2Other books by Herbert M. Shelton published by the NHA
Health for The Millions
The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene
The Science and Fine Art of Food and Nutrition
The Science and Fine Art of Fasting
Exercise! The Hygienic Care of Children
To order
Call the National Health Association: 330-953-1002
or order online: 
www.healthscience.org
3www.healthscience.org
4Fasting Can Save Your Life
First Edition
July 1964
Second Printing
March 1965
Third Printing
June 1967
Fourth Printing
December 1973
Fifth Printing
December 1975
Second Edition
December 1978
Second Printing
February 1980
Third Printing
May 1981
Fourth Printing
March 1991
Fifth Printing
November 1993
Sixth Printing
September 1996
Seventh Printing
September 1999
Eighth Printing
January 2009
All rights reserved. Foreword ©2009 National Health Association
(also known as American Natural Hygiene Society, Inc.)
Introduction ©1991 American Natural Hygiene Society, Inc.
Main Text ©1978 American Natural Hygiene Society, Inc. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without permission. For information, contact: National Health Association
Print ISBN 978-0-914532-42-2
ePub ISBN 978-0-9903616-8-8
Mobi 978-0-9903616-9-5
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 78-70060
Mailing Address:
National Health Association
P.O. Box 477, Youngstown, Ohio 44501-0477
www.healthscience.org
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
5Publisher’s Note
Founded in 1948 as the American Natural Hygiene Society, many of the principles upon which
the National Health Association (NHA)
*
 is based were devised as long ago as the 1800s — the
advantages of following a plant-based diet, the importance of avoiding unnecessary drugs and
surgery, the self-healing powers of the human body, and the role fasting can play in the recovery of
health. A small movement began among some physicians who observed that patients who adhered to
their unconventional concepts generally experienced better health than those patients who did not. Further investigations led these physicians, including Herbert M. Shelton, to a powerful concept
— health is the result of healthful living. The National Health Association is committed to bringing the timeless principles of its founders
as well as the most accurate and up-to-date information about healthy living to people all over the
world. At a time when millions of people are suffering needlessly because of unhealthy lifestyle
choices, the voice of the NHA offers much needed hope. This book describes the concept of fasting as an approach to health care that has had beneficial
effects for thousands of people who fasted under Herbert M. Shelton’s care for a variety of health
problems. Nothing in this book is intended to constitute medical treatment or advice of any nature. Moreover, as every person responds differently to fasting, it is strongly emphasized that any
person desiring to fast, even for a short duration, should consult his or her doctor, and should
remain under the doctor’s close medical supervision and advice throughout the fast and the entire
period of adjustment thereafter. In publishing and reprinting 
Fasting Can Save Your Life,
 it is the intention of the National
Health Association to keep information about the work of Herbert M. Shelton available to the
reading public. Dr. Shelton’s theories and teachings are his own and are not necessarily consistent
with those of the National Health Association. *
In 1998 the American Natural Hygiene Society also became known as the National Health Association to better reflect the
organization’s mission that 
health results from healthful living. The new name places the focus on health. 6Dedication
To the millions of sufferers who are agonizing through their lives in search of health and not
knowing where or how to find it, in the firm conviction, born of years of practical experience in
the application of fasting to the problems of health, that fasting and a 
Hygienic
 way of life will
lead to vigorous health, this book is dedicated by the author. 7Foreword
Dr. Herbert Macgolfin Shelton was born on October 6, 1895, in a small farmhouse in Collin
County near the small town of Wylie, near Dallas, Texas. The population in 1890 was 500, today
in excess of 25,000. Dr. Shelton told me, “I was born in a storm and it seems I have lived in a
storm ever since.”
Dr. Shelton’s academic background followed naturally from his keen interest in Hygiene which
developed early, as a teenager (1911), when he read Dr. Russell Trall’s 
True Healing Art
 based
on a lecture Trail delivered to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington in 1862. From what Dr.
Shelton told me, his constant companions during these years were the writings of Russell Trall,
Sylvester Graham, Isaac Jennings, Robert Walter, Charles Page 
et al. He was fired with
enthusiasm when he discovered the logical principles of Hygiene and their implacable
consistency. He looked forward to the day when he, too, could use this invaluable knowledge in
the care of the well and the sick. He graduated from the International College of Drugless Physicians, Chicago (1920) founded by
the famous physical culture exponent Bernarr Macfadden. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of
Physiological Therapeutics, (D.P.). Bernarr Macfadden was a successful business man who
owned a publishing company that included a newspaper, 
The New York Evening Graphic. After
graduation Dr. Shelton wrote a regular column on health care, in that paper. In the publishing
world, he wrote several books but only as a “ghost” writer. His writing skills were already
developed and well known. He graduated from the American School of Naturopathy (1922) whose founder and president
was the illustrious Dr. Benedict Lust. He later taught at the school. During his life, Dr. Shelton wrote almost forty books dealing with all aspects of health, disease
and healing. After graduation, he was the editor of 
How to Live
 magazine and teacher of “Dietetics
and Naturopathic Principles” at the American School. Later he was editor and publisher of 
Dr.
Shelton’s Hygienic Review,
 a monthly magazine devoted to teaching Hygiene and exposing the
many fallacies, dangers and errors of the conventional medical system. That publication had a
unifying influence on all doctors, throughout the world, who had an affinity with Hygienic
principles and practices. During this time several outstanding Hygienists, among them, Drs. Christopher Gian-Cursio, William Esser, Gerald Benesh and, latterly, Dr. Virginia Vetrano joined
him in his educational work and contributed regular articles that appeared in the 
Hygienic Review. Today, there are many people teaching and practicing Hygiene. All of them are indebted to Dr.
