Rational Fasting

Arnold Ehret

RATIONAL FASTING

For Physical, Mental and Spiritual Regeneration

A Scientific Method of Fasting Your Way to Health

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The purpose of this post is to offer the bulk and the basic principles and rules of Arnold Ehret’s teachings on the healing practice of fasting. I recommend anyone interested in fasting read Ehret’s book for themselves in it’s entirety. 

Arnold Ehret (July 29, 1866 –  October 10, 1922) designed the Mucusless Diet Healing System while curing himself of kidney disease, and once publicly undertook several fasts for scientific research, lasting from 21 to 24 to 32 days in demonstration of his method of healing. 

In this post I am offering lengthy quotes, and a few whole chapters, but there is also much omitted from this post that is in the original book text and appendix, so I highly recommend one acquire Ehret’s books and read them thoroughly. Typing up this post is a way for me to study this information. 

 I hope this post can serve as a reminder of basic principles for one to return to, or offer one an introduction to basic ideas to be explored further. I am also writing this post with the intention that this page may be easily shared.  

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“All miracles performed by saints at the so-called holy places have become rare for the simple reason that, although much praying is done, not much fasting is adhered to. We don’t have miracles anymore because we have no more saints, no more blessed and healed by asceticism and fasting. The saints were radiant not by special grace but through divinely healed asceticism. I just wish to mention here that I myself have succeeded in visible electric effluences, but only by external and internal sun energies (sun baths and food from the sun kitchen: fruit)”

pg. 38 Arnold Ehret Rational Fasting

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Chapter 1

The common fundamental cause in the nature of diseases

It is commonly believed that diseases are of an external nature. We therefore look for external dangers such as bacteria. It is the belief of Ehret that the primary cause of all disease is over-eating biologically wrong and unnatural foods. 

In all diseases the organism tends to secrete a mucus, in advanced stages the mucus takes the form of pus (decomposed blood). Even when mucus is not visible to the eye, the mucus is the primary cause of all illness. 

“When the natural secretive organs become unable to cope with the disposal of the excess mucus, it will enter into the blood stream and cause heat, inflammation, pain and fever at such spots where the vessel system has contracted which could be due to a cold.

We need only to give any patient nothing but ‘mucusless’ food, for instance fruit or even nothing but water or lemonade; and we would find that the now made idle entire digestive energy would attack the mucus matter accumulated since childhood and frequently hardened, as well as the so called ‘pathological beds’ (decomposed cellular tissues)…with absolute certainty this mucus which I consider the common main cause of all diseases will appear in the urine and excrements.”

The principle of fasting is that once the formation of mucus by means of ‘artificial’ food comes to a stop (fatty meats, bread, potatoes, farinaceous products, rice, milk, etc.)…the blood can attack the mucus build up in the body and secrete it through the urine. If the body is heavily infected the secretion will occur through other openings as well. 

A mucus-less diet is the first step to allowing the body to heal. It is possible to live on a fruit-diet alone. Ehret tells stories of his own extended periods of fruit diets, and believes “Fruit alone, the sole mucusless food, is natural. Everything prepared by man, or supposedly improved by him, is evil. The evidence regarding fruit is scientifically proven; the apple or banana for instance contain everything that man needs. Man is so perfect that he can live on only one kind of fruit for at least quite some time.”

By eating only fruit however, one brings about a crisis; the cleansing of the body. At the beginning of a mucus-less diet  there will be a lot of mucus excreted until the person is clean and healthy. 

“THUS THE SEEMINGLY HEALTHY PERSON HAS FIRST TO PASS THROUGH A CONDITION OF SICKNESS (CLEANSING), or go through an intermediate stage of illness in order to attain a higher level of health.”

