2

First come the normal “reserves”—glycogen stored in the liver and cells, as well
as fat reserves. Once these are exhausted, autolysis will attack tissues that are
less important for the body’s survival—or when diseased tissue is involved,
those that are the most harmful to health. The result is a breakdown of toxins
saturating the body’s internal cellular environment, as well as destruction of
diseased tissue: cysts, tumors, and so on. Autolysis will then proceed to use
healthy tissue, starting again with the least essential, such as the muscles. If a
fast is continued for too long—during a famine, perhaps—rather than for
therapeutic purposes, more and more essential tissue will be autolyzed and
eventually death will result from starvation.
Figures that physiologists provide regarding the relative weight loss for each
organ in the event of death by starvation—in other words, when fasting is carried
to the extreme—reveal the intelligence that governs autolysis of tissues. The
losses are listed here in declining order.
Fatty tissue, the body’s natural reserves, is depleted the most by this process:
97 percent of the body’s fat is broken down by autolysis. Next is the spleen,
which loses 67 percent of its initial weight, followed by the liver, which loses 54
percent. These two organs that are so vitally important to the body figure high on
the scale because while their loss is large quantitatively, it is of less importance
qualitatively.
In fact, water is the primary element eliminated here, in addition to fats and
glycogens from the liver. Despite such substantial losses, these organs can
continue to function properly.
Next on the list are muscles, which lose 31 percent of their weight; blood, 27
percent (but the tissues it irrigates have also reduced in size); kidneys, 26
percent; skin, 21 percent; lungs, 18 percent; intestines, 18 percent; pancreas, 17
percent; and bones, percent. The organs least affected by autolysis are the brain,
spinal cord, and heart, of which only 3 percent of their combined total weight is
broken down.
Observing how “nonessential” organs can be autolyzed to supply nutrients to
essential organs is impressive in itself. Figures concerning the self-digestion of
unhealthy tissue (tumors, cysts) are even more impressive, as these tissues can
be autolyzed up to 100 percent.
In other words, pathological tissue can be entirely broken down and destroyed
during a fast. Its constituent elements are separated, those that can be reutilized
are transported to the organs that need them, and the rest are eliminated. Thus, a

tumor can be entirely purged.
This is the healing value of a fast. This does not mean that when symptoms of
disease disappear (a cancerous tumor, for instance) that a complete cure has been
effected. A cure will be realized only when the internal cellular environment that
hosted the disease has been corrected and cleansed.
And during a fast—contrasted with many other therapeutic approaches—the
internal cellular environment is cleansed. In fact, autolysis of toxins saturating
the internal environment takes place in tandem with the autolysis of unhealthy
tissue. Thus, for the duration of a fast, not only is the diseased element removed,
but the environment that enabled its existence is also cleared. The process
described here using the tumor as illustration also applies to other health
disorders, including conditions like outbreaks of acne, osteoarthritis, and the flu.
The fact that the body uses waste and diseased tissue before autolyzing
healthy tissue makes logical sense. The body, by virtue of its immune system,
can distinguish between an integral part of itself and an external element. It can
rapidly pinpoint everything that is not “self” or that represents a threat to its
physical integrity: for example, intruders (germs, viruses, bacteria, parasites) and
poisons and cells that do not conform to the architecture and overall organization
of the body (cancerous tissue). Once the body has detected elements that are
foreign and harmful, it can organize its immune system to destroy or neutralize
“the enemy” selectively.
Breaking down unhealthy tissue is also easier than accessing healthy tissue.
The diseased elements are not as well integrated into the overall organic
economy of the system and are thus weaker and more easily destroyed.
The point of a therapeutic fast, in the end, is not to push autolysis to create
lesions that threaten death. The goal is to trigger the process and maintain it only
as long as needed to affect physical cleansing, and always to interrupt autolysis
before it damages healthy tissue. The moment when a fast must end is easier to
determine than one might suppose: that moment is preceded by the return of true
hunger. This sensation is a physical hunger that should not be confused with
false mental hungers that arise during the fast and are actually a desire to eat
more than a need to eat.

The Intelligence of Autolysis

Autolysis of tissues is achieved intelligently. Essential tissues are not attacked but rather
nourished, thanks to the autolysis of tissues that are less essential—or not at all necessary—
and to the reuse of toxins they contain, toxins that gradually disappear in this manner over
the course of the fast.

TISSUE REGENERATION
Working in tandem with autolysis is a phenomenon known as tissue
regeneration, also a natural process. Consider the tadpole: common belief holds
that tadpoles lose their tails before making the transition to frogs with feet. In
reality, they have not lost their tails; they have absorbed them through autolysis.
The substances thereby released were used to build feet.
In the human body, too, autolyzed substances are placed at the body’s disposal
to build new tissue, not merely to repair existing tissue. Because of this, even
body growth can continue uninterrupted during a period of fasting. Common
observation during the course of a fast reveals that—against all expectations—
old wounds scab, badly welded fractures reconsolidate, fresh wounds or ulcers
close, and lesions are healed.
Two factors are responsible for this phenomenon of tissue regeneration. On
the one hand, autolysis releases substances the body needs to build other tissues.
But that factor alone cannot explain the fact of regeneration. After all, during
periods of regular food intake, those necessary substances are provided by a
normal diet. Something else must be at work here.
The answer is that during a fast, the body gradually rids itself of accumulated
wastes, clearing fluids needed for transport, thereby facilitating delivery of
nutritive substances to the cells, where they can be put to use. Before a fast,
wounds and lesions are immersed in an internal cellular environment saturated
with wastes—a kind of swamp obstructing pathways to the cells. Over the
course of the fast, toxins are eliminated and the way made clear; minerals and
vitamins can once again reach damaged regions to regenerate them.
This regeneration phenomenon also occurs in the blood. Anemic individuals
who undertake a fast may see their iron rates climb back to normal. The
explanation for this is the same as for other tissue regeneration. Iron is present in
the body but is blocked from entering the bloodstream by a congested cellular
environment. To be sure, this cure only applies to anemia caused by a deficiency
of utilization; it does not apply to anemia caused by intake deficiencies.

