To Fast or Not To Fast
With arrival of Ramadan, month of fasting in Muslim faith, Islam bashers all around have united in an unprecedented excitement to take advantage of this month to bash Islam as a religion. Rather than trying to present rebuttal to these blog religiously, of which I am not a scholar, I decided to present the other side of the coin, which are medical and clinical benefits of short term and long term fasting and its affect on overall health of human body.
Historically for many philosophers, scientists, and physicians, fasting was an essential part of life, health, and the healing process needed to recreate health where there was sickness. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, and Hippocrates all used and believed in fasting therapy.
Numerous studies been done on benefits and side affects of fasting in universities and clinics , which have concluded astonishing benefits to the faster. One such study was done by Valter Longo at the University of Southern California.
Valter Longo observed the effects of fasting on cancer patients and the results were startling. The scientists involved found that fasting, at least in the short term, helped to toughen normal cells while having no effect on the cancer cells.
Because chemotherapy has so many side effects that kill healthy cells, this discovery could help to improve cancer treatment for the thousands of people going through it every day. When the patients fasted, Longo found that cells were deprived of oxygen and were forced to go into a state of emergency that made them extremely resistant to stress.
Cancer cells, on the other hand, did not enter into the state of emergency that normal cells did when deprived of oxygen, making them more susceptible to the drug treatment. Doctors are hopeful that this will translate to patients being able to withstand higher doses of chemotherapy without harm.
In Book by Dr. Alosn M. Hass , Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine Published by Celestial Arts) he point to numerous benefits of fasting. He believes that fasting is not utilized often enough. We go on vacations from work to relax, recharge, and to gain new perspectives on our life; why not take occasional breaks from food? he claims that eating is a habit, an addiction. Most of us do not need nearly the amounts (and types) of food we consume.
He believes in great benefit from fasting in helping, or even curing illnesses such as :
colds ,atherosclerosis, flus, coronary artery disease, bronchitis , angina, pectoris, headaches, hypertension, constipation, diabetes, indigestion, fever, diarrhea, fatigue, food allergies, back pains, environmental allergies, mental illness, asthma, obesity, insomnia , cancer, skin conditions, epilepsy.
Fasting can easily become a way of life and an effective dietary practice. Over a period of time (different for each of us), through newly gained clarity, we can go from symptom cleansing to prevention fasting.
Sources: http://www.mesotheliomaweb.org/may200813c.htm
http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=1996
http://karmafreecooking.wordpress.com/2009/04/
