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FASTING FOR HEALTH AND HIGHNESS "Authoritative, easy-to-comprehend book about fasting that doesn't try to talk above everyone's head. Packed with a wealth of useful details about fasting and preventative natural health."  Jay Briel, naturopath healer 115 page illustrated E-book : $24   As soon as payment is received, an email gets sent to you showing how to access the entire E-book online - as a pdf file or as html suitable for hand-held electronic gizmos. Your email address is not shared with anyone.

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             List of Chapters  /   Table of Contents

First Three Chapters, below........

 
                          "Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within."
                                                                  Philippus Paracelsus, pioneering Swiss physician


         A juice fast is different than a ‘water-only’ fast. As its name implies, a juice fast allows for some fruit and vegetable juices. A water-only fast is severe and possibly dangerous – because it doesn’t flush out toxins from the body as effectively as a juice fast. For a person without fasting experience, the release of too many toxins during a water-only fast could prove harmful. That’s why, for all but experienced fasters, a juice fast is preferable.

         A person’s body is continually trying to cleanse itself. One of the healthiest things a person can do is to facilitate that process. That’s what a proper juice or cleansing fast does.

         When a person sleeps, he allows the body a respite from eating. During that ‘down time’ the body will try and deal with the excesses of the previous 15 hours’ indulgences. That’s why the first meal is called breakfast. The grim reality is that most of us eat copious amounts of food, and much of that is still undigested when we wake to start filling up again. The body tries valiantly to clean itself, but it’s often a losing battle. The proof of that is the overweight and misshapen bodies we see everyday. Those bodies usually belong to people who eat more than their digestive tract can process. Granted, it’s more complicated than that, but too-slowly digested foodstuff is a primary reason for obesity.

         The average meat eater has about 15 pounds of partially digested meat in his or her gut at any one time. It’s not a pretty picture, but this text is about telling it straight, and not beating around the bush. If you’re squeamish, you can skip the next few sentences, but it needs to be said: The average gut has at least one inert length of bulbous stuff stuck in the colon. If it’s within someone with a particularly large middle section, that bulbous stuff would be bigger. It’s the consistency of soft plastic and it serves no good purpose at all. Indeed, it partially blocks the colon, forcing its walls to extend, and it slows down bowel movements (BM) that should move faster – thereby increasing putrification and enabling toxins to get re-absorbed in to the blood and body.

         If you had a tapeworm as big as a bulbous rattlesnake in your gut, you’d want it out as soon as possible. The stuff is probably inert, but I would imagine anyone who knew they had it, would want to banish it. A good cleansing fast can enable its removal.

         All people have toxins stored in the tissues of their bodies. It starts in the womb and, unless a person lives an astonishingly clean lifestyle, the build-up continues. Even breast milk contains measurable amounts of toxins. Trace amounts of toxins permeate much of the air we breathe, as well as the liquids and solids we ingest. The oceanographer Jacques Cousteau commented in his latter years that, of the thousands of underwater dives he had taken all over the world, no body of water was free of detectable pollution.

         One major contributor is formaldehyde, which is a gas which is emitted from furniture and building materials. It's particularly prevalent in newly built or refurbished sites. After Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans residents were issued mobile homes by the U.S. Federal government. People living in those homes got sick. A few years later, it was found that the mobile homes were emitting formaldehyde. The units got recalled – but not until residents had breathed foul air for many months.

         Similarly, it’s no secret that many professions are compelled to deal with noxious fumes. Besides those that work routinely with internal combustion engines, such as mechanics, drivers, road crews, commuters, - there are the many other professions that involve other noxious chemicals – namely; woodworkers, painters, salespeople at carpet outlets, etc. Unhealthy fumes also affect workers at various types of manufacturing plants.

         In my earlier adopted town of Grass Valley, California, there was an ‘Army Surplus’ shop. Twin brothers ran the place, both were big guys. Some of their best selling products were foam pads. Every time I went in there, I couldn’t help but notice the twins’ complexions getting worse. Their skin was slightly bloated and had pastel blotches – light pink, dark pink, and tan - mottled over their faces. Their eyes seemed bulbous and teary. Before their fiftieth birthdays, both guys died of cancer. Three things those fellows could have done to improve their health and extend their lives: 1. have all the foam pads individually sealed in plastic 2. have two big fans, one blowing in, and one blowing out, to keep a continual flow of air in the shop. 3. fast periodically.

