Fasting is not a new thing. For centuries, the practice has played a central role in several religions and cultures.The month of Ramadan is known all over the world as a month of fasting for Muslims. Catholics fast on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday. Jews observe six days of fasting, the most known of which is Yom Kippur.
Hindus observe a fast during the new moon and during festivals such as Puja, Saraswati and Shivarati. The Mormons observe a fast on the first Sunday of each month.Several other religions, including Buddhism, Taoism and Jainism have their own fasting practices.
Many of these religions practice fasting because they believe that there is a connection between the physical and the spiritual state.In the last few decades, there has been an upsurge in the popularity of fasting.
* Helps You Lose WeightFor those looking to lose some weight, fasting is one of the quickest and safest ways to get you there.Normally, when you eat, your body burns the food you ate to provide fuel for your body.Any extra food that does not get used up as fuel is converted into fats and stored within the body for future use.This is what leads to weight gain.When you start fasting, there is less food to convert into energy, therefore your body is forced to start converting the stored fats into energy.
* Promotes LongevityThis might seem a little bit farfetched, but various studies have shown that fasting can actually help you live longer.There are a number of reasons why fasting can help you live a longer life. The first one has to do with metabolism.As you grow older, your body’s metabolism starts slowing down, which leads to the gradual loss of muscle tissue through a process known as sarcopenia.Fortunately, fasting helps to speed up your metabolism, preventing these degeneration and loss of muscle tissue.Secondly, as you grow older, your cells also grow older and their performance decreases. There is an accumulation of old cellular material within the cell.
* Promotes Detoxification
Another impressive benefit of fasting is that it promotes detoxification of the body.Many of the processed foods we eat today contain lots of additives, some of which are toxic to our bodies.As the food is digested and absorbed into the body, these toxins are also absorbed into the body and stored in fat deposits around the body.During fasting, your brain treats the nutritional deprivation as a threat and reacts by activating adaptive stress responses to help it deal with the threat.The brain also starts contemplating how it will provide the body with energy in the absence of food.
* Speeds Up MetabolismFasting also helps boost your metabolism.A weak digestive system normally affects your ability to metabolize food and burn fat.By fasting intermittently, you provide time for your digestive system to get some rest.When you eat next after your digestive system has rested, your metabolism receives a boost, which means that your body burns calories more efficiently and gets more energy from the food you eat.This is one of the reasons why fasting also contributes to safe weight loss.
* Boosts Your Brain FunctionNot only is fasting great for your body, turns out it is good for your brain too! Fasting improves your brain function in a number of ways.First, fasting boosts the production of a brain hormone known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Release of BDNF activates stem cells within the brain and converts them into neurons.BDNF also triggers the release of several other chemicals that are good for your brain’s health.Increased production of BDNF has been shown to protect the brain cells from the degenerative changes that are associated with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, while low levels of BDNF have been associated with depression and several other brain problems.