Fluoride Information

Fluoride is a poison. Fluoride was poison yesterday. Fluoride is poison today. Fluoride will be poison tomorrow. When in doubt, get it out.


An American Affidavit

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Chapter 6: Some Letters from Fasters.: The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair from archive.org

 

Chapter 6: Some Letters from Fasters.: The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair from archive.org

APPENDIX   Some Letters from Fasters.   London, Ontario, May 2, 1910.   Dear Sir, — Your article in a recent  magazine very greatly interested me.  My sister, on her way home from a five-  and-a-half-weeks' visit in Boston and  New York, where she had been en-  deavouring to discover the causes of  her frightful headaches, bought that  number of the magazine and read your  experience, with, as you can well  imagine, a deep interest. In Boston  she had consulted one of the two phy-  sicians supposed to head the profes-  sion (as consultants) in that city. This  man told her

she had Bright' s disease   171     THE FASTING CURE   and leakage of the heart, and he gave  her ten years to live — if she was very  careful. As she has five children  under twelve years of age, this was a  sad outlook. She weighed 122 pounds  when she left — and this was the lowest  weight since early girlhood — but on  her return, weighed on the same scales  in the same clothing, she was only 108  pounds. She looked very bad, and her  spirits were at zero.   Your article appealed to her, and  she would have unhesitatingly tried  your remedy, but that she was preg-  nant, and thought it would probably  mean the child's death. The Boston  obstetrician, who was consulted, said,  if the other doctor's diagnosis was cor-  rect, the child would have to be taken  at eight months.   After reading your experience, I  said to my sister : " You cannot per-   172     APPENDIX   haps follow Mr. Sinclair's example,  but you can approximate to it. If you  go to your own doctor he will un-  doubtedly send you to some sanatorium  where the patients are fairly stuffed.  Suppose you come over to my place  each noon and take dinner, having  eaten only a very light breakfast; then  rest from two to five, take a long bath  when you rise, go for a walk from six  to six-thirty, and then to your own  home for tea, taking only a shredded  wheat biscuit for that meal."   My sister consented, and on Satur-  day was weighed. On that light diet,  and in twelve days, she had gained  fourteen pounds. Her colour is re-  turning, she does not tire as she did,  and we are full of hope that she may  recover.   My object in writing was to thank  you for your frank recital of ills and   173     THE PASTING CURE   aches and their cure, and to get from  you the names of the books to which  you referred.   Several of my friends have read  your articles on my recommendation,  and one at least is seriously consider-  ing a lengthened fast. Reading the  article took me back to the * * no-break-  fast regime," which I followed for  five years, and then, for no especial  reason, abandoned. Already I feel  much better.   Sincerely and gratefully,   M. R. T.   Skowhegan, Maine, May 30, 1910.   Dear Sir, — I read your article in  the Cosmopolitan with deep interest,  and am to-day on my seventh day's  fast. My sensations thus far are  exactly like yours. I shall fast until  hunger returns, if it take a month.   174     APPENDIX   My age is forty-eight, and I have  enjoyed the best of health nearly all  my life. Even now my digestion is all  right, but for five years or so I have  been troubled with rheumatism, not  the painful, swelling sort, but lame  joints.   I tried ** Fletcherism," and for the  last nine months have done my best to  live up to his suggestions, but fell  down, exactly as in your own case. I  can't tell what to eat, or when I have  eaten enough.   Whether this fast of yours does me  any permanent good or not, my joints  certainly move better to-day than for  six months, and I have every confi-  dence in the theory. The physicians  here to a man all laugh at me, likewise  my friends. I had lost ten pounds in  weight at the end of the sixth day ; I  lost three the first, two each for the   175     THE FASTING CURE   next two days, and a pound a day for  the next three days.   You speak of an unmistakable appe-  tite. I could eat, of course, now,  though I have no appetite, and I am  wondering how I shall know when a  real appetite returns. Mrs. W. is as  keen to try the fasting cure as I, and  her condition is very like Mrs. Sin-  clair's, but I thought one member of  the family was enough for the first try-  out. Please pardon a total stranger  for encroaching upon the time of a  busy man, but in the hunt for health,  without which life is not worth living,  one will do things he would not other-  wise think of. For your information  I will say that I have attended to my  office and business every day since my  fast began, walking to my home and  back at least three times daily, for the  exercise; driving a touring-car nights   17G     APPENDIX   and Sunday, for pleasure, exactly as  though there had been no change in my  habits. The strangest part of the ex-  perience is that I feel so well, and ex-  cept for a slight faintness, feel per-  fectly well to-day. Say — but I was  hungry for the first two days !   