xanderfrancish and everyone in this thread,
I am trying to play catch-up with the posts here, but this post did seem like worthy of a more immediate response.
Fibre is essential to intestinal health, otherwise peristalsis and the motions of our food throughout the intestinal tract would cause constipation, and the diseases associated with it, including cancer of the colon !!
The recommended diet for man, from the experience of hundreds of professional Hygienists (both past & present) is a mainly raw plant-based diet: in fact 80% raw and 20% cooked.
Raw food contains fiber, but it is mostly of a high-water-content and NOT a high fiber content: this is in balance with the food provided by Nature in the exact proportions needed for human health.
The reason juice-feasting is so beneficial to health, is that there is very little if any fiber, which then allows the digestive apparatus to rest, (whilst providing nutrition) and therefore divert these digestive energies to other more healthful purposes of the body. This cannot be a long-term proposition, but only a relatively short-term plan, as the body would not survive indefinitely with this way of feeding.
The body ultimately needs "solid" food for the normal digestion of foodstuffs. There is no such thing as "overdosing" on fiber-rich foods as provided by Nature as long as the diet is based on this premise.
Gerson thought (quite rightly in my opinion) that Cancer and other degenerative diseases were caused by three things..........
#1. Stress.
#2. Deficiency.
#3. Toxicity.
He believed in saturation-nutrition achieved only thru juicing, detoxing, and freedom from stress. He was very successful with this approach to healing, but knew ultimately that
juicing was only a short-term measure.
Raw-Foods that are concentrated (such as nuts & avocados) should only constitute a small part of the diet, and in proportion to the needs of the bodily requirement for proteins and fats. The body should need mostly high-water content food, as we ourselves constitute a high water composition.
In addition,
Shelton was only human..................so he made mistakes like the rest of us, and especially so in the care of the sick; but by discovering his mistakes thru trial and error, his advice was extremely reliable & accurate, as HIS was the most experienced advice in the history of Natural Hygiene & Fasting.
A restricted diet can be a very difficult proposition, where the loss of weight is achieved by consuming less calories than normally being expended by the body on a daily basis. This creates a constant state of hunger, which is very difficult to endure and is seen by many as a deprivation; on the other hand fasting is zero calories from external sources, resulting in the body feeding on its own food reserves exclusively, and then forcing the body into full ketosis, which suppresses appetite/hunger.
The return of hunger at the end of a "finish-fast" to completion, does require an individual to exercise a great deal of restraint in controlling overeating, but this only lasts about one week to ten days. Also, if a fast is broken prematurely and before the return of hunger, then appetite has to be re-nurtured and stimulated back into activity, so there is very little danger in doing so.
Hope this clarifies some of the points being made.
Chrisb1.