The best information one can share ,is that which one has personal experience of. It worked for me and hence want us to benefit from it too.
Fasting is something that almost everyone had engaged in at one point or the other.
Fasting is quite different from starvation inthat it's done purposefully and not necessarily because of the absence of food and in fasting stored energy is used up while in starvation the body derived it's energy from stored fat through a process called Ketosis and usually leads to muscle wasting.
I was motivated to do this post as a result of my experience during a short course of fasting I engaged in. Am a Pharmacist by Profession and am usually occupied due to vast number of clients I see almost on a daily basis. Of recent , I begin to experience severe mental stress and tiredness after work each day. I understand that alot of stress may have been involved during work hours but at the same time,the feeling of mental stress was no longer comfortable for me. To my greatest amusement, the unpleasant feelings I was experiencing all disappeared during the period of the fast. The fasting was for 3 days and the effect keeps getting better as the day progresses. So,we can see that fasting has a mental benefit outside other benefits that would be mentioned in the post
What is fasting?
Fasting can be defined as a period of voluntary abstinence from foods and/or drinks. A school of taught defined fasting as a period during which no food or beverages—often including water—is ingested for a period of eight( 8 ) to fourteen (14) hours.
Fasting is integral to many religions, as it is believed to purify the mind and spirit.
Used for thousands of years, fasting is one of the oldest therapies in medicine. Many of the great doctors of ancient times and many of the oldest healing systems have recommended it as an integral method of healing and prevention. Hippocrates, who is the father of Western medicine, believed too that fasting enabled the body to heal itself. Paracelsus, another great healer in the Western tradition, wrote five hundred ( 500) years ago that "fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within." Ayurvedic medicine, the world's oldest healing system, has long advocated fasting as a major treatment.
The principle of fasting is simple. When the intake of food is temporarily stopped, many systems of the body are given a break from the hard work of digestion. The extra energy gives the body the chance to heal and restore itself, and burning stored calories gets rid of toxic substances stored in the body.
The digestive tract is the part of the body most exposed to environmental threats, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, and toxins. It requires the most immune system support. When food is broken down in the intestines, it travels through the blood to the liver, the largest organ of the body's natural detoxification system. The liver breaks down and removes the toxic by-products produced by digestion, including natural ones and the chemicals now present in the food supply. During fasting, the liver and immune system are essentially freed to detoxify and heal other parts of the body.
Benefits of Fasting
Fasting is thought to be beneficial as a preventative measure to increase overall health, vitality, and resistance to disease.
IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTIONS:
Researches and studies shows that fasting increase good “HDL” levels by 14.3% that protect heart from cardiovascular diseases and improve the cardiovascular functions. And also lower down bad “LDL” cholesterol levels by 8%, triglyceride by 30% to prevent heart disease
CONTROLS DIABETES:
Fasting helps to control diabetes( a disease characterized by persistent elevated plasma glucose level) by lowering down blood sugar level and use those sugar molecule to get energy during whole day work. Fasting prevents to accumulate glucose and diabetes.
BOOSTS IMMUNITY:
During fast our body eliminates toxins and breakdown fats that helps to reduce the excess fats of our body, our immune system become more efficient and work more rapidly against diseases
LOSES WEIGHT
Fasting prevents the accumulation of excessive fats and calories and those fats hardly convert into mature fats that cause increase in weight. This is achieved through a process called Ketosis,where the body derived energy through the breakdown of stored fat.Weight loss occurs most rapidly during the first few days of a fast, up to 2 pounds per day. In following days, the figure drops to around 0.5 pound per day.
LOWERS CHOLESTEROL:
Studies show that the simplest way to lower down the cholesterol level is fasting.
REDUCES STRESS:
Researches revel that fasting person body naturally releases some specific type of hormone named “endorphins” that creates happiness and lower down the level of stress, depression and anxiety.
IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTIONS:
Researches and studies shows that fasting increase good “HDL” levels by 14.3% that protect heart from cardiovascular diseases and improve the cardiovascular functions. And also lower down bad “LDL” cholesterol levels by 8%, triglyceride by 30% to prevent heart disease
NORMALIZES BLOOD PRESSURE:
A study of 1422 people who fasted for 4-21 days had decreased blood pressure. Researchers hypothesize that fasting increases parasympathetic activity, also known as the “rest and digest” state, thus reducing blood pressure. Also through reducing of cholesterol level, it can also help in lower blood pressure
INDUCES ANTI-AGING PROCESS: The process of anti aging is believed to be through the elimination of toxins from the body.
