fns fasting booklet with cover

Fasting Explained The Natural Hygiene Way

by Dr. Douglas N. Graham

Published by: FoodnSport Education 609 N. Jade Drive Key Largo, FL 33037

U.S.A.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations for review or reference purposes. Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of this book may be sent to [email protected] Copyright 2005, 2012 by Douglas N. Graham

DR. DOUGLAS N. GRAHAM

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What Is Natural Hygiene? Hygiene is defined in Blakistons New Gould Medical Dictionary as The science that treats of the laws of health and methods of their observation. The word hygiene is based in Greek mythology; Hygeia was the Greek goddess of health. Today, a hygienist is one who is trained in the science of health.

The worldwide Natural Hygiene movement is peopled by millions of health enthusiasts. Hygienically trained professionals specialize in the creation of health, as distinct from the treatment of disease and elimination of symptoms. They offer lifestyle and nutritional guidance in a manner that enables each health seeker to achieve and maintain his or her highest possible level of well-being. This is accomplished through:

Education as to the causes of ill health.

Instruction regarding the conditions necessary for creating and maintaining optimal health.

Assistance with the processes of change required to develop healthy dietary and lifestyle habits.

Supervision of fasting and post-fast realimentation (the resumption of feeding).

You cannot break the laws of nature;

you can only prove them.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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What Is Fasting? Fasting is a period of comprehensive, maximal rest augmented by abstinence from all foods. Water is consumed in sufficient quantity to satisfy thirst and physiological requirements. Fasting is not starving; it is a natural process and therefore not to be feared. During a fast, a person literally lives from his or her reserves, consuming excess fats and waste proteins and converting them as necessary to glucose for fuel. Vital tissues, such as brain, nerve, heart, liver, kidneys, and so forth, remain virtually untouched.

When fasting, a person experiences healing at a rate that is swifter than normal. He or she is ridding the body of toxins and excesses, allowing the body to use its own wisdom to healthfully reorganize itself from the cellular level up. As the toxic load is reduced, the functioning of every cell is enhanced. The detoxification process happens most efficiently and effectively when it is accompanied by fasting.

Vital nerve energy is accumulated during our nightly sleep. This period of concentrated rest has been considered a mini-fast for centuries; we break the fast with our first meal, and we call it breakfast.

During a fast, rest and sleep are the biggest factors in enhancing healing. It is only when the body is at rest that it is able to direct the maximum energy toward the various chemical and mechanical processes of detoxification associated with recovery from dis-ease.

Hunger, like thirst, is experienced in the mouth. It is a sensation few of us have ever experienced.


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Four Types of Rest The faster is encouraged to participate in all forms of rest: physical, sensory, emotional, and physiological.

Physical Rest Physical rest means that the faster participates in no physical activity other than that which is required for personal hygiene. Bed rest is the rule during fasts of long duration. During a fast, energy that normally activates our muscles is diverted to the organs of detoxification. The production of lactic acid and other metabolic acids formed during activity hinders the progress of the fast.

The body, when enervated (weakened and fatigued), accumulates acids faster than it can eliminate them. This hyperacidity, called acid toxemia, is reduced during fasting, as the primary sources of the aciditymuscular activity and dietary intakeare eliminated.

Sensory Rest Sensory rest entails a reduction in the amount of sensory stimuli to which we are subjected. As we are visual creatures, simply closing our eyes dramatically reduces the amount of input to the brain. Being in a quiet, peaceful location also lowers the amount of input, and this is an important consideration in choosing a location for fasting.

The body heals itself most rapidly while fasting. A person can often recover from a lifetime of abuse in

just a few weeks. That is why we call it a fast.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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Body energy that could otherwise be directed toward elimination of toxins and improvement of metabolic functions is less available for the task when forced to recognize and organize outside stimuli. Elimination of television and other entertainment media, reading material, and even quiet conversation, all greatly reduce sensory stimulation and thus maximize the benefits of the fast.