Ehret states that a diet of meat, alcohol, coffee and tobacco consumed in moderation is less damaging to the body than a vegetarian glutton. In order to avoid misunderstanding however, he describes the process of decay that meat undergoes, beginning with the slaughter of the animal. “Meats act as stimulants through the very poisons due to decay which lead to the mistaken notion that it is a strengthening food. Or is there anyone who contends that the albumen molecule after having gone through the process of decay will regenerate itself in the stomach and subsequently celebrate its resurrection in some muscle of the human body? Of course not! Like alcohol, at first meat stimulates a feeling of strength and energy until the entire organism is clogged up by it and the breakdown becomes inevitable. All other stimulants act likewise.” Ehret by no means advocates for mean, in fact he declares war on meat and alcohol, believing they only being illness to the body in time. 

It is difficult for man to accept the truth of his own nature because he has built himself by eating overcooked food and developed a type of addiction. Any time a man in this condition exposes himself to the sun or eats the living cells of fruit dead matter is eliminated from his body. Fasting is a cure for the body, but must be carried out with caution. Most bodies are so filled with toxic dead cells and mucus that an immediate change can be dangerous if the mucus and toxic cells are stirred into the blood without preparation.

“Nature is difficult for man to accept because he has built himself up of overcooked food and his cells are condemned to death. Every time he exposes himself to the sun or eats the living cells of fruit, or engages in a fast all this dead matter is eliminated from his body. However, the cure of fasting must be carried out with the greatest care.”

The most serious diseases can be cured by fasting, and this has been proven many times. The most effective elements in the healing practice are abstinence, restraint, and the fruit diet. 

“Now let me ask what sounds more reasonable to you: to subjugate the body to all kinds of medications, injections, vaccinations and possibly even operations, or to try to rid the body of the poisonous mucus accumulated since childhood in the cellular tissues, by reducing the intake of food?”

“Not even the best chef could produce something more perfect and more mucusless than an apple, a grape, or a banana. If over-eating and the consumption of high mucus producing foods is the true fundamental cause of all diseases without exception…then there exists one natural remedy: fasting and fruit diet.”

Animals fast when they are unwell. Man is often not permitted such natural remedies to his illness. 

“By means of this ‘mucus theory’ we have come to explain away much of the mystery of disease. He who believes in the conclusions derived from my experiments benefits in three important ways: he can heal himself not only where all else has failed, he can learn to make himself strong and condition himself to be less if at all susceptible to disease.”

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CHAPTER 2

Remedies for the removal of the common fundamental cause and the prevention of their recurrence

“Healthy people can submit to a fasting cure without any further ceremony. It goes without saying that they must fast reasonably, i.e. avoid dangerous overexertions during the fasting period by not demanding of themselves physical or mental performances which they could not live up to even at full fare. Also, a precautionary measure must be taken at the beginning of the fast: the complete emptying of the bowels. A harmless purgative (such as a mild herbal laxative”, a syringe, or both should be used. The reasoning behind this is that he who fasts should not be bothered unnecessarily by gas or decomposing matter which form from the excrements remaining in the bowels. It suffices, as already states, that the mucus during excretion will give him enough trouble.

If the reader, although healthy, does not dare take a more prolonged fast, he should try a short one. A thirty-six hour fast, once or twice a week, will in time produce very favourable results. It is best to start such a fast by skipping supper, taking an enema instead. Then, abstain from food until the morning following the full day of fasting. Breakfast that morning should consist of nothing but fruit. Eating fruit is necessary after each fasting, as the fruit juices cause the now loosened mucus to move. Let me caution, in the case of sick and old people this treatment must be carefully individualized. 

A longer fast, say for 3 days, done in the way described above and followed by what I call an after-fasting cure , will naturally show results much quicker. That is, do not eat anything for three days and drink only fresh lemonade, unsugared, in single gulps as become necessary. On the fourth day eat some fruit and take a thorough enema in the evening. Then add more fruit from day to day, so that by about the seventh day of the after-cure the normal quantity of fruit-diet in the proper composition and selection has been reached. 

Healthy persons, especially those whose occupation permits them to spend some time in bed in case of difficult excretions of mucus, can extend the fasting cure for weeks. Nobody should seriously object to the so-called “bad looks” or the decrease in weight during this period; the body “fasts itself into health”, despite the miserable complexion. Within a remarkably short time the cheeks will be adorned by a healthy, natural red and the weight restored to its normal standard, since after a fast the body reacts to every ounce of food. Incidentally, moderate eaters and frequently fasting people have a very fine, spiritual facial expression, for instance, it is said that Pope Leo XIII, that great faster, had a very clear, almost transparent complexion.

