Always drink at least half an hour before a meal or about three hours after.A glass of hot water or fruit juices diluted with water, on rising or before retiring, will be found very helpful in cleansing the body of waste matter and toxins, and would be especially beneficial in conjunction with the natural treatment you are now undergoing. The best drinks are water (either hot or cold) and fruit juices (with or without water). Milk is not a drink, but a food, and is best taken in conjunction with fruit.

Strong tea and coffee should be carefully avoided, as both these drinks have a bad effect upon the digestive and nervous system, also on the kidneys and heart. A cup of weak China tea, without sugar, may be taken during the afternoon, however, by those who desire it. This will do no harm at all. No food should be taken with the drink, though.

For sweetening a drink of hot water and lemon juice, the best thing is honey.

The desire for excessive drinking should always be regarded as a sign of disturbance of function�of a diseased condition.

Never drink because you think you ought to, but when you really want to do so. On a diet such as is being prescribed for you, very little drinking will be found necessary, as most of the food is already in a diluted condition, for all natural, uncooked foods contain a large percentage of water in their composition.

The condition of the eliminatory musculature in the constipated person is exactly similar to that which is seen, say, in the arm of a person who, because it has been broken, has had it in a sling for some weeks. The muscles of the arm will be found to have relaxed to such an extent that its owner will be unable to make it perform its normal functions. He must exercise it gradually, and in time normality will be regained.

Therefore, in order to restore natural tone to the eliminatory musculature, it is quite apparent that we must exercise it. The best way in which this process may be carried out is by the following regime, once you have adopted a diet which provides sufficient bulk after digestion to stimulate the muscles of elimination to action. As all muscular structure is kept in tone by actual use and is built up by exercise, you must exercise the muscles of elimination twice each day in the effort to build them up to normal. In no circumstances should purgatives or such-like aids to enforce bowel action be used.

Let it be understood that results will not follow immediately. It will all depend upon the degree of relaxation of the muscles how long it will be before satisfactory results ensue. However, the attempts will be quite successful in time, in every case, if persevered with ; and when once the bowels have been made to move naturally, it will be found that they will respond with increasing frequency as the regular efforts are pursued. Ultimately, two habitual daily movements will be obtained.

It must be emphasised that the diet must be kept right, and the daily regular efforts never relaxed, except for the most compelling reasons. In this way only lies success.

As instructed in the various treatments, the enema or gravity douche should be used to cleanse the bowels until they begin to function normally of their own accord, as a result of the instructions given above. As necessary, the enema or douche should be used nightly up to the end of the first week of treatment, and every other night thereafter as required.

The procedure for the use of the enema or gravity douche is as follows :

Fill the container with water at about body heat�98 degrees Fahr., that is (this can be tested by means of a small thermometer if desired). Next, well grease the nozzle with either vaseline or olive oil. Then place the container on a suitable hook from four to six feet from the ground, and He on your back on the floor (on a sheet or cloth). Insert the enema into the rectum and gradually allow the water to run into the bowel.* When all the water has entered, the nozzle can be removed, and it will be found that the water stays in quite of its own accord. Keep the water in for a few minutes, then turn on your left side, then on your face, next on your right side, then on your face again, and finally on to your hands and knees. Now let the water out altogether into a receptacle placed handy for the occasion, and it will be found that either the waste matter will come away with the water or a desire to empty the bowels will be felt shortly afterwards.

This is an absolutely harmless method of cleansing the system and occupies not more than five minutes. The enema or douche should be used every night for the first week of the treatment if necessary, and every other night thereafter in those cases where a natural movement of the bowels is not yet being obtained. Once natural bowel action begins, it should be dispensed with altogether, unless there is any future tendency towards constipation, when it should be used again.

This bath can be taken with a rough dry towel or with a moderately soft bristle brush (the latter is better). If a brush is going to be used, the best way to test the bristles to see whether they are suitable for this purpose is to rub the brush over the back of the hand, and if the sensation is not unpleasant, it can be depended upon for satisfactory use on the body i.e., after one has become accustomed to the friction.

Naturally the skin will be a little tender at first, but it will gradually become toughened. If a brush is used, the procedure should be as follows :

See that the water is ready to run freely before inserting into the rectum.

For babies, a small bulb enema containing one to two ounces of water should be used. For children, from one to two pints of water should be used for the enema. For adults, from three to jour pints of water should be used.

Take the brush in one hand and begin with the face, neck, and chest. Then brush one arm, beginning at the wrist and brushing towards the shoulders. Now stoop down and brush one foot, then the ankle and leg. Then do the other foot and leg, and next the hips and central portion of the body. Continue brushing each part until the skin is pink. Use the brush quickly back and forward on every part of the body. The whole process does not take very long�about a minute or so. If a towel is used it should be fairly rough, and the same process gone through as above explained.

