750 PENOBSCOT B'LD'G, DETROIT,
Oct. 19, 1910.
DEAR MR. SINCLAIR,--Complying with your suggestion, will hurriedly
and briefly group my experiences through a fast which I took largely
because of your persuasive article on that subject. I absorbed the
information you gave as well as I could, and having been a great
sufferer for over twenty years with stomach and bowel troubles, began
a fast which I continued for nearly eleven days, adhering scrupulously
to the program outlined by you, in so far as I could practically do
so, except I took only one bath (tepid) daily before retiring and
omitted the enemas after the fifth day. Am fifty-seven years of age,
powerfully built and athletic in habit and practice. Normal weight
around two hundred pounds, height six feet one and one-half inches.
Various causes reduced my weight some four years ago to about one
hundred and eighty-five pounds, and almost constant non-assimilation
of foods prevented my regaining normal weight. Weight an hour previous
to my last lunch prior to the fast, one hundred and eighty-six pounds;
lost fourteen pounds during the fast, eight of which fell off me the
first three days. My indigestion had for years been accompanied by
distressing, persistent constipation. This did not yield until the
afternoon of fourth day of fast, when my entire intestinal functions
seemed to become normal, and although I had taken no food, solid or
liquid, no fruit juices, coffee, tea or milk, absolutely nothing in
fast except Detroit River water, hot or cold, as fancy suggested, after
the fourth day the bowels inclined to movement at least twice during
each twenty-four hours. Lost strength gradually throughout fast, but
looked after essentials in my office from six down to three hours the
last day. I had no pronounced desire for food from first to last.
Tongue remained heavily furred throughout the fast, breath offensive,
even to myself. I sat at table at breakfast and evening meals, serving
same, but using only a cup or two of hot water as my portion. Voice
lost resonancy and timbre, and I finally felt so enervated that I broke
the fast--juice of an orange first evening, and of five oranges the
second day; of six oranges the third day, during which I also sipped a
quart of rich milk, hot. Fourth day ate six oranges, two quarts milk,
slice of old bread and about three-fourths pound juicy steak, after
which I soon began to eat more than the usual quantity of wholesome
food. For over four months had no indigestion, bowels regular and
normal.
I am hoping to see my way clear to fast again soon, for am needing
a brace physically.... I owe you grateful thanks for inciting me to
undertake the remedy.
With best wishes for your continued success, usefulness and happiness.
Sincerely,
M. E. HALL.
In my discussion of the question of what to eat, I have referred to the
meat diet, and also to the raw-food diet. By way of throwing further
light upon the problem, I reprint here two letters, one by a follower
of Dr. Salisbury, and the other by a man whom I was instrumental in
starting upon raw food. The latter article is reprinted from _Physical
Culture_, by courtesy of Mr. Bernarr Macfadden. The reader may find it
difficult to understand how two people can have had such apparently
contradictory experiences. I myself, however, have no doubt of the
literal truth of their statements, for I know dozens of people who are
thriving upon each of these diets. It is to me only a further proof of
the fact that our knowledge of this subject is as yet in its infancy,
and that all one can do is to experiment, and find out what system best
agrees with his own organism.
504 West Second St.,
LOS ANGELES, CAL., July 28, 1910.
DEAR SIR,--As you say in the August _Physical Culture_ that you would
like to hear the experiences of fasters, I will tell you of mine. In
1889-1890 I was very sick with catarrh of the stomach and bowels, which
developed into consumption of the bowels accompanied by inflammatory
rheumatism. On May 1st, 1890, I went to the office of Dr. James H.
