I'm all for feasting. On occasion, I will celebrate by tasting almost any food set before me. Most days, however, I am more careful about what goes in my mouth than you might imagine. It's not the feasting that I think brings such horrid results (obesity, hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, depression). It's that most people in the U.S. live as if every day is a feast with very little time spent in fasting. The fasting tempers the appetite and reeducates the senses. After a cleansing fast, the brain and digestive system craves a different type and different amount of food.
I've experimented with various type of fasts. One of my favorite books describing the simple water fast is The Miracle of Fasting by Paul Bragg. Here's a simple plan suggested by Vince Gironda in his book The Wild Physique. This type fast starts with juices and progresses to more solid foods. It cleanses the digestive system mechanically and metabolically.
Day 1: Drink water and fruit and vegetable juices only. Drink one tablespoon of a psyllium seed product in a glass of water followed by second glass of water--three times a day and at bedtime. Also, take one tablespoon of liquid amino acids three times a day.
Day 2: Same as first day.
Day 3: Same as first day except add clear broth or bullion.
Day 4: Same as day 3, except add heavier soups and yogurt.
Day 5: Same as day 4, except add light solid foods and eggs.
If you want to extend this detoxification further, then go another week with nothing but vegetables and fruits and the foods mentioned above. When Dean Ornish, MD demonstrated the reversal of coronary artery disease, the people in his study consumed nothing but vegetables and fruit with the addition of egg whites for protein supplementation. (They also were required to walk for an hour and pray or meditate for an hour per day.) So you can continue this diet for as long as you wish.
Another principle for keeping you digestion clean is to have an occasional colonoscopy. Speak with your doctor (it takes 5 to 10 years for a polyp to convert to cancer; so regular screening goes a long way toward keeping the digestion clear of cancer).
__ John Chapters 4-6
__ Walk 3 miles: actual miles walked _____
__ Eat 5 fruits or vegetables: actual amount _____
__ Virtue: Cleanliness--tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
The purpose of these daily strategies