Shelton’s legacy, whether or not they acknowledge or even concede their acquisition of the basic
principles which were assembled and logically presented by him. Although Dr. Shelton, himself,
always gave due credit to those who preceded him in the history of Hygiene, this demonstrates the
enormous impact that he had through his teachings. The International Association of Hygienic
Physicians was formed some years after his death with the intention of establishing a genuine
organization of appropriately educated practitioners, who would faithfully pursue the basic
principles established. Over the years since the early 20th century when Dr. Shelton commenced his work much of the
knowledge that he amassed and the claims he presented have been validated by scientific studies
over and over again. In fact, even in the popular media, more of the tenets of Hygiene are
becoming commonplace. 8I first encountered the writings of Dr. Shelton in 1949, the same year the Hygiene Society was
inaugurated and when one of his very important works was published: 
The Basic Principles of
Natural Hygiene. What a refreshing experience it was to awaken from my delusions about health,
disease and healing to a vision of health care that was gentle, positive and gave control to the
sufferer. It had been my habit then to read, assiduously, as many health books as I could find in the
libraries. Those were both medical and non medical. I had been exposed to a demanding medical
education for three years and felt uncomfortable in the therapeutic nightmare in which I lived. Shortly after my richly deserved revelation, interesting text books began to appear, opening
cracks in the secure edifice of medical science. The first was the initial volume of Dr. Meyler’s
Side Effects of Drugs
 (1952) followed soon after by Dr. Robert H. Moser’s 
Diseases of Medical
Progress
 (1959). It seemed even then that in the discipline of health care any change is progress! Even today, according to the 
Journal of the American Medical Association
 for December 2006,
medicine is now the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and
cancer. One of his major works, 
Human Life Its Philosophy and Laws,
 a copy of which he gave me on
my first visit to him, was written when he was just past thirty years old, a monumental work of
scholarship and erudition. His final chapter, “A Criticism of the Hypothesis of Therapeutics” had a
profound and lasting impact on me. In introducing the reader to 
Fasting Can Save Your Life,
 it is important and appropriate for me
to stress that fasting, the subject of this work, is not a “therapy.” It is not a treatment, nor is it a
cure; although it is often described as all of these. The word “therapy” is clearly defined as “a
treatment of or pertaining to the remedial treatment of disease.” This is a conceptual error of the
most fundamental type. Animals fast, some for considerable periods of time. Fasting is a part of
life and has always been so. Health and disease are aspects of the same biological continuum; they
are processes in continuous operation. Fasting is merely a period of abstinence from food. It may
be viewed as a type of rest, a cessation of eating. It has nothing to do with treatment or therapy. It
is not what the fasting does but what the body does while fasting. Fasting provides the body with
the opportunity for its remedial processes to perform more efficiently and effectively. Fasting
removes obstructions to recovery. The living body is self-constructing, self-defending and self-repairing. The whole effort and
focus of Hygiene is to enhance and facilitate these processes. Whenever action occurs, it is action
of the body and not some extraneous material or influence. Fasting per se has really nothing to do
with disease. It is not a cure, treatment or therapy. It merely affords the body an opportunity to
perform its remedial functions more effectively. When we get sick, one of the first symptoms to
appear is anorexia, loss of appetite. This is not, of course, invariable, but it is common. Should we
not respect what the body is indicating to us? One of Dr. Shelton’s unique qualities that always impressed me was his ability to exploit
Ockham’s Razor in any argument or serious discussion. This principle that goes back to Aristotle
(384-322BC), was made famous by William of Ockham (1285-1347), a Franciscan monk who
studied and taught philosophy at Oxford University. This principle, also known as the law of
economy, states, “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.” Its application in medicine
recommends that if diagnosing a given illness or disease, a doctor should try to look for the fewest
possible causes, the simplest which will account for all the symptoms. The counter argument is
“Hickam’s dictum” which simply states that, “Patients can have as many diseases as they damn
well please.” Ockham’s Razor was the unique cognitive context in which Shelton appraised health
philosophy and exposed the rigorous precision he used when examining arguments. Truly
9Aristotelian! Dr. Shelton also had a keen interest in politics with a leaning towards socialism which has
never been dominant in the USA. He was motivated to run for President in the 1956 elections. From what he told me, he spent much of his time travelling around the country delivering powerful
speeches on Hygiene. On reading the magazine, 
Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review,
 one cannot help
but perceive the philosophical roots of his political convictions. Following the giants of medical reform of the 19th century including Drs. Isaac Jennings,
Russell Trail and Robert Walter, Shelton coined many terms to meaningfully reflect the biological
relationship between the organism and the environment, materials, agents and influences, upon
which its health and life depend. “Orthopathy” was one such term, coined by Jennings, from the
Greek, 
Orthos
 meaning correct, upright, and 
pathos
 meaning disease, suffering, implying that
disease is right for the extant conditions. Another important term was “biogony,” 
bios
 meaning life,
agony
 meaning struggle. Disease represents a struggle for existence, for recovery; it is an energy
expensive process. Dr. Shelton has gone but his writings remain. They are safe for future students, scholars,
historians and researchers to peruse and examine. Since my college days at University in London,
there is not a day goes by without my awareness of the substantial intellectual debt I owe Dr.
Herbert M. Shelton. I shall miss him and his penetrating mind often disguised by an entertaining
sense of humor. I would like to finish with a few of his words. He has no enemies, you say,
My friend your boast is poor. He who has mingled in the fray,
Of duty that the brave endure
Must have made foes,
If he has none,
Small is the work that he has done. He has hit no fraud upon the hip,
He has struck no cup from perjured lip,
He has never turned the wrong to right,
He has been a coward in the fight. Alec Burton, M.Sc., D.O., D.C.
Director, Arcadia Health Centre
Sydney, Australia
10A
Introduction
s sensational as it may seem, fasting can save your life. For those facing a major health crisis or medical treatment that involves significant risk of side
effects, fasting, under the care of a physician trained in fasting supervision, may be a safer and
more effective alternative. This is because the traditional medical approach of treating the
symptoms
 of a disease with medicine and surgery does not remove its 
causes. Left unchecked,
such causes will continue to harm the individual in time to come. By contrast, therapeutic fasting,
followed by a healthy lifestyle, 
does
 remove the causes of disease and 
can
 dramatically accelerate
the healing process. Many books have been written about “juice fasts,” “religious fasts,” “fasts for weight loss,”
etc., but they usually do not address fasting from a complete physiological point of view. Fasting
Can Save Your Life
 describes the true physiological fasting process. This involves the abstinence
from all food or drink, except pure water, during a time when the person’s nutritional reserves are
adequate to maintain a vital organ function and structure. Only such a fast can maximize the body’s
healing potential. In his own inspiring language, drawing upon his unparalleled experience of supervising over
40,000 fasts, Herbert M. Shelton reviews the major issues related to fasting. He explains how
fasting can often bring results that many would think impossible. He carefully addresses the
common misconceptions that the uninitiated have towards fasting. More importantly, he describes
fasting not as an isolated practice but as part of a comprehensive health care system he called
Natural Hygiene. Dr. Shelton’s ideas about fasting and Natural Hygiene found their roots in the writings of a
group of progressive, nineteenth century medical doctors, including Isaac Jennings, M.D., Harriot
Austin, M.D., Susanna Way Dodds, M.D., Russell Thacker Trail, M.D., and John Tilden, M.D. These men and women were among the first to recognize that 
health results from healthful living. They understood that a healthy life depends upon a clean environment—fresh air, pure water and
sunshine; a natural vegetarian diet—primarily fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains;
productive activity—sufficient exercise and rest; and emotional poise and self esteem. These ideas
