For ages, fasting has been considered a part of religious tradition. But very few of us know that apart from giving strength to religious beliefs fasting can give you many other health benefits too. Let us have a look at fasting and the benefits of 24-hour fasting.
What is fasting?
Fasting is a process of abstinence from food or drink or both for health. It is also practiced for ritualistic, religious, and ethical purposes. The fasting process may be complete or partial, lengthy, of short duration, or intermittent.
Fasting and religion
Fasting demonstrates the depth of your desire when praying for something. It shows you are ready to sacrifice your comfort and you are serious enough to put efforts in that direction. Also, God honors deep desire and praying in faith.
Fasting as a form of protest
In addition to its role in religion, many people fast as a point to express their opinions and political views, mainly or particularly as a gesture of protest. Fasting has frequently been practiced by many social workers, protesters, and political leaders to protest against any war, political issues, and violence, that are considered as social evils and injustices.
Benefits of 24-hour fasting
- Improves health.
- Reduced cholesterol.
- Removed toxins.
- Reduced stress upon the digestive system and other organs in the body.
- Improve blood circulation and the functioning of the heart and brain.
- Fasting is a disciplined act and it makes people feel good about themselves with increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and willpower.
- Support weight loss.
- Reduce inflammation.
- Decrease the risk of metabolic diseases.
- Self-control.
- Discipline
- Addiction
- Strong immunity
- Deal with craving
- Fasting can affect you in other areas too. It can make your mind clearer, will help you in controlling your senses will make you emotionally strong.
- Boost cognitive performance.
Eat-stop-eat diet
Fasting completely for a day in a week is known as the Eat – Stop – Eat diet, which involves eating no food for 24 hours at a time. During 24 hours fast, you can only consume calorie-free beverages. When the 24-hour period is over, you can resume your normal schedule of intaking food until the next fast.
Discuss the benefits of 24-hour fasting for a day
Benefits of 24 hours fasting related to physical health-
- Improved health: There is a range of health benefits associated with the practice of fasting. This improves the body and brain. Also includes a longer life, a leaner body, and a sharper mind. It can protect organs against chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, age-related disorders, even inflammatory bowel disease, and many cancers.
- Reduced cholesterol: Fasting might also be linked to the way our body metabolizes cholesterol and sugar. Fasting can help decrease our density lipoprotein or “bad cholesterol”. It’s also saying that fasting can help and improve the way our bodies metabolize sugar. This can reduce our risk of gaining weight and developing diabetes, which is both risk factors for heart diseases.
- Remove toxins: Toxins are chemicals that don’t have a place in our diets. We may take in toxins through food or the air. Usually, our body removes them on its own. But for that, we need to follow a good process of dieting and fasting. Because of fasting, cologne, liver, kidney, and skin detoxification is done. All waste gets clear.
- Blood Pressure: Fasting helps to maintain blood pressure. It’s an important thing to measure a person’s health. Blood pressure can show a person’s mortality. Many important organs like the kidney, liver, heart, and nerves are linked with blood pressure. Also protects important organs from damage.
- Deals with a craving: Fasting reduces drooling, it helps to follow a healthy diet.
- Addictions: Fasting can help you to come out of the addiction to caffeine, alcohol, and smoking.
- Low aging: Fasting promotes slow aging and long healthy life.
Benefits of 24 hours fasting related to mental health-
- Stress and mental health: Fasting releases Endorphins which are also known as ” Happiness hormones “. These help people fighting with stress, anxiety, and depression.
- Brain protein and memory learning: It boosts the production of brain protein which grows and creates a strong bond between neurons increasing the mental and learning ability of a person as it stimulates the growth of ketones and mitochondria. It allows the body to work at maximum capability.
- DNA: Fasting helps in improving and repairing DNA. It also enhances nerve cells.
Benefits of 24-hour fasting related to obesity-
- Support weight loss: Fasting one or two days a week may be a way for you to consume fewer calories over time. We may find these easier to do than cutting back a certain number of calories every day. The energy restriction from 24 hours fast may also benefit our metabolism, helping in weight loss. When you don’t eat for 24 hours, your body loses a third or half a pound of non-water weight which means your body utilizes body fat to produce energy. According to some research and sources, fasting for 10-16 hours can cause the body to turn into fat and turn its fat stores into energy which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage fat loss.
- Body composition: Fasting impacts many body hormones which help in body composition. Also, fasting supports ketones in which the body loses fat from the liver and kidney and improves its functions.
Benefits of 24 hours fasting related to personal development-
- New habits and discipline: During fasting for a day or days, we break our regular daily pattern. And it becomes easy for us to form a new habit.
- Self-control and discipline: During fasting, we learn the process of self-control. People with high self-control can easily fast even for a long period of time. Also, it makes us disciplined, when to eat and when not to eat.
- Fasting increases the value of self-control and discipline which are both important things for success.
Benefits of 24 hours fasting related to cancer-
- Benefits cancer patients: Fasting is an effective way to reduce cancer. Also, it improves the process of chemotherapy.
- Fasting fights against cancer: Firstly, chemotherapy jump-starts the immune system and exposes the cancer cells. When you practice fasting for 24 hours your body gets rid of the old bodily cells, toxic cells and replaces them with new healthy ones.
These were some of the benefits of fasting for a day or more.
* Also, fasting isn’t likely to hurt you if you’re a healthy adult, whether your weight loss is normal or you’re heavier. Still, our body needs good nutrition and fuel to thrive. So for better health, you can keep fast for a day or more.
