Fasting refers to complete abstinence from food for a particular period pertaining to a specific purpose and this is nature`s oldest, most effective and yet least expensive method of treating diseases, recognized as the achievement of natural healing. By depriving the body of food for a specific period of time, the organs of elimination such as the bowels, kidneys, skin and lungs are given opportunity to expel, unhampered the overload of accumulated waste from the system. Thus, fasting is merely the process of purification and an effective and quick method of cure, assisting nature in her continuous effort to expel foreign matter and disease producing waste from the body, thereby correcting the faults of improper diet and wrong living. It also leads to regeneration of the blood as well as the repair and regeneration of the various tissues of the body.

Juice fasting is the safest and the most effective method of fasting and far more superior to water fasting. Juices process definite medicinal properties as they are extracted from plants and fruits. Specific juices are beneficial in specific conditions. Besides specific medicinal virtues, raw fruit and vegetable juices have an extraordinary revitalizing and rejuvenative effect on all the organs, glands and functions of the body. They supply essential elements for the body`s healing activity and cell regeneration, resulting in speedy recovery. The patient should get as much fresh air as possible and should drink plain lukewarm water when thirsty. These fresh juices may be diluted with pure water on 50-50 bases and the intake of the same should be atleast 8-10 glasses of water should be the minimum intake. However, only fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices are required for such fasts, since they contain all the required vitamins, minerals, enzymes and elements that are extremely beneficial in normalizing all the body processes.

It is required that enema should be given to the patient, every alternate day, so that gas or decomposing matter formed from the excrements remaining in the body passes out. In this process a lot of energy is spent during the fast. Thus it is advisable that the patient gets maximum physical and mental rest in this period. Sometimes it may happen that the intake of juices exclusively, results in an overload of toxic matter, which affects normal bodily functions. In such cases, when the bodily functions get disturbed, it is advisable to discontinue the fast and take cooked vegetables containing adequate roughage such as spinach and beets until the body functioning returns to normal.

The duration of the fast, however, depends upon the age of the patient, the nature of the disease and the amount and type of drugs previously used. Long periods of fasting can be dangerous if it is undertaken without the guidance of a competent guide, hence in general a person should not fast for more than a week. It is advisable to undertake a series of short fasts of two to three days and gradually increase the duration of each succeeding fast by a day or so. The success of the fast depends largely on how it is broken. This is the most significant phase. The right food after a fast is as important and decisive for proper results as the fast itself. The main rules for breaking the fast are; not to overeat, eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly and take several days for the gradual change to the normal diet.

After the raw juice therapy, the return to normal balanced diet should be gradual, and in stages. In the beginning, two juice meals may be replaced by milk and fruits. Then gradually juice meals may be substituted by a balanced diet. Fasting affords a physiological rest to the digestive, assimilative and protective organs. As a result, the digestion of food and the utilisation of nutrients are greatly improved after hasting. The fast also exerts a normalising, stabilising and rejuvenating effect on all the vital physiological, nervous and mental functions.