Fasting, help us to clean our body and soul

Many think that fasting is something only practiced by Christians or any religion or religious orientation. Even many people only perform it for medical reasons, either for the conduct of examinations, surgical procedures, therapies, where it requires no food intake to ensure better results.

However, although the fast is very important in the religious world, it remains a procedure that not only helps us to cleanse our soul but also our body. Fasting is to refrain from eating foods in whole or in part, in order to achieve a specific purpose and for a definite time.

Why We fast

Undergoing a fast, may have several purposes, among which we mention:

For spiritual reasons

Fasting is practiced to achieve mental and spiritual rejuvenation. It is believed that when we subject the body to non-food intake, we demostrate control over our own flesh, which is weak and prone to sin.  The purpose of this fast is to achieve spiritual benefits as life devoted to God, bring down strongholds, loose ties, dropping heavy burdens, break chains, cast out demons, etc.. Isaiah 58:8-11.

Similarly, fasting helps us to:

• - Plan our time with God.
• - Find spiritual peace.
• - Search Repentance and forgiveness.
• - Seek God wholeheartedly.

Physical or medical reasons

Fasting can be used for virtually all chronic conditions such as allergies, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, depression, diabetes, headaches, heart disease, high cholesterol, low blood sugar, digestive disorders, mental illness and obesity.

Fasting is prescribed frequently for the detoxification treatment in those changes that may be influenced by environmental changes such as cancer and multiple chemical sensitivity. Fasting has also helped people who have been exposed to high levels of toxic materials due to accidents or work. It is believed that fasting is beneficial as a preventive measure to help maintain overall health, vitality and resistance to disease.

Some of the additional procedures for treating a health problem, through fasting, is the Ayunoterapia. The ayunoterapia is practiced as adjunct therapy to other therapies, in order to improve physical health. It is usually directed by a physician.  It can be practiced fasting morning where breakfast is deleted, fasting systematized that may be practiced once weekly or once every 15 days, or once monthly, depending on how the person has, for the purpose of achieving better health. Partial fasting are also valid for improving health, this is for people who are unable to complete fasting for different reasons.

Types of Fasts

Before performing any type of fasting, we must be clear of the purpose for which we fast. Further, we must be conscious of the effort, more mental than physical, we need to get the desired results. The types of fasting that We can practice, depending on our purpose, we find:

Complete fasting:

• Absolute Fasting: do not eat anything, or solid or liquid. The most that should last three days is because it can cause health problems. The most usual is one to two days.

• Water Fasting: the one where only water is ingested and may last from one to forty days. When you pass three days should be monitored by the doctor. Water fasts for more than forty days are not considered therapeutic.

Partial fasting:

• Fasting in content: It is one in which the person refrains from eating certain foods. Fruit juices are consumed, as such fruits, raw or cooked vegetables, herbal tea (not drinking black tea, or coffee), water.

The juice fasting or fruit juices are used by many people. Many insist that fasting with juice or fruit juices are not considered technically as fasting. The juice fasts are less intensive than water fasts because the body does not reach the state of ketones.

The advantage of these juice fasts is that fruit and cereal drinks provide energy and nutrients. People may have several days with juice fasting into their normal schemes without significant energy loss. It also states that juice fasting helps cleanse and detoxify your body of toxins, bacteria and other organisms harmful to our health.

The disadvantage of juice fasts is that the body does not reach ketosis. This prevents to achieve the same results of detoxification and healing with water fasting. Medical supervision is recommended for any fast that lasts more than three days.

• Fasting time: I indicates the day of fasting, going from one to forty days and can be: ultrashort, short, medium, long and ultra long.