The Science and Fine Art of Fasting

by Herbert M Shelton

Overview

2013 Reprint of 1963 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is the fasting portion only of what was originally published as "Fasting and Sunbathing" (The Hygienic System, Vol 3). Herbert Shelton wrote 40 books over his 60-year career in health education and "natural hygiene." He supervised over 30,000 fasts of chronically ill and terminal patients, losing only three. Shelton's teachings on fasting inspired Ghandi as well as such popular authors as Fuhrman, the Diamonds, Mercola and Graham. Harvey and Marilyn Diamond said of Shelton: "A man of astounding intelligence and understanding, Dr. Herbert Shelton was the greatest health oracle of the 20th century." One of the key tenets of natural hygiene is toxemia + enervation = disease and that symptoms of disease are remedial efforts by the body to return to balance. For example, a fever is instituted by the body to speed metabolic action and kill germs. It is a healing event that should be allowed to run its course, not a dreaded enemy to be suppressed. The best action to take when first becoming ill is to stop eating and rest, which goes contrary to the prevailing advice to take a drug, eat to keep up your strength, and keep on going. When you fast, you are not starving your body of nutrition, because it obtains all the nutrition it needs from its own tissues. But in doing so, the not inconsiderable amount of energy that would have been spent in digestion is now spent in repair of tissues and elimination of toxins. Long fasts of up to three months followed by healthy living practices can (but not always) reverse chronic degenerative diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, colitis, migraines, mental illness, even cancer. (See also Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease.) This book will teach you most of what you need to know to conduct a fast of any length. The chapters are: 1. Definition of fasting 2. Fasting among the lower animals 3. Fasting in man 4. Bill-of-fare for the sick 5. Autolysis 6. Fasting is not starving 7. Chemical and organic changes during fasting 8. Repair of organs and tissues during fasting 9. The influence of fasting on growth and regeneration 10. Changes in the fundamental functions while fasting 11. The mind and special senses during a fast 12. Secretions and excretions 13. Bowel action during fasting 14. Fasting and sex 15. Rejuvenescence through fasting 16. Gain and loss of strength while fasting 17. Gain and loss of weight during fasting 18. Fasting does not induce deficiency "disease" 19. Death in the fast 20. Objections of the fast 21. Does fasting cure disease? 22. The rationale of fasting 23. The length of the fast 24. Hunger and appetite 25. Contra-indications of fasting 26. Fasting in special periods and conditions of life 27. Symptomatology of the fast 28. Progress of the fast 29. Hygiene of the fast 30. Breaking the fast 31. Gaining weight after the fast 32. Living after the fast 33. Fasting in health 34. Fasting in acute disease 35. Fasting in chronic disease 36. Fasting in drug addiction 37. Fasting versus eliminating diets

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614274483
Publisher:	Martino Fine Books
Publication date:	07/17/2013
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

For Herbert Shelton, health and physical wellbeing was a personal matter from the moment he was born. On October 6, 1895, he came into the world two months premature weighing only 3 pounds, surviving to grow up on his family's farm in Wylie, Texas. During his youth, Shelton loved spending time with the farm animals and, through his observations of their habits, began noting their natural dietary tendencies-including fasting. During high school, Shelton came across the theory of drugless healing through Bernarr Mcfadden's magazine, Physical Culture. This inspired him to look further into alternative medicine and eventually become one of its greatest proponents. Thus began his lifelong journey of seeking health through fasting and other natural ways of promoting wellbeing and healing. Eventually, he went on to attend Macfadden's College of Physcultopathy and interned at Crane's Sanitorium-both in Illinois. For post-graduate work, he served at Lindlahr's and Sahler's Sanatoriums and continued at Peerless College of Chiropractic Medicine and Crandall Health School. He married Ida Pape in 1921 while studying at the American School of Chiropractic Medicine and went on to receive a Doctorate of Naturopathy from the American School of Naturopathy. Shelton self-published his first book, Fundamentals of Nature Cure, in 1922. After becoming familiar with The Hygienic Movement founded by Dr. Isaac Jennings and Sylvester Graham in 1832, Shelton later changed the title of his book to An Introduction to Natural Hygiene. In 1924, he and his wife Ida welcomed a son into their family. One year after his child's birth, in 1925, Shelton became a staff member of Physical Culture, which at the time had a circulation of one million. He went on to co-found his own magazine, How to Life, and began a daily column for the New York Evening Graphic-often stirring public controversy by criticizing modern medical treatment. Shelton was criticized for his views on fasting as an alternative medical treatment and his stance regarding the medical benefits of raw food. In 1942, he was charged with negligent homicide after one of his patients allegedly starved to death; however, the charges were later dropped, and the case was never prosecuted. He continued to gain notoriety and popularity in the alternative health movement; in 1956, he was nominated by the American Vegetarian Party to run as its candidate for President of the United States. Shelton died in 1985 at the age of 77 after battling a degenerative neuromuscular disorder that left him bedridden since the age of 64. Even towards the end of his life, Shelton continued his involvement in advocating alternative medicine through his own academy: Dr. Shelton's Health School. During the 53 years of the school's operation, over 400,000 patients were treated for a variety of illnesses, most of whom recovered with the help of Shelton's theories. Herbert M. Shelton and his works remain popular in the alternative medicine community even today, especially in the realms of fasting and restorative care.