Fasting has been around for centuries and has even been engraved into many religious core practices. Nowadays fasting is a trending way to lose weight and improve health but is it beneficial?
What is Fasting?:
Fasting is where a human abstains from consuming any food and drink for a scheduled number of hours. Many religions engage in this form of fasting for many reasons, one of the main Religions that carry out this practice on a huge scale is Islam. In Islam, Muslims observe fasting in the Holy month of Ramadan, the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah and Mondays and Fridays, and others. Many other religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and many more also observe fasting as a core practice.
Aside from the religious aspects, many people fast for dietary reasons and the amount of time spent doing it is determined by personal preference. Some fast for just a couple of hours and some do for long amounts of time but still allow an opportunity to consume a meal afterward.
Fasting for dietary reasons is often known as intermittent fasting and most people often observe it for around 5-7 days, but many choose different amounts of days and when they went to engage in it. When the individual is not engaging in fasting, they are able to consume whatever food they like at any hour of the day.
Why do People Fast?:
There is a variety of different reasons as to why people engage in fasting one of the main reasons is religious reasons. As mentioned above many religions observe fasting is that most of the time it is a core practice that believers of the face must do. Many religions fast for these reasons, humbleness, gratitude, spirituality, worship and many more however some reasons are more unique to certain religions.
The second running reason for why people fast are for dietary reasons and to help in weight loss. Fasting is often marketed by the diet industry as a great way to help speed up an individual’s metabolism. This happens when the individual’s norepinephrine (breaking down fast) levels increase which encourages the breaking of fat which helps people to lose quite a few pounds.
Aside from these two mainstream reasons some people actually fast for many other personal reasons, many of them being for the benefit of health and wellbeing.
What are the benefits?:
There are many benefits associated with fasting which is why such a huge amount of the world’s population engages in it. The benefits can range from spiritual to physical, we will focus on more of the physical and wellbeing benefits.
The health benefits of fasting are almost endless, fasting helps to improve your health in many different ways targeting different areas. Fasting helps with promoting blood sugar control by reducing your insulin resistance which is extremely useful for individuals who have diabetes and for those who are at risk of developing it.
You help towards reducing the risk of inflammation and even promote better health by engaging in fasting. Reducing inflammation is crucial in maintaining a healthy body, if not taken care of can lead to the development of chronic conditions. Some of those chronic conditions being cancer, heart disease, etc.
It can even help towards boosting your brain function, so if you are looking to ace a test this may help you obtain that A grade. Along with that, it can also help towards the prevention of neurodegenerative (loss of structure/function of neurons) disorders.
There are so many benefits to fasting that I have not even mentioned but if you are not astounded by these amazing benefits already then you may need to read up more, which helps you make a decision.
Should you Fast?:
Fasting is done for personal reasons so make sure you are aware of your reasons and why you are engaging in this action as it is hard to do so you need to remember the purpose of it. Please do not fast if you are on medication, pregnant, ill or if it can cause any problems.
We hope you learned something new, thanks for reading.
