Re: Help! When do I stop a fast?

According to Herbert Shelton , in his classic book on water fasting, the most important sign to watch out for in deciding when you have to stop fasting is the return of "true hunger". He says that it is possible that hunger returns while the tongue is still coated, which according to him then indicates that the body is not fully clean yet, but that all reserves have been exhausted, and that in this case you also have to break the fast.

quote

"Mr. Carrington writes of a race between the successful elimination of toxins and the amount of flesh upon the body, and hunger not returning before the starvation period or even death occurring, because there is not sufficient flesh upon the body to feed the vital organs while the work of elimination is being completed. I have never seen anything of this nature. I have seen cases in which hunger has returned and the tongue was still heavily coated. I have seen the tongue clear up days in advance of the return of hunger. I have said, as a result of such experiences, that if the tongue is clear and hunger has not returned, it means that the body has been cleaned before the reserves have been exhausted; while, if hunger returns and the tongue is still coated, it means that the reserves have been exhausted before the body is fully clean. I have seen a few cases in which the tongue never coated throughout the whole of a long fast. I am sure, also, that if the patient's reserves are carefully conserved by mental, physical and sensory rest, there is much less likelihood of his reserves being exhausted in advance of the completion of the work of elimination."

unquote


http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020127shelton.III/020127.ch23.htm


Speaking from personal experience, I have once done a 35 days water fast, which I decided to stop before my tongue was completely clear. It was not much coated anymore, but certainly not pink either. However, at that moment I decided to stop, because I had become very weak (body mass index of 14) and also started to feel a ravenous hunger. It’s possible that Shelton is right when he says that this exhaustion of reserves before the tongue is clean happens when you are not resting enough, because in my case I continued working throughout the whole fast (light desk job though).

Also see Shelton's chapter on the difference between hunger and appetite:


http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020127shelton.III/020127.ch24.htm
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