Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/154

 surplus food held within the body food beyond the need of the system for the repair of broken-down tissue.

Symptoms of disease, the outward and inward evidences of its presence, vary with temperament, hereditary tendencies, surroundings, and the physical condition of the individual. No two human beings ever express identical morbid signs, even in like environment ; and the reason underlying the development of disease symptoms, perhaps diametrically opposed, in persons similarly situated, is to be sought in the domain of the phenomena of heredity.

Food prepared in the successive stages of digestion for conversion into tissue nourishment is eventually transformed into chyle, a milky fluid that is absorbed from the intestines and carried through liver, heart, and lungs to the arterial system. Elements other than food products enter into the cell structure, but the great supply of material for rebuilding is secured from food ingested and digested, and blood quality depends in large degree upon food properly converted and perfectly assimilated. Any disturbance of any part of the processes of digestion and assimilation causes an imperfect supply of