tant to address issues on the Wghest level where the
most power exists. Therefore, a change in the field of
consciousness within mind brings about an alteration
within the body. When talking about depression, the brain, its hor
mones, neurotransmitters, and physiology are of great
interest. What are the real causes of depression? Again, we will refer to the Map of Consciousness,
wWch shows the levels ofconsciousness from zero all
the way up to the highest calibrated levels of joyful
states, and then even beyond, up to the state of con
sciousness the world calls Enlightenment. On the Map
we see that within those levels the energy fields have
a direction indicated by the arrows, which shows
whether we experience something as a positive asset
in our lives or as a negative, deleterious event. Near
the middle of the Map is the level of Courage, which
is the calibrated energy field of 200, the level ofTruth. Below 200, the energies are negative, and above 200,
the energy field swings upward, indicating a life-sup
portive energy field. We are going to review the human experiences,
starting at the bottom of the Map, called Guilt,Apathy,
and Grief.These fields express themselves in emotions,
such as self-hatred, self-recrimination, hopelessness,
despair, and despondency. All are accompanied by feel
ings of regret, loss, and depression. In these energy fields ofdepression, our view of the 365 DEPRESSION
world is that of a sad and hopeless place of sin and suf
fering. Our view of God, the God of a world like that,
would be of one who ignores us, who is unfeeling and
uncaring, and from whom we are separated. Out of
guiltiness, worthlessness, and sinfulness, God can be
imagined to have negative (anthropomorphic) human
attributes. When looking at the process going on in conscious
ness in the lower energy fields, at the bottom level
(Shame) is a state described as deflated. The one above
(Guilt) is called dispirited, which does not have the
energy of life orthe desire to live. In the Apathy state,
the process going on in consciousness is the loss of
energy. Due to the loss of the life energy within, a per
son no longer attracts energy from the universe. The
process is one of being de-energized, which leads to
the self-hatred of destruction and the lower states that
precede death. From this, there is often a pattern of
passive suicide. We are going to look at active and passive suicide. What do they arise from? How can they be handled? What do they really mean? In what way can we create
an understanding of this whole field of depression, this
plague of mankind? How can we benefit from an
understanding of the nature of consciousness itself? All the energy fields below the level of Courage
have a negative direction, and seldom does one of
these emotions occur singly. Generally, one negative
emotion tends to pull in others as well to some degree. In depression, there are also feelings of self-blame, self
hatred, and worthlessness.These feelings are associated
with the level of hopelessness and despair. There are 366 HEALING AND RECOVERY
regrets about the past and fears about the future, and
very often there are also guilt and anger. Frequently it
is said that depression is anger turned inward. Traditional psychotherapy recommends trying to
energize and bring up the anger accompanying the
depression, and then determine the source of the
anger.We will discover that both anger and depression
are the result of the same error-having made the
same mistake within the mind, and within conscious
ness itself. What is the error that will be found when
looking at the anger, the fear, the grief,the apathy, or the
guilt? We will fmd that the person has placed their sur
vival on something outside themselves. All the negative energy fields are based on placing
the source of our happiness externally. This results in
being vulnerable and also being the potential, hopeless
victim. Being the victim means perceiving a cause as
being outside ourself. Therefore, the vulnerability to
depression is present as long as we think the source of
our happiness is something outside ourselves. The common frailty of human consciousness is to
make happiness dependent upon externals, such as say
ing, "Well, when I get that degree, then I'll be successful
and happy," or, "When I learn that foreign language; or
get to move into that apartment; or get that fur coat or
new car; or when I get that advanced college degree; or
when I get that relationship; or, if I could just change
that person out there; if I could get my aunt to stop
drinking; if our company would only come out of the
red and go into the black, then I will be successful." It
is always 'out there'. Placing the source of our happi
ness outside ourself is putting us in the position of 367 DEPRESSION
being vulnerable to depression, anxiety, fear, and a
potential loss. It is only by owning ourself as the source
of happiness, as the experience of our existence, inde
pendent and beyond that which happens within the
world, that we become immune to depressive episodes. Each time we look at the Map of Consciousness, it
is from a different perspective with a different emphasis. It alters our understanding ofthe nature of human con
sciousness as we approach it from a different context
with a broader understanding. The levels of conscious
ness have either a positive or a negative direction, with
a crucial intersection in the middle at the level of
Courage, which is crossed over by telling the truth.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        In going through Neutral and Willingness to the
level ofAcceptance, we notice a release from suffering,
and what does that mean. When we are resisting and
trying to get away from it, we are at a lower energy
field and see the process as one ofentrapment. As long
as we resist the suffering and pain, as long as we are
angry, grit our teeth, struggle against it, and try to force
our will, we become further enmeshed in it. It's like a
quagmire-the more we struggle, the more entrapped
we become. To move up to the higher energy field of
freedom means to be released from the entrapment
and become empowered. The courage to face the issue
and do something about it brings empowerment. 328 HEALING AND RECOVERY
Willingness moves us up to a transformation of
consciousness and into the willingness to be forgiving,
loving, and compassionate. We can transcend this and
literally move beyond identification with the body and
what has happened to it into a conscious awareness
that we are something other than the body. In another chapter, we will talk about letting go of
resistance so completely that there is very little aware
ness of the body even being present. This also happens
with pain in which the thought, memory, and aware
ness that there is some pain only happens for a few
fleeting seconds during the day. I have used the thumb
only as an example of the realness of what I am pre
senting. The pain came to me for only a few seconds
throughout the day when it was still present. After
about an hour, I suddenly noticed the thumb and said,
"Oh, it's like I'm not even aware of its presence. "That
occurred maybe a few other times during the day. In a
twenty-four-hour period, the total amount of suffering
I experienced that the world would call painful
amounted to maybe five or ten seconds in the morning
and maybe a few seconds in the afternoon. The totality
of the suffering that came out of this experience,
which lasted for only a few months, amounted to prob
ably less than thirty seconds. It is valuable for all of us
to do this because through doing it, we realize the
truth of who we really are. Another assist to healing pain or any other distress
is to listen to great, beautiful music, which itself releas
es endorphins in the brain. That beauty provides a heal
ing effect has been known since the days of
Hippocrates. CHAPTER 11
Losing Weight
Is there a way to let go of weight in a way that is
practical, easygoing, joyful, and free from any kind
of suffering. Can this be done. Yes. All it takes is
about an hour or an hour and a half of our attention
over a day or two during the time we are doing the
things we normally do. The benefits are long lasting
for a lifetime. The reward for a couple of hours of just
paying attention to a few simple principles is a life
time of freedom from this challenge. How do I know
it works. Because it has worked for everyone who
has tried it. It has worked for my patients and for me. I permanently lost fifty pounds by using this very
simple technique that emerged out of consciousness
research. The alleviation of a problem