came initially from common sense observations of “Nature’s Laws,” but they have been
rediscovered and scientifically validated by an ever increasing number of modern health reformers
in the fields of nutrition, ecology, physiology, and psychology. Fasting Can Save Your Life
 is 
not
 meant to be a how-to guide to self-conducted fasting. Readers should take important note that all fasts should be conducted under the supervision of a
qualified doctor trained in the use of therapeutic fasting. In 1978, Dr. Shelton helped found the International Association of Professional Natural
Hygienists (IAPNH), which sets standards of practice for conducting therapeutic fasts, promotes
documentation, and encourages research into this beneficial process. IAPNH membership is open
to licensed primary care physicians (medical doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors and naturopaths). IAPNH members can receive training and certification in the use of therapeutic fasting. Dr. Shelton also helped found the American Natural Hygiene Society, an organization dedicated
to educating individuals about the principles of natural living. Since its inception in 1948, the
Society has grown dramatically and now has members around the world. It is important for readers to remember that fasting is not a panacea for all that ails you. Fasting
11must be used as 
part
 of a healthy lifestyle, not 
instead
 of one; and in order to maintain the
beneficial results, one must continue with a healthy lifestyle afterwards. Ronald G. Cridland, M.D. Vice-President, International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists
12Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
1
Fasting and You
2
Pounds that Slip Away
3
Living without Eating
4
Hunger versus Appetite
5
Four Reasons for Fasting
6
Gaining Strength
7
Can Fasting Kill? 8
Does Fasting Cure? 9
Fasting: Where and When? 10
What to Expect while Fasting
11
Nine Basic Steps
12
Breaking the Fast
13
Can Fasting Keep You Well? 14
Rejuvenation through Fasting
15
Fasting to Gain Weight
16
Should Children Fast? 17
Fasting in Acute Disease
18
Fasting in Chronic Disease
19
The Case of the Common Cold
20
Multiple Sclerosis
21
Asthma
22
Arthritis: Two Years or Twenty-eight? 23
Peptic Ulcer
24
Migraine
25
Hay Fever
26
High Blood Pressure
27
The Fast and the Heart
28
Colitis
29
Psoriasis and Eczema
30
Prostatic Enlargement
31
Gonorrhea
32
Paralysis Agitans
33
Nephritis
34
Gallstones
1335
Tumors of the Breast
36
Sterility in Women
37
Fasting in Pregnancy
One Closing Word
Index
14Preface to the Second Edition
Much water, much of it dirty, has passed under the bridge since the first edition of 
Fasting Can
Save Your Life
 came from the press. Many newspaper and magazine articles and several books on
fasting have been published presenting such a wide variety of contradictory views and opinions
that the reading public is hopelessly confused. The greater part of this mass of contradictory
material has revolved about the propriety or impropriety of the use of the fast as a means of
reducing weight. A large part of it has stressed the largely imaginary dangers of fasting. Much of it
has emphasized the demand that any fast of more than three days’ duration should be done under
medical supervision, preferably in a hsopital. Some of the books and articles have presented the
reader with “just as good” or better substitutes for the fast. There is also much disagreement about
the proper conduct of the fast. When the experts disagree so widely what is the poor reader to do? One “scientific” experimenter adds greatly to the confusion by his use, several times in the
course of a short article, of the phrase 
starvation therapy. Several of the men of 
science
 use the
terms 
fasting
 and 
starvation
 synonymously, whereas the simple truth is that if one is fasting, one is
not starving and if one is starving, one is not fasting. The loose use of the terms fasting and starving
as of identical meaning and the implied assumption that the two processes are identical, when this
is not done with the deliberate intent of arousing prejudice, is a reliable index of the confusion in
the mind of the writer. The phrases “untoward side effects” and “adverse reactions” appear so often in the writings of
scientific experimenters that, when reading them, one easily gets the idea that one is reading about
drugs. When a fast is entered and the faster abstains from tea, coffee, alcohol, soda fountain slops,
condiments, spices, mustard, food additives and other irritating and stimulating substances which
he is accustomed to taking both with his meals and between meals, and discontinues dosing himself
at intervals with aspirin or other drugs, he experiences headache, dizziness, weakness, trembling,
pains in the abdomen, back, and joints; he may faint; and he may be nauseous and
 even vomit. These “withdrawal symptoms” are not “side effects” of fasting, but are the extensions of the same
symptoms, with which he was annoyed while eating and which he smothered with frequent
cigarettes, cups of coffee, Turns or other popular drug-desserts. That these so-called “side effects”
of fasting are not caused by fasting, but by the habitual poisoning indulged in as a regular part of
his daily life, is shown by the fact that if the fast is continued the symptoms all clear up. Another cause of “untoward side-effects” is the practice of the scientific experimenters of
encouraging fasters to supply their need for fluid (water) by drinking tea, coffee, soda fountain
slop, beer, wine, ale, and strained soups or broth. There are the additional practices of giving
drugs to suppress every discomfort that may arise and of permitting the continuance of smoking or
other drug taking. There is a great difference between a poisoned fast and an unpoisoned one. Not until the
scientific men test the unpoisoned fast will they be in a position to properly evaluate the results of
fasting. To put a very fat woman on a fast and continue it for over three hundred days all the while
supplying her fluid needs with tea and coffee, both of them containing the heart irritant caffeine,
and blaming the impairment of the heart upon the fast and not upon the caffeine, does not make
good sense. Likewise, dosing the faster with liberal quantities of synthetic vitamins and drug-store
minerals ruinously affects the whole experiment. All together too much emphasis has been placed upon the dangers of protein deficiency, thus
15creating great fear of fasting. The evils of protein deficiencies conjured up out of the void have
frightened great numbers of people. There is no danger of protein deficiency developing in a fast
of ordinary duration. It is perhaps a possibility in a fast of two to three hundred days or more, but
the greatest danger in these extremely long fasts lies in the poisons taken as drink and as medicine. It will be difficult to fully assess the physiological wreakage that results from the repeated
examinations and testing that constitute an important feature of the hospital-supervision of the fast. The depressing effect of daily pulse-counting, blood-pressure taking, heart examination, blood and
urine sampling, checking the temperature and similar psychologically disturbing activities is
considerable. For best results, the faster needs calm, quiet, cheerful surroundings. The faster needs
to relax and take life easy. Too much officious meddling is ruinous to poise. Poise is also
disturbed by the practice of keeping the thought always in the faster’s mind that death is imminent. To add to the prevailing confusion, an effort is being made to revive the old enema practices. To
this end there has been a repetition of the old fallacies about reabsorption of waste from the colon. In all of the discussion of this subject, I have never seen one reference to the fact that the faster’s
bowels act when there is a need for action. There may actually develop a diarrhea. Advocates of 
the enema warn of serious complications that may arise out of the
autointoxications resulting from reabsorption of waste matter thrown into the colon. This is certain
evidence that the man uttering the warning has never observed a fast in which no enema was used,
else he would know how false are his warnings. Finally, there are those who contend that a period on fruit or fruit juice or vegetable juice
produces the same or greater beneficial results than the fast. They call the period on fruit or juice a
fruit fast or a juice fast, whereas, in sober reality, the period on fruit or on juice is more likely to
be a fruit feast or a juice feast. For example, when on a grape diet one is urged to eat large
quantities of grapes. When on a carrot juice diet, one is urged to drink large quantities of carrot
juice. The promoter of wheat grass juice therapy is emphatic in her assertion that the “wheat grass
juice fast” is superior to abstinence from all food, or what they persist in designating a water fast. This misuse of language is exceeded only by the physicians who use the phrase 
therapeutic
starvation
. The word starvation means the process of dying because of lack of some essential of
life, such as warmth, water, or food. The process of dying would seem to be a very poor
therapeutic process. The juice diets have their legitimate places in the life of the 
Hygienist
. We would make a
