Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/56

 resort to the partial fast. The process of elimination accomplishes but one thing the casting out of waste and to return to feeding puts extra labor upon organs already overtaxed. Vital parts are often defective in structure due to wrong treatment in the growing period, or to inherent deficiency, and then, when the fast is invoked, the symptoms are invariably distressing. When, during the omission of food, symptoms of pain and distress are aggravated, and resort to food is taken, the trouble is only increased, and the patient finds himself in deeper water than before.

Fruit juices and liquid vegetable foods are the proper diet indicated when the fast is broken before its completion or at its logical end, since these are easily handled and place no great tax upon digestion. When acid fruits are not tolerated, the fast may be broken on vegetable broths alone. Various vegetables and cereals lend themselves readily to the preparation of broths suitable for the purpose named. Tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, rice, and barley, and garden produce generally may be utilized. But nothing can quite take the place of the broth from tomatoes, for this vegetable, though slightly