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Pythagoras required candidates to undergo a forty-day fast before he initiated them into his secret teachings. He said only so could their brains be sufficiently purified to understand such deep doctrine. A few fasts of two to four days in length will cause the average stomach distended by the long custom of overeating to shrink to its right proportions. If this lead, given by Nature, is henceforward followed, he will eat less than before but enjoy equal or more strength than before.

-- Notebooks Category 5: The Body > Chapter 4 : Fasting > # 39