) L ABORATORY  TEST
The laboratory blood examination for aspartate transaminase and serum glutamic-oxaloacetic
(AST/SGOT) is a measurement of specific amino acid residues left behind by nitrogenous portions
of the metabolized amino acids. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) is found in the cytoplasm
and mitochondria of many tissue cells, primarily in the liver, heart, skeletal muscles, kidneys,
pancreas, and red blood cells. AST is released into blood serum in proportion to cellular damage, and its detection (together
with creatine phosphokinase and lactate dehydrogenase) indicates myocardial infarction. The test
also helps in the diagnosis of acute liver disease. It monitors patient progress in healing. AST
adult serum levels range from 8 to 20 OIL. Normal values for infants are four times higher. Maximum elevations of AST are associated with viral hepatitis, severe skeletal muscle trauma,
extensive surgery, drug-induced liver injury, and passive liver congestion. Levels ranging from
10 to 20 times normal may indicate severe MI, severe infectious mononucleosis, and alcoholic
cirrhosis. Moderate-to-high levels ranging from 5 to 10 times normal indicate Duchenne muscular
dystrophy, dermatomyositis, and chronic hepatitis, along with prodromal and resolving stages of
diseases. Low-to-moderate levels of 2 to 5 times normal may show hemolytic anemia, metastatic
liver tumors, acute pancreatitis, pulmonary emboli, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, fatty liver, and
the first stages of biliary duct obstruction. The Serum Bilirubin Laboratory Test
The laboratory test for serum bilirubin, the main product of hemoglobin catabolism, is a
measurement of bile pigment which indicates the state of health of the liver and gallbladder. After
being formed in the reticuloendothelial cells, bilirubin is bound to albumin and then transported
to the liver, where it’s conjugated with glucuronic acid to form bilirubin glucuronide and bilirubin
diglticuronide. These two compounds are then excreted in bile. Measurement of indirect or
prehepatic (unconjugated) bilirubin helps to evalute hepatobiliary and erythropoietic functions. Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 183Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comThe serum bilirubin laboratory test showing elevated levels often indicates liver damage in
which the parenchymal cells can no longer conjugate bilirubin with glucuronide. Then indirect
bilirubin reenters the bloodstream. Also, an elevated reading alerts the health professional to the
possibility of severe hemolytic anemia. This test aids in the differential diagnosis of jaundice,
biliary obstruction, and dangerous levels of unconjugated bilirubin. Normally in an adult, indirect serum bilirubin measures 11 mg/dL or less; direct serum
bilirubin of less than 0.5 mg/dL). Neonates have total serum bilirubin ranging from 1 to 12
mg/dL; if elevated to 20 mg/dL (for them, it indicates neonatal hepatic immaturity or congenital
enzyme deficiencies. An exchange blood transfusion may then be required. If readings of bilirubin are elevated for adults, the test advises about the possibility of
autoimmunity or transfusion reaction, hemolytic or pernicious anemia or hemorrhage, and
hepatocellular dysfunction perhaps from viral hepatitis. Needless to say, elevated levels of
direct conjugated bilirubin usually show biliary obstruction with overflows into the bloodstream. Intrahepatic biliary obstruction may come from viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, or chlorpromazine
reaction. Extrahepatic obstruction may come from gallstones, gallbladder cancer, pancreatic
cancer, or bile duct disease. The Serum Gamma-Glutamyl
Transpeptidase (GGT) Laboratory Test
The laboratory test for serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is a measurement of
obstructive jaundice in neoplastic liver disease, and it’s also useful for the detection of excessive
alcohol consumption. The GGT enzyme is sensitive to drug use and detects alcohol ingestion;
therefore, it’s used to  determine compliance with alcoholism treatment. It also helps in the
diagnosis of obstructive jaundice and liver cancer. The normal range for GGT varies with age in males but not in females. For men ages 18 to
50 it varies between 10 and 39 U/L. Older than that, males show a GGT  range from 10 to 48 U/
L. The normal range in women is 6 to 29 U/L. Elevation signals a cholestatic liver process. Note: The immune-stimulating effect of the Gerson Therapy frequently causes a rise in GGT
blood levels. The Acid Phosphatase Laboratory Test
The laboratory test for acid phosphatase is a measurement of the prostatic and erythrocytic
isoenzymes to detect cancer. Active at a pH of 5, the two phosphatase enzymes appear in the liver,
spleen, red blood cells, bone marrow, platelets, and prostate gland. Successful treatment for prostate cancer decreases acid phosphatase levels. Its normal values
range from 0 to 1.1 Bodansky units/mL; 1 to 4 King Armstrong units/mL; 0.13 to 0.63 Bessey-Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 184Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comLowery-Brock units/mL; and 0 to 6 U/L in SI units. Normal range of radioimmunoassay results
is 0 to 4.0 ng/mL. An elevated prostatic acid phosphatase test indicates Paget’s disease, Gaucher’s disease,
multiple myeloma, and a tumor that has spread beyond the prostatic capsule. If metastasized
to bone, the high acid phosphatase level accompanied by a high alkaline phosphatase shows
increased osteoblastic activity-metastatic bone cancer. The Alkaline Phosphatase (AP) Laboratory Test
An enzyme that is most active at pH 9.0, alkaline phosphatase (AP) influences bone
calcification and the transport of lipids and metabolites. The alkaline phosphatase laboratory test
measures combined activities of those AP isoenzymes found in the liver, bones, kidneys, intestinal
lining, and placenta. Bone and liver AP are always present in adult blood serum, with liver AP
most prominent—except during the third trimester of pregnancy when the placenta originates half
of all AP. The AP laboratory test is particularly sensitive to mild biliary obstruction and indicates liver
lesions. Its most specific clinical application is in the diagnosis of metabolic bone disease and
detecting skeletal diseases characterized by osteoblastic activity and local liver lesions causing
biliary obstruction such as tumor or abscess. It furnishes supplemental information for liver
function studies and GI enzyme tests, and it assesses the response to vitamin D treatment in
rickets. The normal range of serum alkaline phosphatase varies in accordance with the laboratory
method employed, but the usual total AP levels range from 30 to 120 U/L in adults and from 40
to 200 U/L in children. Since AP concentrations rise during active bone formation and growth,
infants, children, and adolescents normally show levels three times higher than adults. Additional
normal ranges for AP are 1.5 to 4 Bodansky units/dL; 4 to 13.5 King-Armstrong units/dL; 0.8 to
2.5 Bessey-Lowry units/dL; 30 to 110 U/L by SMA 1260. High AP blood levels indicate skeletal disease, intrahepatic biliary obstruction causing
cholestasis, malignant or infectious infiltrations, fibrosis, Paget’s disease, bone metastases,
hyperparathyroidism, metastatic bone tumors from pancreatic cancer, and liver diseases before
any change in blood serum bilirubin levels. Moderate rise in AP levels shown by this laboratory test may reflect acute biliary obstruction
from liver inflammation in active cirrhosis, mononucleosis, osteomalacia, deficiency-induced
rickets, and viral hepatitis. Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 185Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comThe Alanine Transaminase, Serum
GLUTAMIC -PYRUVIC  TRANSAMINASE  (ALT/SGPT) L ABORATORY  TEST
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), one of the two enzymes that catalyze a reversible amino
group transfer reaction in the Krebs citric acid (tricarboxylic acid) cycle, is necessary for tissue
energy production. (The second enzyme is aspartate aminotransferase.) Elevated


)

Onions

Asparagus

Pea pods (optional)

Green beans (optional)

Place your desired veggies into a stainless steel steamer, and steam for 5 to 7
minutes. You may wish to put these steamed vegetables over whole grain
brown rice with an onion or veggie sauce. *Stainless steel “leaf” steamers are inexpensive and can be purchased at any
department store that carries kitchen utensils. They are made to fit down into
saucepans. Avoid all aluminum cookware. Stir-Fried Veggies
3 tablespoons olive oil
 Chopped vegetables of your choice (including bean sprouts)

Add olive oil to skillet. Heat oil and add chopped vegetables (the sky is the
limit where your choices are concerned). Stir-fry for approximately 5–10
minutes, but don’t overcook. Season to taste with your favorite herbal spices. Short-Grain Whole Brown Rice
1 cup of short-grain brown rice

2 cups of water

Rinse rice and put into a pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and
cook on low heat for 45 minutes until all water is absorbed. Millet Cereal
Use this once a week only. Prepare according to package directions, or as you
would oatmeal. Use rice milk only. Sweeten with honey, molasses or maple
syrup. Your food determines in a large measure how long you shall live – how
much you shall enjoy life, and how successful your life shall be. — Dr. Kirschner,
Live Food Juice

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Power of Herbs
W
hen I started using herbs and herbal formulas over twenty-seven years ago,
my success in my clinic skyrocketed. I began to see much deeper cleansing
and healing—true regeneration and vitality—in tissues. Previously, with
supplements, I would see
some
 improvement, and maybe some symptoms
eliminated. However, these symptoms would return when the
supplementation was stopped. Today, the use of herbs (botanicals) is vital to the restoration of the
human race. Their power to invoke the cleansing and regeneration process
can’t be equaled by manufactured supplements or chemical medications. Where chemical medications suppress and hold toxins in the body, herbs pull
and clean these toxins out as well as strengthen the cells. Because herbs
haven’t been hybridized they haven’t lost their powerful nutritive and
electrical properties. From a spiritual viewpoint, herbs carry the “original awareness” with
which they were created. When an herb’s “consciousness” or awareness
unites with the consciousness of a human cell, this empowers the cell to
function as
it
 was originally created. As DNA and cellular activity changes,
this yields greater vitality to cells, tissues, or glands. With their powerful
cleansing actions, herbs empower the body to clean itself out of all
obstructions, thereby enhancing blood, lymph, and neuro (energy) flow to
the cells. The original power (consciousness), nutrition, and active ingredients that
herbs have can make the difference between life and death. We have come to
a point genetically in our cellular patterns where treatment is no longer
effective. The chemical toxicity levels in our air and from our foods is so
high that acidosis and deterioration is affecting everything—our buildings,
statues, water supplies, animals, and especially ourselves. In the last 100 years
humans have done what no other animal has ever done in billions of years:
we have destroyed the earth. If you wish to survive this, changing your
approach from treatment to detoxification is essential. If you
do not alkalize
and clean out the poisons that are killing your body, your chances of getting
healthy remain very low.This book is aimed at changing your viewpoint about treatment. It has
been my life’s work not to treat, but to detoxify and regenerate. This is
especially true in chronic and degenerative disorders, such as diabetes (type
I), cancer, arthritis, and MS. One cannot just treat these conditions. The
tissues (organs and glands) that are failing must be restored. Herbs have been used for ages by humans and animals for the treatment
of disease as well as for nutrition. Herbs are non-hybrid vegetables. Their
nutritional, electrical, and medicinal content is much greater than most hybrid,
garden vegetables. The uniqueness and superiority of herbs lies in their
strong medicinal compounds, or what I call their restorative properties, which
include acids, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, coumarins (clotting factors),
tannins, (astringent properties), antioxidants (immune), bitter principles and
much more. A list of many of these herbs and their effects upon tissues will
be found in
Module 8.2
,
Power Herbs. The restorative principles in herbs can enhance, cleanse and provide
nutrition to cells and tissues, thus affecting cell and tissue response. Herbs
increase the blood and lymph flow within tissues, which increases nutrition to
cells and allows them to eliminate their wastes. Herbs are “tissue-specific” in that each herb was designed by God to
affect a specific type of tissue or part of the body. The beauty of God’s herbs
is that they can and do affect many different types of tissues at the same time. Examples of this would be Licorice Root, Saw Palmetto Berries, and Chaste
Tree Berries. These herbs not only affect the endocrine gland tissues but also
have a broad range effect upon the body. They strengthen the vascular
system, enhancing male and female organs, and are anti-inflammatory as
well. Parasite herbs such as Black Walnut Hull and Pau d’Arco not only kill
parasites but enhance the immune system and the endocrine gland system. They have a broad range effect, killing all types of parasites, including, but
not limited to yeasts, fungi, molds, bacteria, viruses, flukes and worms. Antibiotic drugs, on the other hand, only kill bacteria, and at the same time
stimulate yeast growth. Because antibiotics are sulfur-type drugs, this
inorganic sulfur accumulates in body tissues causing tissue impairment. The
parasitic herbs are also cellular proliferators, which means that they rebuild
and strengthen cells. The true beauty and importance of using botanicals is
that they affect the whole body in a positive manner. I have used huge amounts of herbs in my career (many times on just one
client), and have seen only positive results in my thirty years of practice. Our
clinic has become world renowned for its successes, where others have failed.We have not seen any negative interaction with herbs and chemical
medications, but this is always a possibility. The goal, of course, would be for
the patient to become free of all chemical intakes. It is my opinion that herbs are mainly meant to be consumed raw and
uncooked, or in a tincture form, whereby digestion is minimal and absorption
is optimal. However, the roots, barks, and tubers can be boiled and still have
a great affect upon liver, pancreatic and GI tract function. Boiling, of course,
destroys the water-soluble constituents such as the vitamin C-complexes
(flavonoids), the B-vitamins, and the like. Boiling or heating the herbs can
also saturate (bond) the fats. However, most of the time, when you are using
boiled teas, you are treating symptoms and are trying to promote an
immediate action in the body. Most of the active medicinal properties are not
destroyed by heat.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Many of these foods inflame and weaken their structure. Some foods act like
glue and actually adhere to its walls. Many other foods are so abrasive that
they cause excessive mucus to be produced from the intestinal walls to protect
itself. This mucus is stored along the bowel walls and interstitially in its
structure. All of the above affect your GI tract’s ability to digest food and
absorb nutrition. Your GI tract also plays a valuable role with the lymphatic system. The
lymphatic system is your sewer system. It must have a way to eliminate
wastes from the body. The kidneys, GI tract and the skin are its main avenues
for this purpose. When the skin, kidneys, and especially the colon become
impacted or obstructed, the lymphatic system becomes backed up. You can
imagine what would happen in your home if your septic tank became
blocked. The wastes from your toilet would back up and spill over. Most
people would leave their house at this point. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves of the autonomic nervous
system control your digestive tract through the neurotransmitters produced
from the adrenal glands. Weak adrenal glands can cause nerve weakness,
causing constipation. Many overlook this relationship that the adrenal glands
have to both nerve weakness
(which can cause constipation) and their steroid
production in response to inflammation. It always pays to strengthen your
adrenal glands at the same time that you are regenerating your GI tract. The importance of keeping your intestinal tract clean and healthy cannot
be overstated. Remember that this is your main canal of digestion, which is
where the breakdown of your foods into fuels and building materials takes
place. After your food is digested, it is then absorbed through the lining of
the intestines through the villa. Absorption of the nutrients from the foods
you eat is just as essential as the digestive process. The billions of cells that