Yours truly,   Herbert Wentworth.   Clyde Park, Mont., May 17, 1910.   Dear Sir, — I was much interested  in your article in the Cosmopolitan on  *' Starving for Health's Sake." For  some time before I read it I had been  troubled with a coated tongue and a  nasty, bitter taste in my mouth. When  I read the article my complaint was  probably at its worst. I consulted a  doctor, who gave me some capsules to  clean out my intestinal canal, so he  said. I asked him what I could eat     THE PASTING CURE   and he said, " The less you eat the  better." So I ate nothing for a week.  Everything connected with my fast for  that week was just as you described it  — a ravenous hunger on the second day  and after that no hunger at all. How-  ever, the coated tongue was still there,  and when I next saw the doctor I men-  tioned your article and said you re-  commended rectal injections. He said  he read your article and approved of  it, and said after a thorough examina-  tion that I had an impaction of the  colon. He said he would give me some-  thing to work on my colon and also  added that if I fasted long enough the  impaction would move out of itself.  He also recommended injections. On  the 25th day, although the coated  tongue and nasty taste were still with  me, I commenced eating again, as  there was so much work to do on the   178     APPENDIX   ranch, and I had to do it, as hired help  was scarce. I drank nothing but tepid  water and very thin lemonade, slij^htly  sweetened, during my fast of twenty-  four days. I dropped from 175  pounds to 143 pounds.   It is a week now since I broke my  fast and I am rapidly gaining weight.  Yesterday I weighed 152 pounds.  However, as I said, I still have the  coated tongue, although not so bad as  formerly, and when I regain more  weight, I'm going to begin another  fast. I am fifty-three years of age,  and have never used tea, coffee, whisky,  or tobacco. I want to read up on the  subject, so that when I begin again,  I'll know what to do. Your article  was all the literature I had on the sub-  ject, and it may have been imcomplete  in a great many important particulars.   Respectfully yours,   Robert Aitkin.   179     THE FASTING CURE   Chicago, III., May 22, 1910.   Dear Sir, — I think you will be in-  terested to learn the experience of my  wife, who tried your fast, with the  same results as your wife, over which  we are very much delighted.   Allow me to say that it was all done  on the quiet, and no one knew of it un-  til it was all over. And then, of  course, every one thought she was rav-  ing crazy, but she has since shown her  friends that it was just the thing to  do.   In the first place it appealed to her,  and she went into it with faith. She  fasted for eleven days, after the  second day was never hungry at all,  and really began to take nourishment  before she was hungry.   The whole thing came out exactly as  in your cases and was most interesting.  She had temperature the first two days   180     APPENDIX   and ate crushed ice. After that, hot  or col.d water as desired. The tongue  was coated very badly and her breath  very bad. The tongue cleared very  slowly and was quite discouraging, but  after a few days was clear again. She  lost over ten pounds, all of which has  been regained and more, too, and she is  gaining all the time. Complexion very  clear, and the picture of health. Appe-  tite great, eats everything, no aches or  pains of any kind, and, best of all, no  constipation, which was what she tried  the fast for. She lost no strength to  speak of and didn't have to take to bed  at all; in fact, did everything about  the house as usual.   Everything has been fine now foi  three weeks, and if the troubles return,  she is to fast again and do it right,  and will take no nourishment until the  tongue clears.   181     THE FASTING CURE   She took internal baths nearly every  day, and was astonished at the  results when nothing but water was  being taken. While we don't recom-  mend it for every one, it certainly has  been a godsend in this case, and I be-  lieve because it was done right and  with faith that it was just the thing  for her. You certainly have one con-  vert, and if this interests you, shall be  pleased to know it.   Yours very sincerely,   C. D. F.   Knoxville, Tenn., June 5, 1910.  Dear Sir, — I wish to acknowledge  my indebtedness to you for a restora-  tion to such health of body and clarity  of mind as I have not known since my  sixteenth year, when first I entered the  high school. That was twenty years  ago.   19^     APPENDIX   I read your article, ** Starving for  Health's Sake," in the Cosmopolitan,  and, as you may recollect, asked you  for information as to certain books  treating of the fast as a cure for  disease.   Instead of answering me fully, you  referred my case to the Bernarr Mac-  fadden Institution in Chicago, for  which I thank you, but I did not go  there because I had neither time nor  money for that purpose.   