At a time when health advice comes packaged with supplements, subscriptions, and social media hype, it’s refreshing—almost rebellious—to turn back to someone like Upton Sinclair. He wasn’t a doctor. He wasn’t selling a program. He was simply a passionate truth-seeker who used extended fasting and plain food (especially beef) to transform his body and mind.
Sinclair’s approach is stark, raw, and astonishingly relevant—especially for those over 50 seeking simple, sustainable health with minimal expense.
🧪 Who Was Upton Sinclair?
Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, best known for The Jungle, which exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry. But he was also a self-experimenter, health reformer, and early advocate of fasting as a natural cure for nearly every modern ailment.
He published The Fasting Cure in 1911, documenting how he—and over 250 others—healed themselves through strategic fasting, often for 10, 20, or even 40 days at a time.
⏳ The Sinclair Fasting Protocol (1911 Style)
Here’s a distilled version of his approach, adapted for today:
🔹 1. Begin with a Short Fast
- Start with a 3-day water fast to experience mental clarity and detox.
- Drink only water. No teas, juices, or broths.
- Rest as needed. Avoid hard exercise.
🔹 2. Build Toward Extended Fasts
- Aim for 7–10 days, then even longer if the body tolerates it.
- Continue drinking water only, and listen to the body’s real hunger—not cravings.
“Real hunger returns like the rising of the sun. It is unmistakable.” – Sinclair
🔹 3. Break the Fast Gently — with Beef
- Sinclair strongly preferred lean beef, broiled or boiled, post-fast.
- He previously tried being a vegetarian but found his body responded better to beef. It is up to the individual to try. His endorsement of beef was personal and physiological, not ideological.
- Avoid sugar, starches, alcohol, and complex meals.
- Add eggs or simple vegetables later, if digestion allows.
🔹 4. Use Fasting as a Reset — Not a Diet
- Sinclair didn’t fast for weight loss. He fasted for healing, clarity, energy.
- Fasting periods should be followed by clean eating, not indulgence.
🍽️ Why Beef?
Interestingly, though he criticised the meat industry in The Jungle, Sinclair swore by beef after fasting. He believed it was:
- Easy to digest
- Free of fermentable fibres or sugars
- Nutrient dense and satisfying in small portions
His refeeding often began with a few bites of minced beef and nothing else.
🧠 Key Benefits Sinclair Observed
- Vanished skin conditions and joint pain
- Mental sharpness and emotional calm
- Cured indigestion, headaches, and fatigue
- Reset relationship with food
💰 Sinclair-Style Healing for $0
This protocol is:
- Free (you literally stop buying food)
- Accessible (no fancy products or tracking apps)
- Empowering (puts you in control of your body)
If you’re over 50 and tired of noise, Sinclair’s method is a return to radical health minimalism. No influencers. No powders. Just water, willpower, and maybe a slab of beef at the end.
📝 Final Words from Upton
“I have seen hundreds of people cured by fasting… People who had been eating three meals a day and going to doctors for ten years.”
More than a century later, we’re rediscovering what Sinclair already knew in 1911: Healing is less about adding more — and more about taking away.