Part 3 of 3: The Physiology of Fasting

Spiritual Fasting
Part 3 of 3: The Physiology of Fasting
Extracts from Spiritual Nutrition by Gabriel Cousens

On the physical level of fasting there are many techniques and approaches. Gabriel views fasting as a way to abstain from that which is toxic to body and mind, and thus eliminating toxins from the system. The physiology of fasting favors healthy cells. Another definition of fasting includes any process which initiates the process of autolysis – poorly functioning cells are destroyed first in the process of fasting, and their components are broken down and re-metabolized. This usually begins after three days of juice or water fasting, which is the classic meaning, as compared to something like a “spirulina fast” or other types of food fasts. These are not really fasts. We stop a fast when the elimination of waste products is complete and the autolysis finishes with the unhealthy cells and begins to break down the healthy cells. This point is usually indicated by a return of appetite and the disappearance of the white coating on the tongue.

Healthy functioning of the body begins to deteriorate when the normal process of cell regeneration and building becomes slower than the breakdown of unhealthy cells in the body. This is usually connected with the accumulation of toxins in the tissues and cells to an extent that it interferes with the proper nutrition and rebuilding of cells. The Wendt Doctrine of excess protein intake, causing a protein storage disease by blocking the basement membrane, is a clear description of how this works. When the basement membrane is clogged, nutrients, including oxygen, cannot get through to the cells, and waste products cannot diffuse out of the cells back into the capillary blood¬stream. The result is that the cells begin to malfunction and degenerate. With excess toxicity and without sufficient nutrients, the process of new cell growth slows down. When cells are degenerating faster than new cells are regenerating, we experience aging and disease. It is said that in our industrialized nations many more people die of overnutrition than malnutrition. Fasting helps to clear out the basement membrane so that nutrients can begin to get to the cells and new cell growth can be stimulated. The proteins from the broken down cells are remetabolized and used to rebuild new cells during the fast, so that even without the intake of exogenous protein for cell building, cells regenerate.

During a fast, the eliminative systems of the body, the skin, lungs, liver, kidney, and bowels become more active. Because the body is not spending energy digesting and eliminating fresh toxins in the system, it is able to direct all its energy toward the elimination of old accumulated toxins and waste products. The increased release is usually evidenced by foul breath, body odor, dark urine, increased mucous secretion, and foul smelling bowel contents. Because of the extra energy freed by resting the digestive system and because of detoxification and the fresh minerals gained from a juice fast, fasting has a normalizing effect on the biochemical and mineral balance in the tissues and is a tonifier of the nervous system