. Complaints
were never diagnosed by regular phy-
sicians, as I got on to them in 1894.
Use my name if it will help the truth.'*
Mrs. Maria L. Scott, Boring, Ariz.
Reports case of husband, who fasted
seven days for constipation and deaf-
ness; had been obliged to take enema
daily for several months. Complete
cure.
107
THE FA3TING CURE
Mrs. A. Wears, De Funiak Springs,
Fla. " Age forty-two, subject to
severe colds and sore throat all my life,
chronic catarrh of head and throat, in
bed two winters with bronchitis and
asthma. Did not take complete fast.
My catarrh is much improved. I feel
perfectly well and enjoy life so much
more than I did before the fast."
Mrs. Mae Bramble, Alba, Pa., R. F.
D. 70. One fast of thirty days,
another of three days ; nervous prostra-
tion the first time, appendicitis the
second time. '* The first complaint
was diagnosed, the second was not; as
I am a professional nurse, I under-
stood the symptoms myself." Com-
plete and permanent cure. ** I have
never had a return of the nervous
trouble, and am well of the other com-
plaint. It is five years since the first
fast."
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
M. E. Beard, Corning, Cal. Fasted
nine days for scrofula. Had been
diagnosed. Complete cure, permanent
since 1908. Age forty-seven. " Five
years ago I broke down. Physicians
never could tell me what ailed me. I
kept busy during my fast physically
and mentally; worked over the cook
stove and outdoors. Felt no weak-
ness."
Joseph L. Lewis, Hatfield, Ark.
Fasted three days, and then four days.
" During the last ten days have felt
better than at any time during the last
seven years.**
Monroe Bornn, Port of Spain, Trini-
dad. Fasted seven days on three occa-
sions, for liver trouble. " I had been
treated by three physicians. I con-
sider that I was completely cured. I
109
THE FASTING OURK
have been examined by regular physi-
cians since the cure.**
E. B. Bayne. White Plains, N.Y.
Sends record of fasts taken by two
people, Mr. and Mrs. A. Mr. A.
fasted for rheumatism, which had
caused kidney and bladder trouble of
years' standing, and iritis; fasted five
days and then four days and was com-
pletely cured. Mrs. A. Neuralgia and
catarrhal deafness. Completely cured.
* ' Finds that exposure to draughts has
no effect upon her whatever, hereto-
fore she would catch cold upon the
least exposure."
Mrs. Charles H. Vosseller, Newark,
N.J. " I don't agree with you or
Bernarr Macfadden in not recom-
mending fasting for tuberculosis. My
case was diagnosed by Dr. B. G ,
uo
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
New Brunswick, N.J. I fasted nine-
teen days and was completely cured;
I received no harm, and have been
examined since by a physician. 1
weigh 114 lbs. now and before my fast
weighed 100 lbs. I never felt better
in my life than I do at present. Do
not know that I have a pair of lungs."
In connection with the above tabu-
lation of results, it should be specified
that it does not include any of the cases
quoted elsewhere in the book; it in-
cludes some of the letters given in the
Appendix, but not all. Thus it will
appear that there are many more than
277 cases of fasting recorded in this
volume. The reason that I did not
summarize in the tabulation all the
letters I have received is, that I wished
to give only those which were sent to
me in answer to my definite series of
11!
THE FASTING CURE
questions, so that I might be sure of
getting the unfavourable as well as
the favourable reports. Recently a
well-known physician who edits a
magazine of health came out in
vehement opposition to the fasting
cure, maintaining that we hear only of
the cases which are successful, and do
not hear of the disastrous failures. In
reply to this, I wrote to him suggest-
ing that he publish my series of ques-
tions in his magazine, thus giving his
readers an opportunity to make me
acquainted with the unsuccessful cases.
This, however, the physician declined
to do.
Death during the Fast.
