Fasting has been around since the beginning of time, but only in the last 20 to 30 years have we come to better understand (thanks to technology and medical breakthroughs) just how beneficial fasting can be.
Even today, we are learning more about the positive impact fasting can have on the body as a whole and on specific parts, specific organs and even specific cells. The results may astound you!
To fast is to abstain from food—partially or completely—for a period of time. Fasting has immediate benefits, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Here are some of the general benefits your body will enjoy, pulled from my book Dr. Colbert’s Fasting Zone.
1. Increasing Energy and Mental Clarity
A wonderful benefit of cleansing the body through proper fasting is increased energy levels. Cellular toxins and free radicals impair the mitochondria (the energy factories in each cell), hindering them from producing energy effectively. As a result, you may suffer fatigue, irritability and lethargy. But when you fast, you allow your cells to shed many toxins and allow your mitochondria to repair so they can again produce the energy you need. Along with increased energy, you will most likely enjoy improved mental functioning as your body cleanses, repairs and rejuvenates its cells, including those in your brain.
2. Boosting Your Immune System
Short-term fasting will also boost your immune system, which will help prevent disease and illness and give you a longer, healthier life. Along with an improved quality of life, you will discover that fasting even makes you look better. Your skin usually will eventually become clearer, giving you radiance you have not known since your youth. The whites of your eyes will usually become clearer—they may even sparkle.
3. Restoring Nature’s Delicate Balance
When your body’s tissues are too acidic, precious minerals are lost in the urine and cells may become less permeable, which means they are unable to excrete waste products effectively. In a sense your cells become constipated; they may be full of metabolic waste and cannot eliminate it efficiently. As the cells become more and more toxic, free-radical activity increases, and the toxic overload continues to build until your body starts to deteriorate and degenerative diseases occur.
However, fasting brings back the natural balance. It alkalinizes and raises the pH of the tissues. This enables the cells to excrete toxins again and begins the process of detoxifying your body from head to toe.
4. Helping You Lose Weight
Fasting frees your body not only of disease-causing chemicals, but also of toxic fat. If you are overweight and even significantly obese, one of the truly wonderful and healthful benefits of partial fasting is that it can help bring your body back to the normal, healthy size that God intended. A regular, sensible fasting or detox program can slim you down very quickly, and you will also experience the more important benefit of reducing the fatty areas in your body where dangerous toxins and chemicals are usually stored. {eoa}
This article was adapted from Dr. Colbert’s Fasting Zone: Reset Your Health and Cleanse Your Body in 21 Days by Don Colbert, MD. Copyright ©2020 Published by Charisma House. Used by permission.