The success of any fasting cure depends also to a great extent on the attitude of the person submitting to it. By no means should he permit himself to become depressed or ill-humored. During the disagreeable moments, some may prefer to rest, others may decide to do some light and mechanical work.

When the body has been rid of the mucus, slime and paste, then it is the sacred duty of the person who has regained health to keep up the reclaimed highest earthly happiness and to guard it by means of natural, correct food. On this subject a few short remarks in the following paragraphs will not come amiss. 

Persons with acute health problems, Lund or heart trouble for instance, may not be able to fast, however, they can stop further accumulation of mucus by adhering to a proper diet. All mucus formers, especially flour (pastries), rice, potatoes, boiled milk, cheese, meat, etc. should be avoided. Whoever cannot do without bread entirely should eat brown or white bread only, toasted. By toasting the bread, it loses much of its harmfulness, as the mucus substances are partly destroyed. Furthermore, toast has the added advantage that it cannot be gulped down and the necessary chewing will fatigue us, so we eat less. If, on account of bad teeth, eating toasted bread poses a problem, suck on it until it dissolves. As to potatoes, if at all, eat them only baked, and be sure to eat the jackets. 

At this point, many a reader will probably question what, if any, “nutritious food” remains. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to go into the question of food and its effects exhaustively in this book and a few statements have to suffice. As to the value of meat, it is a known fact that the body requires only a slight amount of albumin contained in the meat. Sugary fruits will fully cover this demand. Bananas and nuts combined with a few figs or dates, for instance, are first class muscle formers and provide the body with energy. In fact, green salads, prepared with oil and plenty of lemon, and all the delicious fruits and berries, including those from the South, are excellent nutritious food. And when springtime comes, and last seasons fruits, especially apples, are on the decline, and the new vegetables not yet ready, does not Mother Nature help us out abundantly with oranges from the South? Will the aroma and wealth of these splendid products of nature not induce man to eventually become a fruit-eater entirely? More details on fasting and a balanced fruit-diet is set forth in my “Mucusless Diet Healing System”.

It may be well to mention also that non-fasters and people suffering from a slight ailment should at least follow the morning fast or non-breakfast plan. It would, indeed, be better for everybody not to eat anything before 10 o’clock and then nothing but fruit. The reward for this little chastising will certainly show itself, if kept up faithfully. 

Now, just one more word to those who think it impossible to give up the usual mucus food (meat, etc.). To those “unfortunate ones” I give this advice: Chew your food, that is every bite, thoroughly as recommended by the American, Fletcher, in one word to “fletcherize”. Not that the fruit-eaters should not do this, certainly, but the poison-laden mucus eaters must do so especially, if they do not wish to sink into their graves all too soon. Chewing slowly furthers the secretion of saliva which decreases the formation of mucus and prevents overeating. Of course, this class of people cannot quite achieve the standard of health and strength, preservation of youth and perseverance, physical and mental capacity of the faster and fruit-eater. 

Once man is healthy in my sense of the word by fasting and following fruit-diet, that is, free from mucus, slime and germ, he, if he stays with the fruit-diet, need not fast any longer. And only then will he find a pleasure in eating which he never dreamt of before. Only in this way will man find the way to happiness, harmony and the solution of all questions, as only through this he can become want-free and get “nearest to divinity”.

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CHAPTER 3

Part 1

The fundamental cause of growing old and ugly

Part2

The Preservation of the hair

See Ehret’s book for info on these two topics – the reason for aging is the accumulation of mucus in the body. The belief put forth is that a mucus free diet or fruit diet combined with fasting can regenerate the cells of the body, make one appear more vital and youthful, bring back the color to one’s hair as well as regenerate hair growth in a balding man.