 it far more logical and sensible to give your body a
physiological rest every week for
 24 to 36 hours. Isn’t it
good, sound reasoning for you to take a  7 to 10 day fast
from time to time and give your body a chance to purify
itself. Give your body a chance to get rid of anyaccumulated toxins. In our modern, complex civilization
we are absolutely bound to pick up poisons and toxins. 87Fasting Promotes Healthy Elimination
I have explained to you very thoroughly that this is
a world filled with toxins and poisons. Our only salvation
is to be faithful with a regular program of fasting. This
fasting strongly promotes a healthier colon and goodelimination. It helps keep the body cleaner and healthier
by regularly purging out the vicious toxins. It can mean
a whole new, cleaner  life, because when you are healthy,you have more joy, peace and energy in your life. Colon in spastic constipation. Proper position in relation to organs:
 1) stomach 2) appendix 3) cecum 4) ascending colon  5) transverse colon 6) descending colon 7) sigmoid flexure 8) rectumB. The Spastic Colon
Normal Colon  S ick Colon
 A. The Normal Colon
   D. The Sagging Colon
 Colon in engorged constipation. Ptosis, or sagging, of transverse
colon, accompanied by
displacement of stomach. 1
34
876 5
2
Good elimination is vitally important for your health and longevity. C. The Engorged Colon88How to Conduct a 3 Day, 7 Day & 10 Day Fast
To Detox, Repair, Rebuild and Restore Health
A fast of 3 days or longer should be conducted under
ideal conditions. You should be able to rest any time you feel
the toxins passing out of your body. During this time youmight feel some discomfort. You should rest and relax quietly
until the toxins have passed out of your body. It’s best to be
at peace and alone when possible. This brief period ofdiscomfort will leave as soon as the loosened toxins have
passed out through your kidneys, lungs, skin, etc. During longer fasts don’t tell others you’re fasting. Why
not. During a fast you must keep in mind only positive
thoughts of the cleansing and the renewing miracles
happening in your body. Often others are ignorant anduninformed about fasting and project negative thoughts. Our fasting is such a very personal and quiet time that
many years ago I went into the Santa Monica Mountains inCalifornia and bought a tract of land in the wilderness of the
Topanga Canyon near Malibu. There I built a retreat cabin,
identical to Thoreau’s at Walden Pond. In that naturalseclusion, Patricia and I enjoy the quiet and peace for our
fasting time. If it’s possible for you to get away to some
secluded place and do your fast in Mother Nature’s splendorwith fresh air and solitude, you will enjoy better results. There are also some very fine health spas throughout
the world where all the conditions are perfect for a restfulfast. Inquire at health stores for any located in your area. Many of the Bragg students who fast regularly tell us that
they use their vacation as a period of fasting and purificationof body, mind and soul. Often they will go to some beautiful
spot to rent accommodations and take their fast in seclusion. I am not saying it’s necessary to go away to fast. Your homeis your castle and hopefully you will be cozy and peaceful
there. The Bragg family all regularly fast. When any one is
fasting, we have great consideration for them. We have anagreement not to ask each other how we feel during the
fast. Fasting is so personal that no one can do anything for
you during the fast, so it’s best not to discuss it with others. Relax and be thankful for your miracle cleansing. When you are on a fast of 3 days or more, you are really on
Mother Nature’s and God’s miracle operating table. Nature is ridding you of the waste, mucus, toxins
and other foreign substances in your body. 89How to Break Long Fasts
How to Break a 7 Day Fast
Remember that when you have been on a 7 day fast
your stomach and the  30 feet of intestinal tract have
contracted. When you are ready to break the fast, don’t
overeat, please eat and chew your food slowly as directed:
Around 5 to 6 pm at the end of your 7th day fast, peel
and cut up  4 or 5 organic tomatoes (or canned, salt-free
tomatoes), add cup distilled water, and garlic (mashed) ifdesired, bring to boil and turn off heat. When cool enough
to eat, serve in bowl with liquid. Spray some Bragg Aminos
over top and a dash of Bragg Vinegar and Bragg Olive Oil. Eat as much as desired. Around mid-morning of the
8th
day, have a medium salad of chopped cabbage, grated beets
and carrots, with half an orange or lemon squeezed overit. After your salad, if desired have a bowl of steamedgreens (
kale, Swiss chard, collard, mustard or beet greens )  and
peeled tomatoes, season with garlic, Bragg Olive Oil and
Aminos. Bring greens to  boil, then turn off heat. Withgreens, you may eat
1–2 slices 100% whole grain bread
that’s been oven–dry–toasted into melba toast. See recipe
below for delicious garlic toast. During the day have threeBragg Vinegar drinks and all the distilled water you wish. For dinner you may have another salad of grated
cabbage, carrots, chopped celery and avocado, with freshorange or lemon juice for dressing. Often you may not
require or desire any more food. But, if so, you may have
1
to 2 cooked vegetables; such as broccoli, stringbeans,
carrots, peas, okra, squash, etc. You may also have  1-2 pieces
delicious  whole grain garlic toast. Lightly dry–toast bread
slices in oven. Rub raw garlic cloves on both sides, spreadwith Bragg Organic Olive Oil, then spray with Bragg Liquid
Aminos and sprinkle on nutritional yeast (
large) flakes. Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together. – Sister TeresaChapter 1 090On the morning of the 9th day, you may have a
variety of fresh organic fruits such as banana, pineapple,
papaya, grapes, orange, grapefruit and apples. Or you
may have a Bragg Pep Drink (page 230). At noon you
may have a salad of grated carrots, cabbage and celery
and some  garlic toast. At dinner you may have the Bragg
Health Salad and, if desired, steamed veggies or soup. How to Break a 10 Day Fast
There is little difference between the  7 and the  10
day fast. On the 10th day around dinner time  you will
have stewed tomatoes; from then you will follow thesame schedule as given in the
 7 day fast. IMPORTANT – It’s Harmful to Your Body to Overeat. Don’t eat more than you need or desire. Remember
that you have been without food for  7 to 10 days. By
this time, you have lost the strong craving for food. Because you eat, does not mean that you are going toimmediately feel a surge of energy. It takes the body
time to adjust from a detoxifying mode to eating again. Remember – Don’t Worry About Evacuation
It may take the body a day or two to adjust to eating
again, so don’t be concerned if your bowels are sluggish. In many instances some people will have a bowelevacuation shortly after eating their first meal after afast. Elimination is different for each person, so wecannot set a standard when the bowels will move. I urgeyou to be patient with Mother Nature and don’t try toforce your bowels to move. Mother Nature has giventhe bowels their own sanitation and antiseptic system. This system will promote natural bowel movements. Youare now eating healthy foods that stimulate theperistaltic or wavelike motion of the bowels. When theydo begin evacuation, if you follow our instructions andalways eat healthy foods, you will establish healthyregular eliminations that will naturally flush the toxins
and waste matter from your body on a regular basis. Behind every successful person is themselves. – American Proverb91The Ideal Elimination Program
In my own life, by living on a diet which is rich in
bulk, moisture, water and lubrication, I have established
the following good eliminati on habits. I have a bowel
movement shortly after arising. I encourage this by a few
waist twists and leg kicks ( pg. 118) to help give me good
elimination. I told you, I don’t eat breakfast because Ibelieve the No Heavy B reakfast Plan is health ier. Several
hours after arising I then eat delicious organic fresh fruits
or a dish of fresh sliced pineapple, banana, orange,
papaya, etc., or Bragg Pep Drink or dish of prunes or
sundried apricots soaked in pineapple juice. At noon I have
my first real meal of the day, usually Bragg Raw VegetableSalad page
231.