Through a local book-dealer I  ordered a copy of '* Fasting, Hydro-  therapy and Exercise," but after two  weeks of waiting it failed to arrive,  so with your Cosmopolitan article as  my only guide and sum total of know-  ledge as to the fast, I quit eating on  May 13 and did not take anything ex-  cept water until the morning of May  26. Even then I was not hungry, but   183     THE FASTING CURE   as I did not care to remain away from  work any longer I broke the fast on the  morning of the 26th. I lost thirteen  pounds in weight, but was never too  weak not to move around. I worked  in the office for seven days, and the  balance of the time remained at home,  basking in the sunshine and reading  constantly.   My health and appetite are in such  perfect condition I can eat anything  without fear of ulterior consequences.   As a result of the fast, I have  sloughed off all my impedimenta of  disease. Constipation of ten years*  standing is gone as if by magic. Piles  and resulting pruritis of eight years'  tearing torture are nightmares of the  past. Bronchitis and eczema of scalp  have vanished. Asthma, due to ner-  vous sympathy with the pneumogastric  nerve, is no more. Catarrhal deaf-   184     APPENDIX   ness, sore throat, intestinal catarrh,  and a general neurasthenic condition  have left me. Work was never so  pleasant. I cannot get enough of phy-  sical exercise, it seems; my muscles  seem to grow stronger as the exercise  proceeds, and my weight is going up-  ward about a pound daily. I am now  three pounds heavier than I was be-  fore my fast began.   Life was never so beautiful, hope  and joy never so green, the future for  me and humanity's great movement to-  ward a better day and higher good of  existence never seemed so reasonable  and possible of every realization as  now, in the full possession of physical  health and mental strength which have  come back to me.   Heretofore my work has been  wrought out in pain.   I am through with drugs. I gradu-   185 N     THE FASTING CURE   ated from allopathy long ago, then  took up homeopathy and have now dis-  carded it. I have spent over $500 in  the last ten years trying to get well on  medicines. These professional quacks  bled me for a living and knew not how  to cure me. Your article was written  in the spirit of wishing to help suffer-  ing man. It cost me only thirty cents  to use your method, viz. : six feet of  rubber tubing to make a siphon to take  two enemas daily. For that thirty  cents I obtained relief a million-fold  more beneficial than from $500 worth  of medicine. Nay more, from your  fasting idea I got rid of $500 worth  of poisoning during ten years of medi-  cal superstition.   Sincerely yours,   H. E. Hoover.     im     APPENDIX   Northwest Society Archaeological   Institute of America.  Washington, University, Seattle,   Wash., Nov, 5, 1910.  Editor Cos?nopolitan Magazine.   Am enclosing clipping which shows  that prominent men up here in the  great Northwest are not afraid to try  out certain methods of fighting disease  merely because they are thought to be  •' new " or *' faddy " (tho' in truth  the fast cure is as old as the Old Testa-  ment).   The value of Professor Colvin's fast  experience seems to be that he has  given to the world the best method of  breaking the fast and getting on to a  solid-food diet. Upton Sinclair said  the breaking of the fast is the most  important part of it, and would be the  most dangerous were it not for the  great natural food, milk, which tides   187     THE FASTING CURE   you over. But he fails to remember  there are thousands with whom milk  does not agree, sick or well.   Shortly after interview noted in en-  closed clipping from Seattle Times,  Professor Colvin attempted to begin to  break the fast with orange juices and  utterly failed. He then tried milk  and was made so sick that he had to  fast for three more days to get into a  condition to break the fast. He then  started in with a very light veal broth  (not soup, nor tea). He soon got so he  could take a cup of it every hour and a  half. To get on to solid food he tried  a few crackers with the broth, but  found too much soda in the crackers  and abandoned their use. Finally he  hit upon the very thing that fitted the  condition of his body, dry whole-wheat  bread toasted. This toasted whole-  wheat bread he had his cook crush   188     APPENDIX   with a rolling pin into a powder and  each day mixed more of it with the cup  of broth. After this he filled the cup  three-fourths full of this toast powder  and only poured in as much broth as  the dust would absorb, making a solid  gruel, which was very appetizing and  nourishing (so much so that the pro-  fessor continues to use it for breakfast  food though his fast is closed). Now  to this gruel he added mashed baked  potato from time to time (more each  time) until he virtually supplanted the  toast dust. From this he went to  baked apple, thence to raw eggs,  thence to macaroni, thence to pigeon  squab, and thence to solid earth.   It seems to me that his discovery of  the broth-toast-gruel method is a great  discovery. Especially so for those  who live in the cities and cannot be  sure as to the absolute purity of their     THE FASTING CURE   milk. Even when the milk diet can be  used it does not afford a solution for  getting off of a liquid diet on to a solid  food basis.   