There was much newspaper discus-
sion of my fasting papers — most of it
being sarcastic. The most biting com-
U2
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
ment that I recall came from some-
where out West, and ran about as fol-
lows : " A Seattle man fasted forty
days for stomach trouble. His stomach
is troubling him no longer. He is
dead." I set to work to find out about
this case, and I give the facts on page
231. I also saw a report from the
London Daily Telegraph to the efifect
that a man had died in South Africa
as a result of trying my ** cure.*' How
many thousands of people tried it and
lived, I do not know; but horrified
relatives and enterprising newspaper
writers would see that the public was
informed about any that died.
As to the possibility or probability
of death during a fast, I have one or
two points to note :
First, a good many sick people are
dying all the time. It would be an
argument for fasting if it saved any
lie
THE FASTING CURE
of them. It is no argument against
fasting that it fails to save them all.
No one would think of bringing it up
against his surgeon or his family phy-
sician that he occasionally lost a
patient.
Second, people might die very fre-
quently, without that being an argu-
ment against the cure. It might sim-
ply be a consequence of the desperately
ill class of people who were trying it.
A doctor who had a new method of
healing, and was permitted to use it
only upon those whom all other doctors
had given up, would be considered suc-
cessful if he effected even an occa-
sional cure. I would wager that of
the people who read my article and set
out to fast, practically all had been
suffering for many years, and had
given the " regular " physicians un-
limited opportunity to work on them.
114
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
Third, it may be set down as abso-
lutely certain that no one ever died of
starvation while fasting. The essen-
tial feature of the fast is that after the
first two or three days all hunger
ceases; and that any one could die of
lack of food without feeline a desire
for food, is absurd upon the face of it.
Nature simply does not work that way.
It reminds me of a young lady who
once told me that she would not go to
sleep with a mouse in the room, because
she imagined the mouse might nibble
off her ear without waking her !
As to the possibility that you might
starve, during those first days while
you are hungry — the answer is simply
that you don't. It is perfectly true
that men have died of starvation in
three or four days; but the starvation
existed in their minds — it was fright
that killed them. That they did not
115
THE FASTING CURK
truly starve is proven by my letters
from several hundreds of people who
have fasted over that time, and who
are alive to tell of it.
There are conditions in the human
body which lead to death inevitably;
and some of these conditions are be-
yond the power of the fast to remedy.
When a person so afflicted sets out to
fast, and dies in spite of the fast, the
papers of course declare that he died
because of the fast. Dr. L. B. Haz-
zard of Seattle has published a very
useful little book, " Fasting for the
Cure of Disease," in which she tells
of two cases of " death from fasting,"
where the autopsy revealed conditions
with which the fast had no connection,
and which made death certain.
Chances of that sort one has to take in
life. You may have a blood vessel in
such a state that when you run after a
116
A; SYMPOSIUM: ON FASTING
street car the increased pressure will
cause it to burst ; but you do not on that
account declare that no man ought to
exert himself violently.
As an example of the part that men-
tal disturbances may play in the fast,
I will cite the case of a woman friend
who started out to fast for a complica-
tion of chronic ailments. She was
rather stout, and did not mind it at
all — was going cheerfully about her
daily tasks; but her husband heard
about it, and came home to tell her
what a fool she was making of herself ;
and in a few hours she was in a state
of complete collapse. No doubt if
there had been a physician in the
neighbourhood, there would have been
another tale of a " victim of a shallow
and unscrupulous sensationalist."
Fortunately, however, business called
the husband away again, and the next
117
THE FASTING CURE
day the woman was all right, and com-
pleted.an eight-day fast with the best
results. Bear this in mind, so that if
you wake up some morning and find
your temperature sub-normal and your
pulse at forty, and your arms too weak
to lift you, and if your friends get
round you and tell you that you look
like a mummy out of a sarcophagus of
the seventeenth dynasty, and that I
am a Socialist and an undesirable
citizen — you may be able to smile at
them good naturedly and tell them that
you will never again eat until you are
hungry.
I have thought over the cases of
failure of the fast, where I have been
able to inquire into all the circum-
stances, and I think I can make the
statement that I do not know a case
which might not be attributed either
to the influence of nervous excitement,
118
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
or to unwise breaking of the fast. In
the last batch of letters was one with
a printed account of the disastrous re-
sults of a three weeks' fast taken by
a woman. It is an example of about
all the blunders that I can think of.