There are bath-tubs made especially for taking a sitz-bath, but an ordinary bath or hip bath can be used just as well. The procedure is as follows :

Fill an ordinary bath-tub with cold water to a depth of four inches or so, and sit in it so that the feet, the seat, and the sexual organs are for the most part in the water. Only the seat and feet should touch the bottom of the tub, while the knees are always above the water.

The knees are now spread apart and the water is vigorously dashed over the abdomen with the hollow of the hand. The throwing of the water is followed by a brisk rubbing of the abdomen with both hands. After this process has been carried on for a while, all the parts immersed in the water (except the sexual organs themselves) should be rubbed vigorously with the open hand. Then get out and dry with a rough towel. When you become stronger, the rubbing-dry process should be carried out with the hands. This is in itself a good exercise and improves the condition of the skin.

The whole of the foregoing process should take from two to three minutes at first, but its duration should be gradually increased as you become more accustomed to it. If you feel warm after the sitz-bath, you can usually be sure you have not overdone it.

Wring out a towel in cold water, and rub the whole body in the manner described for the Friction Bath (page 452). If, during the process of rubbing, the towel becomes too dry, it should be wrung out again.

It is prepared as follows : Dissolve from two to three lb. of commercial Epsom salts in an ordinary bath of hot water. Remain immersed in the bath for from ten to twenty minutes This bath should be taken just before retiring to bed, and care should be exercised not to get chilled afterwards. Wherever Epsom-salts baths are indicated in the treatment for any special disease, at least one ordinary hot cleansing bath should be taken as well every week. Never use soap with the Epsom-salts bath, as this interferes with its beneficial effects. If you feel warm after the sitz-bath, you can usually be sure you have not overdone it.

The arrangements are as follows : Place two hip-baths side by side, the one containing from four to five inches of hot water, the other the same depth of cold. Get into the hot sitz, sit in it for a few minutes, then get out and immediately into the cold one. Sit in that for just one minute, then get back into the hot sitz again, and repeat two or three times in all.

The procedure is as follows : Wring out some linen material in cold water, wrap two or three times round the affected part, and cover with some flannelling. Secure in place. The packs are put on at night as a general rule, and removed in the morning.

In the case of fevers the packs can be put on several times during the day, for an hour or so. For a pack for the alleviation of a fever (or other serious inflammatory condition), it is best to use a trunk or whole body pack, and for this purpose a sheet should be wrung out in cold water and wound round the trunk or whole body two or three times, then covered with a blanket or blankets. Where reaction to the trunk or full body pack is poor, hot-water bottles may be applied to the feet and also to the sides of the body, or hot bricks wrapped in flannel may be used.

The movements represented in the exercises have been specially selected because of their great organ-squeezing, body-twisting, and spine-stretching qualities. It does not matter so much whether you build up your biceps, but it is important that you keep the muscular walls of the stomach and abdominal region firm and the spinal tissues well stretched. To keep the muscles of the trunk of the body firm and vigorous means to keep internally fit. A system of exercises such as the following, therefore, practised each day, in conjunction with a general scheme of health-building treatment as advocated for your case, will greatly enhance your possibilities of achieving that return to a condition of really sound health which I know you so earnestly desire.

To the man or woman who is not accustomed to the performance of exercises it may seem, at first, that the system here given is rather strenuous. However, the poorer your muscular condition is, the more rapid will be the response and improvement. If you find the whole system too difficult at first, begin with half the number of exercises, and as you become accustomed to them add the remainder gradually. (The exercises are reproduced here ..

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Each exercise should take just one minute to perform.

The different exercises about to be enumerated should be repeated from six to ten times each, according to the endurance and the amount of time at disposal.

Reverse the exercise, jerking the shoulders backwards in similar manner while inhaling. Alternate the movement, forcing the shoulders forward, then backward.

Draw in all the breath you can through the nose, allowing the expansion to commence in the abdominal region, and gradually ascend to the chest. After you have drawn in all the breath you can, hold it for a moment, and try to inhale another breath, and following this, exhale fully. Repeat this exercise until a slight feeling of fatigue ensues.

Such disturbances are known as " healing crises " in the world of Naturopathy, and are called such for the reason that they mark a temporary crisis in the process of cure taking place � a crisis engendered by the healing forces at work within the body of the individual concerned, and which has as its aim the increased elimination of toxic material from the body of the individual under treatment.

