“And the word of the Lord came unto me in the tenth month in the government of Oliver Cromwell, in the year 1653 when I was walking among my sheep, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat nor drink for the space of 14 days anything but water. But fear not for I will feed thee with the dew of heaven and with the sweet incense of my love, and my word shall be unto thee sweeter than honey, and I will make thee to know that I am able to keep thee fresh and strong, and able to do my work without the creatures as well as with it!”

In this chapter consideration will be given to a review of the medical literature from 1967 to 1977, in which approximately 160 papers dealt in some way with the aspects of the subject. Fifty-two of these, which were felt to be the most pertinent, were reviewed by the author. For several reasons, not much information could be gained from them. Much was too scientific for the general reader, and almost exclusively the subject dealt with obesity and the disease concept (2), not with the healing of the whole person, which is our overriding concern here. Also in this chapter is a brief consideration of the fast as it has been practiced through the ages; and there are extensive comments on the use of the fast in the therapeutic setting at Meadowlark, where several hundred guestpatients have been involved.

Few physicians have seriously considered the fast as a technique worthy of study; and most of those who did, concentrated on its used only in the treatment of obesity. Two notable exceptions, however, are psychiatrists Allan Cott, M.D., and Robert Meiers, M.D. The latter was associated with my work at Meadowlark for a period of three months and initiated my interest in fasting. Dr. Cott spent time in Russia studying the program of Professor Serge Nikoliav of the Moscow Psychiatric institute where, as of 1972, 6,000 patients had fasted under Nikoliav's direction, resulting in a very high success rate for treatment of chronic refractory schizophrenia, and without a fatality. These patients had not responded to the more usual types of psychiatric therapy. Their fasts were on water, lasted 25 to 30 days, and included much aerobic exercise in the form of long periods of daily walking.

Most attention to the medical fast has been given outside the United States. Paavo Airola's studies of the European clinics cite many successful fasts for a wide variety of human ailments. My own acquaintance with the Bircher-Benner Clinic of Zurich has been a strong incentive toward the use at Meadowlark of vegetable juices and the role of raw vegetables and fruits in the therapeutic armamentarium.

The notable work in this country has been carried on by a small group of Naturopathic physicians. Especially useful is the work of Herbert Shelton, who has been employing this modality in his center in Texas for 40 years, guiding many thousands of patients through fasts. His book, The Hygienic System, Fasting and Sun Bathing, Vol. III, is the most complete discussion of the physical aspects that I have encountered.(4)