serious mistake, however, should we rule out the total fast and rely heavily upon juice diets. Fasting is a biological process and belongs to the world of life. Herbert M. Shelton
San Antonio, Texas
June 1978
16Preface to the First Edition
Few subjects going back 
in mankind’s history are so widely misunderstood, in our modern, high-
caloric civilization, as fasting. The important role it can play, and has played, is often distorted in
the public mind, or twisted out of shape by grotesque and groundless fears, based not on truth but
on prejudices, scientific misinformation or complete lack of information. The purpose of this book, based upon my own experiences, studies and observations over a
period of forty-five years of conducting fasts as a 
Hygienist
, is to put into focus the true role
fasting can play in promoting and maintaining good health, in eliminating pain, in weight reduction
and control, and in prolonging human life. This role will be explained and discussed in detail, not as a 
cure
, for fasting itself is not a 
cure
,
but as a means of permitting the resources of the body itself to take over, to effect healing, or take
off pounds at a rate unmatched by any other method. One of the primary purposes of this book is to answer the many questions about fasting which
have begun to flood the offices of those who write about weight problems for the newspapers and
magazines. Since overeating and overweight have become primary health problems in the United
States and some European countries, the quest for information about how to lose pounds safely is a
never-ending one on the modern scene. At the same time a revival of interest in the means of mind-body care as developed by those
who believe in 
Natural Hygiene
 has brought close attention to the theories and findings of
Hygienists
 developed over nearly a century and a half. It is axiomatic that the medical profession has battled stoutly all these theories. Many of the
advances of recent decades have been achieved only after bitter warfare and denunciation by
entrenched medical opinions. Progress has been made inch by inch—spoonful by spoonful—in the business of developing
proper eating and living habits. Yet fasting goes back over the centuries—not only in matters of
health, but also in religious ritual. In recent years 
investigators who have contributed greatly are Dr. Henry S. Tanner, Sylvester
Graham, Dr. Robert Walter, Dr. John H. Tilden and Dr. George S. Weger. One could multiply these names many times over. These are the experienced men of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries—scientists, investigators, scholars who dedicated themselves to
the study and practice of the basic truths of 
Hygienic
 living with particular emphasis on the role of
the fast. It must be understood that for the best results, it is unwise to departmentalize too much in our
thinking. The body is a complex organism in which all parts are interrelated. Good health therefore
is a single thing, encompassing and including every aspect of ourselves—physical, mental and
emotional. What we are considering here goes beyond any simple problems. It concerns the whole
individual. These are general considerations presenting an approach to good living. Only the expert in
fasting is capable of directing the individual with his particular health problem, his special need
and goal. Our purpose here is to give the layman, the average reader, a broad perspective with
some details and occasionally technical background information and hope, in an area that has to do
with ways by which man can live better, feel better—last longer. Because overeating has become one of the great physiological and psychological problems of
17our age here in America, I am placing particular importance on this aspect of the subject in the
early chapters of this book. Weight reduction alone is only one part of the picture. To maintain
proper weight and proper physical condition, many of us require a total renovation of our eating
habits, our working habits, our understanding of the real need for rest and relaxation. All of these
are a part of the broad philosophy embodied in the chapters of this book. There is no necessity to be overweight, nor any need to be crippled with self-inflicted disease
brought on by the totality of destructive living habits which too many of us pursue. I am not therefore presenting merely the Hygienic concepts of diet, exercise, rest, correct habits
and routines. For the present indeed, I will deal with a totally new way of life. Herbert M. Shelton
181
Fasting and You! Fasting is much more than
 simply not eating: it is both a science and an art. It has meaning in terms
of overall well-being and affects the psychological and emotional aspects of our lives. Fasting, as we use the term here, means total abstinence from all food for a definite period of
time. The word comes from the old English word 
faesten
, which means firm or fixed. In other
words, the fast is something we hold to on a firm basis under controlled and fixed conditions. In religious terms it may mean abstinence from certain food on certain holy days. But this is
partial abstinence rather than total abstinence. I know persons who have “fasted” during Lent and
actually gained weight rather than lost, because they substituted for the dishes they gave up foods
which put on even more pounds. Those who think that fasting is equivalent to starvation are entirely wrong. There are basically
two periods in the process of abstaining from food that should concern us here—the 
fasting
 period
proper and the period of 
starvation
. As we study the phenomena of abstinence in greater detail, the distinction between these two
phases will become clear. From the outset however, it is essential to understand that the fasting
stage continues so long as the body supports itself on the stored reserves within its tissues. Starvation begins when abstinence is carried beyond the time when these stored reserves are used
up or have dropped to a dangerously low level. We must understand also that there is much loose terminology that adds to confusion on the
subject of fasting. For example: we hear people speak of going on a “water fast” which technically
would imply that they were giving up drinking water. What they mean, actually, is that they are
going on a fast in which they give up everything but water. The same illogicality exists in the
expression, “going on a fruit juice fast” or a “vegetable juice fast.” Again what is meant is that they
are giving up everything 
except
 fruit or vegetable juice. The term “partial fast” is used for any form of fasting where individuals put extremely limiting
conditions on what they eat. The misuse of the word “starving,” not only in 
the vernacular, but
even in some scientific papers, has done vast harm. The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon
stearfan
, which means to die, not only from lack of food but also from overall exposure to cold. This is how the phrase “starving cold” developed. Starvation is a process of dying, in effect. You cannot starve yourself into good health. You can
fast for proper and reasonable periods and thereby improve your physical condition and often
restore yourself to good health. It is possible to abstain from food for long periods of time with
beneficial effects. At the point where the experienced advisor who conducts the fast realizes that
the second phase of abstention from food is imminent, the fast is broken. I have said the fast is part of a new way of life which I outline in this book. Thus it is not used
only to lose weight. It can be and certainly is equally important as a part of the function of
maintaining or even restoring good health. The sick or wounded animal finds a secluded spot where he can keep warm, where he is
protected from the weather, where he can have peace and quiet and be undisturbed. There he rests
and fasts. He may, for example, have lost a limb, but he lies there in his privacy and generally
recovers without drugs, without bandages or surgery. 19In the animal world fasting is a tremendously important factor of existence. Animals fast not
only when sick or wounded but also during hibernation or aestivation (sleeping throughout the
summer in tropical climates). Some animals fast during the mating season and in many cases during the nursing period. Some
birds fast while their eggs are being hatched. Some animals fast immediately after birth. There are
forms of spiders who do not eat for six months after they are born. Some wild creatures fast when
taken into captivity, and a domestic pet, a dog, or a cat, may not eat for several days when it comes
into a new environment. Animals also survive forced fasts during periods of drought, snow, cold,
and live for long periods when no food is available. In mankind fasting has been practised in various parts of the world over centuries for religious
reasons, for self-discipline, for political purposes and as a means of restoring health. Only in
recent centuries has the concept that we must eat to keep up our strength become a deeply
entrenched idea. Dr. Felix Oswald, a Dutch physician who came to America before the turn of the
century, declares: “The fast cure method is not limited to our dumb fellow creatures. It is a
common experience that pain, fever, gastric congestion and even mental afflictions take away the
appetite and only unwise nurses will try to thwart the purposes of Nature in this respect.”