She describes herself as occupying ' ' a
responsible office position," which
taxed her strength to the utmost; and
she tried to do this work all the time
she was fasting. She would get up
and go to work when she was
" scarcely able to drag one foot after
another." On about the nineteenth
day her mother arrived, and then I
quote : ' ' She almost dropped at sight
of me, for I had not given a hint as to
my condition ; but despite my protests,
she sent for the doctor at once. My I
Didn't he scold, and tell me what was
what ! Mother's heart was so^ torn
with sorrow and pity that she hadn't
119
THE FASTING CURE
the heart to reproach me for my three
weeks' orgy of fasting. She thought
I had paid dearly for my folly." I
don't think it necessary to say any-
thing more, except that I feel sorry for
the victim, and that I am glad to know
this happened two years ago, so that I
am not to blame for the results.
By way of contrast with this case I
will quote the following letter, which
will show the reader the kind of ex-
perience that makes fasting enthu-
siasts : *' My wife and I have each
nearly reached our seventy-second
year. I was born a physical wreck.
A dozen years ago we began taking
short fasts, from three to eleven days'
duration, for all our ills of the flesh.
But each of us had chronic troubles of
forty years' standing, which seemed
growing no better. And finally, two
years ago, last July, my wife said she
120
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
was going to take a ' conquest fast * if
it killed her, for she was tired of living
with her present ills. I thought it a
good time to try a little conquest fast-
ing on my own hook. I had no fear
of the result. I knew that nature
would tell me when I had fasted long
enough. So we began an absolute fast
from all food except distilled water
and fresh air. We lived in fresh air
night and day. We took copious
enemas daily, and I took a cabinet
sweat, followed by a cold plunge every
other day. I knew that I must have
many^ years of filth accumulation in
my bowels. And the amount of
putridity that came from my bowels
the first twenty-five days of the fast
was amazing.
* * After fasting twenty-eight days 1
began to be hungry, and broke my fast
with a little grape juice, followed the
121 I
THE PASTING CURB
next day with tomatoes, and later with
vegetable soup. My wife began to be
hungry after fasting thirty-one days,
and broke her fast in a similar manner
to myself.
** It is now two years since we took
the conquest fast, and my wife has no
return of her former troubles. And I
am enjoying all the mental and phy-
sical pleasures which come from clean
bowels. We think we have learned
how to live that we will never need an-
other fast. Soon after the fast I was
examined by Dr. S , the leading
surgeon of Los Angeles and Southern
California, who pronounced me as
being the most wonderful person he
ever met regarding softness of arteries,
and suppleness of body, for my age."
122
A SYMPOSimC ON I'AStlN<5
Fasting and the Mind.
The reader will observe that I dis-
cuss this fasting question from a
materialistic view-point. I am tell-
ing what it does to the body; but be-
sides this, of course, fasting is a reli-
gious exercise. I heard the other day
from a man who was taking a forty-
day fast, as a means of increasing his
" spiritual power." I am not saying
that for you to smile at — he has excel-
lent authority for the procedure. The
point with me is that I find life so full
of interest just now that I don't have
much time to think about my " soul."
I get so much pleasure out of a hand-
ful of raisins, or a cold bath, or a
game of tennis, that I fear it is inter-
fering with my spiritual development.
I have, however, a very dear friend
who goes in for the things of the soul,
and she tells me that when you are
113
THE FASTING CURE
fasting, the higher faculties are in a
sensitive condition, and that you can
do many interesting things with your
subliminal self. For instance, she had
always considered herself a glutton;
and so, during an eight-day fast, just
before going to sleep and just after
awakening, she would lie in a sort of
trance and impress upon her mind the
idea of restraint in eating. The re-
sult, she declared, has been that she
has never since then had an impulse to
over-eat.
There are many such curious things,
about which you may read in the books
of the yogis and the theosophists —
who were fasting in previous incarna-
tions when you and I were swinging
about in the tree-tops by our tails. But
I ought to report upon one fasting ex-
periment which resulted disastrously
for me. Earlier in this book I told
124
SYMPOSIUM N FASTING
how I had been able to write the
greater part of a play while fasting.
