Fasting & Detoxing

Fasting as a non-religious practice has been a subject of much controversy and debate. Many alternative therapist believe that fasting for detoxification is an essential part of maintaining a healthy body and their claims have scientific studies to support them.

Its important to remember that fasting is not about starving yourself but about depriving your body of certain foods to encourage it to seek its energy elsewhere. More specifically in the fat that a person has stored throughout the years in their body along with many harmful toxins. During a fast the body slowing begins breaking down the persons carbohydrate stores to be used as energy, this process is called autolysis. This releases the toxins to be flushed out in the bloodstream and also encourages the liver to work to break and filter the fat stores.

Fasting is thought to generate a healing process within the body as its energy is diverted from its normal activity of food digestion and focused towards the persons metabolism and immune system, including cell repair. This diverted energy also encourages the body to produce more hormones. Hormones such as the Human Growth Hormone, among others, are what’s responsible for the anti-ageing benefits of fasting as this hormones encourage cell rejuvenate and help produce healthier tissue. Some scientist claim that this is why when a person is ill they also suffer from loss of appetite as their body’s energy supply is diverted towards recovery. By this logic fasting is a conscious decision to cleanse a person’s body and boost their immune system.

All these benefits leave the person feeling rejuvenated, full of energy and their life expectancy is scientifically proven to have been extended. However, it is important to remember that there is a big difference between under-nourishment and malnourishment.