Fasting

[phkrause]

Fasting: The Delicious Biblical Practice of Going Without

Spiritual practices, sometimes referred to as spiritual disciplines, are a great gift to us. They are given as ways to deepen our relationship with God and loosen the hold the world has on us. The one practice that may attain that result the quickest, though certainly not the easiest, is fasting.

https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/biblical-living/discipleship/fasting-practice-going-without/?

[Hanseng]

I did a lot of fasting before I believed in Jesus. A man named Arnold Ehret (1866-1922) wrote a book--Rational Fasting for Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Rejuvenation, and a couple of others. Steve Jobs was influenced toward veganism/vegetarianism through one of his books. Lost, without hope in the world, I decided to go on a fast. More than three weeks without food. During those days, Jesus revealed Himself to me while I was reading the New Testament. Another of my friends died after a 60 day fast. Another fasted for two weeks with no obvious harm. EGW thought the true fast was eating a healthy diet. Avoiding flesh foods, alcohol, tobacco, crank, junk, marijuana, downers, dairy and eggs from unhealthy sources, might also be included. She advocated a two meal a day plan, excluding an evening meal.

The contemporary WFPB diet is a kind of fast, with good results.

Health Food History

[Asia Joe]

On 10/23/2026 at 6:51 AM, Hanseng said:

Another of my friends died after a 60 day fast.

We need electrolytes when fasting. I young person can do a dry fast for a day or so, but our body needs the 4 minerals known as electrolytes. Salt being very important. There are many cases of people injuring themselves on longer fast without salt. 

I have studied this intensely recently.  One medical doctor called it the most powerful tool we have. But it needs to be done correctly. If I fast more than 30 hours, I take the 4 electrolytes, Potassium, Salt, Magnesium, Calcium. 

In America there are companies that sell powered packaged electrolytes in the correct proportions. That would be handy. 

Seniors must be more cautious because we need more electrolytes. There are many  videos by medical doctors on YouTube. 

On 10/23/2026 at 6:51 AM, Hanseng said:

EGW thought the true fast was eating a healthy diet.

Clearly this was not from God. Autophagy is your body’s process of reusing old and damaged cell parts, acting like a cellular recycling system. It starts when your cells are stressed or deprived of nutrients, and uses autophagosomes to deliver junk to lysosomes for breakdown. It starts at about 18 hours after no food. But meaningful results take longer fasts, depending on the condition of the body.  That is the process God created for us. 

Btw, animals have Autophagy too. When they get sick they stop eating and go into Autophagy. 

 

[Hanseng]

3 hours ago, Asia Joe said:

Clearly this was not from God

305. The true fasting which should be recommended to all, is
abstinence from every stimulating kind of food, and the proper use
of wholesome, simple food, which God has provided in abundance.
Men need to think less about what they shall eat and drink of temporal
food, and much more in regard to the food from heaven, that will
give tone and vitality to the whole religious experience.—[Letter 73,
1896] Medical Ministry, 283

[Asia Joe]

If she only understood the deep power of fasting. It could have been a cornerstone of the health message. 

Today, there is a powerful movement of health and longevity audience based on research and clinical practice that dwarfs the Adventist health message. 

Most Adventist think they are healthy because they are vegetarians.  Just a look at the people in the churches should dispel that myth. 

She was right about sugar though. 

Quote

Milk and Sugar—Large quantities of milk and sugar eaten together are injurious. They impart impurities to the system. Animals from which milk is obtained are not always healthy. Could we know that animals were in perfect health, I would recommend that people eat flesh-meats sooner than large quantities of milk and sugar. It would not do the injury that milk and sugar do.

Diabetes is the number one plague today. 

Quote

There was a case in Michigan to which I will refer. It was that of a man of fine physical appearance. I had previously conversed with him in regard to his manner of living, and was called to visit him in his sickness. “I do not like the looks of your eyes.” I said. He was eating large quantities of sugar, and in answer to my question why he did this, he said that he had left off meat, and did not know anything that would supply its place as well as sugar. His food did not satisfy him. This man was suffering simply because his wife did not know how to cook. She was deficient in this important branch of education; and as the result, the poorly cooked food not being sufficient to sustain the demands of the system, sugar was eaten immoderately, and this brought on a diseased condition of the entire system. I tried to tell them as well as I could how to manage, and soon the sick man began to improve. But he imprudently exercised his strength when not able, ate a small amount not of the right quality, and was taken down again. This time there was no help for him. His system seemed to be a living mass of corruption. He died a victim to poor cooking.

Here she is predicting the future again. This is the western world today. People do not cook with whole foods but rely on processed foods. 

I remember having a discussion in Loma Linda about 25 years ago with one of the doctors there.  We were discussing the health message and Mrs White. He had disdain for her.  What's the problem with her writings? He looked me right in the eye and said. "Sugar is not harmful" 

Well she was right all along about that. 

And what is the best medicine for diabetes? Fasting and whole foods. 

 

[Hanseng]

Years ago (1978/1979), Ethel Nelson   interviewed Nathan Pritikin. and Dr. Denis Burkit.  Dr.Burkit inspired John McDougall to adopt healthier eating and Pritikin ~started the modern WFPB eating movement. Pritikin believed EGW was inspired, even though he disagreed with her at times. The interviews are preserved in the Ministry magazine archives. Most of the people promoting WFPB eating are standing upon the shoulders of Pritikin. He said he had read extensively of her dietary counsel. Among the numerous things she had right is the no snacking/two meal a day plan. Modern physiology studies have identified a digestive process which is impaired by snacking. Known as the migrating motor complex, this process is a cycle that takes a few hours to complete. Snacking interrupts the cycle, causing it to reset. This results in food remaining in the digestive system longer than it should. Burkit discusses this in his interview. Known as transit time, food should pass through the digestive process uninterrupted. Some of these WFPB doctors advocate eating several times a day, even "grazing". Both these practices are harmful. They probably contribute to various digestive disorders.

Overall, EGWs' dietary counsel is certainly among the best, if not the best eating plan there is, that I'm aware of.  

[Hanseng]

Ministry Magazine | Health and Religion

Ministry Magazine | Nutrition and health

Ministry Magazine | Health and Religion

[Asia Joe]

Quote

Q.—I understand, Mr. Pritikin, that you are an engineer by profession. How is it that you have become interested in medical research in atherosclerosis and related degenerative diseases?

A.— During World War II, my assignment in the armed services gave me access to confidential material acquired through military intelligence. In the course of my work I learned that cardiovascular disease in occupied countries had dropped to half the prewar levels.

Q.—Was it thought that this drop was related to the dietary restrictions imposed by the war?  

A.— Yes. Thanks to the meticulous record-keeping of German doc tors in concentration camps, it was found that prisoners entering the camps with angina, hypertension, and diabetes, who were fortunate enough to survive, left without their diseases when released. They had been eating moldy bread, leftover vegetables, roots, and bark. This all added up to a very low-fat diet.

 

It is well known here that people who live up on the mountain (about a 3000ft hill) are the healthiest people here.  They do not eat processed foods and get lots of exercise.  There are NO fat people living on the mountain. 

Poor people have no diabetes as well.  Thin and smaller. 

Today I can immediately tell if a person is very poor here. By the size of their waist. There are more and more in my area.