Re: 7 days for 7 years

I think it worth mentioning that we should be careful when referring to fat or adipose tissue as perhaps the only food reserves for a fast.
I still subscribe to most of the thoughts and writings of Sylvester Graham, Carrington, Trall and others.

" Sylvester Graham denied that the fat man lives longer on prolonged abstinence from food than does a thin one. He says, "If the fat be designed for the nourishment of the body during protracted fasts, etc., then if a very fat man, in the enjoyment of what is ordinarily considered good health, and a lean man in good health, be shut up together, and condemned to die of starvation, the fat man ought to diminish in weight much more slowly, and to live considerably longer than the lean man; but directly the contrary to this is true. The lean man will lose in weight much more slowly, and live several days longer than the fat man, in spite of all the nourishment which the latter may derive from his adipose deposits."--Science of Human Life, pp. 193-194.

"Trall took a similar view, as does Carrington, who says of Graham's statement: "I may say that this has been my own experience, precisely." The explanation offered is that, while the fat person has a large store of fat on his frame, he is deficient in other food requisites. Fatty tissue, these men think, is invariably diseased and deficient tissue. Trall said, "Feed a dog on butter, starch, or Sugar alone, and you will save in him the consumption of fat, but the dog will die of starvation. He will be plump, round, embonpoint, and yet die of inanition."--Alcoholic Controversy, pp. 148-149.

This however, also depends on the type of fat that we have: "soft" flabby fat deposits are lost and utilized in the fast much more quickly than "hardened" fat deposits.

I have also known people who were obese and with huge fat deposits to be suffering from malnutrition and treated accordingly. Hardly ideal candidates for a successful outcome to a prolonged fast.

Food for thought. (Excuse the pun).

Chrisb1.



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