The Indianapolis journal., 1902-09-28
FASTING AND WEIGHT
THREE DAYS EXPERIMENT BY A
TENNIS CHAMPION.
A Period of Great Discomfort, Espe-
ciaIly Toward the Last-The Con-
illusions Drawn.

1
If were condemned to die within three
days L should certainly fast during that
time. not only because death would then be
quite welcome relief, but also because l
do not know any better means of making
the hours drag slowly. There never was
a less appropriate name than fast. My
three days were the most tedious of my
whole life.
/ had often gone without meal and In
| fact, had got into the habit of taking no
breakfast after once the habit-hunger had
ceased. the no-breakfast plan. which now
has thousands of advocates in America and
here. suited me excellently. 1 had once or
twice tasted until the evening, and had
not minded that.
Recently 1 had endured for nearly two
days, during which 1 consequently felt
sleepy and slack, though not unable to take
a fair amount of exercise; my weight went
down about eight pounds. During this pre-
liminary canter, this little desert without
any food-oasis except a sip or two of water,
l realized what blessings our meals are.
But 1 was not prepared for the nausea of
the Sahara, the obtrusive bullying dullness
! of those intermnable three days of fasting.
TWO WAYS OF EXPERIMENTING
experiments. You may, like the French
scientist with the incubation for tubercu-
losis. say that the thing shall not affect
/ you. The use of the will power, that Ma
poleonic insistence by the mind upon it's
right to control circumstances. to be itself
the "centrestance," utterly vitiates any and
every experiment as simply a physical ex-
pertinent since the involuntary imagina-
| 0f nal ma
smallpox without any physical cause, then
| the voluntary and willed imagination or
immunity can make a man immune.
The other way is to be passive, to be the
spectator and register of ones own feel
ings; just to wait and see what will hap
pen; to be, as it were, the camera or pho
nograph-record of ones own sensation. This
was and nearly always has been my atti-
| tude during such trials. / didn't know
what would happen wanted to know;
rather than an influencing dictator
| Thenr again, there are two ways or treat
| ing physical experiments after they are
over. One way is to say that every single
| person in the world must meet with exactly
| the same results. Scarcely any man or
woman has ever succeeded In hnding pet
| mediately laying down hard and fast and
| universal law for mankind, and the same
applies to all sorts Of treatments with
| water and exercise.
My own way is to describe as fairly and
| impartially as / can what has happened to
| me- and then, ii 1t has been nice, to recon-
mend it to others as worth reasonable
| trial, no more, even II no less. / draw no
conclusion except that this has held good
for me, and may hold good for others 1
| never guarantee results.
Here, for example 1 cannot guarantee the
| excruciating tedium.
HOW SPENT THE TIME.
Before give the statistics of weight. etc..
let me say one word more. They were taken
| in amateur way with a penny-in-the-
slot weighing machine. But can generally
guess my weight to within a pound or two.
On the few days before the fast had been
too literally supplied with fruit especially
gooseberries My weight had gone up to
twelve stone on Thursday evening. Aug. Z,
| when the fast began.
During each of the three days I walked
| on the average two and half miles and
read two and a half novels and did one and
| a half hours work in contrast with my
usual eight. Throughout, after the first
| morning, L felt lazy and torpid and de-
| pressed. On Friday evening my weight was
| 117k, on Saturday evening lis, on Sun
day evening 11.11a. That means drop of
twelve and a half pounds in three days. In
| my last tennis match but one with Peter
Latham l lost eight pounds-11.4 to 1910.
| drank about two pints of water but
| otherwise drank and ate nothing except
| Cambridge air
II was not till two hours before I broke
| the fast that / began to feel at all clear
| headed and brisk. There had been no pain
| just discomfort and dissatisfaction and a
| physical sense that my stomach was far
too near my mouth. The evenings of Fri
day and Saturday were the worst hours. /
| slept fairly we'll
Fasting experts say that after three days
the discomfort passes / dare say that may
often be the case: but three days were suf-
| ficient for my needs L reliShed the Plas-
| mon and Hovis biscuits and the fruits of
my first meal more than / can describe. /
ate a lot too much. l don't think that,
| even for the pleasure of that meal, / shall
| ever do a complete fast again, though I
| grant that if L had drunk freely of water
q only slipped when was thirsty might
| have suffered less.
Yet 1 am glad that I did fast now
| know that if my last penny were gone 1
could probably work for at least three
| days; for could have worked If 1 had ex-
erted my will and forced myself.
CONCLUSIONS FROM MY FASTING.
Then, also feel additional confidence in
my power of self-control. though / grant
that my sister was kind enough to take out
of my room the fruits and other foods that
generally stand there, particularly some
clear-veined. thin skinned light gooseber-
ries. l did not expose myself to the full
temptation. The increased power of self
control / think 1 could guarantee to any
one. as We'll as, of course, the saving Of
money.
| L 90 draw certain conclusions, however
that may be of service to many and one of
the conclusions from my various expert
ments is that. in order to restore the up
set balance Of food, since nearly all
eat too much. some sort of fasting may be
decidedly good.
But it need not be complete nor contin-
uous 1t can be done on odd days-Sunday
is very odd day. because we say to our
digestive organs that lin it they shall have
no manner of rest" or we can try to give
up some one meal, or to take fruit break
fast; or to confine oneself to fewer foods
| at least for one meal. Some people advise
only beef and water, others no flesh foods.
others wet foods others no dry foods
and all have promised every one else splen-
/ did effects.
| L promise nothing / only know that a
| continuous fast which has suited others SO
well has not yet suited me at all; and that
the theory of fasting has in it one or two
| terrible scientific errors. But, after ALL
| fasting like diet. is at present only in its