In your July number appears a  letter from Mr. Buel of New York in  which he says that it would be almost  criminal to permit any one advanced  in years to enter upon the dangerous  folly of the '* fast cure." I am en-  closing you a clipping from the  Oregonian, telling of the fasting ex-  perience of Professor Colvin's friend,  Rev. J. E. Fitch. Rev. Fitch is 81  years of age and a year ago took it  into his head to out-fast Moses. Holy  Writ says that Moses fasted 40 days,  and to prove to his congregation that  one did not have to be superstitious to  believe some of these Old Testament  tales, Rev. J. E. Fitch, at the age of 80,  fasted fifty days ; and instead of losing   190     APPENDIX   flesh towards the last part of his fast  actually gained in weight. He is as  vigorous to-day as he was at 21.   Your Mr. Buel spoke of fast^rs as  cranks and faddists and intimated  that your solid citizen would not thus  be led astray. Professor Colvin is not  a crank but one of our best citizens,  being well known both in this country  and Europe, and spoken of as the  probable president of the Pan-Ameri-  can University to be located in Porto  Rico.   Very respectfully,   Thos. F. Murphy.     210 Merriman Ave.,  ASHEVILLE, N. C, 9/11/10.  Mr. Upton Sinclair,  Arden, Del.  Dear Sir, — After fasting for ten        THE FASTING CURE   days I went off for ten days. Then on  for seventeen days, during which time  I got rid of a long list of troubles, ex-  cept a cough, for which I underwent  examination by a specialist. I found  I had tuberculosis. The entire upper  right lobe of my lung and about half of  the left upper lung being affected.  Now I am up here making a very rapid  recovery. I consider that the fasts I  took were the best things that could  have happened for me, since they  eliminated a bunch of troubles that are  nearly always present with tubercu-  losis, such as indigestion, sort throat,  rheumatism, etc. All of these left me,  and I never felt better in my life than  since fasting. I do not believe that  such a rapid recovery as I am making  could be possible had I not fasted.  Fasting did not cure the tuberculosis,  but it gave me an excellent stomach,   192     •r     APPENDIX   with which to fight it, and tuberculosis  will always give way to a good  stomach. I did not know I had tuber-  culosis when I started fasting, but I  now know, since learning more about  the disease, that I had the trouble in  an active state more than nine months  before I fasted. My cough got very  tame during the fast and very nearly  disappeared, but returned as I in-  creased the amount of food I took  after breaking the fast,, but at no time  did it get as bad as it was previous to  the fast. I weighed 172 lbs. in May,  when I began my fasting and dropped  to 148 lbs., and now weigh 180 lbs. and  never felt better in my life. Have but  a slight spot of the tuberculosis affec-  tion left in my right lung.   While I would not recommend  others affected with tuberculosis to   fast, I would ask that if you have any   19;]     THE FASTING CURE     letters from consumptives who have  fasted I would appreciate a copy.  Roland A. Wilson.     New Zealand, Sept. 10, 1910.  Dear Mr. Sinclair, — Your article  " The Truth about Fasting " in  August Physical Culture to hand this  week has much interested me. The  questions you ask at end of article will,  I hope, receive many replies, and give  much information regarding the fast-  ing cure. I, personally, can supply a  considerable amount of just such in-  formation as you require, but the fact  that I am a druggist in business pre-  cludes the giving of such for publica-  tion until drugs and I part company.  Let me explain. A little under four  years ago I came upon a copy of Phy-  sical Culture. It interested me and   il»4     APPENDIX   I followed up the reading by sub-  scribing, and obtaining various books  — Dewey's, Hazzard's, Carrington's,  Desmond's, Bales', Bell's and others. I  became quite convinced that about 99  per cent, of usual medical treatment  was wrong, and, in fact, actually detri-  mental, and often death-dealing to  those who were in search of health.  More and more I felt that I was  doing a big injustice to those who  applied to me for help, and  an accessory in bad practice by the  dispensing of physicians' prescrip-  tions. Yet I know that, like myself,  the great bulk of the doctors and  chemists were acting innocently and  even conscientiously when recommend-  ing drugs and practising the accepted  drug and surgical treatments. The  belief that drugs cure disease is so  deeply rooted in the average human   195     THE FASTING CURE   mind, and the teachings in medical  and druggists' colleges so universal,  and even thorough, that doctors and  druggists can hardly be blamed for  holding to their mother-loves.   However, I had an open mind, and a  desire to hand out a square deal, and  decided to make a practical test of the  new .teachings that had come my way.   I started by carefully selecting my  patients — those who I believed had a  fair amount of intelligence, and whose  ailments had supplied them with a  fairly long course of pain, worry and  expense. Being a druggist in busi-  ness, it would have been a very foolish  thing for me to have wholly condemned  drugs. And that is one reason why I  selected chronics for a start — I was  able to use the argument that as drugs  had had a long and faithful trial, and  had proven valueless in curing, a fast   196     APPENDIX   of nine or ten days would be, at least,  worth a trial. My first case was a  lady about thirty-five years of age.  