Salisbury and treated with him for one year. During the first nine
months I ate nothing but Salisbury steaks, beginning with one ounce per
meal and increasing gradually as I could assimilate it to one pound per
meal, and drank a pint of hot water an hour and a half before meals and
at bedtime. Salisbury steak, as you probably know, is beef pulp,--round
steak with all fat and fibres removed. I dropped weight rapidly, going
from 140 pounds to 90 pounds as this loss was diseased flesh. I then
gained as rapidly on beef alone and this was good hard flesh. During
the next three months he allowed me a slice of toasted bread at two
meals daily in addition to the meat. For the past twenty years I have
eaten meat three times a day with other foods, consequently have not
needed a physician in that time. I have foolish spells occasionally
and indulge in fruit, vegetables and cereals, and destroy the proper
ratio, viz: 2/3 of meat to 1/3 of other foods, then I begin to get out
of shape and this brings me to my fasting experiences,--about eight of
them in the last seventeen years and lasting from five to fifteen days
according to the time it took for my tongue to clear off. I find that
the more hot water I drink the quicker it clears; during the last fast
three years ago I drank one quart every two hours through the day. I
got my stomach so clean that the water tasted sweet--this is the test
of a clean stomach.
Fasts have benefited me and I recommend them, as few people will
live on beef till their blood gets pure; that an exclusive diet of
beef _will_ make pure blood I saw demonstrated in New York at Dr.
Salisbury's by microscopic tests of my own blood and that of others.
When you are in this condition you can expose yourself as much as you
like without danger of taking cold. If people suffering with stomach
and intestinal troubles, Bright's disease, diabetes, rheumatism,
sciatica, or tuberculosis, would eat nothing but beef pulp and drink
hot water before meals they would be cured in nine cases out of ten,
as this was Dr. Salisbury's average of cures when they stuck to the
treatment. I acknowledge that one gets rid of a lot of diseased tissue
while fasting, but not more rapidly than on the beef diet, and the
latter has the advantage that one is making good blood all the time. I
consider that you are doing a great work in recommending the fast cure,
and agree with you that _Hamburg_ steak is not the best food to break a
fast with, as it contains 1/4 to 1/3 of fat and "animal fat is a lower
form of organization, in fact is often a process of degeneration." I
have seen several Salisbury patients have slight bilious attacks from
eating over-fat beef, but they quickly recovered by eating leaner beef.
Beef pulp is the best thing to eat after a fast as it is absorbed
quickly into the circulation and I never saw a patient whose stomach
was too weak to digest it in small quantities, well broiled. I believe
in dry foods, well masticated,--no slops.
Dr. Salisbury said to me "a man whose food is beef can live in a hole
in the ground and be healthy." His last words to me were, "Stick to
beef and hot water the rest of your life and nothing but old age will
kill you barring accident." I asked him how long he had lived on this
diet, he replied, "thirty years."--"Do you expect to die of old age?"
"Sure." He died August 23rd, 1905, at the age of eighty-two from
the result of an accident. He was a most scientific and successful
practitioner; but nearly all physicians, aside from those he cured,
called his treatment a farce and a delusion because his teachings if
generally followed would put the majority of them out of business. One
New York doctor told me while I was on the diet "unless you give up
beef and hot water you will not live five years--you will wear your
kidneys out." I replied, "you doctors say I am going to die anyway, so
I might as well die clean." I immediately increased my hot water from
one pint to one quart before each meal and have kept it up ever since.
When I began drinking hot water I had a slight kidney and bladder
trouble; this has disappeared; the constant flushing has strengthened
these organs,--I am now sixty-four.
Cold water before meals is better than none, but is not as good as hot
water, as the latter does not chill the stomach or gripe one, and acts
as a tonic on the internal organs; is more quickly absorbed and starts
perspiration, causing the skin to share with the kidneys the work of
eliminating waste matter. If a person is not very sick he can eat his
round steak (after removing the fat) ground without removing the fibre.
For a regular Salisbury steak leave the knife loose and clean the
grinder frequently.
You have a large contract in trying to force medical men to recognize
the fast cure. They even told me, "while we think you are honest, you
are mistaken; you did not see Dr. Salisbury perform the cures you think
you saw." The Doctor considered me one of his star patients; he said I
was as far gone as any man he ever saw cured by the treatment, and that
he would rather have three cases of tuberculosis of the lungs than one
like mine, my disease being in the last stage.
You can do as you like with this letter. I write simply to strengthen
you. Persist, you are on the right track at last. You are no "shallow
sensationalist." I like your writings.
Very sincerely,
JAS. Y. ANTHONY.