> >Have a look at some very interesting information...

> >http://www.samart.co.th/hps/hfood.htm

I will just quote a paragraph I disagree with:

     The human immune system correctly recognizes chemical food
     additives as toxic foreign agents and fights hard to rid the body of
     them, causing severe biochemical reactions and putting great
     stress on the immune system. After years of daily exposure to
     such inorganic chemicals, the immune system finally breaks
     down and burns out, leaving the body vulnerable to attack by
     microbes, toxins, and cancerous cells. Although the food industry
     has duped the public as well as government health agencies into
     believing that their products are safe for human consumption,
     there is abundant scientific evidence to the contrary, and this
     information is in the public domain, openly available to anyone
     who seeks it. Ignorance is therefore no longer a valid excuse for
     poisoning yourself with industrially adulterated foods. Only you
     control what goes into your mouth and down to your stomach."

The quantity of preservatives, colourings, etc... allowed for human
consumption is LD50 divided by 100. LD50 is the quantity of the chemical
per body mass that kills 50% of the most sensitive species. Maybe
setting such a limit is questionable, because it assumes that you
eat a reasonable quantity of each food, and maybe some effects don't result
in death, or maybe only allergics are affected...

However, I don't see any "abundant scientific evidence". Does anyone
have references?

> The main page is:
> http://www.samart.co.th/hps/tbhealth.htm

> I'm interested to hear people thoughts on the fasting links.

> Walter.

I think that most "information" about fasting you can gather on the
Web lack of objectivity (far too positive). It's seemingly the same
problems as those who promote raw food as a "cure-all", and who
pretend that all problems are due to toxemia and are temporary...
I quote, from the "multiple fasts" link:

              Usually, by the fourth or fifth day one really starts to
              begin to feel spectacular...and by the 7 or eight day one
              really feels great; energetic, confident, and vibrant. The
              most enjoyable part of this feeling/experience, is the fact
              that one begins to recognize that these feelings are not a
              temporary relief from the past, but are the beginnings of
              an ascending "upward spiral" that will continue for many
              months to come. That realization takes the great leap
              forward to 'years', once one commences on a program
              of multiple fasts.

Clearly, that doesn't correspond to my limited experience at all. On
the contrary, I think that lack of energy is more common (but to
be sure, one would need to make a survey).

However, IMO, it is quite plausible that a cooked food eater will benefit
from fasting, as it helps to get rid of accumulated toxins, relieves
cardio-vascular problems, etc... For a raw food eater, it might be
useful too, but dangerous on the psychological point of view: IMO,
an obsession about toxemia is not a mentally healthy attitude. Not
that toxemia doesn't exist, but that having a balanced raw food diet
is enough to keep you in good health, while you detoxify smoothly over
the years. There is no rush to detox, if you don't experience any
serious health problems due to toxemia.

There are also other alternatives to fasting, such as the use of
cassia. Apparently, many instinctos have benefited from that
(but not myself yet).


Best wishes,

Jean-Louis