Complaint, badly swollen, highly in-  flamed and ulcerated leg, extending  from two inches below knee to one inch  above ankle, and more than half way  around. She proved a good patient.  The leg had been bad with more or less  severity for fourteen years, and had  been treated by several doctors, drug-  gists, and others. She started on an  immediate fast. Within twenty-four  hours after fast commenced, the in-  flammation decreased; by the end of  the fourth day it had entirely sub-  sided, and by the end of the eighth day  not a vestige of the trouble remained.  This fast took place over two years ago  — she has held reasonably well to the  simple foods I advised, and so far  there has been no return of the ail-   197     THE FASTING CURE   nient. Her general health has very  considerably improved.   Since then I have treated, perhaps,  fifty cases by fasting, and many others  by simple dieting. Many complete  cures have been effected that ordinary  medical methods had entirely failed to  benefit. My list comprises many ail-  ments, ranging from one to forty-five  years in evidence, while the patients  themselves have ranged in age from  one year to eighty-five years.   X.     Hastings, Mich., Sept. 11, 1910.  Editor, the Cosmopolitan.   Every reader of your magazine owes  you a vote of thanks for the Upton  Sinclair article on fasting.   Mr. Sinclair said, ' ' There are three  dangers attending the fast." In my   198     APPENDIX   case there were four — the danger of  being sent to the Insane Asylum.   All my neighbours and relations had  the utmost contempt for what they  termed " my craziness." But not-  withstanding all this, I fasted four-  teen days, and stomach trouble, heart  trouble, kidney trouble, chronic  catarrh, and rheumatism, which for  years had made life a burden, are no  more. I do not have to tell my friends,  at this date, that it was a success, they  know it. My family physician has  since said that it was probably the best  thing I ever did in my life.   I consider myself greatly indebted  to you for furnishing me so efficient a  remedy, free of cost.   Gratefully yours,  Mrs. E. L. Raymond.     199     THE FASTING CURE   Upton Sinclair.   Dear Sir, — Yes, you may use my  name in connection with my experi-  ence.   As I did not take a complete fast  the first time, I began again Sept 4th,  and fasted thirteen days, when natural  hunger returned. Had none of the  unpleasant experiences of the first  fast. Was able to be on my feet and  work more than at any time in years.   Chronic rheumatism had caused  sinewy swelling of my knee joints, that  in turn had caused numbness of the  feet and lower limbs, making it impos-  sible for me to be on my feet. What I  have suffered with them from jar of  people walking across the room, or  brushing against them, cannot be told.  The first fast removed all the pain and  soreness. The last fast has brought  them down to normal or nearly so. I   200'     APPENDIX   am confident that I shall soon be able  to walk any reasonable distance.   You are certainly entitled to a place  among the public benefactors of the  age for giving to the people the know-  ledge you had gained bv the fast.  Gratefully yours,   Mrs. E. L. Raymond.   20 Bowdoin St., Boston, Mass.  Aug. 1, 1910.  Dear Sir, — I have just read with  much interest your article in Physical  Culture and am minded to send you a  brief account of my experience, which  has been in some respects more full  than your own. In speaking thus, I  refer to the fact that my fasts, though  not of so long duration as many re-  ported, were complete in this : that my  blood and tissue had cleaned up, my   mouth was sweet, tongue moist, and  201 o     THE FASTING CURE   there were plenty of the digestive  fluids and a call for good plain whole-  some food, which was slowly eaten and  perfectly digested, and my appetite  perfectly satisfied with a very moder-  ate amount.   I suffered severely from indigestion  and rheumatism, and made up my  mind to try the effect of complete ab-  stinence from food till I was better. I  was familiar with the writings of Dr.  Dewey and was well convinced that he  was correct in his views. I was in my  office the morning of Jan. 1st, and the  bookkeeper remarked as to how ill I  looked. Seven days after that (the  first seven days of my fast) I was in  again, and he spoke of my greatly im-  proved appearance, said I looked very  much better. He did not know nor did  I tell him the reason for the improve-  ment. On the 12th day — the first after   202     APPENDIX   I had broken the fast — he said I looked  much better, which was also true, but  when I gave him an explanation of the  reason, he would not believe in it at all.  In none of the four fasts which I  have taken have I set any time limit or  taken it as a stunt at all, but only have  been guided by^ conditions as they  developed. In no instance have I  failed, and in no case was food a  temptation to me until natural hunger  returned. It seems to me an error to  attempt to gauge the length of the  fast. We ought to be governed by  nature's direction. A " wise dog "  knows when he needs to fast, and fasts  till he wants food. It seems to me  when we get to that point of wisdom,  to know as much as the dog, we will  know enough to go by intelligent needs  instead of the clock.  