Physical Regeneration
During a fast, the body’s tissues regenerate and cleanse themselves, but they also repair
themselves with the substances that autolysis has provided them.

ELIMINATORY UPDATING
Because all food intake is absent during a fast, the work of the digestive system
is eliminated, resulting in considerable energy savings. Digestion, in fact,
requires a significant amount of labor from the body. The work of digestion is all
the more critical because if the body does not rapidly transform these “foreign
energies” (energies derived from food), it runs the risk of being overtaken by
them. Foods will encumber the digestive tube, ferment, and putrefy, producing a
quantity of poison.
The body is therefore constantly at work digesting the mass of food and drink
we ingest, meal after meal, day after day. But when food intake is halted, this
digestive energy can be directed toward other tasks. After digestion, the body’s
second most demanding task is elimination of toxins to avoid being poisoned.
Generally speaking, elimination work is never done sufficiently, precisely
because most available energy is applied to the digestive domain. Toxins,
meanwhile, gradually increase in the body, compromising the internal cellular
environment and paving the way for future disease.
During a fast—with suppression of digestive action—the body suddenly has
much more energy at its disposal to purify tissues, cleanse blood, and eliminate
wastes. These eliminations are evident in the increased work done by excretory
organs. The liver filters blood more actively, neutralizes wastes and poisons, and
expels them into the bile. The intestines disassimilate wastes, passing them
through the intestinal mucosa along the entire extent of their surface (600 square
meters; more than 700 square yards). The white, furred tongue of fasters is
typical; it testifies to this dissassimilation (the waste products being expelled) at
the upper, visible end of the digestive tract. The quantity of materials thus
expelled outward by the body toward the intestinal excretory organ are such that
even several weeks after the start of a fast (without any new intake from
outside), the bowels can still expel fecal matter.

Because of the amount of waste the kidneys filter and release into urine, the
urine becomes overfull and takes on a deep color and strong odor.
The excretory elements of the skin will also begin intense elimination of
wastes accumulated in different areas of the body. Pimples, eczema, or itching
may break out all over. Fasters sometimes sweat at night, and the skin might also
ooze and feel clammy.
Strong expectorations can also manifest in the respiratory tract. The body will
expel quantities of phlegm, causing fasters to sneeze and cough.
Identified by their location, two kinds of waste are distinguished: circulating
and embedded. Those nearest the surface are the first to be eliminated. Toxins
circulating in the blood or located in immediate proximity to capillaries can
easily and quickly gain access to the bloodstream, where they are carried to
excretory organs. Toxins already located in these organs are surface toxins as
well, also included in the term circulating toxins. Opening, or decongesting, the
excretory organs is all that is needed for these wastes to quickly exit the body.
Embedded wastes, on the other hand, are more difficult to eliminate. They
have been driven deeper and deeper into the tissues during a period when toxins
entered the body but the body could not expel them. Pushed farther down by
subsequent waves of toxins, these wastes are firmly embedded in the tissues and
difficult to dislodge. Merely reopening the excretory organs to the surface is
insufficient to force them back up. They require more effective methods that
function at the deepest levels.
Autolysis triggered by a fast is one of these methods. Toxins are broken down
so they can be transported by cellular fluids into the circulatory system, where
blood will then carry to the excretory organs those substances that cannot be
reused. The longer the fast, the more these autolyzed wastes can make their way
to the surface to be reused or eliminated from the body.
This clearing of toxins can be rough and intense, often experienced in the
form of violent elimination crises—also known as detoxification crises and even
healing crises, because they help restore the body to health by ridding it of
wastes that encumber it.

Eliminatory Updating

During a fast, a process of eliminatory updating takes place, made possible by suppressed
digestion, which puts more energy at the body’s disposal to purify tissues, cleanse blood, and
eliminate wastes.

HEALING CRISES
Healing crises occur during a fast primarily because the body has more energy to
devote to elimination functions, and once circulating toxins have been
eliminated, deep toxins have a free path to exit the body. Healing crises can
manifest violently because excretory organs are forced to function at an
accelerated pace to eliminate all the wastes coming their way. The body enters a
state of crisis—crisis intended to protect the body by cleansing it.
Healing crises can take on diverse characteristics that resemble actual
diseases: the skin may be covered with acne-like pimples, or it may ooze fluids
as in certain forms of eczema; the bronchial tubes may become congested as in
bronchitis; the nose may run as with a cold; and the joints may become inflamed
as with rheumatism.
The similarity between a healing crisis and disease is not surprising. As we
have seen, diseases are primarily healing crises triggered by the body as a
means to cure itself.
Although at times spectacular, healing crises do not last long, ranging from a
few hours to a few days in duration. Symptoms of the crisis rapidly disappear as
the wastes that prompted them are expelled from the body.
Healing crises are beneficial, because they enable the body to clear significant
quantities of toxin. It is important to recognize this, because manifestations of a
crisis are sometimes severe and may prompt people who are insufficiently aware
of them to abandon the cure.
Because they are salutary, these crises should not be repressed, but simply
monitored to ensure that the excretory organs are not taxed beyond their
capacities. Signs that the organs are overtaxed are eliminations that cause pain,
inflammation, and blockage of the excretory organs.

Healing Crises

Healing crises are the result of the body’s intensified internal cleansing. For this reason, they
are also referred to as cleansing crises or detoxification crises.

