Fasting is a very ancient practice, embraced for different reasons. Indeed, some people fast to improve the wellbeing of their body, others for their mind health, others for political, religious or spiritual reasons.
So, how does fasting affect you?
Here are the 6 benefits offered by a 24 hours fasting:
1st benefit: to improve your body health
Fasting is a good practice to remove the toxins from your body, get rid of old cells and clean the stomach. After 24 hours of fasting, you will feel more energy and overall wellbeing. This practice is also useful to lose weight, of course.
2nd benefit: it helps your brain
Fasting helps you to clear your mind, to increase your focus and attention.
3rd benefit: to solve social problems (sedentary lifestyle and stomach issues)
Lots of people nowadays have a sedentary lifestyle, as they work in an office or do smartworking all day long. In this way, their calories income often exceeds their calories outcome, so they ingest more than they consume. In this regard, fasting helps in keeping the right calories income and outcome balance. Moreover, in nowadays society stomach issues are among the most spread. In this respect, fasting can help stomach healing, when followed by good nutrition.
4th benefit: on a psychologal level it’s an act of will
Deciding to fast means to cultivate self discipline and to be your own master. Indeed, it’s an act of will and an excellent practice to be determined in your life.
5th benefit: it breaks mental patterns and creates new habits (and increases productivity)
Changing a habit, so stable in your daily routine, increases neuroplasticity, as new patterns are created in your mind. Moreover, you have more time to dedicate yourself to something else rather than eating, so your productivity level will rise.
6th benefit: it reduces reactivity and makes you feel more grateful
As you have to be mindful to avoid to eat, your reactivity decreases. You will be less impulsive in daily life. Also, you will appreciate more food after fasting (even a small quality), air, water and sunlight.
How to start a fast?
You can just skip a meal once per week, for example one lunch and wait for next day’s breakfast or lunch (reaching 24 hours of fasting). As an alternative, you can fast one or two days per month, for example in the weekend, just drinking water, water with lemon juice, water with little honey or eating only fruits (which cleans your body but provides you also energy for physical activity).
Two tips
1. It’s better to fast a few hours with awareness and gratitude than lots of hours with hatred and unwillingness.
2. Be careful not to overeat after a fasting: it’s important to avoid the refeeding syndrome. For a fasting longer that 24 hours, you should ask a doctor if it’s appropriate for your health.
So, enjoy your fasting!