Shortly afterwards I plunged into the
writing of a new novel, and as usual
I got so much interested in it that I
wasn't hungry. I said that I would
fast, and save the eating time, and the
digesting time as well. So I would sit
and work for sixteen hours or more a
day, sometimes for six hours at a
stretch without moving. After two or
three days of this I would be hungry,
and would eat something; but being
too much excited to digest it, I would
say, *' Hang eating, anyhow!" — and
go on for another period of work. 1
kept that up for some six weeks, and 1
turned out an appalling lot of manu-
script; but I found that I had taken
off twenty-five pounds of flesh, and had
got to such a point that I could not
digest a little warm milk. I cite this
125
THB FABTIKA CURS
in order that the reader may under-
stand just why I take a gross and
material view of fasting. My advice
is to lie round in the sun and read
story-books and take care of your body,
and leave the soul-exercises and the
nervous efforts until the fast is over.
But all the same, I know that there
will be great poetry written some day,
when our poets have got on to the fast-
ing trick — and when our poets care
enough about their work to be willing
to feed it with their own flesh.
The great thing about the fast is
that it sets you a new standard of
health. You have been accustomed to
worrying along somehow ; but now you
discover your own possibilities, and
thereafter you are not content until
you have found some way to keep that
virginal state of stomach which one
possesses for a month or two after a
126
A SYMPOSIU^I ON FASTING
successful fast. It must mean, of
course, many changes in your life, if
you really wish to keep it. It means
the giving up of tobacco and alcohol,
and a too sedentary life, and steam-
heated rooms; above all else, it means
giving up self-indulgent eating.
A couple of years ago my wife and
myself made the acquaintance of a
young lady patient in a sanatorium,
who was in a much run-down condi-
tion, anaemic and nervous. We per-
suaded her to take a fast of five or six
days, and afterwards take the milk
diet, as the result of which she went
back to her home in Virginia with
what she described as *' smiles and
dimples and curves and bright eyes."
She was so enthusiastic about the cure
that she proceeded to apply it to all her
family and her friends ; and some time
afterwards she wrote my wife a most
127
THE FASTING CURE
diverting account of her adventures.
After some persuasion I secured her
permission to quote her letter, having
duly omitted all the names. It makes
clear the thorny path which the fast-
ing enthusiast has to travel in this
world.
I will try in a very limited space of
time to tell you what keeps me a slave
here at home. I got Mr. X down
from to put papa and mamma on
the fasting cure — papa had a bad case
of grippe — mamma had indigestion.
My oldest married brother is in dread-
ful health, and his wife and baby are
not well. I wore myself nearly out
trying to get them well, and at the
same time trying to pick up some
threads of long neglected social duties.
People were beginning to call me
'* stuck-up " (horrid vulgar term), so
unless I wanted to make enemies of the
wives and daughters of papa's and
brother's business friends, I had to go
129
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
to a few parties and pay some long-
neglected calls. I did it all, and then
decided to have Mr. X come to
help me. I got papa and mamma and
M and her baby (!) on a fast — and
then woe is me — I had to get them off
again ! They had various and alarm-
ing symptoms due to their ignorance
of the methods, and the wild interest
of the town medicine-men. The family
doctor gave me a " straight talk ' ' and
asked me if I was going to try to kill
my father and mother. Papa would
not give up his cigarette, and a
" toddy " now and then. M 's
baby lost four pounds while his mother
was fasting. All the doctors' wives
came to call, and beset me with ques-
tions — and I had the d of a time.
But I stood by my guns. When the
overfed, self-indulgent family all got
to vomiting at once, my hands were
full, and I nearly had nervous prostra-
tion before I got order out of the bed-
lam I had stirred up.
Well, they got over the fast and on
to the milk. Then I had to tend to the
129
THE PASTING CUnB
milk myself or they refused to drink it.
Finally mamma got to feeling so well
that she sat up, and planned big course
dinners and invited people to eat them.
