59079 - you hit it right on the head when you said:
"if I were working so hard on a 5-6 week Water Fast and all the results were weight-loss, I'd consider the experience to have been a bitter, betraying failure"
Why is it that hardly anyone on this forum seems to see this? The books you mention in your post - if people would read them maybe their eyes would open as to what fasting can at its best do! Weight loss, schmeight loss - that's nothing - and weight loss wouldn't even be long term from fasting anyway. Whereas the more important health benefits that can result if the fast *is* successful have a reputation for lasting long term, as long as the person eats healthy foods after the fast is over.