Benefits of Fasting

Why fast? Fasting helps the body to normalize itself, Think about what happens when you go to sleep at night. A good example is that you think of your body as a store and food are the customers, normally when a store is closed, it has time to reorganize the shelves and clean the store, which is when we go to sleep. But imagine if the store was closed for 3 days or more (compared to fasting for 3 days), no food/customers enter the store. The store/body can now clean itself for 3 days and organize its shelves and prepare the body/store to be more efficient in the future.

Fasting is not starving, we only reach the starving stage if we are going 50+ days without food. Normally when we fast we don't go for that long. Fasting is a break period from food during which the body's nutrient reserves are adequate to meet the body's nutritional needs. Starvation can occur only if you stop eating beyond the point where you have sufficient nutrient reserves.

When we fast we are giving our body a rest from food by not eating, therefore not using up our digestive system so that the body can concentrate on repairing other areas of the body.

Fasting has been in our history for a very long time. All known religious faiths in the world have all encouraged the practice of fasting. Fasting is a time of physical and emotional cleansing. One has to maintain the witness attitude and watch the various thoughts and emotions thrown out from the subconscious mind. The blocked energies are released and the negative mental impressions are brought under control.

Benefits:
-Toxins are removed and one has more energy and vigor
-Fasting can improve immunity and gives us longevity
-Lose weight, anywhere from 1-2 lbs a day.
-Improve skin like Acne, Eczema and Psoriasis
-Senses brighten, smell, sight and hearing
-Improved Self control
-Cellular repair: The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells
-Remove emotional eating, food cravings halt
-Anti-Ageing, new cells are created where old ones die off
-Fasting Improves Insulin Sensitivity
-Human growth hormone: The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold
-Helps with Self-Enlightenment: helps people feel more connected with life while reading, meditating, yoga and martial arts. With no food in the digestive system it makes more room for energy for the body
-Fasting Improves Your Brain Function: It boosts the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF.) BDNF activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons and triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health. This protects your brain cells from  Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Cons:
-Unable to eat for as long as the fast, can be difficult when watching TV and seeing commercials about food or going to a grocery store and realizing you are on a fast.
-Physically weaker during the fast as the body is detoxing
-Bad breath due to detox symptoms
-Cannot do intense exercise
-Need to rest as much as possible

Easily you can see the pros outweigh the cons. But you need to really listen to your body when fasting and don't push too far to the point where your body cannot handle it. Best advised to take it in baby steps water fast 16 hours first then wait until the next fast to take it further and build on that.