Any person, therefore, who suddenly finds himself developing a cold, or excessive catarrh, or a skin eruption, or a crop of boils, or diarrhoea, or such-like disturbances, under treatment, should welcome its appearance as a sure sign that the treatment is doing its allotted work in forcing toxic material out of his system, and should not blame the treatment for adding further troubles to those he already has. The cure of disease ultimately depends, in every case, upon the removal of impediments to the proper functioning of the organism, and the removal of toxic waste and other deleterious material from the cells and tissues of the body has been shown in the present book to be the quickest and surest way of bringing this about. Any movement, therefore, which hastens this eliminative and cleansing process should be regarded with satisfaction by the patient undergoing treatment. That is why the " healing crisis " is so much to be welcomed when it comes.

It must be pointed out that not every patient under treatment will develop a " healing crisis," yet others will develop two or even three. It all depends upon the constitutional make-up of the individual concerned, and cannot be forecasted in any way.

In the natural treatment of fevers " healing crises " often occur, and it is because these sometimes appear so serious to those tending the patient, giving the appearance that the patient is growing very much worse, that it is always best to have a Naturopath in attendance in all such cases.

But even here, without personal naturopathic advice, if those responsible for the carrying out of the treatment will keep their heads, and realise that what is taking place is only a special recuperative effort on the part of the healing forces at work within the body of the patient, and, when past, will mean that a decisive step towards final recovery has taken place, then such crises can be readily weathered in every case.

It is worth mentioning here that cases are on record where a fever was in process of being fasted, and, a healing crisis having developed, those undertaking the treatment, not having a Naturopath nearby to consult, have grown panicky and sent for a doctor.

The result has been that the doctor has at once proceeded to inoculate the patient with some serum or other, and insisted upon the patient being fed in accordance with his own views regarding the treatment of fevers, and this, coming on top of the previous fasting treatment, has resulted in the death of the patient.

Of course it was the fasting which was blamed for the death of the patient, not the doctor's treatment at all !

The tragedy is that if, in these cases, those responsible for the administration of the treatment had only kept their heads when the crisis appeared, and carried on as before, the patient would have got over it quite all right, and would soon have been convalescent.

A particular case that can be cited is one of a boy of twelve who developed diphtheria. His parents decided to treat him themselves, without the aid of a doctor, along Natural Cure lines. The boy was fasted for several days and was getting on splendidly, when suddenly he began to bleed profusely at the mouth and nose. The parents grew alarmed at this (although, if they had only known, this was a very good thing indeed, a real " healing crisis "), and sent hurriedly for a doctor.

When the doctor arrived he proceeded at once to inject anti-diphtheria serum and told the parents to begin feeding the boy. The result was that within forty-eight hours the boy was dead. The blame, of course, was laid at the door of the fasting ; not on the medical treatment superimposed upon it !

(1) The first thing is to enter upon the treatment with the feeling that you are going to do your utmost to make a success of it. Remember that health must be earned, and in achieving it you will be more than amply rewarded for all the efforts you have made.

(2) Try to be as cheerful as you can all the time. A cheery and optimistic outlook is an inestimable asset to have along with you in your fight to regain health. Remember that the mental factor is of the utmost importance where the production or the eradication of disease is concerned, and the right mental attitude is therefore a fundamental necessity if you wish to gain the fullest advantage from the treatment you are now undergoing. Remember that depression, fear, anxiety, and such-like emotions are due to a lowered state of the system and of the nerves especially, and realise that by substituting their opposites�hope, courage, determination, etc.� you are effectually neutralising their effects upon you and paving the way for their ultimate elimination from your mental consciousness.

Instead of thoughts like " I shall never get well," " Everything is going wrong with me," " The whole world seems against me," etc., etc., you must keep in your mind thoughts such as " Now I am going to get well," " I know I am going to get well because the treatment I am undertaking is bound to help me to secure health," " My troubles are due to my own folly and ignorance and will be rectified by my own efforts now I have been shown the right way," etc.

(3) Remember that the worry habit does more to sap vitality and initiative than any other single factor, and remember also that the way to overcome it is by right thinking and right action along the lines consistently laid down in the present book.

In essence worry is due to a depleted nervous system and lowered nervous tone, and the more you strive to build up your health along the lines here laid down, the more surely will you be paving the way for the eradication of the worry habit. As your health improves and nerve power is increased and the nervous condition built up, so inevitably must worry cease to occupy a dominant position in your mental consciousness. That is a thought worth pondering upon frequently by everyone.

Another good thing is to start the day by affirming to yourself your determination to get well in spite of all obstacles, and to repeat several times with emphasis : " Now to begin again on my new treatment which is doing me so much good and is going to make me really well in time."

Daily self-suggestion of this nature can do far more good from the curative point of view than most people would imagine.

Read this whole section through several times a week.