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In 1954 Sweden made headlines in the world press when eleven men walked from Gothenburg to Stockholm, a distance of about 300 miles, in ten days. During the whole march these men, who walked about 30 miles each day in rain or shine, did not eat any food at all!
They didn’t drink any juices, did not take any drugs, tablets or vitamins—nothing but plain water!
This fast march created a sensation not only in Sweden but around the world. Not only the average man but even the medical doctors did not realize that man can go without food for ten days, especially under such a severe physical stress. Many have heard stories of flyers who crash-landed their airplanes in the wilderness then died from starvation after eight or nine days; or of the lost mountain climbers who were starved to death after a few days. This dramatic fast march was the shock that forced people to re-assess their thinking about fasting. It made them realize that man not only can be without food for ten days but he can even perform a physical feat which many would not be able to duplicate on a diet of fat steaks.
The Gothenburg-Stockholm march received unprecedented world publicity right from the beginning. The world was not prepared for anything of this nature. Several doctors expressed their opinion that fasters would never reach Stockholm—they would die on the road. Large headlines in all the newspapers talked about “insane, mad, crack-brained faddists.” Doctors suggested stopping the project by force. Sweden’s largest newspaper sent a medical doctor, a specialist in athletics and sports, to check the condition of the fasters after about five days of march. Disappointed by the fact that he could not find anything wrong with the seemingly healthy and happy men, the doctor made his now infamous statement: “They remind me of a man who jumped from a skyscraper and while passing the tenth floor said to himself ‘Well, so far the flight is great!’ ”
Hundreds of thousands of people greeted the 11 men when they triumphantly marched into Stockholm. Medical check-ups, immediately after the march, several weeks and then several months later, showed that the men did not suffer any damage. Their weight loss was an average of 20 pounds per person, or two pounds a day.
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Tags: General health
Tags: General health