 is a false
problem. "Christ" is the realization  that there  is
no separa  te "l." "I do nothing  of myself .... I and the Father  are one....   Before  Abra -
ham  was,  I am." If thcre is any problcm at ali, it is to see that
in this instant you have no 'T' to surrenclcr. You
are completely free to do this at any momem, and
noth - ing whatever is st0pping you. This is our
freedom. We are not, however, free to improve
ourselves, to  surrender ourselves, to lay
ourselves open to grace,  far all sucl1 split -
mindedness is the denial and post - ponement of
our freedom. It is trying to eat your  momh
instead  of bread. Is it neccssary  to undcrlinc  the vast  diffcrcnce
be-
tween the rcalization that ''I ancl the Father are
one,"  and the statc of mind of thc pcrson who, as
we say,  "thinks he is God"? If, still thinking that
there is an isolated "I," you identify it with God,
you become  the insufTerable ego -maniac who
thinks hirnself suc - cessful in attaining thc
impossible, in dorninating  experience, and in
pursuing ali vicious circles to satisfactory
conclusions. I am the master  of my /ate;
I am the caf,tain  of my soul! 1 47 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURJTY
When the snake swallows his tail he has a
swelled  head. It is quite another thing to see
that you are  your "fate," and thal there is no one
either to master  it orto  be mastered,  lo rule  orto
surrender. Must we also insist that this loss of "l" in God
is not a mystic miasma in which the "values of
per- sonality" are obliterated? The 'T' was not, is
not, and  never will be a parl of human
personality. There is  nothing unique, or
"differenL," or interesling about  it. On the
contrary, the more human beings pursue  it, the
more uniform, uninteresting, and impersonal
they become. Thc faster things move in circles,
the sooner they become indistinguishable blurs. It is ob - vious Lhat the only interesting people
are interested  people, and to be completely
interested is to have  forgoLLen  about  "l."
We can see, thcn, Lhat the basic principies of
philosophy, religion, and melaphysics may be
undcr - stood in Lwo cntircly differcnl ·ways. They can be  seen as symbols of the undivided
mind, expressions  of the truth tbat in each
moment life and experience  are a complete
whole. "God" is not a definition of  this stale but
an cxclamation about it. Ordinarily,  howevcr,
they are uscd as anempts to srnnd outsidc
oneself  ancl  the universe  to grasp  them  and to
rule
them. This process is circular, however complex
and devious. Because  men  have  been  circling  for so many
ages,
148 REI.IGION  REVIEWEO
the powers of technology have availed for little
save  to speed the process Lo a point of unbearable
tension. Civilizalion is ready to fly apan by sheer
centrifuga}  force. In such a prcdicament thc self -
conscious type  of religion  t0 which  we have  so
long been  accustomed  is no cure,  but part  of the
disease. If scientific  thought has weakened its
power we need have no re - grets, for the "God"
to which it could have brought  us was not the
unknown RealiLy which the name sig- nifies, bul
only a projecLion of ourselves -a cosmic,
discarnalc  'T' lording  it over  Lhe universc. The true  splendor  of sciencc  is not so much  that
it
names and classifies, records and predicts, but
that it  observes and desires to know Lhe facts,
whatever they  may turn out to be. However
much it may confuse  facts with conventions, and
reality with arbitrary di - visions, in this openness
and sincerily of mind it bears  sorne resemblance to
religion, underst0od in its other  and decpcr sense. Thc greater the scienti sl, the more  he is
imprcsscd with his ignorance of reality, and the
more he realizes that his laws and labels,
descriptions  and definitions, are Lhe products of
his own thought. They help him to use thc world
for purposes of his  own devising rather than to
understand and explain  it. The more he analyzcs the universe into
infini - tesimals, thc more things he finds to
classify, and the more  he perceives  Lhe relativity
of all  classification. 1 49 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURITY
What he does not know seems to increase in geo -
metric progression to what he knows. Steadily he
ap- proaches the point where what is unknown is
not a  mere blank space in a web of words but a
window in che mind, a windo,v whose name is not
ignorance but  wonder. The timid mind shuts this winclow with a bang,
and is silent and thoughtless about what it does
not know  in order  to chatter  the more  about  what
it thinks it knows. lt fills up che uncharted spaces
with  mere repetition of what has alr eady been
explored. But the open mind knows that the most
minucely ex- plored tcrritories bavc not rcally
been known at all, but only markecl  and measured
a thousand  times  over. And the  fascinating
mystery of what  it is that  we mark  and measure
must  in the end "tease  us out of thought" until the
rnind forgcts to circle and to  pursue its own
processes, and becomes aware that to be at chis
moment  is pure  miracle. In ways that differ but little,  chis is the  last
word  of Western and Eastern wisdom alike. The
Hindu  Upanishads  say:
He who thinks that God is not comprehended, by him
God is comprehended; but he who thinks that God is
comprchended knows him not. God is unknown to those
who know him, ami is known to those who do not know
him at ali. Goethe says it in words which, to the modero
mind,  may  be plainer:  RELIGION  REVIEWED
The highesl lo which man can auain is wonder; and
if lhe prime phenomenon makes him wonder,!el him
be contenl; nothing higher can it give him, and
nothing  funher  should  he seek  for behind  it; here  is
the limit. Or lhere  are lhe words  of St. John of thc Cross,  one
of che greatesL  seers  of lhe Christian  tradition:
Onc of lhe grcatesl favors beslowed on the soul
tran - siently in lhis life is to l!nable  il to see so
distinclly and  lo feel so profoundly thal it cannot
comprchend God at  al!. These souls are herein
somewhal like the saints in heaven, where they who
know him most perfeclly perceive  most clearly that he
is infinitely incomprehensible;  for those who have
the lcss clear vision do nol perccivc so clearly as do
lhesc others how greatly he transccnds thcir  vision. In such  wonder  there  is not hunger  but [ulfill -
ment. Almost  evcryone  has known  it, bue only  in
rare  instants  whcn  thc startling  beauty  or slrangc -
ness o[ a scene drcw the mind away from its self-pur-
suiL, and for a moment made it unable Lo find words
for the  fecling. Wc are, then,  most  fortunatc  to be
living  in a time  when  human  knowlcdge  has gone
so far that it begins  to be at a loss  for words,  not at
the strange  and marvclous  alone,  but at the most
ordinary things. The dust on  the shelves has become
as much of a mystcry as the remotesL stars;,ve know
cnough of both to know that we know noLhing. Ecl-
dington,  the phy5icist


and, a need particularly ignored to day, to feel and express gratitude
for the bounties of the earth. All peoples and ages have in fact insisted that food should be communally partaken, making it a socially bonding ritual, a bodily f unction raised to a high social and
spiritual level, becoming in the process a joyful sacrament enacting
the glory and joy of life. After all, food is not an incidental occurrence. It is the product
of a quite fantastic creative ecology  on the part of nature, which
began some fifteen thousand million years ago, and has been ever since groping for the expression of the inherent drive for harmony,
beauty, and creativity in all matter, ever more explicit, until its
culmination in the human being. As we have seen, the beauty of fruits and flowers, of all things humanly good, reflect this deep goading at work in all nature. Unless these qualities had found
previous expression in fruit and fl ower, the human mind would have
been an impossibility. In spite of the apparent fumblings and
distractions of time, of the long haul of evolution, seen with the unitive vision of gods, man finds a summit place in the operations of Creation. As an important constitu ent in this realization, such a
providential offering as food should be partaken in joy, and in humility and reverence, a thanksgi ving to the gods and powers
responsible for this strange and wonderful place. The right kind of attitude to nature, to food, indeed to all whole,
natural things is best illustrated in Zen practice, which teaches that
loose, unconnected thinking is necessarily bad, while at the same
time it insists that a rigid, imposed direction, the kind favoured by the puritans and fascists, is also bad. Living is a constant juggling
for which every occasion becomes an opportunity of practice, every
thought, every touch, every sight, and especially every act. How can this apparent contradic tion be resolved in ordinary
living. By sensing the inherent sanctity, dignity and cosmic connection of all that is worthy of human doing. Then, in the simple
outfolding of such an act, no matter how elemental and superficially
trivial, a sense of profound, exquisite meaningfulness results, beyond all analysis and doubt. This can  be practised in virtually any
aspect of living, in one's daily work, in one's relations to others, in the contemplation of nature, in the ar ts, in sport, in some particular
hobby. Eating is an excellent opport unity for so doing, which raises
the simple act to a high order, physically and spiritually enhancing, and providing a level of satis faction and joy beyond verbal
description. Zen is not native to the European mind and tradition, and such a
suggestion will at first seem esoteric. Yet many people do in fact
attempt to practise what is being suggested in their daily lives,
having discovered intuitively that it is the best course through the jungles of civilized confusion and uncertainty. Many artists, for instance, are Zen practitioner; without realizing it. finding an integration and joy in their creative procedures which is pure Zen. The fact is that with a modicum of desire, what is being suggested is
quite easily realizable, and all the more easily in the pursuit of a natural dietary. This exercise can begin with the preparation of food, through
its presentation and serving, to consumption, stages necessarily demanding familial and social participation. Evidently, the
environment becomes of great importance. One should forgo eating
rather than eat in squalid, ugly  surroundings. Joyful, enticing,
uplifting conversation, music and periods of quiet and meditation should be an intrinsic aspect of the pattern. By contrast, the usual futile banter, the ribald and mischievous exchanges of usual
entertainment show themselves up as a counter strategy to deny the
humanizing relevance of the meal, one  more aspect of the subtle and
all-permeating impoverishment of the sensitivities. Regular meal times constitute a device for the convenience of
cooks and the cortical conditioning to greed. Meals should be left to the kind of intuitive communal decisions one finds children
displaying in their games. Eating can undoubtedly induce a 'high', an ecstatic type of
experience, of the kind one can derive in the most humanizing raptures of life, in love, in communion with' nature, in art, and, as every age and culture has discovered in its own ways, through
certain drugs. Although it has become so rare and out of line with
the materialistic pursuit of modern society, hence the recourse to drugs, it is a natural and most nor mal human experience, one which the more humanistic and benign primitives appear to enjoy
throughout the waking day and in their dream ecstasies also. It comes, as a more or less continuous irradiation of joyfulness, of a
sense of profound relevance and belonging, with peaks amounting
to rapture, as the reward for life wholly and humanly lived, for effective social and communal co mpassion and service, for sexual
love achieved as for the extensions of loving freed of all sexuality; it
comes in the practice of any humanly enhancing occupation, of work shared and socially relevant, of art, of ritual, of religion. The essential characteristic of the 'high' experience, as of the
'high' dream, is that the level of experience is so altered that ordinary verbal descriptions and analyses are pointless. Its only possible evidence is its experience,  which is the reason why it has
become so neglected in a materialistic culture which has
increasingly insisted that only the so lid material things are real. But
although rarely experienced by the majority of people today, except perhaps for the common intense in timations of puberty and of
youth, it can be easily recovered, so well as to become the most rewarding ingredient in living. Food appears to have a singular capacity for inducing such a
'high'. No doubt this can be entirely due to the sacramental element in eating, with its profound humanizing associations, but there could also be a more physiological boosting to it. The attractiveness, beauty and purity of natural foods are such a boosting, for the 'high' experience is necessarily a hyper-aesthetic experience. Ugliness is
anathema to it. In another book, the writer mentioned an observation of
Macacus monkeys in the wild, in a drunken, rapturous condition following feasts on ripe guavas. So keen were they on the effects, that some individuals were seen to prefer the overripe fallen fruits to
those on the bough. Is this a perversion, or does it reflect a natural
boost to the joy of living which primate eating is intended to provide. An analysis of ripe guavas revealed the interesting fact that they contained up to 0. 8 per cent ethyl alcohol, while those on the ground could have as much as 2 per cent to 3 per cent. Because of its crude abuses as a mind-fuddling drug in the
West, entailing the consumption of large amounts of alcoholic
drinks, alcohol is a misunderstood substance. When very small amounts of alcohol are taken, in the right frame of mind, it is
nothing but a stimulant of the higher, humanizing emotions. It is only when this threshold is exceeded that alcohol passes quickly
from being a stimulant, to a depressant, cutting out the higher
aspects of mental functioning and thus inducing a lower, frequently subhuman level of experience and behaviour. The importance of the
right frame of mind has been observed in the case of other psychotropic substances. Taken without the uplifting influence of sacrament, they have banal and frequently anti-human results. Taken in a sacramental atmosphere, they can be potently
humanizing. The humanly enhancing effects of minimal amounts of alcohol
taken in a sacramental context was not missed by the early Christians. Some early sects so managed to enhance the quite
minimal amounts of alcohol taken in the sacrament that they would
dance and shake with divine rapture, to the point of becoming scathingly called the'shakers' by those who did not share their
rapture. The fact that yeasts specialized for converting sugar into
alcohol are present on the skins of all fruits, that naturally such
fruits become bruised, if ever so minutely as by the effects of wind, would imply that any creature designed to live preponderantly on fruits would necessarily partake of certain minimal amounts of alcohol. Knowing how canny nature, in the guise of natural selection, happens to be in making use of any such offerings, it is
reasonable to suppose that such minute traces of ethyl alcohol were
made use of in the human genesis to act as a stimulant to the higher humanizing faculties. If a 'high' experience is a humanly decisive experience, then such a stimulation would have been as much a tool in humanization as the perception of order and beauty in nature, as
the evolution of the musical capacities of the human voice. It would
have been an ideal antidote to the risks of the antihuman substances
which can, as we have seen, arise in the course of deviant dietaries. Granting the relatively large amounts of fruits intended to be eaten, enough alcohol could be derived to induce the kind of 'high'
described, emphasizing the humanizing role of food in general. There are hints that in prehisto ry, such feasting occurred, and
that the grape, a typical low growi ng fruit of EuroAsia, featured in
such feasts. But with the advent of the Ice Ages, or the ending of the first great Interglacial during which human


