Types of fasting diets

There are three basic types of fasts at fasting centers.
 

• The first is the relatively short fast, recommended during most acute conditions. This type of fasting is used by people with influenza, childhood diseases, colds, and other acute conditions. This is the best choice when body temperature is elevated. In these acute disorders, a modified fast is the best choice. During this fast, the doctor will prescribe fruit juices diluted one to one with un-fluoridated and un-chlorinated water.

• The second and most common fasting type is the short complete fast. This type is helpful to overcome a large variety of chronic disorders. This type of fast usually lasts five days to two weeks. You should repeat it every few months until you obtain the results desired in a specific disease.

• The third and last is the extended fast, lasting three weeks to three months. This fasting type is the most powerful of all types available. However, it is most difficult to undergo and must be handled with great care, even by the most accomplished physician.

The rationale behind fasting

One of the reasons for fasting, particularly in chronic diseases, that has never found much favor with orthodox physicians, is that it the effects depend on body intelligence. The problem is that most of them are not prepared to accept this intelligence of the body, which homeopaths and naturopaths call the vital force. It must be accepted as fact for an adequate understanding of fasting.

Some naturalists say there is a force at work within the body, constantly striving to preserve and strengthen our being. This force attempts to control the various mechanisms and chemical reactions of the body. Life perpetuates and the organism functions in the most efficient manner under the circumstances it finds itself in. After long investigation, the naturalist believes there are only a few reasons why the vital force may be inhibited as it sometimes is. First, it cannot perform properly if it does not have the necessary nutrients. Second, its action will be sluggish if it is heavily encumbered with congesting matter clogging its functioning. Third, it cannot fulfill its duties if it is poisoned by harmful emotional pressures. Last, and particularly germane to this subject, it cannot do its job in some instances unless it gets a free hand and unobstructed opportunity to proceed to a salubrious conclusion. That is why when selecting a diet for a patient, the natural physician will carefully restrict the menus. He will try to restrict the food that does not congest. Concurrently, the natural physician also uses whatever therapeutic methods he thinks best to aid the body in its decongesting attempts.

If we look at the fast in this light, we are in effect saying that the vital force will give you your body back. However, in conducting the general fast, one must always have in mind the objectives. The purpose of this fast is not to lose weight, to increase spiritual enlightenment, or to feel better immediately, for those who fast often feel worse at various periods during it. The purpose of the healing fast is to balance body chemistry, and to cleanse the body from abnormal and deleterious congestions. Fasting could also help cure certain physical infirmities and diseases that may be present in the body. Every thought of the physician during the fast should be directed toward these purposes by helping the vital force in every conceivable way. To this end, he must not forget the four fundamental needs of the vital force stated above, because those four needs must be met before and during the fast, or its success will be incomplete.