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Food is needed by the body to provide energy for immediate use. This is done by burning up carbohydrates, that is, sugar. Excess of carbohydrates which cannot be used are stored up as fat tissue in the muscles and as glycogen in the liver for future use. Insulin, a hormone from the pancreas, lowers blood sugar and diverts it to other forms of energy storage, that is, glycogen. To be effective, insulin has to be bound to binding sites called receptors. Obese people lack receptors. Therefore, they cannot utilize their insulin. This may lead to glucose intolerance.
When one fasts (or decreases carbohydrate intake drastically), it lowers one's blood glucose and insulin level. This causes a breakdown of glycogen from the liver to provide glucose for energy needs and break-down of fat from adipose tissue to provide for energy needs. On the basis of human physiology described above, semi-starvation (ketogenic diets) have been devised for effective weight control. These diets provide a calculated amount of protein in divided doses with plenty of water, multivitamins, etc. These effectively lower weight and blood sugar, but because of their side effects, should be used only under the supervision of physicians.
Total fasting reduces or eliminates hunger and causes rapid weight loss. In 1975, Allan Cott in his Fasting as a Way of Life, noted, "Fasting brings a wholesome physiological rest for the digestive tract and central nervous system and normalizes metabolism." It must be pointed out, however, that there are also many adverse effects of total fasting. That includes hypokalemia and cardiac arrhythmia associated with low calorie starvation diets used in unsupervised programs.
The process of decomposing and eliminating waste toxic materials by means of Islamic fasting can improve or even cure the above mentioned diseases and other ones such as : cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, diseases of digestive system, diseases of the locomotor system including rheumatism, respiratory system diseases including asthma, and the early stage of malignant diseases like cancer.
1-All mucus diseases such as colds, flu, asthma, hay fever, sinus and bronchial troubles are rapidly dissolved and
eliminated from the body, leaving the user free from the varied allergies which cause difficult breathing and clogging of the sinus cavities…. I.E: My aunty used to be a patient that suffered from a severe asthma for 2 decades or 3. When she was over 50 she decided to observe the sunna fasting (every Monday and Thursday). As a result, she was thoroughly cured after a period of time.
2-The types of diseases that are a result of calcium deposits in the joints, muscles, cells, and glands are readily
dissolved and removed from the body. Cholesterol deposits in the arteries and veins also respond to the cleansing power of fasting (p13).
3-Fasting can be used to normalize our weight. As our common sense says, weight reduction is achieved by fasting, along with other health benefits. There are many diet programs using an unbalanced diet that can be dangerous for our health. Fasting is a natural way to normalize our body weight.
4-Fasting dissolves all unnecessary and unnatural fat deposits all over the body and the body is relieved of a
tremendous burden.
5-When we fast for a few days, the stomach shrinks to its normal size and the hungry feeling gradually fades
away. When we go back to the normal diet, we won’t have exaggerated hunger and won’t overeat (Bragg & Bragg, 1999).
6-Surprisingly enough, fasting programs can be used for underweight people who cannot gain weight even if they stuff themselves with many fattening foods. The cause of both overweight and underweight is a nutritionally unbalanced diet. “People are not nourished in proportion to amount of food they eat, but in proportion to how much they digest and assimilate” (Bragg & Bragg, 1999, p120). Thus what underweight people need is exactly what overweight people need revitalizing the digestive and assimilative systems to work efficiently.
7-As metabolism is improved through fasting, the body recuperates the capability to assimilate proteins, fats, carbohydrates, starches, sugars, minerals, vitamins and all other essential nutrients necessary because all organs work properly after fasting.
8-The human body uses the skin as a secondary eliminative organ. Because conditions such as boils, abscesses, carbuncles, and pimples are the body’s effort to eliminate poisons, skin problems also disappear as the rest of the body is cleansed (Burroughs, 1976).
9-The stomach, intestines and colon are given a complete rest by the fast and are enabled to repair damaged structures. Piles, proctitis, colitis, appendicitis, enteritis, enteric fever (typhoid), gastritis, etc., speedily recover under the fast. The alimentary tract becomes practically free of bacteria during a fast. The small intestines become sterile.
10- It renew cells, in other words, those who fast look younger than those who don’t. Amazingly, when someone looks at the face of a 40-year-old Muslim woman who reared eight children, they might think she is under 30.
Obviously, this is due mainly to fasting.
Finally, fasting can help people to break addictions to harmful substances: tobacco, drugs, alcohol, tea, coffee, and other habit-forming beverages. Fasting leads our body to get rid of stored poisons, including addictive substances, and we lose our craving and tolerance for them. Thus after fasting we will feel nausea or sometimes have attacks of vomiting, “nature’s purge” if taking addictive substances. :strong:
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