 (I consider it the best), cal led CRON-O-Meter, from http://spaz.ca/cronometer. This
tool yields results including a caloronutrient pie chart; a summary  listing of calories, protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and
minerals; and a detailed breakdown of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, lipi ds, and more. You can view all of this data for any single
ingredient or food, for any recipe you enter into the program, or for an enti re day’s intake. Unfortunately, there are many variables in the caloronutrient equ ation, and you will find widely differing results among the
various nutrition-analysis tools on the market (see sidebar, “ Trying to Replicate the Numbers? ” on page 333). Thus, your
calculations may not correlate exactly (or even closely) with the  ones in this book or with the numbers that others claim to have
derived. At best, they are rough estimates. Use them accordingly. The USDA Nutrient Database
The above products and their competitors all use for their underlyin g data the USDA ’s National Nutrient Database for
Standard Reference, a repository of nutritional information for more tha n 7,300 foods. Available on CD-ROM, as well as online at
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data, this database tracks more than 100 nutr ients and is the foundation of virtually all public and
commercial nutrient databases used in the United States and a number  of foreign countries. The database is a compilation of data derived from published scientific and t echnical literature as well as unpublished sources,
such as the food industry, other government agencies, and research condu cted under USDA contracts with universities and food
testing laboratories. Unfortunately, less than 15 percent of its inform ation comes from primary laboratory research. The USDA periodically reviews and updates information for some portion of th e foods it tracks and issues new releases of the
database. For example, release SR-16 (its sixteenth major release) in  January 2004, updated nutrient profiles for 28 raw fruits and
23 raw and cooked vegetables. At least nine fruits changed significant ly in terms of caloronutrient ratio with that release. Therefore,
it is a good idea to check that the software you choose for calculating your c alorie and nutrient intake keeps up to date with the most
recent data from the USDA. As of late 2010, the current release is SR-23. An Inexact Science at Best
Unfortunately, the information in the USDA database (though it is th e best information available) is of questionable value. A 1993
General Accounting Office report criticized the Department of A griculture for using lax methods to evaluate nutrients, citing (a mong
other things) small sample sizes and “little or no supporting inform ation on the testing and quality assurance procedures used to
develop the data.” 86
Even under the best of circumstances, nutritional analysis is far  from an exact science. The USDA attempts to address
“physiological availability” of the caloronutrients in foods, but i t does not consider in any meaningful way, whether the foods are
cooked or raw, animal or plant. It does not begin to account for nutritional differ ences between conventional produce, organically
grown produce, and produce grown in highly bioactive soils. At the micronutr ient level, these cultivation methods would yield
considerably different results. Sadly, Western science is general ly ignorant of such issues at the level that raw nutritional scie nce and
Natural Hygiene understands them. Nonetheless, the USDA database is the primary source of food nutrient dat a for this nation and beyond. Until some well-
funded organization with a holistic health perspective and a differen t set of assumptions is able to undertake the nutrient analysis of
fresh organic produce grown in nutrient-rich soils, the USDA database  is all we have to analyze our nutritional intake. Trying to Replicate the Numbers? If you are mathematically minded and attempt to deconstruct the number s in this book or on the USDA website, you will have
to do some serious digging. After years of working with these numbers, I ha ve learned some things about their derivation. Atwater Energy Factors: Not 4-4-9
When assigning calories per gram values to each food item, the USDA does  not simply multiply carbohydrate, protein, and fat by 4, 4, and 9, respectively. Instead, it uses the “Atwater system for determi ning energy values” for whole foods. The Atwater system
uses specific energy factors that have been determined for basic food com modities. These factors purportedly take into account the
physiological availability of the energy from these foods. 87
The more general factors of 4-4-9 calories per gram (kcal/g) were derive d from the specific calorie factors determined by
Professor W. O. Atwater and his associates a little over a century ag o. As evidenced in the “Food Description” table of the
Microsoft Access version of the USDA database, Atwater’s system  is significantly more complex than one might expect, for its
conversion factors vary widely among foods. Here are some examples of the Atwater conversion factors for select ed categories of whole plant foods which, with a few
exceptions, are consistent for all foods within the category. (Multi-i ngredient prepared foods listed by brand name in the database
generally reflect industry practices of calculating calories ba sed on the 4-4-9 formula). Vegetables:             fat 8.37      protein 2.44*
Fruit:                   fat 8.37      protein 3.36
Nuts & seeds:             fat 8.37      protein 3.47
Flesh:                  fat 9.02      protein 4.27
Oils:                   fat 8.84       (oils are 100% fat)

Although the Atwater system does include conversion factors for car bohydrates, the USDA calculates carbohydrates by
difference (100% – protein % – fat %), ensuring that the three cal oronutrient percentages add up to 100. Some of the nutrient analyses of recipes and foods in this book, as well as the  food charts at the back of this book, use the
Atwater numbers. However, we used Nutridiary for many of the calculat ions, which employs a slightly modified version of the 4-4-9
model. Inaccuracies in Nutridiary and FitDay
* The only instance where the Atwater factors and the general fac tors differ significantly is in the amount of protein contained in
vegetables. In general, Nutridiary overstates the protein in v egetables by as much as 7 percentage points. FitDay’s error
(compounded by its use of an outdated version of the USDA database) is more sign ificant, and the protein shown in vegetables can
be overestimated by as much as 30 percentage points. Because of the extremely  low caloric density of vegetables, however, these
errors are unlikely to affect your overall caloronutrient ratio by more  than 1%. Varying Options for Common Portions
In addition to differing conversion factors or outdated versions of the USDA  data, another source of variance among popular
nutrition-analysis software products is how differently they handl e food portions. One calculator may give you lettuce choices that
include “head,” “ounces,” and “cups shredded.” Another may offer “grams ” and “innerleaf.” Nutridiary provides the most complete
drop-down list of common servings for its food items that I have found, a very  useful feature. Operator Error
Without a food scale, estimating portions can be highly unreliable. Neit her guessing at weight nor choosing from highly subjective
predetermined measurements like “1 medium fruit” or “2 small stalks”  produces the best results. If you are serious about taking on the 80/10/10  challenge, especially if you plan to analyze nutrition for others, I su ggest
purchasing a small digital kitchen scale. A useful model is the My W eigh KD 600, which has a 13.2 lb (6 kg) capacity with 0.1 oz (1
gram) increments, and features hold, tare, and automatic power off funct ions. The KD 600 is available through online auctions for
about $50. The 80/10/10 Success Guide
The table that follows lists the macronutrient content of about a dozen c ommon fruits, vegetables, and fats, as well as some
cooked starches, for those who eat them. You can find data on these foods and dozens  more in The 80/10/10 Success Guide,
available for purchase on my website, at www.foodnsport.com/shop/charts/th e-801010-success-guide.php. This six-page set of
full-color laminated charts includes a one-page “cheat-sheet” s ummary of the dietary guidelines in this book, making it a fabulous
resource for new 80/10/10 enthusiasts or anyone who wishes to share the prin ciples of healthful eating with their friends and loved
ones. About the Author

