Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/163

 promulgates: Rest through abeyance of the processes of digestion offers the possibility of complete renewal of functional machinery.

The manner in which the digestive organs may be given needed rest is perhaps not at once apparent. The mere thought of abstention from food carries with it violation of long-taught doctrine that frequent feeding in sickness and in health is necessary for the maintenance of vitality and strength. Yet just this omission of food is meant when rest through abeyance of the digestive function is suggested. The phenomena of fasting for the cure of disease include facts that prove that the human body does not depend for strength or for vitality upon ingested food; the latter is utilized for the repair of the body as the vehicle of the expression of these forces, and by it the material framework is kept in condition to liberate the life principle in its variety of manifestation.

In illness weight is always lost, and, contingent upon the duration or the severity of disease, the substance of the body diminishes in greater or in less degree. During sickness, under prevailing methods, feeding is continuous, and, if the stomach rebel, nutrient enemata are pressed into service.