         Fasting wouldn’t have been a magic bullet for them or for anyone else. Indeed, if they’d started with a water-only fast, it might have killed them. The reason: It would likely have released considerable amounts of toxins stored in their glands and tissues – while not being able to flush the stuff out effectively enough. So much toxins released in to their blood and glands – could have been fatal. There’s a little known term for that toxic predicament: ‘Herxheimer’s Reaction’ – which we’ll elaborate upon later.

         There’s been much research in the past decades looking for direct cause and effect between the chemicals in our modern world - and how and whether those chemicals trigger the growth of cancer and other diseases. Even if a person had not read the plethora of reports, it’s clear that there’s a connection between toxic chemicals and ensuing diseases. About the only people who may harbor doubts about the correlation, may be those people with vested interests in particular chemicals and name brands. For years there was denial by big tobacco companies that nicotine was addictive. However, even Big Tobacco’s high priced lobbying and top echelon lawyers couldn’t stem the tide of common sense – which everyone else could see clearly.

         Showing cause and effect between a chemical that someone may have ingested as a child, and a cancer that reveals itself years or decades later is nigh impossible. What is known, is that there are various types of cancer, and cancer can affect nearly every part of the body. Even with a biopsy of cancerous tissue – it’s doubtful the origin could be revealed. This text is not an attempt to articulate different type of ailments and what sorts of chemical exposure may have caused them. Such a tome could be bigger than the Encyclopedia Britannica. Instead, this text asserts that a significant portion of chemicals in the average person’s environment carry potential harm.

         We’ll never know whether some weird chemicals we sniffed 25 years ago, or some processed item we ate last month will trigger a life-threatening ailment in later years. Regardless, a sensible juice fast every so often could serve as a precaution against bad stuff happening later on. There’s no guarantee, but just as you flush out the grimy fluids in your vehicle when you do an oil change, it can do no harm (and a lot of good) to flush out the ol’ bod as well. I could go on and make comparisons to changing vehicle filters, or pouring new clean fluids to replace old – but I think you get the picture.



                                         Chapter II         EVOLVING


         Basically, a cleansing fast is a way to flush toxins out of the body. Let’s take a look at how cleansing fasts can get rid of some of that build-up.

         The human body is a product of tens of millions of years of development. Everyone has complaints once in awhile, but despite its flaws, it’s an amazing compilation; a complex organism that is self-powered and can reproduce. To do so, it needs energy sources - and it expels waste in the process. The energy input comes from the sun, from plants, from air and water, and from myriad complex molecules we ingest. All life on Earth is related. People share a significant degree of genetic material even with simple viruses and bacteria. For that reason, it can be argued that all life stemmed from one self-replicating organism – probably similar to RNA – the precursor to DNA. Some people think that life is too amazing to have arisen as a product of natural phenomena. Most of those folks therefore attribute the creation and diversity of life to a God-like power a.k.a. Intelligent Design. Others, for similar reasons, believe life was ‘seeded’ here on Earth from another part of the universe – by comet or asteroid.

         Still others (myself included) believe life arose on this planet by natural means. As amazing as life creation is, it is nevertheless possible that it started on this one little planet. One interesting theory proposes that replication first came about in a medium of bubbles in mud. Regardless, it didn’t need a God-like entity give the go ahead. As for being ‘seeded’ here from elsewhere, that’s a remote possibility – however improbable. Even if the ‘seeding’ theory were true, then life would have had to have been created at some earlier time and place.

         Micro flora and fauna migrate on to and in to our bodies every day. Even after a shower, human skin plays host to millions of micro-organisms. The accumulated net weight of tiny flora and fauna within the body is several pounds. We’re about seventy percent water, the same percentage as water to land on the surface of the planet - and the water in our bodies has roughly the same degree of salinity as ocean water. Life is interconnected. Most micro-organisms are benign, some are helpful, and some can be harmful – especially if they get out of hand. Pathogen organisms multiply where they can. They aren’t nefarious, and they don’t scheme to infect, they simply increase their numbers wherever conditions allow – and do so as unthinkingly as a rock tumbling down a hill.

         A well-functioning immune system has specialized cells that find and disable pathogens. To back up a bit, the first thing immune system does, even while in fetus stage in the womb of its mother, is learn to discern between itself and all else – which we can call 'non-self.' This process can be called self-recognition. Rare abnormalities in that process yield such debilitating ailments as 'auto-immunity disorder' – where a body's immune system attacks its host body.  I had earlier thought the body’s immune system was a relatively new development, as far as bodily systems go, but now realize immune system is one of the most ancient developments, at least as old as the vascular system. After all, as long as organisms have existed, there have always been other organisms trying to invade it. In some rare long-ago instances, those invaders became co-opted by the host organism. Sometimes this has led to symbiotic relationships, where a would-be invasive organism develops a permanent way to live and multiply within the host.

