As cited in the medical literature, fasting for obesity has frequently been continued for sixty days and at times considerably longer. The most usually prescribed fast at Meadowlark lasts from two to three weeks. The maximum was 34 days. In that instance the patient was suffering from severe anklyosing arthritis of the spine, such that she had no possible neck motion and had to turn her body to look to the side. There was also associated moderate obesity. This particular guest discovered during the fasters' group therapy that her body stiffness bore a striking parallel to a very unbending religious system in which she felt enmeshed. Toward the end of her fast as she was increasingly allowing herself to express pent up feelings, she began to notice a beginning of motion in the upper spine.

A further use of water fasting is in the emerging field of medical ecology pioneered by Doctors Coca, Randolph, Philpot, Dickey and others.(7) This is in the nature of what is referred to by them as presumptive food testing. That is to say, after four to five days of water fasting when symptoms have quieted down and frequently been accompanied by a drop in the pulse rate, a large meal of the suspected food is given as a single meal, symptom return is noted and the suspect food either discovered or eliminated as a source of symptoms. A case to illustrate:

P.U., a 35-year-old housewife, was seen by me a few years ago complaining of depression, irritability, excruciating headaches, rapid heartbeat, a tremor of her hands, sinus congestion and urinary problems. After a four-day water fast at Meadowlark her symptoms were relieved. Presumptive food testing revealed that following the ingestion of milk her sinuses became congested; following a meal of corn her tremor developed; a headache became evident subsequent to the ingestion of a meal of bananas, and her bladder symptoms followed both rice and strawberries. Two months later she reported no further headaches, bladder trouble nor depression and her marital relationship was vastly improved. The subsequent month, as often happens when one feels much improved, she became lax with her dietary restrictions and practically all her symptoms returned.

The most common of the reacting foods are those which are consumed most regularly, frequently on a daily basis giving the impression that this frequency of ingestion probably exceeds the body's ability to supply the vitamins, enzymes and minerals required to ensure proper absorption and assimilation. The results often are the cited symptoms of toxicity. Also, life's stresses that are not adequately being handled seem to play a role in these events. And symptoms certainly may also be brought to light by pesticides and other chemicals in the foods, water, the air, clothing, or elsewhere in the immediate environment. While all of these factors play an important role in health, let us not for a minute become imprisoned in a world seemingly controlled by the environment. A hundred years ago a leading homeopathic physician, Dr. James T. Kent, gave good counsel in this regard:

The partial or juice fast also finds a place for all the conditions previously recounted and is less threatening to many. Needless to say, the time needed for results may be longer, but the patient's emotional attitude will be superior, particularly if there is a lack of self-confidence with its frequently accompanying feelings of self-deprivation. I prefer the patient to have a choice in the type of fast and the length of fast. For some, even a juice fast is too severe, and in such cases there is a real place for a partial fast, limited to raw fresh vegetables or fruits as practiced at the BircherBenner Clinic.(8)