Emotional Rest Emotional rest accrues as the faster lets go of his or her worries for a time and allows the fasting supervisor and staff to share in his or her care decisions. Separation from the responsibilities of work, household, family, and friends allows the faster the opportunity to develop emo-tional poise through introspection, visualization, affirmation, and meditation. Supportive relationships, friendly staff, and a caring supervisor all make it easier for the faster to rest without worry.

Emotional rest accumulates as the faster becomes increasingly confident that through fasting he or she is doing all that need be done to get wellin fact, all that can be doneand that day by day health is, indeed, being acquired.

Excessive feasting leads to the need for fasting.


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Physiological Rest Physiological rest is achieved by reducing caloric intake, and thus digestive activity, to zero. The organs of digestion require more fuel than any other single physiological process, except strenuous physical activity. Upwards of fifty percent of the total blood supply can be sent to the organs of digestion when a heavy or complex meal has been consumed. The digestive process is so energy intensive that it is easy to understand why people often feel tired after eating.

Your mother may have told you not to go swimming after eating because you would get cramps. She was correct: when the body directs blood to the digestive tract, insufficient blood remains to also supply the muscles.

Good eating habits never result in indigestion.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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Who Should Fast? Health is the natural state of humankind. Provided with the essentials of life and healthful conditions, the body will heal itself. By striving to as-sert homeostasis (a state of equilibrium), the body is always vectoring toward improved health.

Symptoms are indicators that all is not right with the conditions the body is experiencing. Anyone who is displaying symptoms, minor or severe, acute or chronic, is a likely candidate for a fast. When a person is upset, tired, nauseous, feverish, congested, has indigestion, or is just not feeling like him or herself, a fast is indicated.

Such a fast may entail nothing more than skipping a single meal. For instance, if you are more tired than hungry, you should sleep rather than eat. If you awaken in the morning still full, or have stomach upset from the previous night, forgoing a meal or two will quickly set things right. However, chronic symptoms and/or progressive degenerative conditions often call for fasts of longer duration in order to conserve vital energy, restore metabolic homeostasis, and reinstate health.

Children who go to bed with a fever and no appetite usually recover in a day or two. A fast offers an adult-sized portion of rest and sleep, which is usually all that is required for the return of health. We tend to fall behind on rest and sleep, never quite recovering from yesterday. The resulting gradual enervation leads to an accumulation of wastes in the body, once again resulting in the condition known as acid toxemia.

If you quit taking care of your health,

it will go away.


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When Should a Person Fast? Metabolic homeostasis is the baseline indicator of balance between anabolism (the creation of complex structures from simpler ones) and catabolism (the creation of simple structures from more complex ones). Growth and repair occur when anabolism outstrips catabolism. Decrepi-tude ensues when catabolism outruns anabolism.

Fasting is the quickest and surest method of reestablishing metabolic homeostasis (stability) in most situations. (In case of a life-threatening emergency or other acute trauma, medical intervention may also be indicated).

Drugs can effectively suppress symptoms, often more rapidly than the body can reduce them through the initiation of a fast. However, drugs do not address the cause of the problem, as fasting does. When homeostasis is breached, a fast is appropriate.

All drugs are poisonous.

One cannot be poisoned into health.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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How Long Should a Person Fast? The duration of the fast is subject to many factors, among them age, weight, general fitness and vitality levels, health-supporting and health-destroying lifestyle habits, and emotional outlook. Of primary concern are the number and degree of compromises to homeostasis.

Fasters must be monitored a minimum of once daily, and during times of healing crisis, almost constantly. Fasting is always considered a day-to-day event. A fasting supervisor should not generically recom-mend a twenty-one day fast, for example, but should monitor the faster one day at a time and make decisions accordingly.

When a person with rheumatoid arthritis comes to fast, the supervisor may recommend a given number of days of fasting, based on previous experience with people who had similar histories. We must remember at all times, however, that the body is a self-regulating and self-healing organism with its own intelligence and its own agenda. In its innate wisdom, the body always attends to our conditions in order of priority, addressing first those conditions that will kill us and only then turning its healing energy to sources of pain and discomfort.

