How Long Should One Fast?
For a person who has no fasting experience, the longest fast should never be over 10 days, unless they are under the supervision of a health expert with fasting experience. Fasting is the most natural method of purifying the body and is truly a miracle! In our opinion, it’s best to do shorter fasts for the first few months, gradually working into longer fasts. This helps prevent distress to your body by gradually and gently loosening and passing the stored toxins out of the body.
A long fast must be supervised by an expert because only they can best determine when a fast should be broken. Sometimes even the experts cannot tell how long a fast should last. When and how to break the fast is determined by carefully watching how conditions in the faster’s body change during the fast. The expert watches to see how fast the body, kidneys, etc. are throwing off mucus and toxins. They will examine the urine daily – if too many toxins are being eliminated, causing a strain on the kidneys, they will usually stop the fast.
Even the greatest experts won’t all agree with putting a person on a 30 or 40 day fast. Often people plan a longer fast and find toxins pouring out so quickly that it’s best they do short fasts and not one big long fast. Sometimes in the first 6 days, if too many toxic poisons were released into their circulation, I felt it wise to have them stop the fast and do another short fast in a few weeks.
I have heard unqualified people say, “the long fast is best”. This I do not believe, because man is the sickest creature on earth! None of God’s other creatures have violated His nutritional laws as much as man; who eats with little discretion towards his health and life!
Shorter Fasts Are Better and Safer
Here again is another reason I do not believe in long fasts unless they are carefully supervised by a health expert. The average person is not only filled with toxic poison from wrong food, air pollution, water pollution and common table salt, but they also have a residue of the many drugs they have consumed stored deep in the organs and tissues of their bodies. So a long fast to cleanse one’s body might sound good in theory but, in actual practice, it is emphatically not the case!
In my personal experience, I have achieved greater benefits from short fasts than I have by the long fasts, even though I have supervised many long fasts. Starting with a 24 to 36 hour fast weekly, I find that the faster can really give himself a splendid internal house cleaning. The person who wishes to attain supreme vitality and agelessness can prepare for a 3 to 4 day fast by following the “No Heavy Breakfast Plan” (I regard fresh organic fruit as nutritional refreshment, not as a full meal) combined with a program of eating only whole, natural, organic foods for several months.
After about 4 months of the weekly fast and 4 to 6 fasts of from 3 to 4 days, a person would be ready for a 7 day fast. By this time, large amounts of toxic waste will have been removed from the body by this series of one day fasts and longer fasts, combined with The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle of eating healthy organic fruits, veggies, sprouts, whole grains, raw nuts and seeds. Remember, it’s important to drink 8 glasses of distilled water daily!
With a background of 6 months of internal cleansing, the 7 day fast will then prove quite simple! This first week- long fast will be a wonderful experience because the internal purification the faster experiences are absolutely tremendous! In several more months, this person will be ready for a ten-day fast. Again this will cause a super-cleansing of every cell in the body.
Faster Gathers Marvelous Experience
Once you embark on this sensible, logical program of internal purification, you will be thrilled with the joys of your new life that fasting will become a necessary part of life itself. Day by day, while you watch the miracle of rejuvenation taking place in your body and mind, you will rejoice that you have been led to The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle of Living that will make you a healthier, happier and better person every day of your long, fulfilled life!
Why Should You Fast?
Most people spend the major part of their short lives destroying their health! But those who have found the truth have captained their lives to healthy living. It all comes down to the law of compensation. You get out of an effort just what you put into it! To me, to achieve supreme health, vitality and agelessness is worth all effort possible! I found what I want in life. I know that money cannot buy health, long life and agelessness. I follow my Bragg Healthy Lifestyle and I enjoy supreme health!
Every day we read about wealthy men and women who are desperately ill, sadly many dying long before their time. There is no wealth that can impart or equal health and agelessness. That is the reason I often tell people that I am the richest man on earth. I am a health multi-billionaire! I have the greatest wealth a person can have. I have Supreme Health 365 days of the year. I have a painless, tireless and ageless body. No one gave me my Health Wealth. I earned it by living The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle and by always staying as close to Mother Nature as possible in this polluted, poisoned world of today.
