Something to contemplate this Labor Day weekend

Excerpt from Dr. Herbert M. Shelton's "Natural Hygiene: Man's Pristine Way of Life"

Chapter 21 "Does Fasting Cure Disease?"

If "disease" is a process of cure, does fasting cure "disease?" If there are no cures for "disease," if "disease" does not need to be cured, is fasting a cure?

To us there are not twenty thousand "diseases," but many local states growing out of a common systemic derangement. We do not seek to cure "disease," but to remove the causes of impairment and to afford the sick organism every natural or hygienic advantage that will facilitate its own spontaneous return to biological and physiological normality.

Does nature cure vomiting, or does she use vomiting as a means of ejecting unwanted materials from the stomach? Does the body cure coughing, or is coughing a vital act by which irritants and obstructions are expelled from the respiratory tract? Does diarrhea need to be cured, or is diarrhea a process by which obnoxious materials are rushed out of the digestive tract? Does nature cure inflammation, or is inflammation a repairative and defensive process by which broken bones are knit, lacerated flesh is healed and foreign bodies are removed from the flesh? Is there a need to cure fever, or is fever part of the body's own healing activities? Does not coughing automatically and spontaneously cease when there is no longer any need for it? Does not diarrhea cease when it has freed the digestive tract of all offensive materials? Does not inflammation subside when the bone has knit or the wound healed? What is there to cure about the various processes of the body that are collectively labeled disease?

Is it not obvious that if fasting suppressed vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, inflammation, fever, and the other symptoms that make up disease, it would be as evil as drugging? To call fasting "the fasting cure," the "hunger cure" or the "abstinence cure," as many have done, is to place it in a false light, unless, of course, we understand by cure what it originally meant--care. Fasting is part of the rational care of the sick body, it does not cure disease, as the word cure is now commonly used.

What say you?

Fast Facts: Duration of the Fast

The duration of the fast plays a role in what the body accomplishes. A three-day fast helps the body rid itself of toxins and cleanses the blood. A five-day fast begins the process of healing and rebuilding the immune system. A ten-day fast can take care of many problems before they arise and help to fight off illness, including the degenerative diseases that have become all too common in our chemically polluted environment.

Will fasting make me more beautiful?

(Photo: Liya Kebede and her daughter Raee)

According to women who practice the art of fasting, it can:

make your hair healthier

your skin clearer

your body tighter

your teeth stronger

your belly flatter

your waist trimmer

your butt firmer

your nails stronger 

your eyes brighter

your breath sweeter

your 'sissy' fresher

your mind sharper

your gifts clearer

your senses keener

But despite these claims, fasting's greatest gift is that it allows you to recognize your present and inherent beauty. inside and out.

Fasting doesn't actually CURE anything

BEFORE  &  AFTER

(Fasting facilitates a clean up effort, kinda like this)

Fasting does not cure disease. Yet what it allows for is nothing short of miraculous. In a nutshell, fasting enables the body the rest and energy it requires in order to heal itself; the only way true healing can take place. When the body ceases to exert the enormous amounts of energy required to masticate, digest, metabolize and eliminate wastes from the food we put into our systems, that reserved energy is immediately redirected, accelerating the healing process.

The body's newly freed up digestive energy is reassigned to take up internal housecleaning; giving a performance that is not possible when the body has spent all of its energy processing the "foods" that are typically consumed in the Standard American Diet. 

As a first order of business, this redirected energy allows the organs of elimination an opportunity to catch up with their work. The body begins the task of emptying the digestive tract, getting rid of bacteria and waste born from partially digested or completely indigestible food. As a next order of business, imbalances in the body’s chemistry, which can cause serious issues such as diabetes, thyroid disease osteoporosis and depression, are addressed. Continuous fasting helps to re-establish these important balances by facilitating immunity booting cell, tissue and organ repair. Abnormal growths, tumors, damaged tissue and fat is mercifully re-absorbed as fuel to keep all of this hard work going. 

Does this not qualify fasting as the best, most efficient "medicine" on the market? We think so.

Happy Healing.

Postcards From the Edge

Monday. 8 11 08. Fast Day.

Today I'm finding that I have to go real slow. Just one thing at a time. literally. Picking up my purse. Unzipping my purse. Pulling out my wallet. That kind of thing. Not really able to even think of the next thing that has to be done else it feels like the tide will roll in and wash me away. The breath is helping but I have to call after it constantly, like I would a small child. I had a traffic court date this morning. It might be the reason for so much teetering. Even though it went as well as a thing like that can go, the emotional energy of "what might happen" "what I could have done differently" all of those head trips that we sometimes forget take so much energy, are more pronounced when there is hardly any energy available to access.

I feel like I want to rest but I still have the day to do. A long day. So I will just breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. But I guess that's how it's always done. We just spend less time thinking about it; more time eating the day and strain, away.

FastGirls LOVE Bryant Terry

He is brilliant, gorgeous and makes a sexy Cacao-Cafe No Lait Pudding. (see recipe below)

Bryant Terry is a nationally recognized eco chef, food justice activist and author of "grub," all about sustainable cooking and eating in the urban kitchen. He is currently a Food and Society Policy Fellow, a national program of the WK Kellogg Foundation and lives in Oakland, California, where he is working on his next book which will be published by Da Capo/Perseus in 2009.

