Linda Burfield Hazzard

“ Illness results when balance no longer exists between nutrition and elimination, with the consequence that the blood-current is vitiated at its source, the resistive powers lowered, and germ-soil produced. One remedy alone can cope with this condition, and it is that which nature suggests and employs—elimination of the poisonous products of digestive ferment, and rest for organs, that have been functioning under stress. It is thus seen that, not only is a unity to be recognized in the cause of disease, but that there exists an equal unity in natural means of relief and cure. ”

“ Food is needed only for the repair of broken-down tissue, for the upbuilding and rebuilding of the framework that carries the human soul. The conclusion is not to be drawn in the absolute that strength will be manifest and that life may be continued indefinitely in the absence of food, nor is it to be assumed that in the process of evolution man may reach an ideal state of foodless existence. ”

“ And at times all the courage and the wisdom of long experience in handling disease by the method of nature are needed to meet the conditions. Knowledge of the causes of delirium, of stupor, of any and all of the symptoms of toxic poisoning, none of which can be wholly overcome in extreme organic disease, makes faith in the method unshakable. When death occurs, it is inevitable; it cannot come except when it is not possible for the vital organs to function longer. The life of the patient is extended through abstinence from food, since organic effort is thereby greatly reduced. ”

“ Granting that impaired digestion is the source of impure blood or disease, it is the purpose of the following pages to establish that abused digestive functions, relieved from their labors for a time, will recover and return with renewed vigor to their appointed tasks. Rest and rest alone is the one means of recuperation in the realm of nature, and the sole purpose of physical life is so to maintain the structure of the human body that disease may be prevented and eradicated. ”

“ Despite prevalent belief, disease never strikes suddenly, but is the consequence of long-continued violations of natural law. It is the result of a gradual clogging of the avenues of vitality with dead material, a longdrawn process of stifling the forces of life. "Every disease," says Dr. E. H. Dewey, "is an inherited possibility, which every violation of the laws of life tends to develop. It is never simply an attack on a well person, but rather a summing-up of the more or less lifelong violations of health laws." ”

“ In cases of functional disease, when the patient is not so depleted as to be bed-ridden, moderate daily exercise is most beneficial. In fact, it is recommended that the ordinary duties of life be continued, if such be possible. In many instances this can be done, and benefit accrues from exercise, because of its assistance to elimination, and from mental work, because of its value in diverting the mind from contemplation of physical ills. Numbers of fasters can safely follow their usual vocations, and, again, others are compelled to rest throughout the period of abstinence. ”

“ Fasting consists in intentional abstinence from food by a system diseased, and, as a result, non-desirous of sustenance until rested, cleansed, and again ready for the labor of digestion. Then, and not till then, is food supplied. Then, and not till then, does starvation begin. The law of hunger draws the line of demarcation.
It may be repeated that, in functional disease, the fast can be carried to its logical end without a, particle of anxiety, because the law of hunger marks the limit beyond which abstinence cannot continue lest the body die. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Broadly speaking, there is no drug that is not a poison, stimulating or paralyzing in its effect; and, while harm ensues when drugs are employed for the treatment of disease in mature years, the consequences of applying ordinary medical remedies in infancy and in youth are doubly apparent and appalling. It is only necessary to draw the parallel between the results of administering brandy to a child and to an adult to emphasize this statement. ”

“ SLEEP. Nature's law of recuperation is that of rest, of relief from labor. The instrument of thought and of motive government, the brain, obtains its repose in regularly recurring periods of unconsciousness and cessation. ”

“ The subject of food stimulation has not received the attention that it deserves in any system of therapeutics, for it is always an important factor in disease. After the body has become accustomed to a fixed food supply, whatever the quantity or the hours of ingestion, it strenuously rebels when denied. The system may be greatly overfed; it may be slowly poisoning itself through its own indiscretions ; yet the omission of a meal sets the stomach clamoring. ”

“ In any method for the treatment of disease nothing can be done unless nature co-operates. In some methods her means of cure, elimination, triumphs in spite of the treatment, and this is nowhere so fully displayed as in traditional orthodoxy, which is trained to look upon the symptom, or the appearance of disease, as its cause. ”

“ The signs of a fully completed fast are most easily recognized. The tongue is pink and clean, the breath, sweet, and appetite or false hunger is replaced by natural desire for food, a sensation exquisite beyond description, that may be realized only by a clean, pure, regenerated system. Natural hunger relishes natural food, and, once it is known, no morsel is without delight. ”

“ These facts are developed in the majority of cases, and but one inference can be made food waste rotting in human intestines forms soil analogous to that of filth decomposing in outer air, with the result that the destroying agents of nature, bacilli, are at once introduced fully equipped as scavengers.
The germ evolves and propagates, not to create disease, but to remove its cause ; not on account of the ill-health of the body, but for the sole reason that ignorant and improper handling of the resources of nature furnishes conditions that stimulate and conserve germ life. ”

“ The symptoms that are present, or that may arise thereafter in the fast or when on diet, need occasion no alarm, for their source is understood, and their meaning is a therapeutic one. Nature is in process of purifying the body—is casting out its waste, and is cleansing the system in preparation for active, healthy rebuilding. The omission of food permits natural law to operate unhampered, and it is the only method by which natural assistance can be given with the assurance of permanent relief and cure. ”

“ As pointed out elsewhere, the lower animals by instinct employ it when ill, and its efficiency in disease, functional and organic, when applied to humankind, is fully substantiated and daily corroborated.
Disease affects every cell in the animal body. The fast in its operation and results equally affects the body as a whole. What matter, if, in attaining the extreme ends of purification, the body is reduced to a minimum of flesh? Organs and frame—work still remain by which and upon which to build a new, purified, and resistive structure for future needs. ”