Fasting is centuries old; we read of it in the Bible and in Homer. It was employed in the care of
the sick in ancient temples in Egypt, Greece and throughout the Mediterranean
 world. The use of
the fast in acute disease dates back to remote times. It was prescribed by Arabian physicians during the long dark night of Europe’s Medieval Age. In Italy, Neapolitan physicians as long ago as one hundred and fifty years, employed fasts that
sometimes lasted for forty days in the case of fever patients. This writer has been engaged in conducting fasts since the summer of 1920. In this period of
approximately forty-five years, I have conducted thousands of fasts ranging from a few days
duration to ninety days, both for weight reduction and in connection with helping the body recover
from physical impairment. One particular case of an elderly man is of special interest because the results were so
successful. Mr. A.B. was seventy years of age and had been sick a large part of those years. For thirteen
years he had suffered with bronchial asthma and during this time he had been hospitalized five
times. For an even longer time he had suffered with sinus trouble. For six years he had been
completely deaf in his left ear, while he had suffered with an enlarged prostate gland for more than
six years and had been impotent for a few years. He wore glasses, was bald headed, and had the
usual “minor symptoms” that indicate the condition of his organism was not good, although it is
common to ignore these evidences of incipient disease. Although he had been treated by the usual methods over the years, he had realized no genuine
benefits from this care. Like others who suffer as he did, he grew from bad to worse. It is generally
known that the regular care of asthmatics is purely palliative and that the patient commonly grows
progressively worse with the passage of time. It is equally well known that the regular modes of
care fail to do more than provide doubtful temporary relief for the sufferer with sinus disease. It
seems hardly necessary to add that nothing of real value is done for deafness and for enlargement
of the prostate gland. All of these conditions are commonly understood to be 
incurable
. Leaving his hospital bed in Chicago, the fifth time he was hospitalized for asthma, Mr. A.B. went directly to the airport and boarded a plane going south and went to a place that was reputed
to be very successful in its care of asthma sufferers. Still wheezing, he was uncertain that he could
20make the trip, but had determined to try. His own statement was that he had suffered enough and
that he was convinced that the regular methods of care offered him no real promise of health. Like
many thousands of other asthmatics, he had given the regular plans of care every opportunity to
free him effectively of his suffering and they had failed him. Arriving at the institution in the southwest, he was admitted and told that he would have to
discontinue at once and thereafter all drugs that he had been using for relief
. “But,” he asked,
“what shall I do if I have an attack of asthma?”
“You will grit your teeth and clench your fists and suffer through it,” was the reply. “You cannot
get well if you continue to use drugs.”
He was sent to bed and instructed to remain there and take nothing into his mouth but water until
he was told that he could resume eating. The treatment is going to be worse than the disease, he
thought. Could he go without food? He was weak from years of suffering and from a lengthy period
during which he was unable to secure enough oxygen. He was assured that he would be carefully
watched and that no harm would befall him. With a certain amount of trepidation he entered upon what was to be a new and surprisingly
pleasant experience. Fasting is not always a pleasant experience, but it can be a very interesting
and even highly pleasurable experience. The freedom and ease that one experiences during a
period of abstinence from food often enables one to discover new and previously undreamed-of
depths of meaning to life. About four o’clock in the morning of his first night of fasting, Mr. A.B. developed a severe
paroxysm of asthma. He was unable to breathe while lying in bed, so he sat up on the side of the
bed and rang for assistance. The doctor came and after observing and examining him, said: “You’ll
be all right in a brief time. It will take about twenty-four hours for you to become free of asthmatic
symptoms, and then you’ll be comfortable.”
When the doctor left, Mr. A.B. was struggling for air. “What kind of a place have I come to,”
Mr. A.B. asked the man in the next bed. “They won’t even do anything to relieve me of my attack.”
He continued to struggle for air for a few more minutes, then relief came and he fell asleep. When the doctor saw him again in the morning, Mr. A.B. was feeling so well that he was ready
to forgive the seeming neglect of the latter part of the night. He was more than overjoyed when he
went on day after day breathing as easily as when he was a small boy, with not the slightest sign of
asthma. He had not another single paroxysm of asthma so long as he remained at the institution. His
sinuses were still draining and the fast was continued. After about six days without food, he was
able to void urine as freely as a boy. His prostate gland had shrunken to nearly normal size. He continued to fast and watched a day by day disappearance of symptoms, until his sinuses
cleared up, his breathing was a pleasure and his chest was a source of real joy. On the twenty-fifth
day of the fast, he asked the doctor if he could not break the fast. He was informed that this would
be premature, that he was not fully recovered and that it would be wise to continue. “You are not
in jail,” said the doctor. “You cannot be made to fast against your will. But, if you want my best
advice you will continue for a while.”