FASTING AND ACIDITY
The problems that acidification*1 causes in the cellular environment are
becoming more widely known. Excess acid irritates the organs, results in
demineralization, and interferes with enzymatic activity. Numerous illnesses can
result, including rheumatism, sciatica, tendinitis, eczema, constant fatigue, hair
loss, nervousness, leg cramps, sensitive gums, osteoporosis, and depression. Yet
one often hears it said that fasting is beneficial because it acidifies the blood.
How is this possible? Isn’t this a contradiction?
Among the various toxins, a critical role is played by toxic acids. This arises
from the fact that modern diets are rich in acidifying foods (meats, fats, sugars,
grain) and poor in alkalizing foods (salad greens, raw and cooked vegetables,
and so forth). Base or alkaline foods are eaten in quantities too small to
counterbalance and neutralize the high acid intake.
As a result of this dietary imbalance, the pH of internal cellular environments
—a measure of their acidity or alkalinity—tends toward the acid.
As with other toxins, high acid levels are not well tolerated in the blood; they
alter blood composition and compromise its function, disrupt mental processes,
and even threaten the body’s survival. To correct this imbalance, the body seeks
to filter as much acid as possible through excretory organs that specialize in this
task: the lungs, kidneys, and skin.
Too often, the body needs to eliminate more acid than the excretory organs
can handle. Only one solution is available to deal with the excess acids: push
them deeper into tissues, where they are more easily tolerated. This raises the
overall acid level of the internal cellular environment, but helps the blood retain
its normal pH of 7.3, or it may even become very slightly more alkaline than
usual.
This blood alkalization makes sense: it is a protective technique to prevent
blood pH from falling into acidity. In fact, the slight increase in alkalinity means
blood is now able to neutralize excess acids that threaten its normal pH.
Furthermore, the extra alkaline substances help blood to neutralize acids pushed
down into the internal cellular environment according to this formula: 1 alkaline
substance + 1 acid substance = 1 neutral salt. The greater the acidification of the

internal cellular environment, the greater the degree of alkalinity required in the
blood. The pH values of blood are therefore opposite of those in the cellular
environment.
But this involves only a tendency toward alkalization and not an actual
increase in alkalization, which the blood could not tolerate any better than
acidification. Blood pH tends to remain stable at a very slightly alkaline but
almost neutral level. The blood’s movement toward alkalosis, then, is not
entirely proportional to the internal cellular environment’s drift toward acidosis.
Now we can better understand why one might say a fast is beneficial because
it “acidifies” the blood. In reality, blood has not become acidic: it becomes less
alkaline—in other words, it has moved toward the acidic end of the pH scale
only by becoming less alkaline. But because the blood pH reflects the opposite
of the internal cellular environment, this means that the “acidification” of the
blood takes place in tandem with a deacidification of the internal environment.
During a fast, the internal cellular environment—all the cells and fluids in
which they are immersed—loses acids. Consequently, it recovers a normal pH.
Tissues are cleared of acids that hinder cellular exchanges by interfering with the
activity of enzymes, which are highly sensitive to changes in pH. Acid wastes
also attack tissues and organs, causing lesions and mineral loss. Healing and
health are thus promoted when the internal cellular environment regains its
normal composition.
The level of acid elimination can be evaluated by observing urination. Normal
urine has a pH level of 7.0 to 7.3. Any increase of the quantity of acids
eliminated alters this pH. The more acids eliminated from tissues, the higher the
acidity of urine.

pH Levels
The pH values of the blood are opposite those of the internal cellular environment. If the
blood becomes slightly acidified (less alkaline) during a fast, it is because the internal
environment is becoming less acidic.

During the course of a fast, then, urine typically increases in acidity as
quantities of acid are expelled during eliminatory updating or a healing crisis.
Acids are produced by autolysis as well, making the acidification of urine a

normal response, and even beneficial, as it points to the internal cellular
environment recovering its normal pH.
To facilitate understanding, one benefit of fasting can be understood not as
acidifying the blood, but as deacidifying the internal cellular environment.

THE BENEFITS OF FASTING
During a fast, substances that are harmful to the body—wastes and diseased
tissue—are destroyed and eliminated, whether by the normal purging function of
excretory organs or through the heightened action of healing crises.
In the best cases, cleansing means the body’s internal cellular environment has
recovered its ideal composition: blood is purified, lymph is cleared, cells are
immersed in fluids freed of poisons and toxins, and organs can once more
function freely. Cleansing occurs no matter what disease (or diseases) the faster
is coping with. This physical cleansing is the core benefit of fasting—the basis
of a fast’s therapeutic value. By cleaning the cellular environment, it removes the
true, common cause of disease and sets the faster on the road to healing. This
fact is apparent to those who understand the fundamental role played by the
internal cellular environment in overall health. Those who consider illnesses a
localized problem caused by specific afflictions will have trouble grasping the
true therapeutic benefits of a well-managed fast.
Of course, the intensity of cleansing—whether or not it occurs in the deep
tissues and whether or not it is complete—depends on the autolytic capacity of
the faster’s system, as well as on the length of the fast. Complete results are not
obtained in every fast. In some cases, autolysis and eliminatory updating are
insufficient to resolve the faster’s health problem—as seen in the case of Brandt,
who, despite numerous, lengthy fasts, failed to eliminate her tumor through
autolysis alone.
In the course of searching for another regimen that could provoke and
maintain autolysis intense enough to have done with her tumor, she discovered
the virtues of the grape mono diet. The reasons why a mono diet succeeded
when a stricter fasting regimen did not will be addressed later in the book.

3

Cleansing Enemas

Brandt enthusiastically recommended enemas every day during the fast and for
the duration of the grape mono diet. Daily enemas are likely to be too much for
our modern physiologies. Enemas should be repeated twice a week over a period
of two to three weeks to achieve deep cleansing.
The value of this cleansing method becomes clear when one gains a better
understanding of intestinal function.
Intestines are divided into two major parts:
The small intestine, which is approximately 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and
about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter
The large intestine or colon, about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long with a diameter
that varies from 2 to 2.5 inches (5 to 6 centimeters)
The small intestine begins at the exit of the stomach and ends in the lower-left
quadrant of the abdomen, where the colon begins, whose terminus is the anus.
Food digestion takes place in the small intestine, carried out by juices secreted
by the intestine itself, as well as secretions provided by the liver and pancreas.
During the process, foods are broken down into their component substances to
be subsequently absorbed through the intestinal walls.
These walls consist of a single layer of extremely delicate cells, behind which
blood capillaries are located. Crossing through the intestinal wall, nutrients enter
the bloodstream, where they are carried to the liver by the portal vein. There,
depending on the particular nutrient, the liver will use them as they are,
transform them to a more usable form, or combine them with other substances.
Despite their delicacy, the intestinal mucous membranes function like an
intelligent filter, allowing only those substances the body can use to pass through