My experience is not in accord with   203     THE FASTING CUBE   the view expressed in your article as  regards weakness of stomach and lack  of peristalsis after fasting. It is my  experience that after a complete fast  any plain food desired can be taken  without harm. I do not favour im-  prudence, of course, but I do not think  that there is any good reason for being  compelled to take fluid foods unless one  desires to. My longest fast was nine-  teen days.   C. D. NORRIS.   39 Rue Singer, Paris, France.  Dear Sir, — I read your article in  the May Cosmopolitan and was very  much impressed with the ideas you  advocated. I had for twenty years  been troubled with constipation, which  caused colds and grippe, besides mak-  ing me very sluggish. Being a singer  and teacher, these things were great   204     APPENDIX   handicaps on my work, so after read-  ing your article I decided to try it. I  was in Paris studying singing with  Oscar Seagle and Jean de Reszke, and  of course I needed to be at my very best  all the time, but I wasn't. I couldn't  keep from taking cold, which always  knocked me out of a week or two of  work. So when my teachers went away  for their vacation, I decided to start  the fast, and on July 31 I did so.  Being a coffee ** toper," it made it very  hard for me to give up my breakfast  cup of strong black coffee, but I did it  and the first three or four days I nearly  lost my mind. Never experienced any-  thing in my life that required so much  will power. However, I stuck to it,  but I was very hungry and had a split-  ting headache for four days, after  which it got a little better. Then  about the fifth day, as my hunger be-   205     THE FASTING CURE   gan to leave me, I began to break out  as if I had measles — this kept up for  five or six days. To add to that, my  mouth and throat became inflamed and  very sore, and that didn't cure up until  about the twelfth day of the fast. I  was exceedingly miserable all these  days, but I realized how much I needed  something of the kind to get the terri-  ble poison out of my system, so I just  held on and drank much water, and  walked in the sunshine all I could.  My tongue had a thick coat on it and I  had a terrible bilious taste in my  mouth for twelve days. I believed it  would take about twenty days to fix  me up just right, so I was going ahead  when I suddenly decided to make a  hurried business trip back to Texas;  so on the fourteenth day I sailed from  Cherbourg without having broken my  fast.   90ft     APPENDIX   I carried a dozen oranges on board  with nie to make sure. When I began  to breathe the salt air I got hungry, so  on the fifteenth day I began to eat  oranges and kept it up for a day and a  half and then tried to get some milk,  but could get none that was good, and  most of what I got was of the con-  densed variety. I did the best I could  for four days, when my system rebelled  and became clogged up and I took an-  other cold as usual. So I decided not  to eat another mouthful on that ship,  and I kept the fast up until I got to Ft.  Worth. Then I went at the matter  according to your instructions, and the  results were perfect. I took up  oranges for two days, then went on the  milk diet for two days, then began on  the boiled wheat. The results have  been highly satisfactory. Going from  a cold climate like Paris into a veri-   207     THE FASTING CURE   table inferno like Texas in summer  made it very hard on me, but the wheat  diet did everything for me and gave me  unusual strength and vigour even in  that hot climate where vigour doesn't  abound much in hot weather. All my  troubles seemed to disappear. I had  not sung a tone since I began the first  fast in Paris, so I began to practise  again, and I never realized such a  change in anything. Everything went  so easy and all my friends said that  they never saw such improvement in a  human voice. I have never even  desired to taste coffee, I am living on  wheat, nuts, all kinds of fruit and  vegetables, and the result is everything  you said it would be. I have com-  pleted my business in Texas and will  start back to Paris to-day. I am pre-  paring myself for the journey this  time. I have a large '* thermos "   208     APPENDIX   bottle which I have filled with wheat  and will carry plenty of fruit and  nuts.   I thank you very much for your in-  formation along the line of health.  You have been a great blessing to me,  and I am sure you have been also to  thousands of others.   Andrew Hemphill.     Omaha, Neb.   Dear Mr. Sinclair, — I was so fas-  cinated with the story of your fast  that I immediately made the experi-  ment for myself, abstaining entirely  from food of any kind for five days.   I had no particular ailment which  seemed to need the fast cure, but felt  impelled to do a little investigating on  my own account.   I kept a diary in which I recorded   209     THE FASTING CURE   each day's experience, including loss  in weight, effect of cold bath, amount  of exercise taken, etc. Without going  into details, I can simply say I was  astonished by the results. While in  one respect my experience differed  from yours, in that the desire for food  did not entirely cease at any time, 1  was surprised to find how easily it  could be controlled after the first day.  