Fasting and its benefits

It has been a universal concern now for everyone to stay fit and healthy, which cannot be missed out. After all, it is the matter of health and no one can afford to take risks with that. It is an accepted norm now – Health is Wealth. And where there is health, happiness is sure to prevail. Who would like to live with ailments? Who would want to spend their life by taking medicines all the time? Fitness sessions are the ultimate choice for those fitness freaks, who want to stay away from ailments. These days, the trend of being fit has started to such an extent that people in NYC have started preferring personal trainers for this purpose.
Many of our Indian Customs are followed in such a way that be it the garb of festival season or to please deities or pledging a month-long fast to God, if ones desires are met are some natural ways to fitness. Fasting in India has always been associated with religious sentiments and it is a sure-shot way for internal cleansing. It is said that one should refrain from eating once a week and carry on with a liquid diet. This enables a person to maintain a balanced mind and body control. It increases ones capability to live longer and fight diseases. Clear complexion, better immunity, balanced mind, clear thoughts are some of the other benefits of internal cleansing.
Fasting will teach you to control your urges, understand your will-power and this will aid in weight control. But 95% of people who start dieting give up and put on weight again. To succeed in healthy weight control, one must control one’s appetite. Let’s look how fasting can help loose weight. Across the globe religious preachers and books propagate fasting as one of the ways to control our urges and bring discipline in ones life. The effects of fasting technically commences within the first twelve to twenty-four hours of the fast. Results of fasting do not show until the carbohydrate stores in the body begin to be used as an energy source. The fast will continue as long as fat and carbohydrate stores are used for energy, as opposed to protein stores. Once protein stores begin to be depleted for energy (resulting in loss of muscle mass) a person is termed as starving.
Only when a body is deprived of food elements for some time, the benefits of fasting can be observed. Due to the lack of incoming energy, the body must turn to its own resources, a function called autolysis - breaking down of fat stores in the body in order to produce energy. The liver plays the role of converting the fats into a chemical called a ketone body, the metabolic substances acetoacetic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid and then distributing these substances throughout the body via the blood stream. When this fat utilization occurs, free fatty acids are released into the blood stream and are used by the liver for energy. The less one eats, the more the body turns to these stored fats and creates these ketone bodies, the accumulation of which is referred to as ketosis.
Detoxification is also one of the foremost reasons to observe fasting. Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating toxins through the kidney, lungs, colon, liver, lymph glands, and skin. This process is precipitated by fasting because when food is no longer entering the body, the body turns to fat reserves for energy. The fat reserves were created when excess glucose and carbohydrates were not used for energy or growth, not excreted, and therefore converted into fat. When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, it releases the chemicals from the fatty acids into the system which are then eliminated. Chemicals not found in food but absorbed from one's environment, such as DDT, are also stored in fat reserves that may be released during a fast.
Finally, the most scientifically proven advantage to fasting is the feeling of rejuvenation and extended life expectancy. Part of this phenomenon is caused by a number of the benefits mentioned above. In 1930 a study was performed on earthworms to demonstrate extension of life during fasting. The isolated worm outlasted its relatives by 19 generations, while still maintaining its youthful physiological traits. The worm was able to survive on its own tissue for months. Once the size of the worm began to decrease, the scientists would start feeding it and at this point the worm showed great vigor and energy. The life-span extension of these worms was the equivalent of keeping a man alive for 6 generations.
In conclusion, it seems that there are many reasons to consider fasting as a benefit to one's health. The body rids itself of the toxins that have built up in our fat stores throughout the years. The body heals itself, repairs all the damaged organs during a fast. And finally there is good evidence to show that fasting at regular intervals contributes to longer life.