Fasting Can Boost Your Health (1)

In the last edition, we talked about detoxifying the body and keeping your internal organs healthy. Indeed, fasting is one exercise that can boost your health if done wisely and guided properly.
Usually we bombard our bodies with numerous toxins from perfumes we spray on our body, car fumes, generator smoke, and pollution from factories. The one that affects our body the most is the food and drink we consume daily.
Most of the foods we eat today are practically poisons. They have been stripped of natural nutrients through processing. Wheat for example is the highest processed food we have in the market today followed by rice and baked foods.
Most of the water we drink today are laden with chemicals. Rain water helps to drop these chemicals in air and into our natural water sources, such as rivers, lakes, while the rest seep into the soil. Ground water supply is highly polluted.
When the body is overwhelmed with all these toxins and chemicals from food and drinks, it begins to show signs of ailment in the form of sickness. Today our bodies are overloaded with junk foods from fast foods and commercial eateries. Obesity, diarrhea and cancer have become common ailments in the society.
The need for fasting have become more pertinent as a way of giving our body a break. Fasting is not new. Infact, it has been practiced since the days of old according to Biblical records.
Fasting is often thought of as a period when one decides not to eat food or drink. Many of us view fasting from the religious perspective, when one abstains from foods and drink in order to be able to pray and focus on spiritual things.
The type of fasting I am advocating here is to enable your body to detoxify or recover from too much burden from food, drinks or toxins from the environment.
As stated earlier, all living things need rest. Sleeping is not the only kind of rest your body needs. Your digestive system and other organs need a rest as well.
Fasting may be considered as an “internal” rest to the body allowing it to regain vitality and energy to vital organs.
When one fasts, the liver, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder and the intestines are have rest. The hardest working organ in the body is the liver and it’s also the largest single organ in the body, about the size of a football. It helps to filter the blood, process fats, proteins and carbohydrates. It breaks down chemicals , hormones, toxins and other metabolic wastes from the body.
Everyday your liver produces about a quart of bile, which helps to digest fat, breaking them down to the level the body can use. If the liver is overworked it begins to slow down other body functions and that is why fasting is recommended as a way of improving efficiency and detoxification process.
When we over eat or consume inadequate amount of fibre, we put too much strain to our intestine leading to constipation.
In subsequent editions we will be discussing methods of fasting and how you can use it to improve your health.