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and twenty-seven-year ra w fooder, is an advisor to world-class athletes and trainers
from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from alm ost every sport and field of entertainment,
including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA  pro basketball player Ronnie Grandison, track Olympic sprinter
Doug Dickinson, pro women’s soccer player Callie Withers, champion ship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for
the Soul


 juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. Of course there is nothing wrong with the Master Cleanse, especially because it is a very easy cleanse and it’s quite gentle on the body, but for sure it is not a water fast.The true deﬁnition of water fasting is to consume only water for the duration of the fast. Drinking juice is not actually considered a fast; it’s considered to be a ‘juice diet.’  During a water fast, no juices are consumed. Usually during a water fast, it is recommended to do one daily enema to gently cleanse the bowels. It is important to note that some Natural Hygienists disagree with this and instead recommend doing nothing but leaving the body to rest. From my experience, which you will soon read for yourself, I would highly recommend the daily enema.Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!4BENEFITS OF WATER FASTINGWater fasting is certainly not easy and requires a lot of mental determination. If one can endure a longer water fast especially, they are sure to beneﬁt from an increase in energy levels, a cleaning of the lymph and blood, a chance for the body to expel excess toxins, clearing of the skin, improved hearing and eyesight, better mental clarity and an overall sense of peace and calm.In the book The Live Food Factor by Susan Schenck, there is a very good chapter on Water Fasting. She herself did a 36-day water fast in 1992 and has personally experienced the beneﬁts. Susan writes, ‘Most of the healing beneﬁts in body, mind and spirit that I harvested then have lasted to this day.’In her book, Susan quotes Dr. Mark Mattson, PhD from the National Institute on Aging. His studies found that mice fasting every other day lived longer and were healthier than controls. He states:‘All living organisms make use of the extra rest during fasting to revitalize. This added rest serves to free up energy so that the body can normalize body weight, heart rate and blood pressure. The body can further make cellular upgrades as needed, establish overall health and prolong life.’Dr. Douglas Graham is a well-known raw foodist and author of the 80-10-10 Diet. He has a clinic in Costa Rica where he offers supervised water fasts from 21 days up to 40 days if needed. Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!5According to Dr. Douglas Graham:‘Fasting is a way to overcome this lethargy, rejuvenate and renew your body, and reclaim your vigor. You can literally watch yourself grow younger. Life will never be the same after a fast, as you ﬁnd ﬁtness becomes easier, thinking becomes clearer, and most of all your life and energy returns.’In Cleanse and Purify Thyself Book Two, Dr. Richard Anderson describes the beneﬁts of water fasting:-‘Eliminates harmful undigested proteins and fats-Eliminates excessive proteins, fats, sugars, cholesterol, acids-Strengthens and improves functions of all organs and glands-Removes harmful negative emotions stored at cell level-Releases congestion in lymph, blood, organs and cells-Puriﬁes the lungs so that greater amounts of oxygen can enter the system-Tunes and tones all tissues, especially the skin and muscles-Improves digestion-Improves all senses and mental abilities. Expands awareness and inner knowing.’Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!6T.C. Fry, a well-known Natural Hygienist, describes how fasting works in his book Program for Dynamic Health:‘Natural Hygiene offers supervised bed rest and fasting in a calm, quiet environment as the most effective, efﬁcient and sensible means of dealing with (most) illness and disease.It is obvious and provable that healing (and getting well) is a normal activity of the body. When you burn, bruise or cut yourself or when a surgeon operates or sets a broken bone, it is the body that heals itself, not the bandage, stitches, cast nor the surgeon. Healing is a normal body process which goes on all the time in relation to the amount of energy available for it.The body only has so much energy available to do all the things it has to do. The amount of energy consumed in physical movement each day is signiﬁcant. The energy used in eating, digesting, absorbing and assimilating food is tremendous. Bed rest and fasting allow the body to save all this energy and use it to repair tissue, restore function and ‘clean house’ in general.’Water fasting, when done properly, can open up doors to a whole new level of health. It is truly an amazing experience and will deﬁnitely lead to a new respect and awareness for the body’s innate ability to heal itself.Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!7WATER FASTING IS NATURAL AND SAFEThe initial reaction of many people when they hear about water fasting for the ﬁrst time is ‘that’s not healthy’ or ‘that can’t be natural’ or ‘that sounds extreme and dangerous.’  It is very common to see people resist the idea. One thing to recognize is that all animals in nature fast when they are sick. They ﬁnd a place to hide and rest and they do not eat until they feel better. It’s a natural instinct for them, as it should be for humans. Except humans have been re-conditioned by western medicine and drugs companies to believe the ‘pill for every ill’ theory. By now people should be well aware of the fallacy of that claim.When animals fast, they don’t take supplements or wheatgrass shots or juices; they simply drink water and naturally abstain from all food until they feel well. Little did we know how intelligent they really are, to rest and let the body heal itself! We have much to learn still.It is important to prepare the body well for a water fast, being sure that there are no mineral deﬁciencies, cleaning the colon with some intestinal cleansing and then moving gently into pure water by drinking only juices for a number of days. If someone is extremely toxic from a typical Standard American Diet and they have never done any type of cleansing before, then they are not a safe candidate for water fasting. They would need to do a lot of gentle cleansing ﬁrst, build up their mineral and vitamin reserves and ensure an alkaline pH at the very least. The point is not to suffer through the process, Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!8rather to create a safe, comfortable, stress-free environment for the body to fully rest, re-balance, re-charge and heal.Water fasting is certainly not a new concept or some type of ‘fad’ diet. Almost all the great spiritual leaders including Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and Gandhi practiced fasting. Susan Schenck in the book The Live Food Factor writes:‘The Bible mentions fasting 74 times. Moses, David, Elijah, Jesus and others mentioned in the Bible fasted for as long as 40 days and 40 nights, a length commonly referred to as the master’s fast. During the Golden Age of Greece, the great philosopher Pythagoras required his disciples to fast for 40 days before being initiated into the mysteries of spiritual teachings. Plato, Socrates and Aristotle also required their students to take fasts. They believed only through fasting could the mind be puriﬁed enough to understand the deep teachings of life’s mysteries.’Water fasting is not recommended for everyone. Clearly it is not a good idea for pregnant women and for people with certain types of cancers or heavy metal toxicity. If you have certain medical conditions which require medication, you may need to seriously consider the safety of doing a water fast for you. If your life is extremely stressful and you cannot create a quiet, peaceful space for yourself, then it may not be the right time for you to try a fast. If Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!9you have any doubts or fears about water fasting, it is also not recommended. For a longer fast and ﬁrst-time faster, I would always advise that one be supervised by an experienced professional.WATER FASTING IS NOT STARVATIONIt is very important to understand the difference between starvation and water fasting. Starvation occurs when an individual is denied all access to food without a choice, usually under extremely stressful conditions. The body is often already under-nourished, lacking minerals and in an acidic condition. This is not a state where any healing whatsoever can take place.Water fasting is done as a personal choice, in a safe, restful and peaceful environment. The individual has already prepared the body physically and mentally and is fully nourished with a complete reserve of vitamins and minerals. In these conditions, the body can easily turn it’s energies inward and go into a very deep and profound type of healing.WHAT TYPE OF WATER IS BESTThis is a very common question for people considering doing their own water fast, and there are a few different opinions out there. Many experts will advise using distilled water for a water fast. There is an interesting book about the beneﬁts of distilled water by Norman Walker called ‘Water can undermine or save your health!’ which I recommend if you are Introduction to Water Fasting
!www.healthybliss.net!!!!!!!!!10interested to learn more about distilled water vs. other types of water (mineral, ﬁltered, salt, etc). At a minimum, it is essential not to drink water with any chlorine or ﬂuoride in it. I did my fasts in Thailand