He took the doctor’s advice and went ahead with the fast. What will always seem to him as a
miracle was the
 fact that on the thirty-sixth day of the fast, he regained his hearing in his deaf ear. His hearing was so good that he could easily hear the low ticking of a small watch when held at
arm’s length from his ear. Equally important is the fact that the recovery of hearing was permanent. The fast was continued through the forty-second day and then feeding was resumed. But he had another surprise in store for him. He discovered, upon his return home, a few weeks
21after the fast was broken, that he was no longer impotent. As restoration of potency in men and
overcoming of frigidity in women are not uncommon results of the fast, this was no surprise to the
head of the institution. This is no fanciful case, but an actual account of the recovery of a man who had suffered as I
have described and who underwent the fast, as I have here portrayed it, and who made the
recovery that has been pictured. It was not an unusual case, except in the variety of conditions that
he suffered with, unless we say that the recovery of hearing is not a rule when the deaf undergo a
fast. It is only an occasional result of fasting. This is so because deafness, like loss of vision, may
be due to a variety of abnormal conditions of the ear, and not all of them are remediable. Blindness
is only occasionally recoverable by fasting for the same reason, although restoration of good
vision, in errors of refraction, is not at all uncommon. The dramatic recoveries that occur during a fast of proper length and taken under the most
favorable conditions can be believed only by those who have had opportunity to observe them. The general tendency of both the layman and the physician, when hearing stories of such
recoveries, is to dismiss them as too fantastic for consideration. Yet, there is nothing miraculous
about the effects of the fast. If we think on the matter a little, we cannot escape the conclusion that
fasting is the most natural and the most sensible means of care of the sick body of which we have
any knowledge. For over one hundred and forty years, natural 
Hygienists
 have employed the fast as a means of
promoting health and enabling the body to recover speedily from illness. They have amassed
extraordinary clinical experience in this area. These experiences turn into the deeply-rooted
conviction that the fast is a constructive force which must be utilized and developed as part of the
regular practices of modern life. There are, of course, critics of fasting. Most of them know very little about fasting, or its
techniques. A. Rabogliati, A.M., M.D., F.R.C.S., of England so well puts it: “The most popular
criticisms of fasting are written by people who have never missed a meal in their lives.”
Whether it is to maintain or to restore good health, to gain weight or to lose weight the role of
fasting is a vital factor that can no longer be overlooked by any who are concerned with personal
health and well-being—mentally and physically. 222
Pounds that Slip Away
The big business of losing
 weight, figure control, diet-in-comfort plans and similar programs have
developed into one of the great industries of our age. Everyone considers himself an expert. Fad
diets range for a few months and give way to the next crash wonder. This week it is an ice cream
diet. The next it is bananas. The week after that a protein diet, nothing but juicy steaks. Eat yourself
thin! Overweight is becoming an increasingly perplexing problem, not alone for adult men and
women, but for children also. Several facts are responsible for this, but, in general, we may say
that the increased abundance of food, together with the increased income of the American people,
on the one hand, and the changes in work resulting from the shortened work-day, shortened work-
week, modern transportation and the many labor-saving devices that take much of the burden off
the shoulders of men and women, have resulted in the increase of weight. Just at a time when our
reduced labors have reduced our need for food, increased production, artificially increased
palatability and increased income have served to increase our food consumption. Hygienists
 are realists. Nothing can circumvent the fact that the quickest, surest, safest way to
lose weight is by fasting, and the surest way of maintaining the proper weight level is by refusing
to return to the wrong eating habits. The disappointingly slow method of losing weight by “going on a diet” is rarely very successful
for the reason that it is a long-drawn-out process requiring more self-control and a much longer
period of control than the average person is capable of. A not uncommon outcome of such
programs is that, after a brief period, during which time a few pounds are lost, the obese
individual returns to his prior overeating and puts back all the weight lost, and often additional
pounds. Only rarely does one see an obese individual stick to a reducing diet for a prolonged
period. To begin with, as I have stated in many lectures, and will continue to remind the reader, do not
enter upon a fast on your own without the guidance of an expert in the field of conducting fasts. While fasting is perfectly safe as a health 
and weight reducing measure, it does involve the
complex human organism, and it should be watched over and directed at all times by a qualified
person who knows what he may expect, or what trouble signs to watch for during the fast. How much can one expect to lose? The loss rate of course varies with the individual, but the
average for a protracted fast runs around two and one-half pounds a day. Is this heavy weight loss
safe? It is as long as it is conducted under proper controls and with proper and continuing rest. Let me cite here briefly the most striking advantages of fasting for weight reduction:
1. Safe rapid loss is registered on the fast. 2. The fast is far more pleasant than the reducing diet—the nagging desire to eat is missing. 3. Weight loss may be secured without resulting in flabbiness or sagging of the skin and tissues. However, this is not true of elderly persons. When the overweight individual undergoes a marked reduction of weight, several indications of
improved health follow immediately:
1. Breathing is freer. 232. There is greater ease of movement. 3. There is loss of “that tired feeling.”
4. There is a disappearance of the sense of fullness and discomfort in the abdomen. 5. Symptoms of indigestion cease to annoy. 6. Other discomforts cease. 7. Blood pressure is lowered and the load the heart has to carry is lessened. All of these evidences of benefit are noticeable, but the improvements are commonly out of all
proportion to the weight lost, thus indicating that reduction of the amount of food eaten itself
resulted in improved health. There is every reason for thinking that the greatly reduced intake of
sugar, starches and fat and the over-all reduction of the amount of food eaten is beneficial. In 1962, a woman began a fast to reduce weight under my guidance. At the conclusion she told
me: “It has been an amazing experience: the pleasure of seeing those pounds melt away. I never
saw fat go so fast.” Another woman remarked after a fast of fifteen days undertaken for reducing:
“I was at a well-advertised health spa. They kept me on a diet of seven hundred calories a day. I
was hungry all the time. This fast has been a pleasure.”
A third woman said after a week of fasting to lose pounds: “This has been the most remarkable
experience of my life. I have enjoyed this fast and rest. I never knew before that people fast, but I
have enjoyed it.”