         In line with that, there are organisms which are clearly not part of the host, but which the immune system does not attack. In a sense, the immune system tolerates them. A prime example are the many types of microorganisms which inhabit a healthy colon. It's good the immune system doesn't attack those, because it would be a 'grave day' for the host (a pun borrowed from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) - which plays on the word 'grave' as it relates to where dead people are buried.

         One of the most effective components of a well-functioning immune system are T-cells, which are part of the body’s white blood cells. T-cells continually bump in to other cells while flowing through the blood system. If they bump in to something which is not part of their host's body – they engulf it, and then the whole package gets flushed out – specialized cell and intruder together. The cell selflessly sacrifices itself to do its mindless duty. The so-called intruder may be bacteria, a virus, a fungi, a drug, or it may be something dead or inert. Regardless, the ‘search and destroy’ scenario goes on 24/7 within the body – eliminating non-familiar things – and getting them flushed out.

         There are various ways with which the body expels toxins – and none of them are pretty. Phlegm, snot, bowel movement, urine, perspiration, gas (body odor), tears & eye crud, and saliva are a partial list.

         People shed. A partial list of people sheddings include; nail clippings, hair, scabs, dandruff, boogers, and dead skin. The major portion of sweepings from a house floor likely contain stuff people shed. Fasting accelerates that process and after a successful fast, shedding is lessened for a time – because the body is cleaner. Fasting also expels toxins by fluids. During the first few days of a fast, there will often be a greater-that-normal amount of the expectorate fluids (a.k.a. spit).
It might be a bit yukky for the uninitiated, but it’s a beneficial part of the process.

         Another area of concern is the mouth. Bad breath and more-than-usual tooth scuzz is to be expected, as stuff gets eliminated. When I fast, I like to spit. It’s not an attractive habit, but it’s better than swallowing. Since they don’t make spittoons any more, I usually have a stainless steel bowl nearby when indoors (when outside, no big deal). Even alongside the bed, it’s not a bad idea to have a spittoon. Society dictates that spitting is low-class, but it’s a good way to get rid of phlegm. Nose blowing is another un-pretty but essential part of fasting. Best is first one nostril, then the other. Some Yogis have a method where they can run a cotton string through a nostril – and out through the mouth – sort of like flossing the nasal passages.

         Since we're on the subject of flossing, here’s a two cent’s overview: Up until my mid-30’s I thought flossing was just running a piece of floss between teeth. It turns out, flossing is more serious than that. One wants to get the string low in the gap between the teeth, and move it firmly up on either side of that gap - to dynamically scrape off the scuzz that’s built up between the teeth. Flossing once per day is good. Twice per day is better – each time followed by vigorous brushing. Gargling with salt water is good for the gums. Brushing not only gets teeth clean, - it’s at least as important for invigorating and strengthening the gums. There’s a little tool that some dentists use to measure the depth of the gap – where gums meet the teeth. The shallower the gap, the better. A depth of 5 or 6 mm is not good. Deeper than that, and a person is risking serious dental trouble.

         During the first two or three days of a fast, it’s not uncommon to have more than normal body odor. Again that’s ok and not to be interpreted as something going wrong. Bad breath, body odor, smelly feet, ….all those things are part of the initial fasting process. Experienced fasters will likely have less of that – particularly if their earlier fasts were effective. However, it’s all relative to the individual’s situation. If, for example, a person has been smoking and doing an unhealthy diet for decades – then naturally that person is going to have a larger amount of toxins to flush out. Though that person may make considerable progress for their first fast, they will continue to eliminate old built-up stuff in subsequent fasts. Also, their first fast will likely be one of the toughest things they’ve ever done in their lives. The eating habit is tough to alter. We all love the textures and flavors of food. Most people have been trained since infancy to expect food three or more times per day. People talk about addiction to sex as being tough to deal with. Try going without sex for a week versus going without food. For most people, going without sex would be less challenging. There’s another basic reason, besides hunger, that fasting might be a tough row to hoe; the first two or three days you’ll likely feel crumby. This is particular likely for first time fasters, though veteran fasters aren’t inured from feeling ill-at-ease also. However, experienced fasters will know what to expect – and hopefully they’ve flushed out most of their toxins in earlier fasts – so the doldrums of those first few days won’t be as acute.




                       Chapter III.        MR. COLON RULES THE ELIMINATION BUSINESS




         The biggest trash remover for the body is the bowels. A proper cleansing fast does many things to improve the efficiency of the bowels.