The More Often You Fast, The Longer You Will Be Able to Fast
I do not want to limit your fasting to 10 days. But I do not advise fasting any longer than 10 days until you have had, at the very least, four 10 day fasts spaced at 4 month intervals. With that experience behind you, you could graduate to a 15 day fast. By then you have done a tremendous amount of internal house cleaning.
Great Benefits From Short & Long Fasts
If you are ready to attempt a 21 or 30 day fast you know now how to conduct the fast. You now have your past fasting experience and knowledge to guide you! But, personally, I feel that my weekly 24 to 36 hour fast and my 7 to 10 day fasts 4 times a year is sufficient fasting for me. I eat only 12 meals a week and sometimes less because I never eat unless I have a genuine hunger!
Again let me state emphatically that fasting is a science. Please do not force yourself into a long fast because you think the long fast is going to do wonders, unless you are under the strict supervision of a health expert. And even the expert may decide that you would benefit more from shorter fasts to first condition yourself to a longer fast. Your 24 to 36 hour weekly fast, your 3 or 4 day fasts and your 7 to 10 day fasts will provide you with the fasting experience you will definitely need should you wish to try a longer fast later.
I have found in my research on fasting that even the health experts disagree on how long one should fast to get the very best results. Health opinions worldwide vary on fasting lengths from 7 to 30 days. I personally don’t believe in the longer fast unless it is really an emergency – and then it is imperative that it be supervised by a health expert. I have thousands of students worldwide following this fasting program I’m presenting to you in this book. They are delighted and satisfied with the marvelous health benefits they enjoy!
Fasting Is Appreciated Worldwide
The German fasting resorts believe the ideal fast is 21 days. The French are in favor of not more than a 14 day fast. In England they feel a 30 day fast is best. In our American fasting resorts, many fasts are supervised from 14 to 30 days. I have found that in foreign and American fasting resorts, the directors are dedicated men and women who have a thorough knowledge of fasting. They all have been successful with people with many complicated physical problems!
Fasting is a great and wonderful science and there is much to learn about it. I have been supervising fasts for over 70 years. During these years I have faithfully fasted and have enjoyed wonderful benefits! It is my honest opinion that if anyone fasts over 10 days they should be under the guidance of a health expert they can call.
I believe that the average person can fast 10 days without any complications. The 10 day fast results in a great amount of internal housecleaning. I sincerely hope I am not putting any fearful thoughts in your mind about the great science of fasting. There are thousands of people worldwide who supervise their own fasts and some for even 20 or 30 days. When I speak on fasting at the Bragg Health Crusades worldwide, I ask my students how many have supervised their own fasts. I found that thousands of Bragg followers have fasted 20 and 30 days or more with great results and had no problems!
But, I still feel that if a person is going to take a 30 day fast, it is wise to be under the guidance of a health expert, who knows how to control long fasts. They are always ready to help you when the toxic poisons are being eliminated more heavily. They might advise you to break the fast, because they feel you may have loosened enough toxic poisons for this particular fast. Always be flexible, kind and loving to your precious miracle body!
Short Fasts Need Good Nutrition & Good Healthy Lifestyle Habits Between Fasts
I know that the wheels of progress grind slowly, but surely. Here is my theory on the science of fasting. We are dealing with human nature and there are many fears in each of us. I believe that more people will experiment with the science of fasting if they do short fasts. Many people are willing to try a 24 or a 36 hour fast and, when they find that they feel better and look better, they will then attempt a 3 day fast because they now have more confidence. The next thing you know, they will fast very successfully for 7 to 10 days. Many of my students who took several 10 day fasts had such good results that they tried a 15 day fast. Some even went on to 21 day fasts and others tried the full 30 day fast by themselves.
But they wisely started with the 24 hour fast and then graduated to the longer fast. The more experience and good results you gain, the stronger belief you will have in fasting. If you have never fasted before, start with 24 or 36 hour fast each week. I urge you to be the judge of the wonder-working miracle powers of the fast.