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CHAPTER 4

Increased Longevity

Fruit eaters have a greater life expectancy than people who indulge in wrong foods. There is less strain placed on metabolism and organs, especially heart and stomach. The heartbeat of a fruit eater, even after exercise, is not nearly as high as that of the mucus eater. The energy saved daily accumulates and results in a longer life…

“When a man dies of a critical injury or disease it is because his heart and brain cease to function. However, what causes these vital organs to stop their activity? In most cases the disease raging in the body will weaken the heart and eventually cause heart failure. Regarding causes for this failure, science has by far not spoken its last word. We can, however, safely say that the clogging up of blood vessels, consequently paralyzing the heart muscle and causing the destruction of the tender heart nerves through constant re-poisoning of the blood, is the final cause of death in all chronic diseases. Likewise, the clogging up of tender blood vessels in the brain and their eventual bursting (apoplexy) as well as any other entire clogging up of vessels result in a standstill of all functions of life, i.e. death. Other secondary causes come into play as well, of course, such as insufficient supply of oxygen in case of lung disease, etc. Science also mentions that an overabundance of white corpuscles will result in death. As we know, this is a disease in itself called leukemia. In plain English this means “white bloodedness”, but in my opinion more accurately yet “more mucus than blood”. Naturally, many more reasons are given as the cause of death.

I now ask, what is really the killing poison? Modern medical science claims that the bacilli cause most diseases, thus showing that it also has the idea of a common fundamental cause of all diseases, aging and death. Undoubtedly, diseases and their consequence (death) are to a large degree due to the bacilli. My experiments which prove that mucus is the fundamental and main cause differ from the bacillus theory only in that mucus is the nutrient medium for all bacilli.

As we have seen, an abundance of white blood cells, i.e. of white dead mucus, as compared with the red sugar and iron substances, is a menace to life. Red is the color and sweet is the taste of life and love; white or pale is the sign of sickness and mucus building up in the body, a sign of gradual disintegration. 

The death struggle is only the last effort of the organism to excrete mucus, a last fight of the still living cells against the dead ones and their deathly poisons. If the white dead cells, i.e. the mucus in the blood, gain the upper hand, clogging up of the blood vessels of the heart occurs. At the same time a chemical transformation, a sudden poisoning of the entire blood supply system takes place and death takes its toll.”

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PART TWO

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CHAPTER 5

COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR FASTING

Most diseases are caused by wrong eating habits. Fasting is Natures main curative measure. 

“An overdose of medication, surgery, injections and vaccinations can easily become the offenders of an outraged Nature. And so it resolves itself into a case of “blind leading the blind”. And yet, it is so simple to receive instructions from Nature. Watch the animals heal themselves in time of illness without the use of so-called scientific medicine. This then is the supreme secret of Mother Nature’s self healing.”

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CHAPTER 6

Rational fasting for physical, mental and spiritual rejuvenation

“Have you ever thought when you were sick what it means to have no appetite? And that wild animals have no doctors, no drug stores, no sanitariums, and no equipment to give them help? Nature teaches us through this example that there is basically only one disease, the one caused by overeating and eating of the wrong foods. Therefore, this one disease or whatever the many different names man may have given it, can be cured by but one remedy, namely by withholding from the body those very substances which normally will about disease.”

Reduce intake of food, improve general diet, and prepare for some fasting. 

“Image (the body) has been overworked for years due to high intake of food, thereby expanding the tissues and vessels to accommodate the high proportion of residues. Hence the continuously overburdened organism puts unusual pressure on the blood and the tissues. As soon as you stop eating, this excessive pressure is rapidly relieved, the highly over-expanded blood vessels and tissues relax, blood becomes more concentrated and superfluous water is eliminated. This process continues for a few days during which you may feel quite all right, but as the vessels contract, the mucus which lines their inner walls creates an obstruction for the blood circulation in as much as the passage becomes very narrow. Therefore the blood in the process of its circulation through the body, especially in the tissues, circumvent, dissolve and carry with it the mucus and its poisonous substances for eventual elimination through the kidneys.