Since the fast I have kept on drinking  large quantities of pure water — re-  sulting in a gain in weight of twelve  pounds, increased digestive powers  and a wonderfully improved appetite.  I am frank to say I was never so  pleased with, nor so greatly benefited  by anything ever previously extracted  from a magazine article.   R. E. Wheeler.     210     appendix   760 Penobscot B'ld'g, Detroit,   Oct. 19, 1910.  Dear Mr. Sinclair, — Complying  with your suggestion, will hurriedly  and briefly group my experiences  through a fast which I took largely  because of your persuasive article on  that subject. I absorbed the informa-  tion you gave as well as I could, and  having been a great sufferer for over  twenty years with stomach and bowel  troubles, began a fast which I con-  tinued for nearly eleven days, adhering  scrupulously to the program outlined  by you, in so far as I could practically  do so, except I took only one bath  (tepid) daily before retiring and  omitted the enemas after the fifth day.  Am fifty-seven years of age, power-  fully built and athletic in habit and  practice. Normal weight around two  hundred pounds, height six feet one   211     THE FASTING CURE   and one-half inches. Various causes  reduced my weight some four years  ago to about one hundred and eighty-  five pounds, and almost constant non-  assimilation of foods prevented my  regaining normal weight. Weight an  hour previous to my last lunch prior to  the fast, one hundred and eighty-six  pounds; lost fourteen pounds during  the fast, eight of which fell off me the  first three days. My indigestion had  for years been accompanied by distress-  ing, persistent constipation. This did  not yield until the afternoon of fourth  day of fast, when my entire intestinal  functions seemed to become normal,  and although I had taken no food,  solid or liquid, no fruit juices, coffee,  tea or milk, absolutely nothing in fast  except Detroit River water, hot or  cold, as fancy suggested, after the  fourth day the bowels inclined to move-   2t2     APPENDIX   ment at least twice during each  twenty-four hours. Lost strength  gradually throughout fast, but looked  after essentials in my office from six  down to three hours the last day. I  had no pronounced desire for food  from first to last. Tongue remained  heavily furred throughout the fast,  breath offensive, even to myself. I sat  at table at breakfast and evening  meals, serving same, but using only a  cup or two of hot water as my portion.  Voice lost resonancy and timbre, and I  finally felt so enervated that I broke  the fast — juice of an orange first even-  ing, and of five oranges the second  day; of six oranges the third day,  during which I also sipped a quart of  rich milk, hot. Fourth day ate six  oranges, two quarts milk, slice of old  bread and about three-fourths pound  juicy steak, after which I soon be-   213     THE FASTING CURE   gan to eat more than the usual quan-  tity of wholesome food. For over four  months had no indigestion, bowels  regular and normal.   I am hoping to see my way clear to  fast again soon, for am needing a brace  physically. ... I owe you grate-  ful thanks for inciting me to under-  take the remedy.   With best wishes for your continued  success, usefulness and happiness.  Sincerely,   M. E. Hall.   In my discussion of the question of  what to eat, I have referred to the  meat diet, and also to the raw-food  diet. By way of throwing further  light upon the problem, I reprint here  two letters, one by a follower of Dr.  Salisbury, and the other by a man  whom I was instrumental in starting   214     APPENDIX   upon raw food. The latter article is  reprinted from Physical Culture, by  courtesy of Mr. Bernarr Macfadden.  The reader may find it difficult to  understand how two people can have  had such apparently contradictory ex-  periences. I myself, however, have no  doubt of the literal truth of their state-  ments, for I know dozens of people  who are thriving upon each of these  diets. It is to me only a further proof  of the fact that our knowledge of this  subject is as yet in its infancy, and  that all one can do is to experiment,  and find out what system best agrees  with his own orgginism.     504 West Second St.,  Los Angeles, Cal., July 28, 1910.   Dear Sir, — As you say in the  August Physical Culture that you   215     THE FASTING CURE   would like to hear the experiences of  fasters, I will tell you of mine. In  1889-1890 I was very sick with catarrh  of the stomach and bowels, which  developed into consumption of the  bowels accompanied by inflammatory  rheumatism. On May 1st, 1890, I  went to the office of Dr. James H.  Salisbury and treated with him for one  year. During the first nine months I  ate nothing but Salisbury steaks, be-  ginning with one ounce per meal and  increasing gradually as I could assimi-  late it to one pound per meal, and  drank a pint of hot water an hour and  a half before meals and at bedtime.  Salisbury steak, as you probably know,  is beef pulp — round steak with all fat  and fibres removed. I dropped weight  rapidly, going from 140 pounds to 90  pounds as this loss was diseased flesh.  