         There’s an old story that’s told in African villages: The various parts of the body were having an argument, each one insisting it, alone, was the most important part and should be declared the boss. The heart spoke up saying it pumps vital blood throughout and should therefore be the boss. The lungs made a good argument for bringing air in to the body and the brain stated its case of by insisting its preeminent place in directing the correct functioning of everything. The anus didn’t say anything, but instead closed up tight. After a short time, as the digestive system backed up and compacted – the other body parts conceded defeat and declared the anus the boss of the body.

         At any one time, even in healthy people, the lower bowels contain several pounds of former food in various stages of digestion. The bulk weight varies considerably from person to person. A person with a beer gut obviously carries a lot more baggage around. If that person is a heavy meat eater, then much of his gut is having to deal with putrefying meat. Since one of the functions of the colon is to transfer chemicals to the body, then it obviously does no good to have putrefaction going on in there.

         Many of the glands in a body serve basically as filters. The kidneys are a prime example. They filter the blood and remove about 1% which is superfluous fluids. They also filter out waste and toxins and send it, along with fluids to the bladder to get eliminated as urine.

         Another incredible filter is the liver. The second largest gland in the body (the skin is the largest), it primarily filters fat out of the blood – much of those fat blobs harbor minute amounts of fat-soluble toxins. Tired old blood cells and other waste from the blood is also filtered in a well-functioning liver. The waste from the liver is channeled via the bile duct in to the colon. Needless to say, alcohol doesn’t aid in the function of the liver. Indeed, cirrhosis of the liver is a disease that’s directly linked to ingesting alcohol. The liver, like all glands, can also be adversely affected by a non-clean diet. A good cleansing fast is the best way to get on the path toward cleaning glands and improving their function. A mixture of cayenne, maple syrup and lemon juice - highly diluted in water, is purported to be an effective cleanser for the liver – particularly when the drink is used on its own, as part of a juice fast.

         Blood is as important for cleansing the body as it is for transferring oxygen to all its parts. It’s main component, red blood cells, are formed in the marrow of bones – as are other components of blood. Blood circulates to nearly every part of the body except the hair and nails, cartilage and specialized parts of bones such as the teeth - yet even the tissues that form the cartilage, hair, nails and teeth are nourished by blood. With its iron component, it picks up oxygen in the lungs and transfers it by way of that amazing pump called the heart – to nearly every cell in the body.

         White blood cells are a mix of various specialized cells. They’re among the most complicated components genetically. Indeed, white blood components are being updated on a day to day basis – in their attempt to ward off newfangled diseases. Diseases, in the form of pathogens, are themselves changing constantly. Bacteria are able to share genes and adapt to threats – whether that threat is a new type of anti-biotic or a newly configured type of white blood cell in a host body. All pathogens want to do is survive and replicate – they have no nefarious thoughts or plans. Similarly, white blood cells, which are one of the body’s first lines of defense, mindlessly re-configure to try to meet those threats.

         The under-appreciated lymph system produces infection-fighting lymphocytes and provides other immune functions. Major lymph glands are located at each side of the groin, in the neck, and near the armpits. The lymph system has vessels similar to blood veins and has nodes throughout the body. Like any other functional part of the body, the lymph system can get over-worked and/or infected. When a person has a cold or a serious infection, the lymph glands can become painful. Like all other glands in the body, lymph glands can become cancerous and/or be adversely affected by Candida (yeast infection). They can also act as a conduit – unwittingly channeling infection to other parts of the body.

         The major part of the endocrine system encompasses important glands which emit specialized hormones. A partial list of endocrine glands are; the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and pancreas. Other important glands are salivary glands, and the prostate. Fasting ‘tones up’ these glands in a number of ways. It detoxifies them, unloads non-useful fatty deposits, and helps them function better than they did before the fast.

         Adrenal glands are relatively small glands located just above the kidneys. Their primary function is to produce adrenaline which has been called the ‘fight or flight’ hormone. In other words, adrenaline is the hormone that’s cranked into a person’s bloodstream during stressful situations. Few people do not have an overload of stress in their lives – in lieu of that, many people have adrenal glands that have been overworked and exhausted. To note just one example: former US President John F. Kennedy’s adrenals were so exhausted, as to be barely functional – and he had to get adrenalin injections daily. Fasting in a non-stress environment is a fine way to give the adrenals badly needed rest and recuperation.



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The text above is a small segment of the 116 page illustrated book – FASTING FOR HEALTH AND FOR HIGHNESS - which offers a wealth of info about fasting, including details showing the ease of an effective do-it-yourself cleansing/juice fast. The book is currently available as an ebook, though its first printing is expected in mid-2009.

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