Dry Fasting by Dazzle Blog entry

Fasting is Nature's foundational law of all healing and rejuvenation. It is a natural fact that the more you fast the better you heal, the higher your intellectual activity, and the younger you become.

Fasting is the ultimate. Isn't it interesting that the world's great religions have such an emphasis on fasting? I find that fascinating! Fasting alone can restore an over-stressed middle-aged individual to the suppleness and beauty of their youth -- especially when done in the spirit of rejuvenation accompanying the season.

Spring is upon us. The time for rejuvenation is here. It is an auspicious time to present one of the rarely discussed, hidden jewels of fast rejuvenation -- "dry" fasting. Arnold Ehret, the great Fruitarian/Fasterian knew, "The less you drink the more aggressive the fast works."

I stumbled into this method for complete body purification by accident many years ago when I first discovered The Raw-Food/Fruitarian Diet. I had been reading about fasting and decided it was time to try one -- it was three months after I went raw. For no considerable reason, I decided to go an entire day without food -- and water.

To my surprise it was quite easy. I actually was less thirsty at the end of the day than at the beginning. When I went to sleep I felt an incredible lightness and slept like a baby.

About a year and a half later I decided to try three days without food and water. This was quite a bit more difficult. I discovered the amazing truth many yogis have known for thousands of years -- that the process of digestion takes an enormous amount of energy and even the processing of water drains energy. On the third night, I could not sleep, I was so wide awake and full of life, I could not believe it -- I read and wrote all night long. At 4:00am I finally managed to drop asleep for 30 minutes and awoke, to my amazement, completely rested! I broke the fast at 4:30am with distilled water mixed with lemon juice, then went to a raid a nearby strawberry patch.

This brings up a crucial point: how you break a fast determines to a large extent the value of the fast and the degree of rejuvenation. Remember the rule that however many days you fast, it takes the same amount of additional days to fully recover. Ease off a dry fast with lemon juice and water -- the lemon juice acts as an internal soap dissolving mucus and cooked-food residues. Follow this about one hour later with a juicy alkaline fruit such as a melon or papaya -- grapes and cherries also work quite well. This will cause a peristaltic wave and a flush of all the dislodged toxins throughout the body.

The venerable raw-food and fruit advocate Morris Krok recommends a 36-hour dry fast to be broken by juicy fruits to flush the system as the best way to alleviate constipation.

I know of one individual who has gone eight days without food and water, and two others who have gone nine days. Don't try going this long yourself unless you have been living on a purified diet for many years and are capable of accepting full responsibility for your actions.

Take a day (24 to 36 hours) off from your schedule to dry fast. During the dry fast find somewhere to rest in the outdoors, preferably in the shade of fruit tree. Engage in relaxed stretching and deep meditation -- focus on rejuvenation. If you are not accustomed to dry fasting too much direct sunlight can cause you to become light-headed and weak -- especially upon arising. Don't stray too far from home.

Now, before you undertake a dry fast, it is important to consider that the less fluids you take in, the more aggressive the fast. Do not push yourself beyond the bounds of reason, if you feel dizzy, weary, extremely thirsty, drink a little water and postpone the dry fast for another time.

When your digestive system is allowed to completely and totally rest from its daily bombardment, your body's energies can be channeled into healing and rejuvenation; you will be able to truly enjoy the tremendous aroma of the spring flowers.

My friend Joe Alexander, author of the ever popular book: "Blatant Raw Foodist Propaganda" recently completed a 21-day fast. The first 7 days were dry -- no food, no water. He sent me a wonderful letter describing his experiences. He wrote:

"So apparently I still need food! It was nonetheless a remarkable experience, to go through that 21 days, and I really have come out of it feeling more energetic than I have ever known before...I think that I may have learned something very important from this experience, and that is this: to do a really good cleansing fast and get the fullest benefits, it's best to not even drink water. I have fasted before for considerably longer than 7 days, a number of times, but always drank water. I did not feel those fasts revitalized me anywhere near as much as this one has...Maybe fasting without water enables your body to free itself of toxins much more thoroughly than if you do drink water. Most fasting experts say you should drink lots of water when you fast. Helps flush out the toxins, they say. Maybe that's bad advice. Herbert Shelton was different; he said don't drink any more water than you really feel like, and that may be better advice...Maybe the best thing to do when fasting is go as long as you can without food or water. Could well be that we would be much healthier and live longer if maybe once or twice a year we'd take a week off, rest, and not eat or drink even water."

I am one of the few health professionals who promotes dry fasting. Most natural hygienists and fasting promoters consider dry fasting too "extreme" or "dangerous." It is neither, especially when done as I recommend for 24 or 36 hours. My experiences and those of others prove its tremendous value. Test and you shall be convinced.