She began to order new clothes for the
kids, new furnishings for the iiouse,
and started in to live her disorderly,
ungodly ** Southern hospitality " life
all over again. Our senator died and
mamma got into politics in the new
election ; and Cousin J got drunk,
and I had to go with him to the Keeley
Institute, etc., etc. Surely there is a
heaven for saints like me. I did not
fly the roost as I was tempted to do,
but I answered midnight calls of the
spoiled, nauseated ones, and fixed hot
water bags, quelled riots among the
meat-eating servants and hungry chil-
dren — and swore I'd win! I did.
Well, I got things going in fine order
at last, with papa cured of his grippe
and an old case of kidney trouble.
Mamma is now comfortably eating
boiled ham and stuffed peppers, and
fruit cake and cherry pie, and green
olives and what not at the same meal
ISO
jL SYilPOSIUM ON FASTING
She is well, though. But of course she
will get sick again. Papa, the only
sane member of our family, is still
holding on to the milk, taking four
quarts of buttermilk a day, and he is
flourishing, thank heaven ! M is
still bilious, having broken her fast
with hard-boiled eggs and pork chops.
And I am still living, in spite of hav-
ing been to Keeley, and incidentally
having danced all night (with a low-
neck, short-sleeved gown on !) at the
Club ball, sat through several
dinners and bridge parties into the
'* wee sma* hours," and had two men
propose to me with the prelude, ' ' You
are the nicest, most refined, and most
lovable girl in the world if you are a
crank." Wasn't that a nice begin-
ning for a proposal of marriage? 1
accepted them both on condition that I
be allowed to remain a crank.
Well, the next chapter began with
an old lover who had married another
woman. He came to see me and said
he had a tape- worm ! Ye gods — such
romance ! His wife had stomach and
131
THE FASTING CURB
intestinal trouble. I turned Mr.
X over to them, and them over to
Mr. X . The lady got along, but
the poor man with a wild beast inside
him got so sick after an eight-day fast
that he wanted to have me mobbed,
sent for two trained nurses and four
doctors — this is no exaggeration — the
doctors looked at me, and looks were
as plain as words — ' ' You little devil !
You did it for pure meanness." For
three days my poor friend had the
doctors giving him hypodermics, and
he never stopped vomiting until we
were all nearly dead. Then he quieted
down, got well, ate a beef -steak with a
few dozen oysters and mushrooms, and
took me riding in his new automobile.
The grim humour in the whole thing is
that if I had not gotten my roses and
dimples and curves and bright eyes
back by fasting, this man would never
have taken me riding in his new auto-
mobile. Take a tip from me — all the
good nursing and friendly efforts in
behalf of the health of my friends did
not endear me to them one half as much
132
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
as the plump, rosy smile I wore with
my new silk gown. The first day our
sick friend went out in his car — alas
for the ways of human nature — mas-
culine human nature, I mean — I told
him so. And he agreed with me and
ended by saying, *' Darn an ugly
woman — I'll forgive a pretty one any-
thing**
Diet after the Fast.
Many people write me, begging me
to outline for them the ideal diet. I
used to do that sort of thing, but I have
stopped; having come to realize that
we are still at the beginning of our
diet experiments. I have done a good
deal of experimenting myself, and
have made some interesting dis-
coveries. I have lived for a week on
fruit only, and again on wheat only;
I have lived for three weeks on nothing
1.S3
THE PASTING CURE
but milk, and again on nothing but
beef -steak. I have lived for a year on
raw food, and for over three years I
professed the religion of vege-
tarianism. For the last two months
I have lived on beef -steak, shredded
wheat, raisins and fresh fruit; but by
the time this book appears I may be
trying sour milk and dates — somebody
told me about that the other day, and
it sounds good to me. Some of my
correspondents object to my willing-
ness to try new diets; they write me
that they find it bewildering, and think
it indicative of an unstable mind.
They do not realize that I am exacting
in my demands — I want a diet which
will permit me to overwork with im-
punity. I haven't found it yet, but I
am on the way; and meantime I make
my experiments with a light heart, for
I always know that if anything goes
134
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING 1
wrong, I can take a fast and start
afresh.