During their fast the primary immediate obstructions caused by wrong and too much eating are eliminated first. This results in your feeling relatively good, or possibly even better than when eating. However when – as previously explained – the blood stream begins to carry with it some of the loosened mucus matter from the obstructed passages, then you feel miserable. You and everybody else blame this feeling on the lack of food which is true but only to the extent that this whole cleansing process is set into motion by the absence of new food. The next day for sure you can notice mucus matter the urine. Once the waste products have been eliminated from the circulation you will undoubtedly feel fine, even stronger than ever before. It is a well known fact that a faster can feel better and is actually stronger on the twentieth day of his fast than on the fifth or sixth day. Certainly ample proof that vitality does not depend primarily on food but rather on an unobstructed circulation.”

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CHAPTER 7

Building a perfect body through fasting

“As long as the waste is in the circulation you feel miserable during a fast; as soon as it is thru the kidneys you feel fine. Two or three days later and the same process repeats itself. This will explain why conditions change so often during a fast, why it is possible for you to feel unusually better and stronger on the twentieth than on the fifth day, for instance.

As this entire cleansing process (thru continued contracting of the tissues – becoming lean) has to be done by and with the original old blood composition of the patient, a long fast, especially a too long a fast, would be criminal if the sick organism is too greatly clogged up by waste. Fasters who died from too long a fast did not die from lack of food but died from their own waste, i.e. they actually suffocated. More clearly expressed: The immediate cause of death is not a lack of vital substances in the blood but too much obstruction. Obstruction becomes as great as or even greater than air pressure and, therefore, the body mechanism is “deadlocked.”

FASTERS SHOULD DRINK LEMON JUICE EITHER UNSUGARED OR WITH A TRACE OF HONEY OR BROWN SUGAR FOR LOOSENING AND THINNING THE MUCUS IN THE CIRCULATION. Lemon juice and fruit acids of all kinds neutralize the stickiness of mucus and pus. Anyone who has ever taken medication or drugs has to be very careful when he takes his first fast. As the drugs leave residues which are stored up in the body like the waste from food (I saw patients eliminate drugs they had taken as long as forty years ago), his condition might easily become serious or even dangerous when these poisons enter the circulation. Palpitation of the heart, headaches, nervousness and especially sleeplessness may occur. Everybody, and especially doctors, blame these symptoms on the fast.

How long Should One Fast?

Nature answers this question in the animal kingdom with a certain cruelty: “fast until you are either healed or dead.” In my estimation 50 to 60% of the so-called healthy men of today and 80 to 90% of the seriously chronic sick would die from their latent diseases if they submitted to a long fast.

How long one should fast cannot be determined in advance, even in cases where the condition of the patient is known. When and how to break the fast is determined by noting carefully how conditions change during the fast. It should definitely be broken as soon as you notice that the obstruction in the circulation is becoming too great and that the blood needs new vital substances to resist and neutralize the poisons. It is wrong to assume the attitude: “the longer you fast the better the cure” and you may now readily understand why. 

Man is the sickest animal on earth in that no other animal has violated the laws of eating as much as man and no other animal eats as wrongly as man. Here is where human intelligence can correctively assist in the self-healing process by the following adjustments which embrace the Mucusless Diet Healing System:

1. Prepare for an easier fast by gradually changing your diet toward a mucusless diet and by using laxatives and enemas. 
2. In between fasts eat nothing but a cleansing mucus-poor and mucusless diet.
3. Be particularly careful if you have been using drugs, especially those containing mercury, salpetre or oxide of silver which is prominent in drugs taken for venereal diseases. Before going on a fast, be sure to allow your body to adjust VERY GRADUALLY to a preparatory diet.

An “expert’s” suggestion to fast until the tongue is clean has had some grave consequences with “fanatical” fasters who heeded it. I personally know of one case which resulted in death and you may be surprised when I tell you that I had to cure patients from the ill-effects of too long a fast. The reason will be clear later. 

In spite of the above, every cure, and especially every diet cure, should start with a two or three day fast. Every patient can do this without any harm, regardless of how seriously sick he may be. First a laxative and then an enema daily makes it easier as well as harmless. 

