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QUESTIONS AND ANSWEKS 81
QUESTION No. 38.
What is your opinion in regard to fasting as a means of
curing disease?
Answer: We may readily conceive that there are more
people in the West who die from over eating than from
getting too little food. And under certain conditions fast-
ing for a day or two is undoubtedly beneficial, but just as
there are gourmands and gluttons, so there are also others
who go to the opposite extreme and fast to excess. There
lies a great danger. The better way is to eat in moderation
and to eat the proper kinds of food; then it will not
be necessary to fast at all.
If we study the chemistry of food we shall find that
certain foods have properties of value to the system under
certain conditions of disorder, and taken properly food is
really medicine. All the citric fruits,
for instance, are
splendid antiseptics. They cleanse and purify the alimen-
tary canal. Thus they prevent disease. All the cereals,
particularly rice, are anti-toxins; they will kill disease
and the germs of putrefaction. Thus, by knowing these
medicinal properties of the different foods, we may very
readily secure a supply of that which we need to cure our
ordinary ailments b} r food instead of by fasting.