Then you may graduate to the 3 to 4 day fast and, after that, to a 7 to 10 day fast that will make you very proud of your willpower. You can accomplish a great amount of internal cleansing on short fasts. Remember, it is cumulative. The more you fast, the cleaner you become inside. Just make sure that between fasts you are faithfully living the good, Bragg Healthy Lifestyle!
Pre-Cleanse Diet Brings Better Fasting Results
If you prepare for a fast by eating a cleansing diet for 1 to 2 days, this can greatly facilitate the cleansing process. Fresh variety salads, fresh vegetables and fruits and their juices, as well as green drinks (alfalfa, barley, chlorophyll, chlorella, spirulina, wheatgrass, etc.) stimulate waste elimination. Live, fresh organic foods and juices can literally pick up dead matter from your body and carry it away. Following this pre-cleansing diet a few days, then you are now prepared and can start your liquid fast (read reference page xiv).
Here is My Personal Fasting Program –Which I Recommend for Bragg Students
I know the great benefits I have received from fasting, and that goes for my whole family. Every week Patricia and I take a 24 to 36 hour fast. We never miss this! In addition we fast from 7 to 10 days, 4 times a year.
Over the many years that I have been following this schedule, I have kept myself in superior health. I am a human dynamo! I get more living out of 1 day than most people get out of 5. I have unlimited energy for work and play! I never get tired – sleepy, yes. But never do I get that worn out, exhausted feeling. I keep myself active mentally, physically and spiritually! I maintain a heavy lecture schedule and I travel worldwide. I write and have many duties to perform. But I still make time for an enormous amount of vigorous physical activity.
All of my sports and play time is spent with youthful men and women who don’t recognize calendar years and who are ageless in body, mind and spirit as I am. Otherwise, I keep far, far away from prematurely old people, because most of them are so negative! Sad facts – millions have convinced themselves they are old and tired! This the reason they are ready for the scrap heap! Many died mentally years ago and have joined the half-alive generation. Avoid this! Please don’t join them!
My daughter Patricia and I belong to hiking, tennis and beach clubs, gyms, mountain climbing clubs and dancing clubs. We love ballroom dancing and South American dances like the samba, tango, etc. and fast moving steps that give us a chance to be physically active and mentally joyous. Try it – turn the music on and dance! If needed, take lessons and learn – it’s fun! We enjoy the Hawaiian dance – the Hula. When at home in Hawaii, we give health buffet parties along with some Hawaiian musical entertainment, singing and dancing.
When your body is cleansed by fasting and living a naturally healthy life, you will discover you feel wonderful all the time. This is because God and Mother Nature intended people to be healthy, happy and well-balanced; free of fears, frustrations, stresses and strains!
Breaking Health Laws –You Pay Big Price!
Please understand that man cannot break a Natural Law. He only breaks himself while attempting to break the Natural Law. Can man break the law of gravity? Can man jump off a 25 story building and live? No! This also applies to Mother Nature’s Laws. Man is brainwashed into eating the processed, devitalized foods that has propelled him into a pitiful physical condition. Americans are so gullible they believe the false propaganda passed out by big special interests, saying Americans are healthy and long-lived.
Sickness is Costly Big Business in America!
Who spends more money in the pursuit of health than any other nation in the whole, wide world?
AMERICA DOES!
Who spends more money for doctors, nurses, clinics, hospitals, surgery, drugs and health insurance?
AMERICA DOES!
Which nation has more “drives” to collect funds to fight the many diseases that plague our population?
AMERICA DOES!
Who has more convalescent homes, mental clinics and institutions than any other country in the world?
AMERICA DOES!
What nation spends the most money on magazine, newspaper, TV and radio advertising promoting “do it yourself,” over-the-counter drug medication?
AMERICA DOES!
What nation takes the most sleeping pills and diet pills, laxatives, aspirin and other pain killers?
AMERICA DOES!
We even have children’s aspirin. Sadly, it seems they need painkillers! Aspirin in any form – be it buffered, plain or mixed with other compounds – masks the problem instead of solving it. Pain is the body’s alarm!