their net. But this holds true only as long as the membranes have not been
damaged. Unfortunately, damage can occur from any number of common causes.
If the walls suffer lesions, intestines can allow a variety of wastes and poisons to
pass through to the blood. The liver can neutralize and eliminate toxins that are
carried to it, but this ability diminishes when autointoxication is extended over
time.
Overcome by waves of toxins arriving in a ceaseless stream, the liver
eventually loses the ability to cope with them and passes them through to the
body without neutralizing them. The contamination of blood and body tissues
that results is, as we have seen, the source of disease. This fact inspires many
medical practitioners to declare that “disease begins in the intestine.”
Intestinal walls become porous and stop filtering properly for many reasons:
1. Foods eaten can be natural irritants: alcohol, excess caffeine, spices,
sugars, and acids fall into this category. Foods may also contain chemical
substances that are irritants: preservatives, food coloring, insecticides,
pesticides, and other pollutants. Medications and drugs can also irritate
mucous membranes.
2. Poor digestion deteriorates intestinal walls: fermentation and
putrefaction of the mass of food passing through the digestive tract
produces quantities of aggressive substances like indoles and skatoles
(active organic compounds) that can damage the membranes.
3. Retaining fecal matter in the intestines too long damages membranes:
constipation prolongs the contact between mucous membranes and harmful
wastes and toxins. In the case of chronic constipation, such material will
adhere to intestinal walls in layers that can be over an inch to an inch and a
half (3–4 centimeters) thick and tough (like rubber). These deposits become
permanent irritants that interrupt the proper function of intestinal mucous
membranes.
4. A poor-quality diet or overeating alters the intestinal environment: the
wrong foods—as well as insufficient intestinal evacuations—will alter the
intestinal milieu and bring about changes to the intestinal flora,
microorganisms that normally live in the gut and assist with proper
digestion. These microorganisms can become pathogenic germs when the
intestinal milieu in which they work deteriorates.

Intestinal contents can also convert to a mass of putrefying and fermenting
matter, teeming with germs and saturated in toxins. And this mass sits inside of
us, separated from our internal environment by a fine mucous membrane no
more than 25–30 thousandths of a millimeter thick! For any cure to be effective,
this mass of poisons and waste must be eliminated from the body. Antisymptomatic treatments may provide some relief, but they fail to address the
root of the problem: diseases can be self-maintaining simply by virtue of the
deplorable state of the intestines.
Enemas deal directly with the problem by cleansing and ridding the intestine
of wastes. They work by introducing water into the intestine where it can liquefy
fecal matter and facilitate its evacuation. Water dilutes this material, dislodges
crusts that have attached to the intestinal walls, and carries toxins out of the body
when the liquid is expelled.
Enemas imitate the body’s natural defense system for getting rid of germs or
poisons: diarrhea. Intestinal eliminations are complete during an occurrence of
diarrhea because the contents are liquefied.
We should keep in mind that intestines are not merely tubes with smooth
walls, but are tubes with countless folds and small projections (intestinal villi)
among which wastes can hide. Only by promoting the passage of water through
these folds can wastes be dislodged.
In practice, it is easy to see how this “emptying” of the intestines alters the
course of a disease. Enemas act like the release of a clutch—fever falls, pain
diminishes, and other problems recede. In this way, the patient conserves energy
for other tasks—physical energy that previously went toward coping with the
consequences of an intestine full of waste.
Enemas also free intestinal mucosa of crusts and adhered wastes, allowing the
process of intestinal dissassimilation to resume working efficiently. In fact, the
collected wastes lying stagnant in tissues surrounding the intestines can then
cross through the intestinal mucosa to be eliminated with the stools. This process
of disassimilating wastes, which takes place along the entire extent of the
mucous membranes in the alimentary canal, is visible only when it occurs on the
tongue. A white tongue and furry mouth are the signs of this elimination.

Enemas

The principle of enemas is the introduction of water into the intestines to liquefy fecal matter
and facilitate its elimination.
Enemas are beneficial because they:
Free the intestines of a mass of stagnating wastes
Prevent fermentation and putrefaction
Expel from the intestines poisons that are irritating and harsh on mucous membranes
Encourage assimilation of nutrients and disassimilation of toxins by the intestinal
mucosa

Applying enemas not only empties the intestines of collected waste, but also
allows the mucous membranes along their entire surface to pass wastes through
from the tissues. This represents more than 700 square yards (600 square meters)
of disassimilation surface! It would be unfortunate to deprive the body of this
important exit by neglecting to take the necessary enemas.
More information about the practice of using enemas can be found in chapter
7.

4

The Grape Mono Diet

After the initial stage of preparation—fasting and enemas—Brandt’s regimen
continues to the actual Grape Cure from which the practice takes its name. In
this second stage, the fast is broken and only grapes are eaten. They are the
exclusive item at every meal.
Because only one food is allowed, the regimen is called a mono diet—
consisting of a single (mono) food. Mono diets can be fashioned around all kinds
of foods. The basic principle is to select one and remain with it for the duration
of the cure. The food can be eaten as often as one likes during the cure, at
mealtimes and between—but always alone and never supplemented. The food
must be a healthy choice so that benefits of the diet are not lost due to
deficiencies in the food itself. A mono diet of eggs, meat, or chocolate, for
instance, would soon cause digestive problems and the production of copious
wastes. As a general rule, mono diets are practiced with grains, or with fruits and
vegetables served raw, cooked, or in juice form. More information on foods
suitable for mono diets will be discussed in The Mono Diet in Practice in chapter
7.
Mono diets are extremely strict regimens that bear a close resemblance to
fasting, in that all foods have been removed except one. The effects of a mono
diet are thus similar to those of a fast.
To be sure, substantial quantities of the chosen food—in this case grapes—can
be consumed over the course of a day. However, as it only involves a single
food, the digestive system’s work is vastly simplified. There are no digestive
conflicts as may occur when foods are mixed during the course of a normal
meal, and digestion can proceed with ease. The nutritive substances consumed
are rapidly absorbed, and the body enters a state similar to that of a fast.