Bryant's work and recipes have been featured in Gourmet, Food and Wine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Domino, and many other publications. He has received numerous awards, which include an Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Food Education (Natural Gourmet Institute), an Open Society Institute Community Fellowship (Soros Foundation), a Wave of the Future Award (Glynwood Center), and a Sea Change Residency (Gaea Foundation).

Bryant has made dozens of national radio and television appearances including being an expert commentator on the Sundance Channel's original series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet." He is also a host on "The Endless Feast," a 13-episode PBS series that explores the connection between the earth and the food on our plates. 

He makes eating good, taste good, and what could make you love a man more than that?

Try it for yourself:




1 cup organic coconut milk

1 tablespoon of your favorite ground coffee

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 box (3/4 pound) Mori Nu firm silken tofu (this dessert only works with this brand)

2 tablespoons fair trade raw cacao nibs

· In a small saucepan over high heat, combine the coconut milk and coffee. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and boil for 7 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl.

· In a medium saucepan, combine 3 tablespoons of the coffee coconut milk mixture, the agave nectar, vanilla, cocoa powder, and salt and whisk to incorporate the coca powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat.

· Pour the mixture into in a blender, add the tofu, and blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the cacao nibs, and stir well.

· Cover with plastic and refrigerate to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

· Serve chilled.

visit his site.  bryant-terry.com

buy his book. grub

show him some love.

The Way God Intended: Looking at Fasting in Nature

In Persia, there exists a variety of sheep called fat-tailed sheep, that has an enormous tail made up of fat and other stored food elements. During seasons of plenty the sheep stores up large quantities of food in its tail--prize specimens often developing such heavy tails that their owners provide them with small carts which are placed under the tails and fastened to prevent the tails from dragging the ground. When pasturage becomes scarce the sheep draw upon the food reserves stored in their tails for nutriment. This is a literal example of "cutting off the tail of a hungry dog and feeding it to him."

In Gratitude

We owe it to the creator to be present for this life, awake for this journey, alive for this ride. When a gift like this is given; a life for a while, we must make something bloom, fashion wings to fly somehow.

Testimonies: Fasting for infertility

This is a common experience of a couple. Five years have lapsed after their marriage, but they do not have the joy of a child. Both were keen about it and very cautiously avoided the use of contraceptives. They had hoped for a child but it was in vain.

The young woman had consulted a doctor but was told that her infertility was permanent. Her father-in-law was informed by someone about the usefulness of fasting and that it may help to an extent. Therefore, he contacted a physician knowledgeable about fasting.

The woman asked him, "Can fasting help me getting a child?" The physician explained to her that there are many reasons for infertility which is of various types. Some types of infertility can be remedied by fasting while in some others, fasting does not bring any benefit. After knowing her problem, she was told, "Yes you will be able to conceive after the fasting."

Her fasting started. It lasted for some weeks and were completed without any trouble. Luckily, she became pregnant after sometime and later she gave birth to a handsome healthy son.

Over the years, thousands of childless women who suffered an agonizing life on that account have given birth to a son or a daughter. Some of them had menstrual problems. They suffered from excessive bleeding and had to remain in bed due to severe pain. The vascular balance of the uterus was disturbed due to clots in the blood, cuts in the breasts and such other symptoms. This resulted in the burning sensation and swelling in the uterus. The blood vessels became weak.

In the second type of infertility, a woman suffers from metritis. This causes swelling in the walls of uterus and oozing of the fluids is affected by it. It is either more or less. Thus, due to the ejection of the acid, the ova perish.

The patient can be very easily freed from the disease in the above condition. Much improvement can be seen after a long physical and mental rest. Though some types of infertility cannot be cured at all, those cases where the infertility is not natural but is because of some special condition, can be fully cured. All hindrances to the conception can be removed by fasting. Therefore, fasting is a boon for such women.

Some women become pregnant but cannot hold the fetus till the time of her delivery. They have miscarriages because of some debility. But fasting offers them good health so that they can give birth to fully grown healthy babies. After cleansing the body and excreting the toxins and nourishing themselves with healthy food, these women can avoid the miscarriages.

I know of a surprising incident about a woman who had 6 miscarriages. With only ten days of fasting and restricted diet she was helped in her conception. She had a normal delivery and she gave birth to a healthy baby.

The period of fasting for infertile women can sometimes be long, depending on their specific problems. Sometimes, it can be a short one also. Another woman had no child after a married life of ten years. She had not used any contraceptive. She had a severe pain at the time of her menstrual cycle. She took traditional medicines as sedatives at that time.

Fasting for about ten days was enough to cure menstrual irregularity and other related problems. She became pregnant sometime after her fasts were over. She gave birth to a son in due course. Another woman had conceived after a few short term fasts. She was also barren for ten years.

Natural infertility among people-men and women-is rare, and fasting offers no hope in such cases. If infertility is due to some disease or other physical drawback, fasting can be very helpful.

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/371/Krishan-Bakhru