Fasting — a weight loss method or a health practice we should be doing more frequently

One of my former colleagues is a Hindu. He used to fast for more than a week during work days. Curious me had been asking him the origin of fasting, and one of his answers triggered me to find out more about this practice. He

said “at the beginning people fast during the seasonal transitions to protect their health but now people fast mainly for religious ritual.” Fasting has been well-known as a spiritual practice for a long time. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity have various purposes and forms for fasting. They fast for devotion to God, purity of the body and mind, or strengthening earnest prayer, and asking for protection.

Fasting has become fashionable recently but mainly for weight loss purposes. However, people only think about fasting once they have

a clear signal on being overweight via long, expensive and painful packages that are often seen as an aesthetic method rather than a health practice which should be done frequently.

In this article, I want to share more benefits of fasting and how to fast to make it more friendly to everybody and consider to self-do it frequently.

Physical benefits:

As mentioned earlier in the article “3 meals a day – is it too much?”

Human DNA has a ‘hunger gene’ which was developed by millions of years of starvation from our ancestors, it helps us absorb maximum n

utrients and energy from small amounts of food. Our body needs much less food than we normally eat today. Together with the hunger gene, sirtuin, known as “anti-aging gene” or “longevity gene” is activated during periods of restricted caloric intake to help our body rejuvenate. There are a lot of studies recently that have proven that fasting also prevents heart disease and diabetes. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130426115456.htm )

Fasting is also a healing measure. Swami Vishnudevananda wrote about fasting in “The complete Illustrated book of Yoga”: “Yogis a

dvocate occasional fasts, especially during sickness, in order to give the stomach a rest. The recuperative energy may thereby be directed toward casting out of the toxins and poisonous matter that have been causing the trouble. Nature’s precaution of fasting to restore health is to be noted even in animals.”

Mental benefits:

Fasting is a practice to develop detachment from the material world, including the body to control the sense of taste. One article about Food and Insight from Barre Center for Buddhist Study states:“The Buddha’s consumption of food without any lust for its taste is a case in point. The problem of sensuality is not a property of the objects of the senses themselves. Instead, it is due to an unskillful mental reaction towards them.” https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/food-and-insight/

Most of the times we eat today are desires of taste rather than a real need from the body. However, by overcoming that desire and o

nly consuming what our body truly needs, we increase our will-power and mental strength. As Swami Sivananda explained in his book “Thought Power” that: “Conquesting over one desire, you gain will power.” “Will is the king of mental powers.”

Energy from non food sources

In addition, eating is not the only way to get energy for the body. According to Yoga and Ayurveda, all beings are made from 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether; we can increase our vital energy through these e

lements.

• Earth: gardening, walking baref

oot and touching earth, or hugging trees…

• Water: drink pure water, wash with fresh water, bathe in the ocean, rivers…

• Fire: spend time daily outdoors to get sunshine, open windows and doors to let sunlight in…

• Air: breathe deeply with the diaphragm/abdomen, live in fresh air as much as you can…

• Ether: think positively and sing uplifting songs…

How to do fasting?

There are many options for simple intermittent fasting:

1. 5:2 fasting:

   1. Eating normally on weekdays, and fasting during weekends.

   2. We can try to eat nothing but water or juices during the fasting day.

1. Time-restricted fasting:

   1. Fasting for 12h, 16h, or 20

h, eating in a window of 12h, 8h, or 4h.

1. Trying to eat before 8pm, then fasting

1. Fasting 24h a week: you can choose 1 day a week to do fasting.

2. Alternate-day fasting: 1 day eating normally, then 1 day fasting, then 1 day eating normally again.

3. Eat-stop-eat: eating 1 meal, then skipping 1 meal, then eating

You can start with the easiest option, the

n transition to a more difficult one. Fasting frequently helps our body and mind become healthier and stronger, and we don’t need to put ourselves through long, painful and expensive fasting detox packages that are available on the market.

Who shouldn’t fast: pregnant women, those are taking diabetes medication, or having eating disorders.

I hope everyone can find fasting is more practical and easy to do with this article.

I wish you health and peace.