THE BASIC VIRTUES OF THE MONO DIET
Because fasts and mono diets are so similar in practice, the same healing
phenomena triggered by fasts are also triggered by mono diets. Autolysis, the
updating of eliminations, and tissue regeneration all occur in mono diets. These
healing reactions are somewhat less intense, as mono diets are less restrictive
than fasts; nevertheless, the same bodily responses arise.
Autolysis is triggered as soon as the body needs nutritive substances that are
not present—or are present only in limited quantity—in the food that is chosen
for the diet. To continue functioning normally, the body draws nutrients from
within itself by autolysis. This autolysis of tissues will continue for the duration
of the cure. Diseased tissues and toxins are broken down and the internal cellular
environment is cleansed, just as in a fast.
Eliminatory updating may also occur during a mono diet when the energy
normally called on for digestion is sharply reduced. Purifying processes can then
be activated to extract toxins from the tissues and carry them via the transport
systems of blood and lymph to the excretory organs. In addition to this
purification triggered by energy savings in digestion, specific purifying
properties of the mono diet food are at work. For example, diuretic and laxative
properties of the grape itself reinforce the purification properties of the diet.
Tissue regeneration also takes place due to cleansing that improves circulation
and promotes efficient exchange of autolyzed substances, as well as by the
intake of important nutrients contained in the selected food.
The fact that autolysis, eliminatory updating, and tissue regeneration take
place at a slower pace is not necessarily a drawback. This should not prompt one
to fast for longer periods rather than following a mono diet. As we shall see,
mono diets have a number of advantages over fasts alone.
The first advantage is, in fact, that the cleansing processes do take place
slowly. An abrupt, massive return of toxins is less likely, and the patient is
spared the violent healing crises they can provoke. This is an advantage for the
elderly, for those with diminished vitality, and for anyone suffering a major
illness or severe autointoxication—those whose weakened bodies are less able to
tolerate a violent elimination crisis. In fact, such individuals run the risk of an
excretory organ becoming overworked or momentarily blocked under the
avalanche of waste that can flood their system during a more severe fasting diet.
Heavy meat eaters, fans of large meals, as well as those whose bodies have

been saturated with drugs or medications, are also more comfortable on a mono
diet, for by choosing the less restrictive regimen, they are spared painful
detoxification crises while still enjoying an opportunity to take an active role in
their own health.
Another advantage of a less restrictive diet is that a level of physical function
can be sustained, due to food intake. Some bodies are so worn out, they can no
longer retain normal rhythms without external stimulation. For want of strength
and internal tone, they need to be set in motion and maintained by stimuli
derived from foods. This is a little like a person who drinks a lot of coffee and
finds it difficult to wake up in the morning without it.
For people dependent on the stimulation provided by food, an overly
restrictive diet like a fast will rob them of this critical aid. Their bodily functions
will slow down, autolysis will not occur—or it will happen poorly at best—and
eliminations will stop dead in their tracks. This kind of body functions in slow
motion during a fast, but by maintaining food intake—if only one kind in a
mono diet—this stimulation is sustained and so is physical function and the
healing process.
This is what Brandt realized; this is why she opted for a mono diet as the
foundation of her treatment, rather than fasting alone.
In her system, the purpose of fasting before beginning the grape mono diet is
to trigger autolysis and cleansing by the drastic reduction of food intake for a
short time. These processes, which will continue even when grapes are
introduced, could not be activated so intensely by starting out immediately with
the mono diet.
Another advantage of less restrictive diets, one not to be dismissed, is the
psychological aspect. Some people are afraid of not eating. In fact, the tensions
that result from this fear can block circulation and nerve impulses while
interfering with organ function. By allowing one food that can be eaten at will,
this fear dissipates and their bodies can function freely.
When organs are inactive, either because they are blocked by fear or they lack
stimulation, they cannot perform their jobs adequately, which hampers the action
of the cure.

Mono Diets

Like fasts, mono diets trigger autolysis of diseased tissue and toxins, eliminatory updating,
and regeneration of tissues.
Advantages of the mono diet compared to fasting:
Reduces the intensity of the healing crises
Easier to do
Removes the fear generated by not eating
Stimulates and sustains body function with the help of a selected food

Although mono diets are proportionately less effective than fasts, their action
is still remarkable. It resides—as with fasts—in autolysis, eliminatory updating,
and physical regeneration.
The grape itself possesses wonderful detoxifying properties that combine with
the three elements mentioned above; they do not replace them so much as
complement them. Expecting to find the Grape Cure’s benefits in the grape itself
—as Brandt did—or expecting the full benefit in any single-food diet to lie in the
food itself is a mistake.
Humans have become accustomed to the use of medicines and remedies, and
they credit their cures to active substances in those remedies. In reviewing the
results of the grape mono diet, there is therefore a temptation to attribute its
virtues to some substance in the composition of the grape.
In fact, the effectiveness of mono diets does not depend on what is present (the
grape, for example), but on what is not present (all other foods customarily
eaten)—foods whose absence triggers autolysis.
The proof: eating quantities of grapes while continuing a normal diet does not
bring about the same results as a diet of grapes alone.
One could also ask why, when interrupting a fast to begin a restrictive regimen
like the grape mono diet, the healing properties of the fast (autolysis) would not
suddenly disappear only to be replaced by those of the grape. Autolysis, which is
the most salutary effect of both fasts and diets, continues from the fast through
the mono diet.
By absorbing only small quantities of grapes, the Grape Cure becomes very
much like a fast and its intense autolytic processes are maintained.
Brandt seems to have been aware of this, because she wrote: “We have noted
that the best results are obtained when the patients take only small quantities of

grapes.”
Based on these facts, good results could also be expected from mono diets
based on foods other than grapes. In truth, wonderful results have been obtained
with other mono diets, for both mild disorders and those as serious as cancer.
The Breuss vegetable juice cure (celery, beet, potato, black radish) is a wellknown example. The rice mono diet has been highly successful in macrobiotics.
The legendary health of the people of Hunza in northern Pakistan is due in part
to the mono diets of dried apricots and fasting they must follow at the end of
each winter when their food stores are depleted. The mono diet of spinach
alternating with white cheese was made famous by a woman—an American
doctor—Degolière-Davenport who, after a serious illness, went on to live to the
age of 120.

