To keep healthy and strong, and live a long time on this old earth, Allah said to me, in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, eat one meal every two or three days. Do not be frightened, brothers and sisters, that with your meal hours being lengthened you may die or become too hungry.
You will live and you will not be hungry, after you have gotten your stomach used to the long intervals between meals. Your stomach will take food only when you give it food. And, it won’t ask you for any food until that certain hour to which you have accustomed it to being fed.
I used to think like you, before the coming of our God and Saviour, in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, To Whom Praise is due forever. I began practicing eating one meal every day–with no food in between. I got used to that within a couple of weeks. And, after a certain length of time, I tried eating once every two days, with nothing between but coffee.
I did not try to pour all of the cream and sugar out of the cream and sugar bowls into the coffee. I sweetened and creamed it as I had done when I was eating three meals a day, because we can live on cream and sugar for a long time. But it is not good that we do this through our coffee, for our health’s sake. I felt better eating one meal every two days, or 48 hours, with nothing between.
I also tried eating one meal every 72 hours, as He had told me that if I ate one meal every three days I would never be sick, and I thought I would try it, before teaching it. So I did for a few months and I felt better than I felt when I was eating one meal every 48 hours. And, I can bear witness that I did not have the symptoms of illness at any time. My whole body felt light and my head was clear. I could almost hear insects crawling. (smile)
It is not so much what you eat when you begin eating one meal every day, or every two or three days, it is just that you do not eat foods that are against your health. I have described in this book, time and again, that which He pointed out to me. But most poor people like us eat the inexpensive food, because we do not have the money to buy expensive foods that rich millionaires eat. So, He prescribed for us dry navy beans and bread and milk.
There are some people asking about eating sardines. They are for us to eat only if we are traveling and cannot get other foods. But, please do not buy them, unless they are fresh when you can clean them, and not those that are packed already. There are some packed that are clean, but they are a little expensive. They are called Portuguese sardines.
There are other herbs that we can eat that are not mentioned here in this book. But please, whenever you decide on eating something that is not mentioned in this book, write me, because there are some on the market that are not good for you and me.
(Reprinted from “How To Eat To Live,” Book One, 1967.)
