Fasting for Health and Resting Your Magnificent Body

Fasting has a stigma associated with it. The myth is that if you go without food for more than one day your body will start eating muscle. This is not medically/scientifically true. The fact is that your body will use fat first. Another myth is that you will be incredibly hungry. This is more of psychological problem.

The Facts.

The fact is that digestion takes a lot of energy. Digestion that involves processed foods, white sugar, white bread and other foods that have a lot of preservatives is very hard on the body’s digestive system. When you stop and give your digestive system a break, it has time to rest and to repair itself.

The body composed of cells and when a person fast this cellular body is able to be rejuvenated. When the body is able to use the energy usually spent on digestion to seek dead cellular material and destroy it, what is left is a healthy cellular body. Since cells are a fundamental part of a healthy body it would seem a good thing to have this process take place once to twice a year.

Historical Facts

All animals except humans fast when they are sick. There are primitive tribes in the Amazon, central Africa and some rural Asia territories where they have “sickhouses” all of the unhealthy folks go to these houses to fast and do not return to the tribe until they are healthy. Hindu yogis are some of the most avid fasters and are experts at cleansing the colon. The ancient Greeks always had a reputation for muscular great warriors were also participating in fasting as a lifestyle. Galen, Paracelsus and Hippocrates, who are the fathers of Western medicine promoted this healing method for all types of ailments and for prevention of disease. Pythagoras required his students to fast for 40 days before they received the highest of teachings.(Reid, Pg 130, The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity ) This parallel the Biblical account of Jesus going into the desert 40 days and 40 nights. He was probably fasting and while he was out there had a sort of vision.

What Happens

“Within 24 hours of curtailing food intake, enzymes stop entering the stomach and travel instead into the intestines and into the bloodstream, where they circulate and gobble up all sorts of waste matter, including dead and damaged cells, unwelcome microbes, metabolic wastes, and pollutants. All organs and glands get a much-needed rest, during which their tissues are purified and rejuvenated and functions balanced and regulated.” Daniel Reid, pg 131, The Tao of Sex, Health and Longevity)

IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BLOOD

The most important thing a fast can do for you is clean your blood. Your blood is purified on a fast. Your blood, on a daily basis, delivers nutrients and oxygen to every cell in your body, and it also finds (like a CSI investigator) the waste and carries it to the kidneys and lungs for disposal. If you blood is loaded with waste, foreign substances and carrying nutrients and is not allowed to be cleaned with an absence certain jobs then it can clean itself easier, thus you become more healthy.

The Experts Say

“Perhaps the most instructive testimony as to the acuteness of mental powers during fasting comes from Dr. Herbert Shelton who supervised the fasting of more than 40,000 people over a period of fifty years. His message is that the freer the body is of toxic materials flowing through the blood and lymphatic system, the clearer is the ability to think.”

“I had a medical practice for 20 years in NYC, supervised hundreds of long fasts, and I found that the physical healing or weight loss was but a pleasant side effect. What really happened is that the person got in touch with their higher self, their true self, and came to the experience that healing can take place at every level, simply by letting go and allowing Mother Nature to do her work.” – Dr. Rai Casey (http://www.falconblanco.com/health/fasting.htm)

My Opinion and Experience

I am 40 years old and probably 30 + pounds overweight. I am presently on my third day of a fast. Why? I got sick for the 10^th time this year from the High school I work at. I need to break some bad habits. I am tired of being unhealthy.

I started fasting when I was 18. My parents were avid fasters. My mom read “Sugar Blues” and my uncle had colon cancer. These two things influenced my mom greatly so we changed our lifestyle.

No doctor could cure my uncle until he went on a fast and drank carrot juice for about month. What came out of my uncle was not pretty. So thus my family did the big switch. No white sugar, no white flour for us, and later when we were older we picked up the habits of our parents.

I have been on a fast for three days now. I drink juices. I played tennis with my mother this morning. We are avid tennis players, so this is no walking around the court. We know how to hit the ball so we played for an hour and 20 minutes. I did not feel weak once. I have a lot of fat reserved and this is what is summons for my energy. I love fasting because I don’t feel hungry and since I am so extreme I want to continue with the fast. I find dieting difficult because you eat, but staying away from the tasty stuff is hard. So when I fast I am just not eating anything. It breaks all my bad habits. I am no longer consuming coffee, coke or wine. This just helps your mentality related to these things. I feel a lot freer. My energy level is great. I know I am being good to my body, so I feel good about myself. I think it is important that we stop and remember what our bodies do for us each day without our knowledge. The human body is a magnificent thing. I am presently treating my body like a temple not a tent or garbage can.

Please do your own research on this subject. This is not meant as a diagnosis. There are other areas you must research before you go on fast. Speak with your doctor or go to your local health food store.