 third - trailing. I would like to tell you about
most interesting cases of cure of prostatitis and adenoma of its
practice. When I worked in Tyumen, in which only began to apply the methodology
dry starvation me to the consultation came a man of about
fifty. he had chronic prostatitis, prostate adenoma
and viral hepatitis with (he was entered at the time of infection
dental procedures). Of course, he mainly wanted to
get rid of the adenoma. He was very strong-willed and stubborn. Dry
starvation endured very well, every day, walked the 5 km
forest. Passed two courses of SG to 7 days. Most interestingly, he not only
got rid of the adenoma, but also to cure hepatitis C. This was the only
case in my practice, when such a serious disease has been
cured in such a short period. I think a big role in this
played, it's that he was involved in sports, quarterly, brushed liver
did fasting days and never took medication
therapy. But most importantly - he recently became infected with hepatitis and the virus
had not yet started their destructive activities. Every year he comes to us in Altai, makes semerochku dry
hunger. When a medical examination at work, he
was the healthiest of their peers. I always tell my patients that dry fasting is ideally
treats the initial stages of any disease. The second case. This was a young athletic guy
(CCM Judo), he already had seven years' seniority "prostatitis
violation of the potency, frequent pain, especially after eating
alcohol and cold, with aching pain in the lumbar spine,
in the joints, which appeared to have allergy to antibiotics,
which it regularly "stuff" and... with lost hope. been lost, because all these years was observed in many ways,
number of recommended specialists and drank all rely
tablets and getting different procedures, tried to be treated by the healers
psychics, as well as acupuncture and so on and so forth. and all were treated
his prostate, but no one was treating the cause, the organism as a whole. When
This urologists somehow not interested in the problems with the gastrointestinal
intestinal tract, periodontal disease and progressive loss of hair. The usual approach is all co-morbidities, and
202
202They have other doctors. with the same point system associated
Disease does not exist, this is only partial external investigation
underlying systemic disorders in the body. 16 years he never missed
single girls and never protect themselves, earning a whole bunch of
sexually transmitted diseases. My friend has a doctor on the ultrasound said that
it is very rarely seen such a horrible, ugly prostate
iron at such a young age, she was covered in spikes and
calcifications. Passed three courses SG, two of seven and one nine. When
we went with him to do ultrasound, I would probably worry more than he. When he came into office, then after a while called me
Doctor: "Look, Sergei, I was first in my life I see
resorbed to such spikes. Now this guy has already had two children,
once a year, making seven-day IG for prevention. I phoned a man from Krasnoyarsk, asked to know, you can
Does help with fat hepatosis, I asked the age, he replied
- 67 years. I have been in the practice of such cases, I told him to
He was well prepared and came. When he came to us at
Altai, it appeared that he had not only hepatosis, but chronic
prostatitis and prostate adenoma, he told me: "I believe that
These problems have every man in my age, they all
still incurable, that talk about it. " Yet it turned out that
younger than his wife of twenty years. He took two courses of fasting
relatively normal. Generally, the older the person, the
better he is fasting, probably for the entire life of the organism
trains to all, and, of course, the purification process during the
starvation are not as strong as a young body. Exactly two months later he called me, said he did ultrasound
Liver fine. A month later I was on a business trip
in Ekaterinburg, he invited me to visit. When we sat
at the table, he called me on the balcony, put his arm around on - a friendly,
and said: "Thanks for all the potency, Sergei I
Now, as the young. " I have always been convinced that one of the great
the benefits and advantages of fasting is a natural
extension of the quality of life, no Viagra here even hold a candle
no good. Pursuing the treatment of prostatitis, I discovered for myself interesting
phenomenon after the passage of the dry fraction of starvation;
the body is completely freed from pathogenic microorganisms,
but if the spouse is a gynecological problems
with infection, during sexual intercourse with the spouse can get
and will aggravation, which will take place gradually. It turns out that
together with living people, even in the family, there is a constant exchange
microflora, it is they have done overall. And, if one family member,
left for some time, changing conditions, partially freed
from pathogenic organisms, then at his new appearance in the family is
new infection. Next immunity prevails, and all normal. The body, neutralizing the bacteria, lives with them in partnership,
203
203strangling them. This phenomenon should know. But ideally, a better place
limotherapy together. The second interesting phenomenon - that limotherapy except
tonic effect of bringing positive changes
in the sexual sphere, both men and women have. In men, increased sex drive in the opposite
sex, better erection, a qualitative change of the seed
fluid. No wonder many people, a man before conception took place
course of starvation for a strong and healthy offspring. In women, increased desire, intensifies sensitivity
erogenous zones (and often identifies new ones), faster growing
excitation at caresses, hasten the onset of orgasm. Except
addition, the course of starvation, many women saw the emergence of
the first orgasm of life. Possible normalization of the impaired
menstrual cycle, the disappearance of menopausal symptoms,
improving fertility and conception. These changes are primarily associated with health
the influence of fasting on all organs and systems. After all, our sexual
health depends on the overall state of the organism, and
any deterioration in the genital area associated primarily
with disabilities in its activities. During fasting is
cleansing of all organs and systems, improving nutrition of every cell,
biosynthesis moves to a new level. Improves
activity of the endocrine glands, hormonal changes
background rights. Rejuvenation occurs. More experiments SA Arakelyan
showed an improvement of reproductive function in animals during
dosed fasting. The same changes occur in humans. Fasting brings your body to the state of a young man
a distinguishing feature of youth as a time and is strongly
sexual attraction to the opposite sex. Here's how to describe GP
Malakhov. In his book "Fasting and Health enhancement of potency
and energy after the passage of semi-starvation. I starved dry summer. Water did not drink at all, and took baths
regularly. with each passing day it became harder and harder. I was lying half asleep - and suddenly I was inside the flash. Not enough,
I think, okay, and suddenly I heard a voice: "Do you want stronger
try it? "I thoughts turn to the voice:" Come for the whole
coil. Once I thought within me a whole shied
lightning. If I did not lie, you probably would have knocked off his feet. By the end of hunger dreaming. Comes up to me an elderly man
and says: "Why do you suffer?" Take my body turns
it inside out and hangs on a rope. I see with my body stream flows
Variable cloudiness. After that I started out of hunger. The effect of this hunger was overwhelming. Energy beat
fountain. within six months the women were from me no mind. I
was enough to put a hand on her stomach, so they were good, not
to say nothing of the rest. Then it all disappeared. 204
204Bronchopulmonary diseases
Bronchial asthma - a disease in which the narrowed airways
the way as increased sensitivity to some factors
cause their inflammation, reversible airway constriction. The disease is becoming more common. from 1982 to 1992
year, the number of patients with asthma increased by 42%, mortality -
by 35%. Disease is more difficult, increasingly requires
hospitalization. Bronchial asthma affects about 10 million
Americans. in Russia, the incidence of asthma also
increases and amounts to not less than 5-6% of the adult population. However, despite the touted achievements
and intensive research, today suffers from asthma
More people than ever before. Over 20 years (from 1975 to 1995
year) the number of deaths from asthma among blacks
United States increased almost threefold, from 1.5 to more
4 per 100,000 deaths. Mortality from asthma among whites
and Asians in the same period has doubled. in a special report,
dated 23 February 1998, the newspaper New York Daily News
stressed that asthma affects 500,000 people in New York
and called the disease "silent killer". In bronchial asthma, the airways narrow in response to
the impact


 a teaspoo nful in a drink. Curcumin is oil -soluble, best make a paste of turmeric mixed with
coconut or olive oil. For better absorption add freshly ground black
pepper. See  the Internet for recipes. Glucosamine, best as N -acetyl glucosamine, is required by all cel ls to
build cartilage, holding individual cells together. It is formed in the body
from L -glutamine and glucose. Glutamine also helps to heal Leaky Gut
Syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Try 1 teaspoon of
L-glutamine and possibly N -acetyl glucosamin e with or before meals. Trimethylglycine  or Betaine, commonly extracted from sugar beets,
supplies methyl groups essential for many biochemical reactions. It is a
stimulant and antidepressant, enhances brain chemicals, reduces
atherosclerosis, and improve s energy levels, liver function and fat
metabolism. A common dosage is 500 to 1000mg/day. It is especially
high in quinoa, spinach and beets. It can also be produced from choline
which is present in lecithin. Lanolin  is excellent for the skin and supplies precursors for the
production of steroid hormones. With this lanolin can be genuinely
rejuvenating. Buy pure lanolin and mix it with an equal part of virgin
coconut oil for easier spreading. Spread very thinly. When buying
anhydrous lanolin also add an equal amount of water. 41
 Alternative Oxygen Supply
Our main oxygen distribution is with the haemoglobin in red blood cells. However, oxygen is released into cells only when carbon dioxide is
present from aerobic muscle or  brain activity. With cancer cells and
invasion by Candida and other myco -microbes the metabolism is
anaerobic in many tissues. Anaerobic cells do not produce carbon
dioxide, and therefore do not get oxygen from the normal blood
circulation. This makes it highly beneficial with all low -energy conditions
to supply additional oxygen without the need for carbon dioxide to be
present. Best suited for this are vitamin C and MSM. These form reduction -
oxidation or redox pairs. One such pair is vitamin C (ascorbic acid or
ascorbate) as the reduced form and dehydroascorbic acid or DHA as the
oxidized form. Another one is DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) as the reduced
form and MSM as the oxidized one. In a low -oxygen environment a redox pair changes from their oxidized
state to their reduced form by giving off one atom of highly reactive
oxygen. When vitamin C or DMSO return to the blood and flow through
the lungs they are again oxidized. This is how v itamin C normally gets into the brain and body cells. It
cannot pass the blood -brain barrier in its reduced form, but only as DHA. It also cannot enter cells directly; it only gets inside cells as DHA or,
alternatively, it needs a glucose carrier to get in side. Even plant cells
admit only DHA, and it is also much better absorbed from the intestines
than reduced vitamin C. While vitamin C can get into the brain only as
DHA, inside the brain it is only present in its reduced form, showing that
DHA is importan t to supplement the oxygen supply of the brain and
keeping it free of microbes and toxins. All this shows that initially the body treasures the oxygen -delivering form
more highly than the reduced form. Inside a cell DHA is reduced by
liberating oxygen. Th e released oxygen is highly reactive. Inside
compromised cells it kills the microbes that caused this blockage, and 42
 then re -starts the blocked oxidative energy metabolism while the now
reduced form protects sensitive cell structures from becoming oxidised. While vitamin C is known to be a good treatment for viral infections,
recent research has shown that it is actually DHA that is the effective
remedy, up to one thousand times stronger than the reduced form of vitamin
C. However, DHA is unstable and too reactive to take as a supplement. Individuals with iron overload, mainly with haemochromatosis and the
elderly may be reluctant to use vitamin C because of medical advice that
it may increase iron absorption, but this applies only to low doses of
vitamin C. Iron overload is a problem of the redox balance with too much
iron in the oxidised ferro -form. This can easily be cured with 10 grams of
spaced -out ascorbate/day, see : Natural Therapy for Haemochromatosis. Vitamin C and MSM are best used together, e.g., up to 10 grams sodium
ascorbate or buffered vitamin C, 10 grams of MSM, and 2 to 3 teaspoons
of 50 to 70% DMSO rubbed on the skin over any problem areas, all of
these spread out during the day. Increase amounts only gradually to
minimize diarrhoea or reactions, cut back if problem s arise. Use the
maximum dose periodically for chronic or serious conditions, as a
maintenance dose use much less. You may mix the powders with drink or food or  dissolve them in a litre of
water or juice, and frequently sip during the day. If you need additional
alkalizers, then you may also mix sodium bicarbonate with the same
drink. In this case sip it before and between meals. In addition to a vitamin B complex, use about 500mg of niacinamide with
breakfast and lunch because it is needed as the main coenzyme for
redox reactions, it is also anti -inflammatory. Use alternative oxygen with
all low energy conditions, Candia problems, cancer, arthritis, circulation
problems, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and Candida -
caused mental conditions such  as depression, ADHD, schizophrenia etc. Vitamin C and MSM can prevent and cure blood circulation problems
such as arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease,
prevent heart attacks and strokes, and also peripheral vascular disease 43
 leading  to varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis, leg ulcers, diabet ic foot,
and poor blood supply to the brain. Many conditions such as arthritis,
degenerative eye changes, migraines, and multiple sclerosis are
aggravated by poor circulation. Deficiency of vitam in C, sulphur, copper and zinc are main causes of
weak and aging connective tissue, such as blood vessels, skin and also
hair. For details see More Ene rgy & Less Disease. ALLERGY TESTING
It is common to become addicted to any daily -used food or substance to
which we are also allergic. Initially when we eat allergenic food,  we
experience stimulation due to the release of adrenal stress hormones. This stimulation (adrenalin and dopamine) cau ses us to constantly crave
these foods to which we soon become unsuspectingly addicted. However, eventually the adrenal glands become exhausted,  and we
develop a chronic degenerative disease and lack of energy. The main underlying cause of allergies and especially of multiple
allergies is intestinal dysbiosis, commonly due to the fungal form of
Candida as a result of using antibiotics without taking protective
fungicides at the same time. This damages the intestinal wall and lets
toxic subst ances and only partly digested proteins enter the bloodstream. It is then called "Leaky Gut Syndrome" and is made worse by gluten. It
is a root cause not only of allergies, but also of a continua l attack on our
immune system. Some symptoms frequently due to Candida are gas, migraines, bloating,
cramps, diarrhoea, skin rashes, hives and other rashes, blurred vision,
rhinitis and difficulty breathing. In many cases these problems may
simply disappear after Intestinal Sanitation and Antimicrobial Therapy. Discovering your allergies and addictions is an important step in your
healing process. You may do this by adopting a five -day low -allergy diet
as described in the following. After complete avoidance of an allergenic food and while reducing the 44
 overall aller genic load from other influences at the same time, one
usually becomes hypersensitive to that food for a period lasting from a
few weeks to several months. After this, the sensitivity to the offending
food gradually declines. If during the hypersensitive period you are occasionally exposed to the
allergenic food, then an immediate strong reaction may be triggered
resulting in pain, weakness, a rash or whatever its characteristic effect is
on your body. If this is done repeatedly but separated by at least f our
days between exposures, this may delay the complete recovery but is
not likely to result in serious internal damage. However, if you use this
food again daily then after a while you do not get any more reaction,  but
a chronic condition may gradually dev elop. Generally, it is essential to avoid the offending food as much as possible
for an extended period in order to heal yourself completely. Depending
on the severity of your initial symptoms or degenerative disease this may
be from a few months up to sev eral years. Elimination Testing
For five days or longer you abstain from all commonly eaten food. Best
to combine elimination testing with a cleanse as recommended in
chapter 6. Otherwise,  you may just eat low -allergy foods such as cooked
vegetables and preferably varieties that you have not recently eaten. Flavour with olive oil and salt. During this time, try to minimize other
potential