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HOW TO BREAK A FAST

It is of utmost importance to know how to break a fast, i.e. what to eat after a fast. This depends, of course, entirely upon the condition of the patient and to a great extent on the length of the fast. The following two examples of extreme cases, both of which ended fatally not from the fast but from the first wrong meal, were chosen to demonstrate just why this knowledge is so important. 

A one-sided meat eater suffering from diabetes broke his fast, which lasted about a week, by eating dates and died. A man of over 60 years of age fasted twenty-eight days. After his first meal of vegetarian food (mainly boiled potatoes), his condition became so serious that an operation had to be performed. It showed that in the contracted intestines passage of the potatoes had been blocked by thick sticky mucus which was so strong that a piece had to be cut off. The patient died shortly after the operation. 

The example of the meat eater shows that when the terrible poisons, loosened in the stomach during the fast, mixed with the concentrated fruit sugar of the dates such a great fermentation (carbonic acid gases and other poisons) set in that the patient could not stand the shock. In this case, it would have been advisable to break the fast as follows: first a harmless herbal laxative, later raw and cooked starchless vegetable, a piece of rough bran bread toast. Sauerkraut is also to be recommended. Since the patient was not prepared for the fast by a gradual transition diet, he as a meat eater should have had no fruit for a long time after the fast.

As to the second example, the patient fasted entirely too long for a man of his age and, again, he was not properly prepared for the fast. 

These two very instructive examples show how individualized the advice on how to break a fast has to be and that it would be wrong to make a hard and fast rule. What can be said in general, however, and what I teach is new and different from average fasting experts, I have summarized as “IMPORTANT RULES FOR THE FASTER TO BE CAREFULLY STUDIED AND MEMORIZED.”

1. After a fast, do not eat particularly nourishing food, this would be a mistake. All meals for a few days after the fast should have a laxative effect. 
2. The sooner the first meal passed thru the body the more efficiently it clears away the loosened mucus and poisons in the stomach and intestines. 
3. If no good stool is experienced after two or three hours after the first meal, help with laxatives and enemas. Whenever I fasted I always had a good bowel movement at least one hour after eating and at once felt fine. After breaking a long fast, I spent more time the following night on the toilet than in bed, and that was as it should be. 

While sojourning in Italy many years ago, I drank about two quarts of fresh grape juice after a fast and instantly experienced a watery diarrhea of foaming mucus. Almost immediately after that, I had a feeling of such unusual strength that I easily performed the knee bending and arm stretching exercises 326 times. This thorough cleansing of the body, i.e. removal of all obstruction, which took place after a fast of a few days, increased my vitality at once! You will have to experience a similar sensation to believe me and you will then agree with my formula: vitality equals strength after all obstruction in the body has been cleared away. And you will also realize the absurdity of making up scientifically nourishing menus for health and strength after a fast. 

4. The longer the fast the more efficiently will the bowels perform after the first meal. 

5. The best laxative food after a fast is fresh sweet fruit, especially cherries and grapes or slightly soaked or stewed prunes. However only people who have lived for a certain time on mucusless or at least mucus-poor food, i.e. a transition diet, are permitted fruit after a fast. As we have have seen before, absolutely no fruit for meat eaters!

6. Generally speaking, it is advisable to break the fast with raw and cooked starchless vegetable, stewed spinach for example, has an especially good effect. 

7.  If the first meal does not cause any unpleasantness, you may eat as much as you can. Eating only a small quantity of food for the first 2 or 3 days after a fast without experiencing a bowel movement due to the small amount of food taken in (another wrong advice given by “experts”) is dangerous.

8. If you prepared properly for the fast and can start eating fruit after breaking the fast and you have no bowel movement after about an hour, then eat more fruit or a vegetable meal as suggested above. At any rate, eat until you experience a good stool that will relive you of the waste accumulated during the fast. 

