The best, safest and most effective method of fasting is juice fasting. Although the old, classic form of fasting was pure water fast, all the leading fasting authorities today agree that juice fasting is far superior to water fast. Perhaps, if the effective way of making raw vegetable and fruit juices was known before, the healers of the past would have used them, too. I have supervised both types of fasting and I agree with Dr. Otto Buchinger, Jr., who has supervised more fasts than any other doctor, that fasting on fresh raw juices of fruits and vegetables, plus vegetable broths and herb teas, results in much faster recovery from disease and more effective cleansing and rejuvenation of the tissues than does the traditional water fast. It is too bad that some old American practitioners are still using the antiquated water fast method. The water fast exerts severe physical and emotional stress on the patient and therefore results are often unsuccessful. Perhaps this is the reason why fasting is hardly ever used any more in the United States, while in Europe it is practiced on a grand scale. There are hundreds of clinics in Germany alone where fasting is a number one method of healing. And all of them use juice fasting exclusively.

Here’s what Dr. Ragnar Berg, world-famous authority on nutrition and biochemistry, says about the superiority of juice fasting to water fasting:

“During fasting the body bums up and excretes huge amounts of accumulated wastes. We can help this cleansing process by drinking alkaline juices instead of water while fasting. I have supervised many fasts and made extensive examinations and tests of fasting patients, and I am convinced that drinking alkali-forming fruit and vegetable juices, instead of water, during fasting will increase the healing effect of fasting. Elimination of uric acid and other inorganic acids will be accelerated. And sugars in juices will strengthen the heart … Juice fasting is, therefore, the best form of fasting.”

Vitamins, minerals, enzymes, trace elements and natural colorings of fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices are extremely beneficial in normalizing all the body processes, supplying needed elements for the body’s own healing activity and cell regeneration, and, thus, speeding the recovery. These juices require no digestion and are easily assimilated directly into the bloodstream – thus, they do not disrupt the healing and rejuvenating process of autolysis, or self-digestion, as suggested by some water fast proponents.

Mineral imbalance in the tissues and one of the main causes of diminished oxygenation, and consequent disease and premature aging.

Generous amounts of minerals in the juices help to restore the biochemical and mineral balance in the tissues and cells.

Also, according to Dr. Ralph Birch”, raw juices contain an as yet unidentified  factor  which stimulates   what he  calls a micro-electric tension in the body and is responsible for the cells’ ability to absorb nutrients   from  the   blood stream   and effectively excrete metabolic wastes.

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GENERAL HEALTH