If you are like me, the idea of fasting totally turns off your interest. Who would want to refrain from eating food, especially for an extended period? Well it turns out that fasting not only has spiritual benefits but great health benefits as well. Christians aren’t the only ones to incorporate fasting into their lifestyles; in fact, most major religions will have some type of fasting including Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.
Could it be that many Christians are overweight because they don’t take fasting seriously enough? If you live in the western hemisphere, that may just be the case. I want to take some time to outline some of the benefits of fasting, as well as the different types of fasts. Hopefully this will make fasting look a little less daunting and maybe even encourage you to give it a shot.
What is fasting?
Fasting, in its simplest form, is a willing abstinence from food for a certain period of time. A lot people will do certain food fasts or entertainment fasts, which are fine, but real fasting is abstaining from food. People in the Bible would fast in order to pray and draw near to God. Jesus, for example, fasted 40 days in the desert when he started his ministry. Daniel gave up meat and certain types of food for 21 days. Others had fasted for 3 days with no food.
Fasting helps us to have the strength to overcome in every circumstance. It helps us to have self-control, which I’m sure most of us could use more of in our diets. It teaches us to place God above all things, giving Him the highest priority in our lives.
What are the benefits of fasting?
Other than the spiritual benefits you get from fasting, there are a lot of great health benefits as well.
- Fasting can help you to lose weight. As you abstain from eating food, your body will turn to fat after a period of time to use for energy.
- Fasting helps to normalize insulin levels. When you eat, your body produces insulin. If you eat too often, your body can produce too much insulin and can cause bad results over time.
- Fasting can increase Human Growth Hormone, which is great for building muscle and losing weight.
- Fasting normalizes ghrelin levels. Ghrelin is known as the hunger hormone. This hormone is responsible for telling your body when it is hungry. When you over eat, this hormone can lose its affect over time to where you end up eating more than you should. Fasting can realign your body to proper eating portions.
- Fasting can help to lower cholesterol levels.
- Fasting can lower levels of inflammation in your body.
- Fasting will bring you into a process called autophagy. This is when your body targets old cells and tissues and recycles them for better health and energy.
There are many more benefits of fasting, but this list alone is worth the effort of trying it out.
What are the types of fasting?
There are a number of different ways you can fast. Each one has its own benefit and also its own challenges. This is not an exhaustive list but should help you to know more about what is out there.
The Daniel Fast– This may be the easiest type of fast for most people. This type of diet focuses on fruits and veggies, and cuts out foods like meat, dairy, refined sugars, caffeine, alcohol, and grains. The Daniel Fast can be a great first attempt at fasting, as you still get to eat. It may not have the all the benefits of full fasting but is still very healthy to do. Try it out for a few weeks to see how you do.
Intermittent Fasting- Intermittent fasting has gained a lot of popularity recently, and for good reason! This is an easy way to obtain the benefits of fasting without having to go without food for too long.
Intermittent fasting is abstaining from food for a certain number of hours in a day and then eating in the remains hours. A very popular time schedule is 16/8 fasting. Fast for 16 hours and then eat in an 8 hour window, 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. for example.
The main benefit of intermittent fasting is that you can get into ketosis and burn fat faster. Ketosis is when your body starts burning fat for fuel instead of glucose. Your body gets into ketosis by depleting its glucose stores, which either through eating low carb or by fasting. If you combine the two, your body will become a fat burning machine!
Remember, you only get into ketosis by not eating, so make sure to keep your calories to zero; eating even a little will disrupt this process. The only exception is something like bulletproof coffee. Because it contains only fat, it will not take you out of ketosis.
Water Fasting- Water fasting is when you abstain from all food, or really anything with calories. This fast allows your body to enter a state of rest. Digesting food takes a lot of energy, and when you enter into a fast, your body looks for other ways to use energy. The body will use fat as fuel just like in ketosis but also enter into a state of autophagy like I mentioned before. The body will begin to recycle old, dead cells, and detoxify itself of anything that can be causing complications. The digestive system will get a break and be reset. Organs will be rejuvenated and revitalized.
Water fasting can be dangerous so I would not recommend doing more than a few days on your own. To get into deep healing on a fast, it is best to go to a clinic that specializes in fasting. They can monitor you and make sure that there are no complications during this process. I have heard amazing stories of people who have totally reversed their condition by going on a long-term water fast.
Final Thoughts
Fasting can really be a powerful tool to use for health, weight loss, and general well being; and its free! There are so many reasons to incorporate fasting into your lifestyle; I know that this is something I will be doing for the rest of my life, and I plan on having a long and healthy life.
Here is a great book to check out to get more in-depth information about fasting. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1539028653&sr=8-5&keywords=fasting
Timberline Creative 
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