COFFEY BREAK
for
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES
a different kind of coffee break with Gerry and Ray Coffey
Disease-Free Living Through Fitness and Nutrition

ADVICE
We began this Advice section as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health.  We believe that the information contained herein is true, but are not presenting it as the only solution to a problem.  We, personally, have found that a vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found.   Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body.  If you have a health problem, see your own physician.

Fasting

Gerry:

Thanks for your response.  I've consulted medical and other experts on fasting and I believe I have gotten the necessary plan.

Abby

Hi, Abby:

Not to be discouraging Abby, but few medical doctors know much about "Fasting."  Although most medical students are idealistic about their desire to help heal humanity, unfortunately Medical schools are funded primarily by pharmaceutical companies therefore Med students learn pathology (disease) rather than health and prevention.

Because only 1/3 of our Medical Schools offer any courses in Nutrition (the lack of which is the major cause of disease), and those that do offer approximately 3.5 hours as optional courses of study, doctors learn how to prescribe drugs and perform surgery.   Disease is not caused by an a deficiency of medication that supresses the symptoms rather than eliminates the cause, thereby insuring the problem will return in a more severe form.  Nor does most surgery eliminate the problem, but ironically, often compounds it.

That's why here, in the most affluent Nation in the world with highest doctor/patient ratio per capita:

* America has the highest infant mortality rate in the industrialized world

* American Children have as many as 5 heart-disease risk factors by the time they reach kindergarten

* When consuming the SAD (Standard American Diet), every other person is doomed to die of Heart Disease

* Heart Disease used to be the #1 cause of death in America but according to recent reports it has been replaced by "DOCTOR RELATED DEATHS: Wrong prescription; Wrong diagnosis; Wrong treatment; Wrong surgery, Post-surgery complications, etc.).

But to respond directly to your initial question about fasting:  True fasting means a complete absence of food in any form, including juices, along with complete mental and physiological rest.  While resting, one should consume a minimum of two quarts of water (preferably distilled) per day.

For people with no serious health problems a 3-day or weekend fast (for more than that we recommend professional supervision) beginning on a Friday morning or evening (being hypoglycemic, I find it easier to fast after a night's abstinence as it's that first bite of food that sets the insulin loose and causes hypoglycemics to feel irrationally hungry).  One can break the fast on Sunday or evening (Monday morning for a 3 day fast) ideally with freshly extracted vegetable juice: carrot juice or a mixture of carrot and greens.

Keep in mind if you feel dizzy or weak during the fast it means your body is utilizing energy usually expended for digestion to heal whatever might ail you, and that a few sips of water and total relaxation is the best response.

Please read our article on Water Fasting.   It is an excerpt from a book which explains different aspects of fasting from one person's point of view, and for follow-up information you might wish to check out other articles on our website.  With your permission, I'll use your question to educate others in our advice column and will change your name should you wish.

Hope the above and following is helpful;-)

Gerry
www.all-creatures.org/cb/ 

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