Abstinence from all food and liquid (they sometimes allow you water) for:
- a day
- a week
- during the daylight hours
- the homecoming dance;
- or whatever
And in some cases abstinence from sexual intercourse, for a variety of reasons.
All I know is that when I have to fast for that blood test for ten hours it is hell on earth.
I once went for an operation and apparently I misunderstood the instructions. I don’t see what the problem was, but when the nurse asked me if I had eaten since the previous evening and I told her I had eaten a banana that morning, I thought her face was going to break.
Well, a man has to keep his energy levels up, doesn’t he? Even if it is so that he doesn’t scream too loudly when they put that horrible gas mask over his face, or that humungus needle in his arm.
They call it a fast, but they really shouldn’t, for the simple reason that it doesn’t seem fast at all; it seems like an eternity when you are waiting for those eight hours to expire.
And let me not get started .. Well, let me get started. They tell you to get to the hospital for eight, and then they don’t see you until one o’clock, by which time you are ready to eat the waiting-room magazines.
Although this chapter is about the diet / health benefits of fasting, I might as well tell you about what fasting is used for in other spheres. If you don’t want to read about it, just skip to the next paragraph or three.
Medical reasons
When the doctor tells you to fast before your big operation, it is because of the risk of inhaling your vomit (if you vomit) when you are under anaesthetic. Sounds marvellous.
Cancer treatment
New research suggests that starving the body can help to kick-start stem cells into creating new white blood cells. White blood cells fight off infections and help to regenerate the entire immune system. This is good news for people with cancer, whose immune systems have been damaged by the cancer and the drugs in the chemotherapy.
Fasting can apparently rid the body of the old and the damaged cells, and start to build an entirely new immune system. Prolonged fasting forces the body to use stores of glucose and fat and destroys some white blood cells. This in turn triggers the regeneration of new cells.
When you are starving, your system tries to save energy, and recycles some of the immune cells that are not needed. Then when you start eating again, the blood cells return.
Political and religious reasons
That is a whole other book, and I don’t want to go there, although the Buddhists do it to help them meditate. And I like them, because they are gentle people.
Paragraph or three
- Fasting can help you lose that butt. Saying no to food for a few hours burns more fat than regular dieting. It forces the body to burn fat for energy rather than craving sugar.
- Fasting speeds up your metabolism. Your digestive system is like your average worker; it needs a weekend off sometimes. After a rest, your intestinal workings are more energised and burn calories more effectively (like a dirty engine after it gets a clean). If your digestion sucks, you can’t burn fat and your metabolic rate drops.
- Fasting and eating less can increase your lifespan. The less food your body has to process, the longer it will last, effectively.
- Fat people don’t know when they are full. If you eat every five minutes, your body doesn’t get those tummy rumbles. By fasting, your body releases the correct hormones, so you feel really hungry. When your hormones are working properly, you get full faster.
- For those binge eaters out there, fasting can help you. Your body can adjust to your eating habits, so that no matter what time you ingest those calories, you can still eat that large meal at a specific time of day, and then not eat until the following day.
- A protein BDNF (go look it up) is produced by fasting. This protein is known as “brain fertilizer.” BDNF assists the brain to develop new connections, repair broken brain cells and protect healthy brain cells. It can help stop the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
- Animals have an instinct which makes them stop eating when they are unwell. Their bodies can then concentrate on resting, which reduces stress on their internal system, so they can fight off infection.
- If you want skin clear of acne, fasting will help focus the body’s regenerative energy on other systems. Not eating for just one day can help the body clean up toxins and regulate the function of other organs.
Fasting sounds like a good idea to me, even if it is to focus the mind. Om om om.
David Owen Nunes
David is many faceted, fascinating, fastidious, fair, fabulous and the other F word. He works in the Pensions Industry, plays occasional golf, and dreams of being able to write full time.
