Fasting has become popular. It is now accepted medical knowledge that fasting can rejuvenate and renew the body, mind, and soul. Going without food and beverages serves as a spring cleaning of within. It regenerates your metabolism, and the intestines are detoxified and cleared out of dead cell material. Therapeutic fasting prevents chronic illnesses and is good for the mind. It also helps with weight loss. These positive effects have long since been know and commonly practised, but there are some facts about fasting which are less well known. They also underscore the meaning of therapeutic fasting as the most efficient methods of regenerating the mind and body.
- Fasting increases your life expectancy – A study on macaque monkeys.
Therapeutic fasting is healthy as it detoxifies the body and refreshes the mind and soul. Participants in therapeutic fasting often go on to continue maintaining a health-conscious lifestyle. It is accepted as common knowledge that someone who has led a life of moderation should live longer than someone who has exposed themselves to the poisons of a consumer lifestyle. This has now been confirmed by an extensive study on macaque monkeys. Rozalyn Anderson, a biochemist at the University of Wisconsin, separated 76 monkeys into two experimental groups over the course of 25 years. The first group was allowed to eat as much as they wanted, while the second was kept on a strict diet which contained 30 % fewer calories. After 25 years, 24 of the 38 feasting monkeys had died. The group of the fasting monkeys on the other hand only showed 10 fatalities.
- Therapeutic fasting improves happiness and can help patients with depression
Depression has become a common illness. Depression is treated with psychotropic drugs which alleviate the symptoms, however these can often bring on undesired side effects such as tiredness and weight-gain. A therapeutic fasting course can contribute to psychological stability in mild and moderate cases of depression. Fasting releases happiness hormones. In terms of mood improvement, you could even describe it as an ecstasy rush. However, therapeutic fasting for sufferers of depression must be undertaken only under strict medical supervision as the first two or three days of food deprivation can be difficult, even for psychologically stable people.
- Therapeutic fasting can help fight against cancer: The Breuss-Fasting Treatment.
Fasting prevents cancer; this is a known fact. That therapeutic fasting can also help cancer patients is itself a disputed opinion even among supporters of fasting. The view of conventional medicine, while chemotherapy supplies the body with higher levels of calories and protein, is considered unchallengeable. A juice-fasting treatment designed especially for cancer patients has been developed by the Austrian herbalist Rudolf Breuss. According to his own data, he managed to cure 40,000 cancer patients within a 36 year period of using this treatment. Breuss’ approach is supported by an experiment using lab-mice. The animals were subjected to an overdose in chemotherapy and split up into two groups. One group received normal nutrition, while another was deprived of any food for two days before the chemotherapy. The group of normally fed mice showed heavy side-effects – with some of the mice dying. The group of fasting mice survived the treatment. This trend could also be seen in case studies involving humans, that Breuss-Fasting can alleviate the unpleasant side-effects of chemotherapy.
- Fasting and sport go very well together
In principle for therapeutic fasting: do not try to begin a course of fasting in a time of great stress or radical change in your life. Pick a quiet, relaxing time. It is ideally combined with a holiday. Travel agents such as SpaDreams.com offer professionally organised fasting-trips, which provide the ideal setting for a successful treatment. Relaxation is good – however that doesn’t mean that the fasting individual cannot participate in sport. If you are a well-trained hiker, runner, swimmer, or cyclist, then you can continue on with your current activities. But you should not add any new disciplines to your training plan. During the first 3 days only light sporting activities should be undertaken, because blood-sugar level and acid-base homeostasis first need to be stabilised. Thereafter normal training can resume – of course no extreme sports. Sports during the fasting strengthens circulation and prevents muscle protein from being broken down. An organised holiday with fasting and moderate sport is the best thing you can do for your mind, body, and soul.
