Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/260

 main. The new body thus created is then ready for the process of rebuilding upon normal lines.

The differentiation between starvation and fasting is made upon the basis that starvation is the consequence of food denied, either by accident or design, to a system clamoring for sustenance, and that fasting consists in intentional abstinence from food by a system diseased and, as a result, non-desirous of sustenance until rested, cleansed, and again ready for the labor of digestion. This might be admitted and yet not alter the fact that the processes in operation are largely identical. But it has been observed that the human body carries a reserve store of nerve sustenance, both in health and in disease ; hence, the process of fasting, undertaken only when disease is in evidence, is not at all analogous to that of starvation, which can occur only when the supply of nerve sustenance is exhausted, or, when, as is the case in instances of overfeeding and mal-assimilation, the brain is prevented from utilizing its stored nourishment through obstructed channels of supply. The patient may starve, though well-fed; and in applying the fast, keeping the distinction as stated in mind, starvation