“ Abruptly to cease an act or a bodily function that has become constant causes both physical and mental disturbances. Witness, for instance, the attempts of a victim of tobacco, alcohol, or morphine to escape from the toils. Will power, the highest attribute of mind, alone can accomplish the result. In many cases the will required to begin the fast is present, and food might at once be denied were this the sole consideration. But, because natural physiological change is always gradual in fulfilment, similar approach to absolute cessation of function is not only desirable but imperative. ”

“ It has required years of abuse and of drugging to cause disease, and it is unreasonable to assume that nature in a few short weeks or months can bring about the physiological changes necessary to perfect functioning.
The fast completed, the body exists in a sphere of natural condition, and there are no circumstances in which there is so much of real gratification in the simpler acts that constitute physical life. To eat rationally, to eat only at the demand of hunger and not to excess, become exquisite pleasures, marred with no grief for the flesh pots nor for the loss of appetite. ”

“ What is needed for the one is far more than sufficient for the others. Should the brain-worker devote spare time to outdoor recreation or to manual labor a mean might be established; but, in general, equilibrium is seldom reached, and the supply of food is far in excess of requirement. The laboring man, too, is at fault in this respect, for, unless his be an exceptional case, the basis of diet is starch, which carries its nutritive principle in a bulky vehicle, demanding extra labor from the digestive tract in order to separate waste from nutriment and to eliminate the former. ”

“ A drug, with regard to its effects upon the human body, may be said to be any substance which will influence metabolism and the functioning of the organs. According to this definition, foods, especially when of unwholesome quality, even though the quantity be reasonable, may react as a drug upon the system. Food itself, like substances regarded as drugs in the ordinary sense, may then act as a poison to the tissue. In like manner the substances formed in the body from the processes of tissue waste may themselves act as drugs in their effect upon living tissue. ”

“ The secretion of the liver is always a waste product, but, even as such, it has its use as a digestive fluid in health. When the fast is in progress, however, this product of elimination is discharged into the intestines, and is nothing more than poisonous refuse excreted from tissue, blood, and organs, which must be at once removed from the body lest it be reabsorbed into the circulation. ”

“ The mysterious forces, energy and vitality, which are manifested as life, exist outside of and independent of the human body. A healthy organism is one that is in position to liberate these forces in the form of strength, mental and physical, as it is needed in the activities. When, through the fast, dead and noxious refuse is eliminated, the expression of each of these qualities is evident, and we learn that man does not depend upon food for strength, nor for the accompaniment of energy, body heat. ”

“ Common sense indicates that food ingested soon after rising is really detrimental to the body and the mind, for the brain and the nervous system are recuperated by the night's rest, and tissue cells have been replaced while the body slept. In fact, the reasoning power is retarded and hampered in its action by the presence of food in the stomach, since the latter calls energy elsewhere and deprives the brain of just so much of its motive power. The whole mental and nervous systems are at their maximum of energy in the early morning ”

“ Mankind, because of artificial environment and custom, and with the mistaken idea that body-heat is derived entirely from fuel consumed, from food ingested, eats more heavily in winter, and approaches spring with a system overloaded with waste and in no condition to meet the work-time of the year. Spring-fever and spring-tonics are household terms, and epidemic disease is more prevalent then than at any other season. But again, remedy for disease should be used only when disease is manifested.
On the other hand, the social surroundings of a fasting patient are of the utmost import. ”

“ CASE 7, that of a man 56 years of age, exhibits a history of continuous disease in youth, but includes at least twenty years of later life devoted to diet, to the fast, and to hygienic attention to the body. In fact this part of the man's existence was distinguished by work along all lines of progressive thought. At the time that the case was presented, the patient was aware that, despite all efforts at conservation of health, his condition was such that he must have recourse to every means of assistance that nature could suggest, or he must succumb to the inevitable. ”

“ The mouth easily accomplishes this work when the habit of mastication has been acquired, but, if it perform it carelessly, the other organs of digestion cannot act in normal function, and, as a matter of fact, perfect digestion cannot occur, since one of its processes has been omitted. The only portion of the operation of digestion that can be voluntarily controlled is that which is done in the mouth, hence the subject of the mastication of food is an all-important one. Its value in the economy of the human body is excellently treated by Horace Fletcher in his "A-B-Z of our own Nutrition." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thirst for water will assert itself for a moment, sometimes asking but a drop and again for a full glass ; and, afterwards, when near the point of complete saturation, appetite will hesitate for a moment, as if searching around for some rare substance and may find its final satisfaction in a single spoonful of sweet, or of a sip of something in sight. "The appetite, satisfied by the infiltering process, is a sweetly appeased appetite, calm, rested, contented, normal. ”

“ The time to fast is when ill. And illness never occurs at the convenient moment. Its warnings may be present in summer or in winter, and they must promptly be heeded regardless of personal inclination or of climatic condition. To wait until disease develops locally is disastrous, and diagnosis is unnecessary, for natural treatment in any and all illness is identical in essence, and varies only in minor details. True, it is more pleasant to carry out a fast in warm weather, but this should never deter an ailing body from fasting in winter. ”

“ All habits having a tendency to cause digestive disturbance, such as the use of tobacco or alcohol, careless eating and overeating, hinder the functioning of the liver. Any clogging or interference with its duties prevents the blood from receiving the benefit of its inspection, and an impure product is the result. All parts of the body will show distressing symptoms of fatigue and of exhaustion if the cells of the liver become diseased or useless through intemperate living or through ignorance of the specific duty belonging to it as an organ of the human machine. ”