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Rules During the Fast 

1. Clean the lower intestines as well as you can with enemas at least every other day. 
2. Before starting a longer fast prepare for it and take a laxative occasionally and definitely the day before you start the fast.
3. It is important that you get as much fresh air as possible therefore remain outdoors as much as you can during the day and keep windows open at night. 
4. If you feel strong enough, go for a walk or do some light physical work. If tired and weak, rest and sleep as much as you can. 
5. On days when you feel weak – you will experience such days especially when the waste is in the circulation – your sleep may be restless and disturbed and you may have bad dreams. This is caused by the poisons passing thru the brain. 

If doubt and loss of faith in the fasting cure will arise in your mind then take this lesson and read it over and over again, as well as the other fasting chapters. Also, don’t forget that you are lying on “Nature’s operating table”, the most wonderful of all operations that could be performed and without surgery!

However, if any extraordinary sensation occurs due to the poisons now in circulation, take an enema at once, lie down and if necessary break the fast. Raw and cooked starchless vegetables such as Saurkraut or stewed spinach are recommended.

6. Whenever you have rested for a while, get up slowly because otherwise you may become dizzy and that is a very unpleasant and somewhat scary experience. It caused me considerable fear in the beginning and I know of a number of people who gave up on fasting altogether when they experienced this sensation, although it is not serious and is nothing to worry about. 

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FASTING DRINKS

Many “fanatic” fasters drink nothing but water thinking that it is best to avoid any trace of food whatsoever. I CONSIDER A LIGHT LEMONADE WITH A LITTLE HONEY OR BROWN SUGAR OR A LITTLE FRUIT JUICE THE BEST. Drink as often as you feel like it, but in general no more than 2 or 3 quarts a day. The less you drink the more aggressively the fast works. 

During a longer fast you should, as a change, drink also vegetable juice made from raw starchless vegetables (raw tomato juice, etc. for example). If fruit juice, orange juice for instance, is used exclusively during a longer fast you have to be extremely careful because the fruit juices may cause the poisons to become loosened too rapidly without causing a bowel movement. I know of a number of such fruit and fruit juice fasts which failed completely because too much mucus and all of the poisons loosened too quickly at the same time. Then this waste, once in the circulation, disturbs all the organs and can only be eliminated thru the circulation with the aid of bowel movements. 

MORNING FAST OR NON-BREAKFAST PLAN

The worst of all eating habits nowadays is to stuff the stomach with food early in the morning. In European countries, except in England, no one has a regular meal for breakfast, just a beverage of some kind and bread. 

The one time that man does not eat for a period of 10 to 12 hours while he is asleep, and as soon as the stomach is free from food, the body starts the elimination process of the accumulated waste. Therefore, people feel miserable and have a coated tongue upon waking up. They have no appetite at all yet they crave food and feel better after breakfast. – Why?

This is a mystery that has puzzled all “experts”. They believe that it is the nourishing quality in the food that makes us feel better. I discovered, however, that as soon as you refill the stomach with the food THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATING THE ACCUMULATED WASTE – which, as I described is somewhat unpleasant – IS STOPPED and therefore you feel better! I think that my discovery undoubtedly explains also why eating became a habit and is no longer what nature intended it to be, i.e., a satisfaction, a compensation of nature’s need for food.

This habit of eating proves the saying I coined long ago: “Life is a tragedy of nutrition”. The more waste man accumulates the more he must eat in order to stop the elimination of waste. I had patients who had to eat several times during the night to be able to sleep again. In other words, they had to put food into their stomachs to avoid the digestion of mucus and poisons. 

SHORT FASTS AND THE NON-BREAKFAST PLAN

As we have seen, upon awakening you perhaps feel fine but instead of getting up you remain in bed and fall asleep again, have a bad dream and actually feel miserable upon awakening the second time. As soon as you get up, walk around or do something, the body is in an entirely different condition than during the sleep and the process of eliminating waste is slowed down, the energy being used elsewhere. 

If you skip breakfast every morning you will probably experience some harmless sensations such as headaches for the first one or two days. There-after you will feel much better, work better, and enjoy your luncheon better than ever. Hundreds of severe cases have been cured by the Non-Breakfast Plan alone, proving that the habit of eating a full breakfast meal is the worst of all.

