Vincent Bronson

Guide to Fasting for Body Healing Vincent Bronson

Fasting refers to the act of willingly abstaining from the consumption of food and/or fluids, for a period of time. A fast may be total or partial, and may vary in duration and frequency. Depending on the tradition involved, fasting practices may preclude sexual activity as well as food, or specify certain types of foods to be avoided, such as refraining from eating meat. Fasting for religious and spiritual reasons has been a part of human custom since pre-history. The practice is mentioned in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testament, the Qur'an, the Mahabharata, and the Upanishads. Fasting is particularly important for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan and for Christians during Lent. Since fasting involves exercising control of the physical body, many religions consider fasting a way to cultivate mental discipline, and use it in connection with prayer or meditation to make it a more powerful experience. In modern medicine, fasting is the state achieved after digestion of a meal. A number of metabolic adjustments occur during fasting and many medical diagnostic tests are standardized for fasting conditions. For most medical purposes, a person is assumed to be fasting after 8-12 hours. A diagnostic fast refers to prolonged fasting (from 8-72 hours depending on age) conducted under medical observation for investigation of a problem, usually hypoglycemia. Fasting has occasionally been recommended as a therapeutic intervention by physicians of many cultures, though it is currently quite uncommonly resorted to for this purpose by modern doctors, albeit medical fasting can be a way to promote detoxification.