Fasting Benefits

Benefits of Fasting

Fasting affects not just are physical and mental well-being, but also are emotional and spiritual aspects of health.

Many wise ancient cultures have recommended fasting to help with achieving optimal physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health and longevity, and also freedom from disease utilizing intermittent, periodic or seasonal fasting.

Yogic philosophy recommends and encourages to keep a fast on a particular day of the week or month based on your spiritual intentions. (for e.g. Monday or Thursday, or on a full moon day and 11^th night of the lunar cycle). It is recommended not only to practice food abstinence on the spiritual fasting day, but also cultivate mindfulness and a positive attitude to help with spiritual progression. Sadhana is the discipline of routine spiritual practice and the surrendering of the ego to the higher self.

The Benefits of Fasting

Fasting, when done correctly, positively affects our physical, energetic, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects, since we are much more than just the body and mind.

Fasting has shown to have the following health benefits, and more:

1. Helps with weight loss, leading to physical Lightness, and increasing energy level. Fasting allows the body to use fat as it’s primary source of energy instead of sugar, enabling many athletes to hit low body fat percentages for competitions.
2. Improving mental clarity, alertness and moods, decrease in depression and anxiety and improves subjective feelings of wellbeing.
3. Resetting the metabolic button, improving metabolism of sugars and fats.
4. Resting and healing the digestive system, helping with GI symptoms including IBS, food intolerances, constipation, acidity, gas, bloating.
5. Revitalizing the immune system, helping with stabilizing many autoimmune diseases, Arthritis, IBD, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s dementia etc.
6. Facilitating the natural detoxification and cleansing of the body, including the liver and the GI tract.
7. Helps prevent and reverse several medical conditions like hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, diabetes type 2, autoimmune diseases, clarifying skin problems. (More on detailed medical benefits, and the reasoning behind them.)
8. It helps improve self-discipline and form long-term good eating habits and patterns.
9. Creates mindfulness in eating patterns, controlling overindulgences of senses.
10. It helps with emotional eating and food cravings too, since it enables one to rise above and beyond the set emotional patterns strengthens will power and self-confidence.
11. It helps promote an inner stillness, and better alignment with out spiritual purpose in life.

Read here for the Scientific evidence of benefits of Fasting