You may enjoy the same beverage for breakfast that you are accustomed to. If you crave coffee continue to drink coffee, but abstain definitely from SOLID FOOD!  Later on, replace the coffee with a warm vegetable juice and still later change to lemonade. This change should be made very gradually. 

THE 24 HOUR FAST, or ONE MEAL A DAY PLAN

The benefits to be derived from the breakfast fast can be even further improved by the 24 hour fast. It is also a good preliminary step to the longer fasts necessary to cure the more severe cases of chronic disease. The best time to eat is 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon. If you are on the mucusless or transition diet, start with fruits (fruits should always be eaten first) and about 15 or 20 minutes later eat the vegetables; but all should be eaten within an hour so that it is to say, one meal. 

FASTING WHEN USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE MUCUSLESS DIET HEALING SYSTEM

As I have stated before I am no longer in favour of long fasts. In fact it may become criminal to let a patient fast for 30 or 40 days on water for this would cause contracting tissues and vessels to excrete more and more mucus which intermingled with residues from previously taken dangerous drugs etc. could actually result in self-poisoning if no new vital food elements are added to the body. 

No one can stand a fast of that kind without harm to his strength.

If fasting is to be used at all, then start at first with the non-breakfast plan, subsequently follow the 24 hour fast for a while, then gradually increase the fast to 3, 4 or 5 days interspersed with 1, 2, 3, or 4 days of mucusless diet. In this way the body is simultaneously rebuilt and supplied with the best nourishment found only in mucusless foods.

Through such intermittent fasts the blood is gradually improved and regenerated and can more easily withstand the poisons and waste. It is as the same time better equipped to dissolve and eliminate these many years old deposits which are loosened up by the fast, deposits that no doctor ever thought existed and that no one has known how to remove. 

These are the merits of the invaluable mucusless diet healing system of which fasting is an essential feature.

FASTING IN CASES OF ACUTE DISEASE

“Hunger cures – Miracle cures” was the title of the first fasting book I ever read. It related the experiences of a country doctor who stated: “No acute feverish disease need end in death provided Nature’s instinctive command to stop eating through lack of appetite is obeyed”. 

It is insane for instance to give food to a patient who suffers from pneumonia accompanied by high temperatures. A ‘cold’ having caused an unusual contraction of the lung tissues results in a loosening and propelling of some of the mucus deposits into the circulation. This produces an unusual friction: fever, and it would aggravate the patients condition even more if solid foods, meat broth etc. were given to him resulting in more fuel added to the already overheated human engine. The lives of many of the pneumonia patients could have been saved if only they had been given enemas, laxatives, cool lemonade and some exposure to fresh air in their rooms. However, the medical profession is sometimes very reluctant to follow new directions. 

SPIRITUAL REBIRTH THRU THE SUPERIOR FAST

All experts, except myself, believe that you live on your reserves during a fast. You, however, know now, that what is called metabolism is simply the elimination of waste. 

The Muslim or Hindu fakir, the greatest religious ascetic and faster in the world today, is usually very slender. I learned that the more thoroughly cleansed the body is the easier it is to fast and the longer you can stand it. In other words, when you are free from all waste and poisons, and when no solid foods are taken, then the human body functions for the first time in its life without encountering obstructions. The elasticity of the entire tissue system and of the internal organs, especially of the spongy lungs, responds to a single intake of breath with an entirely different vibration and an efficiency never known before. You ascend into a higher state of physical, mental and spiritual being. I call that the “Superior Fast”.

When you eat only the foods which I recommend, then your blood will be regenerated miraculously and your mind will function extremely well. Your former life will take on the appearance of a dream, and for the first time in your existence your conscience awakens to a real self-consciousness. 

Your mind, your thinking, your ideals, your aspirations and your philosophy will change fundamentally for the better. Your soul will shout with joy and triumph over all misery of life. For the first time you will feel a vibration of vitality thru your body like a slight electric current that shakes you delightfully. 

You will realize that fasting and superior fasting (and not volumes of psychology and philosophy) are the real and only key to a superior life; to the revelation of a superior spiritual world.

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Arnold Ehret

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