The Virtues of Mono Diets
The virtues of mono diets lie first in the processes of autolysis, eliminatory updating, and
tissue regeneration. Secondary value is derived from the beneficial properties of the chosen
food.

Many more examples exist. But by this diversity of foods that support
successful mono diets, we must conclude that their principal virtue is not in their
substance, as we have come to expect. It is in the dietary restriction itself, which
triggers autolysis.
Having said that, grapes do have certain therapeutic properties. What are
they?

PROPERTIES OF THE GRAPE
We shall first look at the medicinal properties of the grape, then its nutritional
properties.
The Medicinal Properties of the Grape
Beyond its role in the cure itself, the grape is primarily recommended for its
detoxifying properties—in other words, for its ability to encourage elimination
of toxins by stimulating the excretory organs. In fact, the grape encourages the

work of the main excretory organs.
DIURETIC ACTION
Grape consumption spurs the kidneys to filter more wastes, causing diuresis
(increased excretion of urine). The increase in urine volume offers greater
support for the transfer of toxins outside the body. This ensures that toxins
filtered out of the blood will be eliminated from the body and will not remain to
clog the renal filter.
Grapes are customarily recommended for patients who retain water (edema)
and those suffering from kidney ailments (renal insufficiency, kidney stones,
uremia, and even nephritis), as well as for disorders caused by renal
insufficiency such as gout and rheumatism.
The grape’s diuretic action is seen in the increased concentration of wastes in
the urine, from which it takes on a darker color and stronger odor.
HEPATIC ACTION
Grapes are a stimulant and decongestant for the liver as well. By helping the
liver to perform, grapes assist it in clearing impurities that stagnate in its tissue.
Once clear, the liver is more efficient at filtering wastes brought to it by the
blood and drawn from the depths of tissue.
The antitoxic function of the liver is also enhanced, allowing it to more
effectively neutralize and destroy poisons, toxic metals, medications, drugs,
products of pollution, carcinogenic substances, and cancerous cells. The fact that
the grape is recommended in cases of poisoning is sufficient evidence of its
action on the liver.
The grape exerts a positive effect on the gallbladder, emptying this pouch that
receives bile sent its way by the liver. The gallbladder is also full of wastes the
liver has filtered. Emptying the gallbladder encourages digestion and rapid
intestinal transit and fights against fermentation and putrefaction, which are large
producers of gas and toxins.
INTESTINAL ACTION
Grapes are a laxative, which means they gently stimulate intestinal transit and
evacuation. Like all roughage consisting of plant fiber, grape skin and seeds
carry wastes out of the body. Brandt points out that the seeds and skins act like
brooms, peeling off the crust that covers the intestinal walls and sweeping it to

the outside.
Good eliminations are fundamental for health. Not only are the intestines,
because of their length, the excretory organ that can hold the largest mass of
waste; what’s more, they receive the toxins released in secretions from all the
digestive glands: liver bile, saliva from the salivary glands, and so on. The
intestines are also a site of assimilation, primarily of nutritive substances, but
they also absorb toxins if these latter have damaged the intestinal mucosa,
hampering its filtering capacity.
The grape exerts an “anti-putrefaction” effect on the contents of the intestines,
thus reducing the production of poisons that are created by putrefaction and
fermentation of the alimentary bolus (the mass of food being digested).
For some, however, this laxative effect does not occur. To the contrary, grapes
cause constipation in some individuals. This is because grapes contain tannins,
whose astringent properties cause the intestines to “tighten.” In these cases,
Brandt recommends eating only the fruit pulp, as the tannins are found primarily
in the skin and seeds.
As we have seen, because of its purifying and detoxifying properties, the
grape directly stimulates the activity of the excretory organs and sustains their
function throughout the duration of the mono diet, something that does not occur
during a fast. In a fast, the body itself has to stimulate the excretory organs. In a
Grape Cure, the stimulation is provided by an external source: the grape. This
clearly shows why Brandt believed the mono diet to be more detoxifying than a
fast.
“The fast,” she wrote, “only eliminates a portion of the inorganic deposits that
are often the cause of a disease. This is perhaps why cancer cannot be cured by
the fast alone. So fast, but complete the process with purification.”
This purification that Brandt is alluding to is the grape mono diet.
The Nutritional Properties of the Grape
The principal constituent elements of the grape are provided in the table below
(based on 100 grams of grapes, or approximately 1/4 pound).
The figures show that grapes are rich in carbohydrates, which are energy
foods for the body, and in minerals, which are building blocks for tissues. While
the protein content is slight, it exists nevertheless. Although deficient in vitamins
D, E, and F, grapes contain varying degrees of other vitamins and trace elements.

THE CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF THE GRAPE
Sample size: 100 grams
Calories
Water
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Proteins
Calcium
Chlorine
Copper
Iodine
Iron
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Potassium
Sodium
Sulfur
Zinc
Vitamin A
Vitamin B1
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B6
Vitamin C

77
81.3 g
16.6 g
0.7 g
0.9 g
19.0 mg
2.0 mg
0.1 mg
0.002 mg
0.45 mg
9.0 mg
21.0 mg
224.0 mg
2.0 mg
9.0 mg
0.1 mg
0.024 mg
0.05 mg
0.02 mg
0.3 mg
0.08 mg
0.09 mg
5.0 mg

To explain the virtues of the Grape Cure, we could choose to address one by
one the vitamins grapes contain, each trace element, and the individual minerals
to demonstrate that thanks to:
Vitamin A, grapes maintain tissue nutrition and encourage the regeneration
of tissues
Vitamin B1 encourages the absorption of oxygen and thereby the oxidation
of wastes
Magnesium fights the development of tumors
But we can summarize by saying that the numerous vitamins and trace
elements found in grapes encourage the balanced functioning of the body
through their stimulating effect on enzymes. As we have seen, enzymes work
properly only in the presence of sufficient vitamins and trace elements, and

enzymes play the principal role in the phenomenon of—autolysis.