The health seeker may embark upon a fast with an intention for his or her rheumatoid arthritis to heal quickly, but dealing with those factors specific to rheumatoid arthritis may be twelfth on the bodys list of items to address.

The time to fast is when there is no time for it.


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Physiological Changes During the Fast Fasts of more than twenty-four hours bring humans through a wide range of physiological changes. These may include, but are certainly not limited to:

Passage from normal glycolysis metabolism (the breakdown of glu-cose) to gluconeogenesis (the creation of new glucose from fat).

Increased specific gravity of the urine, due to the additional quantities of solid wastes being eliminated.

An exceptionally high level of ketone bodies in the blood (alcohol-like substances that occur with the gluconeogenesis of fats).

An abnormally high level of serum cholesterol. This temporary condition represents the clearing of cholesterol from blood vessel walls and is not considered hazardous.

Lower-than-normal blood pressure, with possible dizziness, resulting from lowered levels of mineral salts.

A slowed respiratory rate. This is considered normal when the body is at rest.

A slowed pulse. This is another indicator that the body is in a state of deep rest.

Overcome a lifetime of slow death lifestyle habits

with a bit of fast living.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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Steady but low blood sugar. While fasting, the wisdom of the body produces as much sugar from fat as is necessary to maintain life and continue the processes of detoxification.

Various physiological rebound phenomena, also referred to as oversteering. These are efforts to make up for both deficiencies and oversufficiencies (examples might be long periods of sleep to compensate for a chronic lack of sleep or eating monomeals to compensate for dietary excess). Withdrawal symptoms from toxic substances also qualify as rebound reactions.

Weight loss. As much as ten to twenty pounds may be lost during the first week, five to seven the second, and two to three during subsequent weeks. Fasters forgo daily calorie intake, while continuing to use calories (perhaps 1,000 to 1,500) for basal metabolic function. However, the rapid early loss results largely from releasing water weight, held by the body to dilute stored toxins. In cases of morbid obesity, weight loss can be more extreme.

Increased awareness. The functioning and sensitivity of all the senses is heightened during the fast. Most notable is sense of smell; however, vision, hearing, taste, and touch all tend to improve dramatically, as do other nerve-related physical functions, such as balance, coordination, kinesthetic awareness, and reflexes.

Every great religious leader in history

fasted for clarity of mind.


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Lowered (toward normal) pulse pressure. This is the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and it reflects the elas-ticity of the arteries. As arteries become more elastic, pulse pressure falls.

Consult with your hygienic professional for fasting supervision and hygienic education. You will benefit greatly by incorporating Natural Hygiene into your life. You will develop healthy lifestyle habits, learn to expect high levels of health without the insult of drugs or surgery, and come to appreciate symptoms occur as early warnings of incorrect living.

See you in the fast lane.

FASTING EXPLAINED

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About Dr. Graham Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and 30+ year raw vegan, is an advisor to elite athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and field of entertainment, revitalizing and extending their careers through nutrition, lifestyle, and his unique brand of fitness training.

Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 events and gatherings worldwide. He gives keynote presentations and seminars guaranteed to educate, motivate, and inspire. He has served on the boards of over a dozen international health organizations.

Dr. Graham is the creator of Simply Delicious cuisine and director of Health & Fitness Week, an annual event that provides world-class training and nutritional guidance to people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He is living proof that eating whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic food is the nutritional way to vibrant health and vitality.


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Also by Dr. Douglas N. Graham

The 80/10/10 Diet

The New High Energy Diet Recipe Guide

Nutrition and Athletic Performance

Grain Damage

The Perpetual Health Calendar

The Cause of Health (audio series)

For information about Dr. Grahams books, articles, lecture series, Health & Fitness Weeks, and more, visit www.foodnsport.com

fns fasting booklet with cover

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