Are these expressions typical? Hardly. Fasting is not always the pleasant experience these
women found it to
 be, but it is rarely disagreeable enough to justify discontinuing it until one’s goal
has been attained. But it is frequently a far more pleasurable experience than many people have in
their daily eating habits. In many conditions of life, every meal is followed by discomforts and
even actual pain. In these states, the fast is often such a relief that it becomes a joy. There is always great satisfaction in watching the fat melt away at the rate of two to four pounds
a day. To lose nineteen pounds in a week is a highly pleasing experience (there are exceptions in
which the weight loss is not so great) for the first several days of the fast. The rate of loss is not
uniform and there are periods when the scales register no loss for a day or two at a time. The rapid
loss registered at the beginning of the fast does not continue throughout the whole of a long fast. Not only is there safety in fasting for weight reduction, there is also greater ease than there is in
dieting. One reason for this is that unlike almost all dieters, the faster is not hungry all the time. His
taste buds are not constantly tempting him. The flood of gastric juices is not being constantly
activated. The faster may experience some desire for food during the first or second day of the fast or may
not desire food at all. Hunger subsides usually by the end of the third day. And unless the fast is
broken for some reason, the faster can continue without experiencing either weakness or hunger. I state these facts out of my own personal experience but they are also verified by investigations. Two series of experiments carried out by regular medical men in accredited hospitals, have
developed empirical evidence sufficient to satisfy the experimenter scientifically that fasting is not
only a safe and speedy way of reducing weight, but is also the most comfortable way of reducing. One of these experiments was carried out by Lyon Bloom, M.D., in the Piedmont Hospital in
Atlanta, Georgia, where he conducted a lengthy series of experiments on fasting in reducing
weight. This was followed up by Garfield Duncan, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, who
is regarded as an authority on weight reduction and whose independent tests include Bloom’s
findings and conclusions. 24These two medical investigators found that fasting men lose an average of 2.6 pounds a day,
while women fasters lose an average of 2.7 pounds a day. Both Bloom and Duncan confirm that the
fasters were not hungry. Instead they reported an amazing absence of hunger with no apparent
mental or physical strain. One of the fasters was quoted as saying: “I feel better than ever before in
my life.” A woman faster, after forty-eight hours without food, volunteered the information that she
was not half so hungry as she used to be after missing a single meal. Bloom is quoted, from the summary of the experiments: “The present preoccupation with eating
at regular intervals leads
 to the misconception that fasting is unpleasant.” He stated further, that, in
his opinion, as the result of the findings of these tests, fasting is well tolerated by the human system
provided there is free access to water. In a later series of experiments, Bloom permitted a faster to go four consecutive weeks without
food, with no ill effects. In reading his report of experiments to the 111th Annual Meeting of the
American Medical Association, Duncan declared: “Although short periods of total fasting may
seem barbaric, this method of reduction is marvelously well tolerated.” He added that we have
evidence that these obese persons fully enjoyed the total fasting periods, due probably in part to
their elation that hunger is not a problem while major reductions in weight are being
accomplished. Both men reported that in longer fasts the weight loss levels off to about a pound a day. Bloom
stated fasting has also proved to be an extremely effective method of weight control. In the healthy individual, fasting only to lose weight, I do not insist on rest in bed, but permit
considerable exercise—even at times giving a prescribed course of physical workouts. This does
not increase the rate of loss as much as one might expect, but it does assist in retaining the tone of
the tissues. The amount of exercise required to reduce weight by exercise alone is far more than the average
person is willing to undertake and more than many of them should undergo. To lose one pound of
fat requires playing twenty-three holes of golf, sawing wood for ten and one-half hours, riding a
horse for approximately forty-three miles. Exercise always has the added hazard of increasing the appetite. During the fast it should be
controlled and used only to the extent that the adviser feels desirable for the individual undergoing
the fasting process. While there are varying rates of metabolism, my experience indicates that most overweight is
due, not to glandular disorders but to habitual overeating. There is little truth in the idea that with
some people everything they eat turns to fat. The real truth is that they are eating not only more than
they should, but more than they really want. How much weight loss per day is safe in fasting? The answer here is that since fasting is total
abstention, the body itself decides what rate loss is proper. When fat tissue is soft and flabby,
weight is usually lost rapidly in the early days of the fast. I have seen losses ranging from four to
six pounds a day in fasting. The loss of twenty pounds in a week is not at all difficult in a great
many cases. With those who have a very low rate of metabolism, the rate of loss from the outset of the fast is
slow—at times even disappointingly so. Let me reiterate once more, any fasting of more than a few
days should be done only under experienced supervision. In all cases where there is any organic
defect or chronic ailment, such as heart disease or blood deficiency, even the shortest 
fast should
be supervised. Again let me say there is no essential danger in fasting but one must be properly
safeguarded against any danger from hidden conditions that might reveal themselves when no food
25is taken. I cite the possibility in order to give the rounded picture of fasting. Let me reassure the reader,
however, that such dangers are rare. If the reader is in good health, if he follows the proper
procedures under proper experienced guidance, the fast should be for him not only a way of losing
poundage, but an exhilarating and exciting adventure, the beginning of a new way of thinking about
himself. 263
Living without Eating
In March, 1963, newspapers around the world described the almost incredible story of the seven
weeks deprivation of food and the survival of Ralph Flores, a forty-two year old pilot of San
Bruno, California, and twenty-one-year old Helen Klaben, a co-ed of Brooklyn, New York,
following a plane crash on a mountain side in Northern British Columbia. The couple was rescued
March 25, 1963, after forty-nine days in the wilderness in the dead of winter, over thirty days of
this time without any food at all. By means of a fire, a lean-to and heavy clothes in which they wrapped themselves, they
managed to withstand the bitter cold. During the first four days after the crash, Helen Klaben ate
four tins of sardines, two tins of fruit and some crackers. Twenty days after the crash, the pair took
their last “food”—two tubes of toothpaste. Melted snow became their diet, for breakfast, lunch and
the evening meal. “For the last six weeks,” she explained, “we lived on water. We drank it three
ways: hot, cold and boiled.” Varying it in this way helped reduce the monotony of their single item
menu of snow. Miss Klaben who was “pleasingly plump” at the time of the plane crash, was happily surprised,
at the ordeal’s end, to learn that her weight loss totalled thirty pounds. Flores, who was more active during their enforced fast, had lost forty pounds. Physicians who
examined them after the rescue, found them to be in “remarkably good” condition. Many thousands of men and women
 have gone without food for much longer periods, not only
without harm, but with positive benefits. Periods of abstinence under such taxing conditions as the
ones these two people endured and survived are extremely rare. Whatever our view of the origins of life, we must all recognize the fact that nature provides for
need, including provision for plants and animals over periods of food scarcity. Famine is more
frequent in nature than we commonly realize. Winter, floods, periods of drought, often leave wild
animals less well fed and watered than domestic animals who can generally depend upon their
masters to store food for continuous food supplies. In the wild state, both herbivorous and
carnivorous animals often subsist on reduced food supplies. Most wild dogs are gaunt: like the
dogs, lean, hungry wolves whose skeletons have shrunk with their bowels, are common; “half-
starved” wild cattle and horses were once common. What happens to these creatures under such
stringent conditions? Do they die of starvation? The answer is they rarely do. In his 
Zoological Sketches
, Dr. Felix L. Oswald writes: “In a sparsely settled country, animal
refugees soon accustom themselves to the vicissitudes of their wild life. The ten months’ drought
back in 1877, which almost exterminated the domestic cattle of southern Brazil, was braved by the
pampas cows, whom experience had taught to derive their water supply from bulbous roots, cactus
leaves, and excavations in the moist river-sand. Solid food is only a secondary requirement. “The Syrian Khamr dogs manage to eke out a living in regions where no human hunter would
discover a trace of game and where water is as scarce as in the eternal abodes of Dives; nay, they
multiply, for the Khamr bitch, like other poor mothers, is generally over-blest with progeny; six
youngsters is said to be the minimum. “A sausage-maker would probably decline to invest in Khamr dogs: the word 
leanness
 does not
begin to describe their physical condition; 
strappedness
 would be more to the purpose, if an
27Arkansas adjective admits of that suffix—skin and sinews tightly stretched over a framework of
bones. I saw their relatives in Dalmatia, and often wondered that they did not rattle when they ran;
but Dalmatia is still a country of vineyards and sand rabbits, while the Syrian desert has ceased to
produce thorn-berries. Without moisture not even a curse can bear fruit.”
