Fasting for the cure of disease/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X
REST AND ELIMINATION
"A man cannot be a perfect physician of any one save of himself alone."
Louis Cornaro.
CHAPTER X.
REST AND ELIMINATION
BODY tissue is continuously undergoing change of structure. The cells that form it are constantly dying, are cast off, and fresh material is supplied. The waste eliminated is poison ; and, without muscular rest, this dead and harmful refuse cannot be replaced with sufficient rapidity by new products. This applies not only to muscles in active use, but to all of the bodily fabric. Rapid exercise of any part of the human machine can be continued but for a short time, for, because of vigorous muscular action, voluntary or involuntary, poisonous substances are thrown into the blood and are carried to tissue, nerves, and brain. Through the nerve cells the heart is affected, and the muscles of respiration are to a similar extent disturbed, and resulting symptoms of self-toxication appear that may end in death. The only means of restoration lies in absolute muscular rest. The heart, though making contractions at the rate of seventy-two beats a minute, is able to continue its work throughout the life of an individual, since each contraction of this muscle is followed by an interval of rest, during which the cells recuperate. Stimulate the heart beats beyond the normal rate, and a point is soon reached at which poisonous products are not replaced by fresh cells, since the intervals of rest are insufficient. Similar conditions are met in the action of the diaphragm and of the chest and abdominal muscles used in respiration.
Just here a distinction in function needs notation :
The muscles that move involuntarily, those that are not subject to the human will, never know absolute rest, for they continue their labors whether the body be asleep or awake.
On the other hand, those muscles, the action of which depends upon the direction of the human will, cannot work continuously, lest fatigue with fatal exhaustion follow.
Seemingly, automatic labor, labor not directed by the highest function of consciousness, does not wear. It is only conscious work that requires for recuperation and muscle-rebuilding other means than simple non-use or physical rest. This is granted in that loss of consciousness, regularly recurrent in animal life, which is called sleep.
All during life each component part of the body in the very act of living produces poison within itself. When toxins accumulate faster than they are eliminated, as occurs when no interval of rest is granted, fatigue is felt, and fatigue is only another name for toxic infection. A normal amount of labor is easily cared for by the muscular system, but excess work brings disaster. If action and rest are so regulated that the cells may give off their waste products at a rate to keep pace with new formations, muscle, and nerve tissue as well, will always be in position to liberate energy on demand.
From the time of birth until death, the organs of the human body function continuously. On the other hand, in the vegetable kingdom the plant maintains and conserves life by added growth from year to year. The vital parts of the plant are re-created and their predecessors become mere physical supports corresponding to the bony framework in man. The power resident in the tree of producing new equipment annually is denied to humanity, not by nature, but because of imperfect interpretation of natural law. Physical growth and muscular development in man are never completely rounded out, and this may be attributed to a double cause. Theoretically, every muscle of the body should be exercised impartially and be nourished with just the quantity of cell pabulum that is necessary for the replacement of its waste. This never occurs; but it is a possibility that may be contemplated with surety since it is a natural condition. To bring it to pass, reciprocal action must exist between intake and outgo, rebuilding and waste, labor and rest, consciousness and sleep.
The processes of nutrition are involuntary in character so long as material is supplied for their use, but they may be directed by the individual to the extent of the selection and preparation of nourishment. In this they differ from the functions of the involuntary muscles and organs of the body, the control of which is entirely beyond that of the human will. When through abuse the digestive function becomes impaired, disease results. Functional disease is then analogous to muscular fatigue, and, since nature knows but one law of recuperation that of rest it is reasonable to assume what the text promulgates: Rest through abeyance of the processes of digestion offers the possibility of complete renewal of functional machinery.
The manner in which the digestive organs may be given needed rest is perhaps not at once apparent. The mere thought of abstention from food carries with it violation of long-taught doctrine that frequent feeding in sickness and in health is necessary for the maintenance of vitality and strength. Yet just this omission of food is meant when rest through abeyance of the digestive function is suggested. The phenomena of fasting for the cure of disease include facts that prove that the human body does not depend for strength or for vitality upon ingested food; the latter is utilized for the repair of the body as the vehicle of the expression of these forces, and by it the material framework is kept in condition to liberate the life principle in its variety of manifestation.
In illness weight is always lost, and, contingent upon the duration or the severity of disease, the substance of the body diminishes in greater or in less degree. During sickness, under prevailing methods, feeding is continuous, and, if the stomach rebel, nutrient enemata are pressed into service. The question suggests itself, why, if food is constantly supplied, naturally or otherwise, does the body lose in weight? The answer is found in the fact that the intake is not digested, consequently is not assimilated, and, far from nourishing the tissues, is an added burden to functions already overtaxed. Another cause is discovered in that brain and nerve tissue, as instruments for the expression of thought and sensation, are protected from deterioration in substance, even in disease, by a provision of nature that permits them to utilize nourishment stored in the interstices of body tissue. This they consume in illness and in health, and, when in disease a normal balance is not preserved, when cells are not rebuilt as waste occurs, they still are supported from this source.
With slight differences the physiology of digestion in all mammals is markedly similar. When disease is manifest, the lower animals and the reptiles abstain from food until health is restored. They are compelled to this by instinct, a force implanted by nature in the whole of animate creation. The fasting which animals instinctively undergo is a fact that is constantly observed, but not in general mtelligently perceived. A common expression of the stable in reference to the ailments of the horse embodies the phrase, "off his feed," and this alone illustrates the instinct that impels the animal to fast when its physical well-being is disturbed. A python in captivity has been known to abstain from food for thirteen months with no deleterious effects beyond a loss in weight; and cats often prolong abstention to skeleton condition, when they rapidly return to health with strength and vigor increased. Instances such as these may be multiplied indefinitely.
Omitting the mental states of fear and worry, which of necessity react upon the physical body, and bodily conditions of severe pain or of continued exposure, the average human being cannot die from want of food for several months. This fact has been substantiated in many instances in medical history, and it is verified and corroborated daily in fasting for the cure of disease.
If, then, the body can exist without food for a time, and, if in illness the stomach instinctively objects to its introduction, it is reasonable to infer that food not desired is not necessary, and, once accepted, this inference is abundantly justified. The results of its practical application are such that they lead to the conclusion that, in the absence of mechanical defects in physical organs, abstinence from food, with other natural healthgiving and health-preserving accompaniments, is the unfailing remedy for the cure of functional ills.