 last
several millennia. The Chinese legends speak of a golden age when
all men lived in harmony with nature and transmuted their seed up
as naturally as you or I breathe. Whether or not this is literally true
is irrelevant—the kernel of truth in the story is that man is capable
of a much higher existence than what he now accepts. The story
bears a striking resemblance to the Biblical story of Adam and
Eve's fall from grace after tasting the forbidden fruits of sexual
love. In this sense, the end of the Taoist cultivation is to regain the
lost paradise which still exists within every man and woman, their
original nature. The major function of sex in nature is to create new life and to
perpetuate the species. Yet in our time humanity has been fruitful
and multiplied itself to the brink of overpopulation and its atten-
dant ecological horrors. The abuse of sexual power through indis-
criminate procreation has brought humanity to a global crisis. It
has accelerated the danger of a war which might result in the ex-
tinction of the species. Apart from certain insects and higher apes, animals engage in
sexual intercourse for reproductive purposes only. The female re-
ceives the male only at definite mating periods, that overall com-
promise a small part of the animal's lifespan. It is clear that sex-
uality plays a different role for humans than it does for animals, and
it is critical that men and women become educated as to the pos-
sibility sex can play in their own evolution and thus affect the
balance of nature as well. CHAPTER 4
THE SEXUAL ECONOMY
"Man cannot be without woman and woman cannot be without
man. If you think intercourse is an isolated or separate act, longev-
ity is threatened and every illness arises. " —from the Recipe for Making Priceless Gold
Sun S'su-Mo, physician who lived 101 years36 Taoist Secrets Of Love
Every man is born with a certain amount of priceless vital chi
energy. Some begin with more than others, but for the sake of
simplicity let us assume an average man is born with a sum of
vitality likened at $1,000,000. Over one's life span this million dol-
lar's worth of life force is spent. Some spend wisely and live heart-
ily into the 80's and 90's. When you are young you spend it faster
because it seems like such a huge amount it could never run out. Most people in our consumer society spend more money than
they earn. They borrow themselves deep in the hole, assuming
they will earn enough to pay it back later. If they fail, they face
bankruptcy or a corrective period of lean living. Through poor
habits the same thing happens with life energy, only the penalty is
loss of appetite for life, sickness, and death. Let us say that someone earns an additional 100 units of life
force daily through breathing, eating and resting. Yet he may spend
125 units of life through poor diet, smoking, gluttony, overwork,
anxiety, constitutional weakness, drug abuse and frequent loss of
the vital sex fluid. To spend the extra 25 units he must continuously
borrow vitality from the brain and organs. This theft of vital energy
from one's own million dollar reserves gradually induces mental
and physical sickness and premature aging. Conserving sexual energy is a practical way to earn 125 units
and spend 100 units or less. It's an investment in one's physical,
mental, and spiritual growth. The imbalance of one's personal
economy can be corrected by reducing the disastrously wasteful
expenditure of ejaculation. A "profit" of 25 units of vitality is then
made by transforming the conserved sexual fluid into higher mental
or spiritual energy. Eliminating other bad habits will reduce the
loss and increase the profit, but no other single factor in life is so
potent as sexual energy. If you work hard all day, you've already used up much en-
ergy. If you then have a few drinks, eat a heavy dinner and later
have sex in which you ejaculate the vital sperm fluid, you are
overspending your life's provision prematurely. Some people
would call it a day well spent, as they cannot envision anything
better in life to spend their energy on. If you continue to overtax
your resources, you may wake one morning fatigued with life, sick
with arthritis or cancer, or maybe you won't wake up at all. You
will have prematurely exhausted your vital capital and may have to
die at an age that you feel is somehow "unfair" or possibly worse,The Sexual Economy 37
suffer through your final years in life with your creative powers and
physical faculties greatly diminished. I am a Taoist living in the twentieth century near New York
City and lead an extremely busy life. I have a wife and an overly
energetic young child. I own a computer, drive a car in city traffic,
deal with teaching hundreds of students, and maintain a heavy
travel schedule flying around the U. S. I know it is possible to lead a
rich and rewarding life without exhausting oneself, and have seen
my students do the same. The more you cultivate your chi energy
with daily practice, the easier it becomes to replace energy spent
and still end up ahead. Of course, if you choose a simpler lifestyle you can progress
much more quickly. That's why many Taoists choose to live up in
the peaceful mountains. But you can live by the same Taoist princi-
ples anywhere. The universe is bountiful if you know how to live
with it. Sexual energy is one of the most abundant gifts given to us
by nature, yet most people casually toss it away without realizing
the full value of its treasure. As Americans become more aware of the importance of per-
sonal health they are seeking to change their lifestyles. Many peo-
ple are now realizing that they have been living destructively. For-
tunately, they have grown conscious before it is too late. Whether
they are jogging or taking a dance class, they wish to begin a life-
energy conservation program. First they must pay the interest on
the vital sums they have overspent from their mind and body. After
a while they may repay both interest and principal as they begin to
produce and conserve more energy. At that point they can take the
path of cultivating their chi energy into its original spirit. Have realistic expectations. You may have spent more vi-
tality than you had to spare. Concentration and patience are neces-
sary to recover it. You can spend $100,000 in an hour, but you may
need one year to earn it back. Serious physical and mental trauma,
heavy use of drugs, and frequent ejaculation all involve grossly
excessive spending. Many young people seem to have unlimited
energy. But these youths are toying with the sources of life as if on
a wild spending spree. Many older people apparently in good health are, in fact,
tottering on the brink of serious breakdown. Only the strength of
habitual self-will allows them to continue to function. When they
have a check-up—often prompted by unconscious awareness of38 Taoist Secrets Of Love
their condition—the doctor may order an immediate halt to stren-
uous exertion. Often these people collapse in the first days of their
enforced rest because the flimsy strand of willpower which kept
them going has been cut. Friends will say, "I can't believe it. Yesterday he seemed strong as an ox. " If you learn to balance your
account in the sexual economy, you will be taking the most prudent
steps possible to avoid such a scenario in your own life. THE YOUTHFUL FURY OF SEXUAL FRUSTRATION
One of my main concerns is the frustration of youth in our society. Upon the quality of their thoughts and acts civilization will endure
or crumble. Most male youths are more interested in sex than
almost any other subject. This is natural, as their bodies are work-
ing overtime to produce billions of sperm cells. Women cannot
imagine what an intense experience this is, as their energy cycle is
more evenly distributed over the fluctuation of a monthly men-
strual cycle. This build-up of male energy is a natural manifestation of
universal Yang energy. The development of traditional romantic
love at this stage is natural. If this expanding Yang energy finds a
receptive female to nourish it the love between them can mature
and spiritual evolution gradually awaken. The problem of ob-
sessive sex arises from a material society that stresses the value of
physical sex so highly that people remain immature all their lives
seeking to sustain a lusty image of sex that exhausts them and
ultimately blocks their evolution by stimulating them to rapid loss
of their seed. The harder youths try to grab pleasure, the more surely it
eludes them. In their frustration, many seek pleasure with increas-
ing fury, a quest for identity that leads to frequent masturbation
and promiscuity. The more often they spill out their vital seed, the
more empty they gradually become despite the temporary feeling
of gratification as the life force passes out their loins. Unrestrained
sexual frenzy can destroy a young man's fragile identity and melt
him into the mob mind cultivated by sex-for-profit industry and
sexually exploitive media shows. Higher vital energy which should
nourish the young person's true center serves instead to grease the
empty fantasy of his bed of lust. Afterward he is left with nothing. This spells spiritual disaster if the excesses are not corrected inThe Sexual Economy 39
time. This type of young man may have difficulty