DOES THE GRAPE CURE CAUSE WEIGHT LOSS?
The Grape Cure can remove toxins from the body and heal it of numerous
diseases, but is it capable of getting rid of extra pounds?
For a regimen to cause weight loss, it must be restrictive enough to trigger
autolysis. In fact, it is due to autolysis that fats are broken down and weight loss
occurs. The body will draw from its reserves—and its fat deposits—only if
normal nutritional needs are not being met through food intake. Only when it is
deprived of essential elements (proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins . . .) does the
body draw out the necessary substances through autolysis. As we have seen,
autolysis operates intelligently and first attacks nonessential tissue, among which
are fat accumulations.
Is the Grape Cure sufficiently restrictive to trigger this weight-loss process?
Grapes are rich primarily in vitamins and minerals. They contain only 17 grams
of sugar for every 100 grams of grapes (approximately 1/4 pound), and
negligible amounts of fat bodies. Their caloric value is 77 calories per 100
grams. Consumption of 1 kilogram of grapes per day (a little over 2 pounds)
represents an intake of only 770 calories. The normal daily caloric intake is
considered 2,400 calories, but in practice people in the United States consume
closer to 3,700 calories. We are justified, then, in saying that the Grape Cure is a
sufficiently restrictive diet to cause weight loss.
In her book, Brandt mentions that weight loss is a natural consequence of the
cure. In her descriptions of case histories, she points to the large weight losses
experienced by some of her patients. Experience garnered over the years
indicates that numerous people return to their ideal weight due to this cure. In
short, it can be used as a diet to shed pounds.
Unlike other cures, the Grape Cure is easy to follow. On the one hand, the
chosen food has a pleasant taste even over the long term, as contrasted to highprotein regimens, for example, which rapidly grow tiresome. On the other hand,
the grape’s eliminatory properties allow toxins to exit the body as well as fat.
On its own, the weight-loss process frees quantities of toxins, because some
toxins are liposoluble and will therefore specifically accumulate in fatty tissues.
When the tissues are autolyzed, the toxins they contain will also leave the body.
It is therefore imperative, during any weight-loss regimen, to burn off fat and

encourage the toxins to evacuate—two processes the Grape Cure encourages
perfectly.

Weight Loss
The Grape Cure can cause weight loss by triggering autolysis. Weight loss is also
encouraged by the eliminatory properties of the grape.

As in all food diets, loss of weight can be substantial during the first two or
three days—from 2 to 5 pounds—then sharply reduces to a point as few as 2 to 5
ounces a day. This daily loss continues to shrink, moreover, as the days go on.
The large losses during the first few days are not loss of actual body weight;
they are due to evacuation of fecal matter held in the intestines and elimination
of water retained in the tissues. True weight loss starts with autolysis, after
several days on the cure. It begins with the loss of several ounces but quickly
drops as the body seeks to conserve its resources: it doesn’t know how long the
cure will go on! If reserves are drawn on at the rate seen on the first days of the
cure (several ounces), they would be rapidly exhausted, followed by death by
starvation. The body normally seeks to slow autolysis as much as possible, so
reserves will last longer—to the great despair of people hoping to lose weight.
To be effective, the weight-loss regimen must be sustained for a long enough
time, something that is both possible and pleasant to do with a grape diet. The
diet should not be continued for longer than two weeks, but can be repeated after
a monthlong break.

A SUMMARY OF THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF THE
GRAPE CURE
The fast that Brandt recommends for the start of her cure not only allows the
body to cleanse itself; it also fully triggers the autolysis process. By introducing
a regimen as light as the grape mono diet, autolysis continues uninterrupted.
Even more, physical functioning is sustained and autolysis is reinforced by the
trace elements and vitamins contained in grapes.
Why the Grape Cure Is Effective

Medicinal properties of the Grape Cure:
Eliminatory updating
Tissue regeneration
Diuretic
Hepatic and biliary
Laxative Nutritional properties of the grape:
Nutritional properties of the grape:
Richness of vitamins and trace elements
Stimulates enzymatic activity, thus autolysis

5

The Raw Food Diet

Several stages of Brandt’s cure consist of an exclusively raw food diet. After the
first-stage fast, the second stage is the grape mono diet. In the third stage, the
exclusive diet of grapes is supplemented with other raw foods: various fruits,
tomatoes, curdled milk, fromage blanc, and yogurt. The fourth stage—called the
raw food stage—increases dietary choices to include nuts, eggs, butter, honey,
and olive oil.
Brandt considered a raw food diet (crudivorism) best. She emphasized that,
for people who are ill, remaining at the raw food stage is preferable to
progressing to stage five, which includes cooked foods like potatoes, grains,
bread, pasta, and some fish (but no meat). Stage five is offered only to those
who, for one reason or another, cannot remain on raw foods exclusively. The
fifth stage also comes with a warning that former health problems could
reappear, provoked by a resumption of cooked foods in the diet.
Incontestably, crudivorism is beneficial. Just what are the benefits of raw
food, and what harm does cooking do?

THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF COOKING
One initial observation must come forward: cooking alters the vitality of food
substantially. Plant a seed of raw wheat—it will germinate, sprout, and create a
head full of grain. Plant a seed of cooked wheat—nothing happens; it will not
sprout.
During cooking, the most valuable nutritional substances are altered. At 140°F
(60°C), vitamins are destroyed; between 104°F (40°C) and 167°F (75°C),
enzymes and hormones degrade; around 194°F (90°C), aromas disappear; and at
212°F (100°C), minerals will undergo molecular changes that make them more

difficult for the body to use (that is, they lose the characteristic of more dynamic
minerals, given life by the plant).
Another drawback of cooking is that it encourages mixing numerous foods at
one meal, even in one dish: sauce with meat juices, flour, butter, or fat . . . or
pastry with grains, fruits, eggs, sugar, oil, honey . . .
This blending has a disastrous effect on digestion. Each food, when it enters
the digestive tube, prompts the secretion of specific digestive juices to process it.
The more different foods are contained in one meal, the more the digestive
organs (liver, stomach, pancreas, and so forth) will receive conflicting orders for
the secretions they should release, and the more the digestive juices will be at
odds with each other. In fact, certain digestive juices—for example, those of the
stomach—are active only in an acid environment. If foods requiring alkaline
secretions are eaten at the same time, they will render the stomach’s environment
less acidic. The gastric juices will be less effective—even unable to function—
depending on the proportion of acid and alkaline substances introduced into the
stomach. The result of these antagonisms is poorly digested food that ferments
or putrefies; large amounts of toxins and poisons ensue, which alter intestinal
flora and increase its pathogenic elements. These poisons irritate and damage
intestinal mucosa, and they exhaust the liver, which receives them to be
neutralized.
Separating those foods whose digestion requirements are at odds is therefore
recommended, particularly for people with insufficient digestive capacity. Some
individuals do not have enough digestive strength to process foods normally, no
matter how they combine them. Without expressly mentioning it, the diet in
Brandt’s cure respects the major separate food groups, to the benefit of those
who must deal with this insufficiency.
Cooking has another drawback. It encourages overeating. A person cannot eat
as much raw food as cooked food; raw foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, and so on)
demand a greater effort to chew. Cooked food is also generally soft and can often
be swallowed with almost no chewing required. The disadvantages of this are
threefold: not only can a person eat too much; also, food that is insufficiently
chewed reaches the digestive tract in larger pieces. It is consequently more
difficult for the digestive enzymes to attack. Also, these foods have less
exposure to saliva and are less saturated with the digestive juices that originate
in the mouth. The beneficial effects of proper chewing were demonstrated by
Horace Fletcher (1849–1919), an American naturopath, who cured many of his

patients simply by having them chew their food for a full minute—“in order to
make something solid into a liquid”—and this in the absence of any change to
their regular diet!1
On the other hand, cooking food has some advantages. It allows the intake of
warmth—not a negligible quality for weakened individuals. Cooking reduces the
harshness of fiber for those suffering from colitis, and it sparks the
transformation of starches into carbohydrates, which are easier to digest.
Cooking has also expanded the human diet, thereby enabling us to confront
rigorous climates. In certain regions of the world, during winter, eating only raw
foods is not possible.
While eating some cooked foods is not a bad thing, eating exclusively cooked
foods is; in the latter case, the foods are often nearly devoid of their vitamins,
which are destroyed during cooking.

Harmful Effects of Cooking
Destroys the life of the food
Encourages mixing of many foods
Encourages overeating
Reduces chewing time

Advantages of Cooking
Brings in energy in the form of heat
Reduces the harshness of fibers
Facilitates the digestion of starches
Permits the consumption of grains, potatoes, and so forth

THE BENEFITS OF A RAW FOOD DIET
The first advantage of a raw food diet is the elimination of foods that are

generally eaten cooked—like meat, fish, pasta, and foods made with these
products. This represents a reduction in the amount that will be eaten (true for all
diets), but more importantly, the foods that are removed are the highest
producers of toxins. By not eating them, the individual’s body is relieved of a
major source of waste.
Raw foods, on the other hand, are rich in vitamins and trace elements, whose
function is to stimulate and enable the enzymatic activity on which all vital
processes depend. By eating regular and generous portions of raw food, one
consumes large quantities of enzyme activators. Due to this intake, body
functions that were dulled by toxins and deficiencies are put back to work. The
cells are reactivated to perform functions that were interrupted. The tissues “start
breathing” again, wastes are burned off and eliminated, and the body’s internal
cellular environment purifies and regenerates itself.
Raw foods introduce not only enzyme activators, but also enzymes contained
in the foods themselves. Every animal and plant body contains enzymes it needs
to sustain life. They are available to the plant or animal for its own biochemical
requirements.
When they enter our bodies, they now are available for our use. This
constitutes an invaluable resource for a diseased body in which enzymatic
activities are at their lowest ebb. The external supply of enzymes that can be
consumed in raw foods increases the enzymatic capital of the individual
suffering from illness; these enzymes can relaunch his metabolism and the
healing process.
For people coping with disease, eating raw foods triggers an interior response
like the effect of a cool breeze on embers that are in danger of going out—or like
a water current reaching the hollow bed of a dry river. Crudivorism is essential
for certain patients, enabling their bodies to begin functioning properly again.
Brandt included the raw diet as a crucial part of her cure, making it an important
element in the healing process for those who followed her regimen.
The benefits of a raw food diet, however, should not blind us to the fact that it
is a therapeutic diet, and it cannot be continued indefinitely and exclusively.
Serious nutrient deficiencies and a loss of vitality are common problems that can
arise. In fact, on a strict raw food diet, protein intake is severely limited, as meat,
fish, eggs, and dairy products are almost totally excluded. In addition, increased
consumption of fruits, required by the elimination of other carbohydrate sources
(grains, pastas, bread, cereals, potatoes), will tip the acid balance of the internal

cellular environment and strip tissues of their mineral content.
Benefits of a Raw Food Diet
Respects the “life” energy of foods (vitamins)
Represents an intake of enzyme stimulants (vitamins, trace elements)
Brings in enzymes
Problems with a Raw Food Diet
Foods eaten bring in no heat
Represents a severe reduction of proteins
Causes acidification by an excess of fruits
Causes irritation of the intestinal mucous membranes with excessive fiber content
because raw fibers are much harsher than cooked fibers
Limits nutritional choices and cannot be adhered to in climates where fresh foods are
unavailable in winter