That animals do survive such conditions and go on generation after generation is a fact of utmost
significance. A weasel hiding in a closed room will survive for days without food and seek food
when released. The hibernating bear, taking no food for prolonged periods, will give birth to her
cub, and secrete milk upon which it feeds. The fasting salmon and fur seal bull are very active
while abstaining from food. These few examples of activity while fasting suffice to reveal that the
fasting body does have means of meeting its energy requirements, even if these are at a low ebb
and this is far from being true 
in the case of the salmon and the seal. One of Sweden’s distinguished biochemists, Dr. Ragnar Berg, a Nobel Prize winner, and an
authority on nutrition, says, “One can fast a long time; we know of fasts of over a hundred days
duration, so we have no need of fearing that we will die of hunger.”
The actual time period of abstinence forced upon Mr. Flores and Miss Klaben was of relatively
moderate duration. The question is not how long man can fast, but what are the provisions of nature
that enable him to do so. Wear and waste, repair and replenishment, are continuous and almost simultaneous processes in
all living structures, and none of these processes halt during a fast. The hibernating animal in the
far north must produce sufficient heat to maintain body warmth. Both man and animal, while
fasting, must breathe and the heart must continue to pulsate. The blood must continue to flow and
the organs of elimination must continue their work of freeing the tissues of waste. The vital
functions of life must be carried on, even if at a slightly reduced rate. Cells must be replenished,
wounds must be healed. All of this, as I know from years of observations, goes on during a fast,
moreover, and I will cite examples of this fact later, physical development and growth may take
place, even while no food is being taken. All manifestations of life—movement, secretion, digestion, and similar processes—depend
upon the use of the materials of the body. If an organ is to work, it must be supplied with the
materials with which to work. In the absence of fresh supplies with which to replace those that
have been used up the organ wastes and weakens. If life is to continue, a basic irreducible level of
activity is imperative. Even the hibernating and aestivating animal, with activities reduced to a
bare minimum consistent with continued life, must breathe and the heart must pulsate. In the case of the bear that gives birth to a cub while hibernating and suckles it, with milk
produced during hibernation, for this purpose, we have a significant example of the possibilities of
the fasting animal meeting the needs of its functioning tissues from sources other than the food
eaten daily. All of these activities require food, which must be supplied from some source while
the animal is fasting. An understanding of the process by which the body nourishes its vital tissues and sustains its
essential functions during prolonged abstinence, and the sources upon which it draws, will help us
understand how the body can survive periods when outside food is not available or cannot be
digested. The normal body provides itself with a store of nutritive materials that are put away in the form
of fat, bone marrow, glycogen, muscle juices, lacteal fluids, minerals and vitamins. Always the
healthy body maintains in store adequate nutritive reserves to tide it over several days, weeks or
even over two or three months of lack of food. This remains true whether fasting is enforced, as in
28the case
 of a plane crash, or of entombed miners, or is brought on by illness where one cannot
swallow or digest food, or by free choice as in voluntary fasting to lose weight. When food is not
taken, the body draws upon its reserves with which to nourish its functioning tissues. As this
reserve is used up, weight is lost. Basic in the fasting process is the fact that our “built-in pantries” contain sufficient nutriment to
hold out, in most instances, for prolonged periods, especially if they are conserved and not wasted. In the blood and lymph, in the bones, and especially in the marrow of the bones, in the fat of the
body, in the liver and other glands, and even in the individual cells that make up the body, are
stores of protein, fat, sugar, minerals, and vitamins which may be drawn upon during periods of
scarcity or when food is not usable. Neither animal nor man can survive prolonged abstinence from food unless he carries within
himself a store of reserve food on which the body can call in emergencies. The fasting organism
will not be harmed by abstinence so long as the stored reserves are adequate to meet the nutritive
requirements of its functioning tissues. Even thin individuals carry a reserve of food in their
tissues, to tide them over periods of abstinence. These people too, may safely fast for varying
periods. By a process known technically as 
autolysis,
 achieved by enzymes in the tissues, these stored
reserves are made available for use by the vital tissues to which they are carried by the blood and
lymph as required. Glycogen or animal starch, stored in the liver, is converted to sugar and
distributed, as needed, to the tissues. It is significant that, even in prolonged fasts, no beriberi,
pellagra, rickets, scurvy or other “deficiency disease” ever develops, thus showing that the
reserves of the body are generally well balanced. Fasting has been shown to improve rickets and calcium metabolism. In anemia, the number of
red blood cells are increased during a fast. I have observed benefits in pellagra during a fast. The
bio-chemical balance may be maintained and even restored while fasting. It is important to know
this, for if it were not so, the fast would prove to be deleterious. Numerous animal experiments have shown that underfeeding, as contrasted with overfeeding,
tends to prolong life and to provide for better health. Other experiments involving fasting rather
than underfeeding, have shown that fasting not only prolongs life, but results in a marked degree of
regeneration and rejuvenation.
Fasting_Can_Save_Your_Life_by_Herbert_M._Shelton.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        2Other books by Herbert M. Shelton published by the NHA
Health for The Millions
The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene
The Science and Fine Art of Food and Nutrition
The Science and Fine Art of Fasting
Exercise. The Hygienic Care of Children
To order
Call the National Health Association: 330-953-1002
or order online: 
www. healthscience. org
3www.
Herbert M. Shelton
Who is the author of the book "Fasting Can Save Your Life?
The book describes the concept of fasting as an approach to healthcare that has had positive effects on thousands of people under Shelton's care.
What is the main focus of the book "Fasting Can Save Your Life"?
Fasting is not starvation. Fasting is a period of abstinence from food, while starvation is a process of dying from lack of essential resources.
What is the difference between fasting and starvation?
The book aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of fasting as a means of promoting and maintaining good health, and not just for weight loss.
What is the main purpose of the book "Fasting Can Save Your Life"?
The author emphasizes the importance of not using enemas during a fast, as it can cause harm and undermine the benefits of the fast.
What is the author's stance on the use of enemas during fasting?