“Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within.”
- Paracelsus
Last October, I decided to take a biannual water fast or juice feast to give my body a healing break. It’s almost six months later, and I’ve decided to do a wee little water fast.
Fasting to alleviate illness
Just as I was entering my first day yesterday morning, I started to feel my sinuses getting puffy and swollen…the flu currently gripping Europe had set its sight on me, which is I guess unavoidable since all of my colleagues are wheezing, sneezing, and coughing around me. After getting through the day, I went home to take a bath and curl up under the covers. I hoped that with rest, I could recover more quickly.
And guess what, I actually feel really good this morning! My sinuses are no longer congested and my headache is gone.
There is quite a bit of evidence that fasting helps the body heal from sickness, and it’s well-known that the human beings are the only species on our planet that feel the need to eat when ill. Even human babies won’t eat when they aren’t feeling well. I am a big believer that simply giving your body a break is the best medicine you can give it.
While Western Medicine is still in the practice of adding to the body (with drugs) to alleviate illness and disease, a lot of traditionally trained medical doctors are catching on to the power of fasting:
“The body’s wondrous ability to autolyze (or self-digest) and destroy needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel plaque, and other nonessential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential tissues, gives the fast the ability to restore physiological youth to the system. By removing or lessening the burden of diseased tissue, including the fatty tissue narrowing the blood vessels, fasting increases the blood flow and subsequent oxygenation and nutrient delivery to vital organs throughout the body.”
-Joel Fuhrman, M.D., in Fasting and Eating for Health
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If you’re ever thinking about starting a fast, check out videos on fasting from Dan McDonald, known as ‘the life regenerator’. You can find him on YouTube.
Happy Fasting!
