The body is a tube and membrane structure containing millions of miles of microscopic tubes and many thousands of square feet of delicate membrane surfaces.  The circulatory system is 60,000 miles long.  The lungs contain 300 billion capillaries.  The surface area of the colon is 2,200 square feet.  People who eat the typical North American diet are not ingesting nutritious, health-giving food; instead, what enters the delicate tube and membrane structure is devitalized mucus-forming food, heavy proteins, cholesterol, and big sticky long-chain fat molecules.  The body is denied the opportunity to heal because it must continually work at digestion and the daily cleanup of nutrition-stripped, processed foods.

Ingestion of mucus-forming foods clogs the body's microscopic tubes and membranes.  This allows cellular waste to build up in the lymphatic system, increasing the chance of illness.  Fasting dissolves this internal mucus, allowing the bodys natural cleansing to occur.  During fasting, it is common, for the nose and throat to pass sticky mucus, clogging the sinuses.  Following your first meal after fasting, white strands of mucus may be found in the stool.

One of the factors in healing through fasting is the removal of cellular waste.  Three to eight hundred billion of your cells are being replaced daily.  Approximately one quarter of your cells are either dying, old or need to be replaced.  Unless your body gets rid of the dying cells, it cannot build new ones.  In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, tumors, abscesses, all of which are burned for fuel or expelled as waste.  Fasting dissolves diseased cells in a systematic manner, leaving healthy tissue intact.  For this reason, fasting intensifies healing and tired organs are repaired rapidly. 

The butterfly is a magnificent example of catabolism (tearing down) and anabolism (building up).  During metamorphosis, the butterflys muscles and organs dissolve into a thick, yellow solution.  All internal structures are torn down and rebuilt.  It emerges from the chrysalis a new creation.  The miraculous aspect of metamorphosis is that it occurs while fasting.  All the substances needed for rebuilding come from within.

During a fast, a metamorphosis occurs.  The body undergoes a tearing down and rebuilding of damaged materials.  There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body.  It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while catabolizing old tissue, toxins and inferior materials.  The end result is a thorough cleansing of the tube, membrane and cellular structures.  This process of cleansing and rebuilding has made fasting famous for its ability to rejuvenate, heal disease and give the body a more youthful tone.

Eliminations during the cleansing process
Dead, dying or diseased cell
Unwanted fatty tissue

Trans-fatty acids

Hardened coating of mucus on the intestinal wall

Toxic waste matter in the lymphatic system and bloodstream

Toxins in the spleen, liver and kidneys

Mucus from the lungs and sinuses

Imbedded toxins in the cellular fibers and deeper organ tissues

Deposits in the microscopic tubes responsible for nourishing brain cells

Excess cholesterol .

The Result

Mental clarity is improved

Rapid, safe weight loss is achieved without flabbiness

The nervous system is balanced

Energy level is increased

Organs are revitalized

Cellular biochemistry is harmonized

The skin becomes silky, soft and sensitive

There is greater ease of movement

Breathing becomes fuller, freer and deeper

The digestive system is given a well-deserved rest .

To heal illness, the body must pull all of its resources toward cleansing and repairing by removing appetite and reducing or stopping digestion.  Wounded animals will fast, emerging to eat only after their wounds or broken bones have healed.  This is the reason why there is little desire to eat food when sickthe body wants to focus all of its resources on cleansing.

In the body, the first stage of cleansing removes large quantities of waste matter and digestive residues.  The first few days of a fast or fruit diet can be rough due to the quantity of waste passing into the bloodstream.  The second stage is the cleansing of mucoid, fat, diseased and dying cells, and the more easily removed toxins.  As the fast continues, the cleansing process becomes more thorough.  After the second day of the fast, there is little desire for food.  The tongue becomes coated and the breath foul as the body excretes waste through every opening.

The last stage is the cleansing of toxins that have been accumulating in your cellular tissue from birth, and in the microscopic tubes that carry vital elements to the brain.  Cleansing of the last layer is only possible through a combination of juice fasting, water fasting, and a healthy diet high in raw foods.  To overcome a severe disease like cancer, it is important to continue through a series of fasts, to the point where the full, scouring action of catabolism removes the disease from the tissue.

Healing the Brain    
The brain is made up of trillions of cells. Three thousand psychoactive chemicals allow the brain to react to outside stimulus.  More than fifty psychoactive substances activate aggression, sedation and memory.  The brain can perform over 100,000 chemical reactions per second.  One hundred billion bits can be stored in the memory, equal to 500 hundred sets of encyclopaedias.  The brain has 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connectors for memory alone.  Even with todays high-tech diagnostic tools, most of the brains operations remain a great mystery. 

There is much to be said for the effects of fasting on the brain and senses.  Thinking is sharper when hungry.  When University of Chicago students fasted for seven days, mental alertness increased and their progress in schoolwork was cited as remarkable.  The universal testimony of fasters is that thinking is enhanced.

The mental and physical senses are heightened, and often, there can be a feeling of euphoria, especially during longer fasts.  Some, for the first time, will experience emotional stability.  The reasons for this are multifoldthe elimination of the emotional dependence on food, exclusion of stimulating foods like caffeine, processed sugars and trans-fatty acids, all of which can have a devastating effect on delicate emotions.

Within the brain, neuroglial cells supply essential elements to neurons.  If any neuron becomes diseased, injured or dies, it is consumed by the neuroglial cells.  Their function is to keep the brain clean and healthy.  When Albert Einstein died, he donated his body to science.  Researchers examining specimens of his brain found that Einsteins mind had 73% more neuroglial cells than the average person.  Einstein had a very clean brain. 

Dr. Ehret stated an amazing fact at the turn of the 20^th century.  He said for a fast to awaken the higher mind functions, it had to be longer than 21 days.  Fasting has a history of awakening intuitive senses, creativity and deeper spiritual questions in those with enough determination to get past the 21-day mark.

Fasting has been beneficial in cases of paralysis, neuritis, neuralgia, neuroses and mental illness.  Dr. E. A. Moras tells of a woman who fasted for seven days on strained orange juice.  She had been mentally ill for eight months and treated by eminent neurologists.  Her condition improved to the point of being cured by the fifth week after the fast.

Medical science faces tremendous limitations when it comes to healing the brain. The complexity of this organ allows only the most basic intervention.  Prescription drugs can have dangerous side effects because of the brains delicate balance. Fasting may be the most sensible route to healing mental disorders.  It is well known that the brain, if given the opportunity, has a capacity of healing.  Fasting will intensify the healing.  I have seen a mentally deranged person stabilize in three days of juice fasting.  Severe headaches have been cured many times   Memory and concentration have been permanently improved.  Fasting has also healed depression.