I then gained as rapidly on beef alone   216     APPENDIX   and this was good hard flesh. During  the next three months he allowed me a  slice of toasted bread at two meals  daily in addition to the meat. For  the past twenty years I have eaten  meat three times a day with other  foods, consequently have not needed a  physician in that time. I have foolish  spells occasionally and indulge in  fruit, vegetables and cereals, and  destroy the proper ratio, viz. : 2/3 of  meat to 1/3 of other foods, then I be-  gin to get out of shape and this brings  me to my fasting experiences — about  eight of them in the last seventeen  years and lasting from five to fifteen  days according to the time it took for  my tongue to clear off. I find that the  more hot water I drink the quicker it  clears ; during the last fast three years  ago I drank one quart every two hours  through the day. I got my stomach so   217 p     THE FASTING CURE   clean that the water tasted sweet — ^this  is the test of a clean stomach.   Fasts have benefited me and I re-  commend them, as few people will live  on beef till their blood gets pure ; that  an exclusive diet of beef will make  pure blood I saw demonstrated in New  York at Dr. Salisbury's by micro-  scopic tests of my own blood and that  of others. When you are in this con-  dition you can expose yourself as much  as you like without danger of taking  cold. If people suffering with stomach  and intestinal troubles, Bright' s  disease, diabetes, rheumatism, sciatica,  or tuberculosis, would eat nothing but  beef pulp and drink hot water be-  fore meals they would be cured in nine  cases out of ten, as this was Dr. Salis-  bury's average of cures when they  stuck to the treatment. I acknow-  ledge that one gets rid of a lot of   218     APPENDIX   diseased tissue while fasting, but not  more rapidly than on the beef diet, and  the latter has the advantage that one  is making good blood all the time. I  consider that you are doing a great  work in recommending the fast cure,  and agree with you that Hamburg  steak is not the best food to break a  fast with, as it contains 1/4 to 1/3 of  fat and *' animal fat is a lower form  of organization, in fact is often a pro-  cess of degeneration." I have seen  several Salisbury patients have slight  bilious attacks from eating over-fat  beef, but they quickly recovered by eat-  ing leaner beef. Beef pulp is the best  thing to eat after a fast as it is ab-  sorbed quickly into the circulation and  I never saw a patient whose stomach  was too weak to digest it in small  quantities, well broiled. I believe in  dry foods, well masticated — no slops.   219     THE FA.STI!^a CURE   Dr. Salisbury said to me ** a man  whose food is beef can live in a hole in  the ground and be healthy." His last  words to me were, " Stick to beef and  liot water the rest of your life and  nothing but old age will kill you bar-  ring accident." I asked him how  long he had lived on this diet, he re-  plied, '* thirty years." — " Do you ex-  pect to die of old age?" " Sure."  He died August 23rd, 1905, at the age  of eighty-two from the result of an  accident. He was a most scientific  and successful practitioner; but nearly  all physicians, aside from those he  cured, called his treatment a farce and  a delusion because his teachings if  generally followed would put the  majority of them out of business. One  New York doctor told me while I was  on the diet " unless you give up beef   and hot water you will not live five  2i0     APPENDIX   years — ^you will wear your kidneys  out." I replied, ** you doctors say I  am going to die anyway, so I might as  w^ell die clean." I immediately in-  creased my hot water from one pint to  one quart before each meal and have  kept it up ever since. When I began  drinking hot water I had a slight kid-  ney and bladder trouble; this has dis-  appeared; the constant flushing has  strengthened these organs — I am now  sixty-four.   Cold water before meals is better  than none, but is not as good as hot  water, as the latter does not chill the  stomach or gripe one, and acts as a  tonic on the internal organs; is more  quickly absorbed and starts perspira-  tion, causing the skin to share with the  kidneys the work of eliminating waste  matter. If a person is not very sick  he can eat his round steak (after re-  moving the fat) ground without re-   221     THE FASTING CURE   moving the fibre. For a regular Salis-  bury steak leave the knife loose and  clean the grinder frequently.   You have a large gontract in trying  to force medical men to recognize the  fast cure. They even told me, * ' while  we think you are honest, you are mis-  taken; you did not see Dr. Salisbury  perform the cures you think you saw."  The Doctor considered me one of his  star patients ; he said I was as far gone  as any man he ever saw cured by the  treatment, and that he would rather  have three cases of tuberculosis of the  lungs than one like mine, my disease  being in the last stage.   You can do as you like with this  letter. I write simply to strengthen  you. Persist, you are on the right  track at last. You are no ** shallow  sensationalist." I like your writings.  Very sincerely,   Jas. Y. Anthony.   

 

No comments:

Post a Comment