Very few people starve to death.

Many people, however, suffer from malnutrition, lack of proper food, and a great many more from overeating.

Now here is a bold statement, one that will be disputed at once by those who have not given thought to the subject: one of the greatest causes of disease is overeating.

I trust my readers will give me at least a chance to prove this assertion, and, better still, will take the trouble to prove it for themselves through individual experimentation.

In the first place, very few people understand the actual requirements of the body as to the kind and amount of food needed to replace its waste tissue and supply it with vital energy.

The average person has been "brought up" on at least three so-called "square" meals a day; some have habitually "pieced" between meals; and most all have naturally, or at least easily, assumed that this is the proper procedure.

To miss one meal seems to these people to be a severe privation, a matter for interesting conversation for days afterwards, and to be forcibly deprived of food for twenty-four hours is often considered "dangerous," while to be without food for several days, say entombed in a mine, this is not only considered dangerous, but abundant proof can be furnished to show that it is dangerous - to people uneducated regarding the real power of the human body to go without food. Under such circumstances people very often are supposed to starve to death, but this is a mistake; it is not starvation, but fright that kills them.

Here, then, is a most wonderful demonstration of the power of the mind over the body. And it will be well for you, dear reader, to remember this statement, for you may sometime be placed in a similar condition and be compelled to fast a considerable length of time; in such a case I am sure that what follows will be very valuable information to you, and may enable you to save your own life and the lives of many around you.

Of recent years a great many people have fasted. There are now a number of books written on the subject. These fasts have been entered into for various reasons - some for notoriety, some for scientific experiment, and many for the cure of various diseases and disorders of the body. Whatever else may have resulted, this is certain, that it has been absolutely proven beyond a doubt that the body can live for thirty days without one particle of food; in truth, thirty days is now a short fast, for cases of ninety days' fast are on record, and forty and fifty days are not unusual.

Now I can hear you say, "Well, some people might be able to do that, but I can't." To be frank, should you not say, "I won't"? There is no question but that you could if you would. There is a question, however, whether it would be desirable for you to do this.

It is not normal for man to fast; he is naturally an "eating" animal, and a certain amount of proper food is desirable each day. But neither is it natural for man to be sick; the normal condition is health. If one is sick, then it is sensible to find out why one is sick, and having found out why, to remove the cause and take such measures as will assist nature in traveling the road back to health and strength.

When one is sick, the usual thing is to call lustily for a "doctor." So constant and numerous are these calls that in this country we have thousands and thousands of "medicine men," hurrying around with automobiles, trying to "call'' on every caller - with the result that the more doctors we have the more we seem to need, and we have established medical colleges that are now turning them out by the hundreds.

Fact is, it's quite a "business" these days, this "doctoring business," and along with it the business of the undertaker, the coffin maker, and the sexton.

Now suppose you are sick; it's not necessary to make any "supposition" with most of you; very few people are actually well, in perfect health. Most of us are just able to crawl around, our ailments are often so protracted that they become chronic, and many thousands never know what it is to be free from some kind of ache or pain, unless the "doctor" dopes them with something, often morphine or worse.

But we will say now that you are suffering from some acute and manifestly distressing disease; old Mother Nature is trying her best to tell you there is something wrong - that's PAIN, and the purpose of pain, which is the "guardian angel" of the body.

You've tried the old ideas a long time, and you have never been permanently bettered. Of course you have been sick and got well, or so you are able to "get up and around," but you haven't been actually well for years, - that's the condition of millions of people today. Now suppose you try something new.

I understand that few people want to "experiment" on themselves, but it's about as safe as letting some "doctor" experiment on you, and much cheaper.

Here is the idea: when you get sick, or when you know that you are not in perfect health, investigate the "fast cure."

Most ailments come from the different organs of the body being clogged up with foreign matter of some kind in the nature of poisons, gases, waste, or germs. (Perhaps I am not using the correct "medical" terms to make myself clear to the "doctors," but this article is not written with any idea that it will ever receive their attention, and the average "patient" will know, or be able to guess, what I mean from my "unprofessional language.")

If the sewer system of a city gets clogged up, they dont give it a dose of pills, they flush it with water; if your system gets clogged up, - and that's the matter with most of you most of the time, - do the same thing. To do this properly, first stop putting in any more clogging material; in other words, stop eating, and then drink plenty of water often, and take internal baths (which are absolutely necessary in a fast) regularly once or twice a day, until every particle of matter is eliminated.