The general rules are mostly of a
negative sort. There are many kinds
of foods, some of them most generally
favoured, of which one may say that
they should never be used, and that
those who use them can never be as
well as they would be without them.
Such foods are all that contain alcohol
or vinegar ; all that contain cane sugar ;
all that contain white flour in any one
of its thousand alluring forms of
bread, crackers, pie, cake, and pud-
dings; and all foods that have been
fried — by which I mean cooked with
grease, whether that grease be lard, or
butter, or eggs or milk. It is my con-
viction that one should bar these
things at the outset, and admit of no
exceptions. I do not mean to say that
healthy men and women cannot eat
135
THE PASTING CURB
such things and be well ; but I say that
they cannot be as well as they would
be without them; and that every par
tide of such food they eat rendei '
them more liable to all sorts of infec-
tion, and sows in their systems the
seeds of the particular chronic disease
that is to lay them low sooner or later.
There are a number of other things,
which I do not rate as quite so bad, but
which we bar in our family — simply
because they are not so good. For in-
stance, I am inclined to regard beans
as being too difficult of digestion and
too liable to fermentation to be eaten
by any one who can get anything
better. And I personally do not eat
peanuts, because I have found that I
do not digest them; and I do not use
milk (except in the exclusive milk
diet), because it is constipating, and I
have a tendency in that direction.
m
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
Almost everyone will discover idiosyn-
crasies of that sort in his own system.
One person cannot digest cheese, an-
other cannot digest bananas, another
cannot stand the taste of olive oil.
You may read a glowing account of
some diet system by which some other
person has worked miracles, and you
may try it, and persist in it for a long
time, and finally come to realize that
it was the worst diet you could possi-
bly have been following. I have al-
ways counted orange juice as the ideal
food with which to break a fast ; yet a
friend whom I was advising broke his
fast with the juice of half an orange
and had a violent cramp. He had
been so confiding in my greater know-
ledge that he had omitted to tell me
that any sort of acid fruit had always
made him ill.
Such things as this are of course not
137 K
THE FASTING CURE
natural; but a perfectly normal and
well person is, under the artificial con-
ditions of our bringing up, a very great
rarity; and so we all have to regard
ourselves as more or less diseased, and
work towards the ideal of soundness.
We must do this with intelligence —
there is no short cut, no way to save
one's self the trouble of thinking.
I used to think there was. I would
discover this or that wonderful new
diet-wrinkle, and I would go round
preaching it to all my friends, and
making a general nuisance of myself.
And some one would try it, and it
would not work ; and often, to my own
humiliation, I would discover that it
was not working in my own case half
so well as I had thought it was.
By way of setting an ideal, let me
give you the example of a young lady
who for six or seven months has been
138
A SYMPOSIUM ON FASTING
living in our home, and giving us a
chance to observe her dietetic habits.
This young lady three years ago was an
anaemic school teacher, threatened
with consumption, and a victim of con-
tinual colds and headaches; miserable
and beaten, with an exopthalmic goitre
which was slowly choking her to death.
She fasted eight days, and achieved a
perfect cure. She is to-day bright,
alert and athletic; and she lives on
about twelve hundred calories of food
a day — one-half what I eat, and less
than a third of the old-school dietetic
standards. Occasionally she will eat
nut butter, or sweet potato, or some
whole wheat crackers with butter, or a
dish of ice-cream; but at least ninety
per cent, of her food has consisted of
fresh fruit. Meal after meal, day
after day, I have seen her eat one or
two bananas and two or three peaches,
139
THE FASTING CURE
or say, a slice of watermelon or canta-
loupe; at some meals she will eat only
the peaches, and then again she will
eat nothing. A dollar a week would
pay for all her food; and on this diet
she laughs and talks, reads and thinks,
walks and swims with my wife and
myself — a kind of external dietetic
conscience, which we would find it
hard to get along without. And tell
me, Dr. Woods Hutchinson, or other
scoffer at the " food-faddists," don't
you think that a case like this gives us
some right to ask for patient investi-
gation of our claims? Or will you
stand by your pill boxes and your
carving-knives and the rest of your
paraphernalia, and compel us to cure
all your patients in spite of you ?
140
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