Bregg's medical fasting

The idea of therapeutic fasting, which originated in ancient times, gradually penetrated into various corners of our planet. So in the USA this idea was imbued with an American leader, a naturopath, a showman, and in general a very positive person, Paul Bragg.

Even despite the confusion in the years of birth (according to the documents he was born in 1895, although Paul himself claimed that this happened 14 years earlier), it can be argued that Bragg lived a decent life. He died at the age of 81 from a heart attack, triggered by prolonged asphyxiation during a surfing accident and a wrong treatment approach. The very fact that a man in old age goes surfing speaks of his good health, which not every young man can boast. Moreover, after the opening of the body of Bregg, the doctors were quite surprised by the state of his internal organs, which resembled the organs of a young guy.

What was the reason for such an amazing preservation of the body of Paul Bragg? The most likely answer is his lifestyle. Bragg believed that human health was caused by the following 9 factors, called by him the same doctors:

• sunlight,
• clean fresh air
• pure water,
• healthy food (it is based on raw vegetables and fruits, which should be at least 60% of the total human diet),
• fasting (fasting), which was considered by Bragg as a cleansing procedure that helps to restore health without medication.
• physical activity,
• proper rest (necessarily after physical or mental activity),
• posture (the health of other organs depends on the state of the spine, but correct posture is achieved through proper nutrition and care of your body),
• the human mind that helps overcome addiction.

As you can see, Paul Bragg refers fasting to the category of important factors that ensure a person's health and longevity, which only confirms the healing power of hunger. True, his approach to healing the body in this way is somewhat different from the idea of the UDT of the Russian doctor Yu.S. Nikolaev.

The medical fasting system of Paul Bragg provides for a shorter fasting period (no more than 10 days). According to his theory of health-preventive fasting, long-term fasting can harm a person and even lead to death, which explains Bregg’s negative attitude to 21-day and longer courses of fasting for Yu.S. Nikolaev.

Bragg himself practiced weekly 1-1.5 daily posts and once every three months went hungry for a week. He was more loyal to the requirement of fasting in a hospital, although he did not deny that with long-term fasting control over the patient’s condition is of great value. In particular, the study of the composition of urine several times a day to assess the functionality of the kidneys. If too much toxins are excreted from the body, this will help the kidneys to be overloaded. In this case, fasting is better to interrupt and return to it after some time.

Bragg pays special attention to preparing for starvation. He recommends starting with short posts (no more than 36 hours) once a week. If you want to go hungry longer (3-4 days), you will need to prepare yourself for this for several months, refusing breakfast or eating only fresh fruit in the morning.

By the 7-day refusal of food, Bragg advises to resort only when the body after a few months will get used to the weekly posts. And  medical fasting  in  10 days, according to him, can be tried only when a person resorted to 1.5-7 day courses for a certain time. That is, we are talking about a gradual long-term habituation of the body and special preparation for cleansing with a healthy diet.

Bragg did not deny the possibility of carrying out more than 2-3-4-5 week fasting courses. But this requires a longer preparation. For example, you can go hungry for 2 weeks only when a person has spent 3 courses of 10-day hunger, provided that the interval between them was 3 weeks. It turns out that a person can come to a 4-5-week fasting only after a couple of years of consistent preparation.

Paul Bragg was a fan of wet starvation, but at the same time he advised replacing plain water with distilled water, using it in large quantities. Bragg believed that the more water a person drinks, the faster his body clears, which can be seen by saving and comparing the collected urine (according to the sediment formed in it).

Bragg believed that  medical fasting for 1 day  (24 hours) should be carried out weekly. It is available to all. If desired, it can be started in the morning or in the evening (for example, from 20 o'clock in the evening of one day to 20:00 the next). But if difficulties arise, you can dissolve honey (1/3 tsp per cup of water) or citric acid (1 tsp per cup of water) in distilled drinking water, which will only help to dissolve toxins and mucus, which naturopath considered the main enemies of health, and facilitate their passage through the kidneys.

As for the positive attitude to starvation for the sake of health, the crucial role of Bragg was assigned to an internal setting (self-suggestion), which, in his opinion, affects the subconscious and the human body to bypass consciousness. At the same time, it is important to regularly repeat words that strengthen confidence in the benefits of fasting and in a person’s ability to control the process, inspire confidence that cleansing with hunger gives happiness and makes a person closer to nature, etc. All this contributes to the fact that the patient is easier to endure the fasting.

P. Bregg believed that, despite the short period of fasting, the way out of it should be scientifically substantiated, like fasting itself. The first dish on the table after a daily hunger should be a vegetable salad with fresh carrots and cabbage, without salt (lemon or orange juices are allowed as seasoning). This dish starts the work of the digestive tract, after which you can eat baked or boiled vegetables (no meat, dairy products, nuts, seeds). The second meal may consist of prohibited for the first meal, but the portion should be small.

If a one-day fasting for Bregg did not require a person to limit activity, then a 3-day fast should be combined with complete rest and rest from everything distracting (TV, reading, talking on the phone, etc.). In addition, the naturopath considered secrecy, nondisclosure of his decision on starvation, an important point, keeping the mood of the starving person. Negative attitude to the method of treatment of hunger on the part of others strongly undermines a person’s confidence in his decision and his abilities.

Bragg's peculiar attitude to cleansing procedures. He believes that all bad things must come out of the body naturally. Acts of urination or defecation should not be violent. Bragg opposes any kind of enemas and laxatives drug. He believes that the restoration of the normal functioning of the intestines will be facilitated by the correct (natural, balanced in volume and consistency) nutrition in the subsequent period. During fasting, thinking about the work of the intestines and possible negative consequences is not necessary.

Medical fasting on water  for  7 days  or more according to Bregg is based on the same principle: rest, the opportunity to rest when feeling weak or tired, prolonged sleep, water without restrictions at any time of the day. But the way out of fasting has its own characteristics. The first meal should be carried out on the last day of fasting at 5 pm. The recommended dish is a tomato without skin (4-5 pieces), blanched in boiling water for 1-2 seconds. Eat it should be cooled when the appetite.

In the following days, meals are based on fresh and thermally processed vegetables and fruits, and the first course must be made from raw foods. In the first 3 days, toasts from wheat bread and wheat germ grain are also allowed.

By the way,  medical fasting according to Zhdanov  is nothing more than the consistent application of the Paul Bragg method, promoted in our country. Vladimir Georgievich Zhdanov is a public figure and promoter of unconventional methods of treating alcohol and tobacco addiction, as well as restoring vision. In his opinion, the Paul Bragg method is precisely that non-drug treatment that helps to cope both with the above-mentioned disorders and with many serious diseases.

[1], [2], [3]