The Science and Fine Art of Fasting Quotes

“A. S. Pearse, Professor of Zoology at Duke University, tells us that "certain ticks can exist in an active state for as long as four years without eating anything.”
― Shelton M. Herbert, The Science and Fine Art of Fasting

“I think that there is no room to doubt that man, like the lower animals, has always fasted when acutely ill. In more modern times the medical profession has taught the sick that they must eat to keep up their strength and that if they do not eat their resistance will be lowered and they will lose strength. The thought behind all of this is that unless the sick eat they are likely to die. The reverse of this is the truth—the more they eat, the more likely are they to die. In his Eating for Strength, M. L. Holbrook, an outstanding Hygienist of the last century, says: "Fasting is no cunning trick of priestcraft, but the most powerful and safest of all medicines." When animals are sick they refuse food. Only when they are well, and not before, will they resume eating. It is as natural or normal for man to refuse food when sick as for animals to do so. His natural repulsion to food is a safe guide to not eating. The aversions and dislikes of the sick, especially to food, noise, motion, light, close air, etc., are not to be lightly dismissed. They express protective measures of the sick body. –”
― Shelton M. Herbert, The Science and Fine Art of Fasting