Reviewing Briefly Some Aspects of the Fast as Seen in History:
Jesus—“This kind (referring to the cure, probably of epilepsy) can come forth by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) Before his period of temptation, Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness.

Pythagoras—He commanded his disciples to abstain from all things that had life, and from certain other meats which could interfere with mental perception, and to abstain from wine, to eat sparingly, and to sleep little. (Manly Hall)

Moses—In a time of drought, he fasted for forty days on Mt. Horeb.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church—Among its tenets, it views the stomach as the seat of the emotions and thus as having a marked effect on the personality. Strong foods such as meat are felt to strengthen emotional reactions and thus are seen as being related to violent behavior.(5)

Gandhi—In his autobiography, he describes his use of the fast and dietary restriction and its great influence on his life's work. It was his observation that passion and the hankering after pleasures of the palate were best brought under control through this means. He goes on further to elaborate that when the senses are subordinated to the rule of the mind, the special relish disappears and man can truly function as it was intended he should.(6)

It would seem that these illustrations reinforce the idea that in times of life's real need to find new sustenance, the fast with its physical cleansing, mental clearing and spiritual mountaintop experiences can open up new vistas on the path of life.

The Type of Fast and Its Length
The true fast is without doubt the water fast, but experience reveals that this is by no means desirable for all would-be fasters. Accordingly there are many modifications, some suitable and others that are of very questionable merit or even potentially injurious. The fast from both food and water will not even be considered because of the grave dangers that may be associated with its use. In the medical literature, as has been mentioned, the major, almost sole, subject of fasting has been in relation to the control of obesity. Here it has an important role, especially when used along with daily group therapy under staff guidance. When used on an outpatient basis, however, we would tend to restrict it to the overweight patient who has had previous experience with fasting and has been medically evaluated by a physician. Even in this instance we would feel that the patient should have available telephone contact with the guiding physician and a weekly evaluative office visit.

The water fast may also be used for patients other than those with weight problems if they have an adequate fat reserve, that is to say if the skin and subcutaneous tissues of the upper arm when pinched with a caliper measures no less than 20 mm. in the case of women and 15 in that of men. If less, consideration may still be given to a juice or a raw foods fast. In all the above instances, the fast should be supervised by a physician familiar with the procedure. Some of the problems most commonly well handled with fasting include hypertension, arthritis, allergies and headaches along with the detoxification from the use of multiple drugs or tobacco. In our experience this is a very valuable method of handling the problems of the undesirable side effects from long term cortisone therapy. However, in the latter instance, the procedure must be done very slowly, milligram by milligram over a period of time and usually will not be completed in the first fasting experience.