Fasting

Fasting is a Way of Knowing Your Body

The two important pillars of health are good nutrition and moderate exercise. The most important factor, however, is your mind. Diet control has a lot to do with mind control. Which is why fasting is prescribed in many religions as a way of self-discipline.

                            If you try to learn the inherent programme loaded in your body, it would direct you to health and happiness. You may not need to curb your cravings to eat what is not good for your body. The method is called witnessing. You can start by taking five minutes from your morning schedule and spend it watching your breath.

                            Sit in a comfortable position and start watching your breath. Keep focus on your breath when you inhale and exhale. This practice would give you a glimpse of a state where there are no thoughts in your mind. Slowly you would be able to watch the activities of your mind and the journey of thoughts from one subject to another. Soon you would know the system that operates your senses and in turn your mind.

                            You have five sense servants. You can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. None of these sense servants are designed to govern your hunger. Yet you feel hungry when you see the food you like. Any talk about your favourite food or its aroma immediately triggers your hunger. When you find anything tasty, you want to eat more and more of that food.

                            If you allow all your servants except the cashier to handle and operate your cash chest, you cannot remain solvent for long. Your body is programmed to send a specific signal to your brain when it feels hungry. The trick is in the knowledge that most of the time you’re eating patterns are governed by habit and not by the requirements of the body. Then how to know and feel the real and actual sense of hunger?

                            Fasting is one of the time-tested and proven methods that helps you understand your hunger and has been used by almost all religions of the world. The best way to begin is to go on an ‘only water’ diet for long as you can do it conveniently depending upon your health. It may range between 10 hours and 24 hours unless you have some medical problem. The purpose is to focus on your hunger and understand how it feels to be hungry and how hunger increases its intensity.

                            When the body gives you a signal that it is hungry and needs food, then try to witness the sensation and understand how it feels. Drink water and the signal would fade away. Next time it would give you a stronger signal. You need to understand these signals before you respond to the same.

                            When you feel that you are very hungry then you drink some fresh fruit juice and watch how a signal of satisfaction is generated. Try fresh fruits, milk and cereals later but always keep the focus on your hunger and satiety signals of the body. The objective is to know the dynamics of your body which is unique for everybody.

                            Is it not surprising that among the six billion people living on this planet, no two persons have the same finger prints? We are designed to be unique and incomparable. So respect your body and learn its dynamics. Knowing ourselves would help our body attain perfect health. Always.

Health benefits of fasting

The wonders which fasting can amount to pushing your body to an extreme, it does bring some health benefits along with it. During the course of human history people have practiced fasting both for its health benefits as well as for spiritual and religious reasons.

While religious events (like Navratri, Shivaratri, Bheemana Amavasye, Ramzan etc.) give us ample opportunities to observe fasts, one can also do that for health reasons and offsetting the over-eating we often indulge in. It is not recommended to push beyond the limits while fasting. 

Similarly, discipline also needs to be maintained while fasting. Many people transform their fast to a feast during Navratris and end up overeating. So the key lies in observing a disciplined and realistic fast:

Here are health benefits of fasting:

Fasting counters allergic reactions, including asthma and hay fever.

Fasting promotes detoxification. As the body breaks down its fat reserves, it mobilizes and eliminates stored toxins.

Fasting initiates rapid weight loss with little or no hunger. Most people are surprised at how little desire for food they have while fasting.

Fasting restores taste appreciation for wholesome natural foods. People say that their taste buds come alive after fasting and that food never tasted so good.

Fasting makes it easy to overcome bad habits and addictions. Many people have overcome tobacco and alcohol addictions by fasting, and even drug addictions.

Fasting corrects high blood pressure without drugs. Fasting will normalize blood pressure in the vast majority of cases, the blood pressure will remain low after the fast, if the person follows a health-supporting diet and lifestyle.

Fasting gives the digestive system a much-needed rest. After fasting, both digestion and elimination are invigorated.

While these health benefits can be considered, you must also keep in mind that fasting may also lead to muscle loss and lowering down of blood sugar levels. Fasting may work against weight loss in a way.

Fasting can cause the metabolic rate of the body to slow down and since weight loss is usually better achieved with a fast metabolism, it (fasting) may hamper the entire process.