Is it true that if you fast for one day a month, it cleanses your body?

Question

i heard that my friends dad did that in college...just wondering if not eating for a day out of a month, it is good for you?

Answer 1

Health expert Patricia Bragg fasts one day a week and 3 days a month. Americans consume huge amounts of food. They are a little bigger but the average American eats 7 times the food of the average Chinese person. They do not have a big problem with obesity and cardiovascular diease.

Don't listen to people who don't know about it. Jesus fasted 40 days but the devil tried to stop Him. Bible has 74 references to it. Too relgious? This site has all this plus quotes from 11 MDs about how good fasting is. One of them with a website says that fasting saved his life.

http://phifoundation.org/fast.html

Answer 2

Your body is not 'cleansed" in the way you think it is by one day of fasting. Think about it - the body cleanses itself EVERYDAY of the waste products it cannot use. The problem is - the more we force into this body, the more it has to work to do what it is supposed to do - and sometimes the days roll over into the next day and we are still not 'clear' of yesterday's product. We have not exercised, sweated out the salts and by products that need to be out. Fasting does a couple of things - 1) It gives the organs a rest from processing and 2) It allows our minds to have control of our body and what we put into it. We are allowed to think (meditate, pray0 and relieve the body from the continuous processing. Fasting is good - but in one day out of a month - it is not cleansing completely. The one way we can cleanse the body of ALL products is to have a colon cleansing - where even the products that stay in the colon can be released. I remember a time when my mom used to give us castor oil once a week and it was her 'method' of cleansing us from all the junk food that we 'might' have received that she was not aware of - it cleansed us of colds and flu and we were not sick as kids.

Answer 3

1. There's a physiological colonic cycle of about a month and fasting on a day a month is useful.
2. Even otherwise one should avoid eating after 7 pm. In other words fast till the next morning.
3. For those on a spiritual path, fasting is reported to help positively. Recently, I came across a practising Buddhist guy in London of about 50 yrs age who was on lemonade, water etc for a fortnight with zero adverse effects. He also mentioned something about using a bit of pepper in the water which while fasting further helps remove toxins
4. When i was in medical college, we used to hear, "1/3 rd of what we eat is for ourselves, 1/3rd for our doctors and the remaining for the undertakers."

Answer 4

Your body is designed to clean itself in an efficient manner. Your blood and your liver carry certain enzymes that break down toxins into inactive metabolites. Following that, the metabolites are excreted by your kidneys through urine (supposing you have formal functional liver and kidneys). In addition to this major route of self-cleansing process, your body is loaded with many other ways of waste management. So you should just give your body the credit, and let it do its own job.

If not eating for a day, I hope you are not diabetic, your body supply of glucose goes down, you will feel hungry (I wonder why), and your brain slows down since it's the biggest glucose consumer. Meantime, to compensate the inadequacy of glucose, your body robs the muscles and the fat, and turns them into glucose to maintain your cellular function, much like "Rob Peter to pay Paul."

Just in case you decide to try it, make sure you drink enough fluids.

Answer 5

No, your body stores up nutrients for such occurances, it needs to be prepared for such things. Not to mention some vitamins and minerals will store up in your body for up to 3 months. Doing this will only leave you hungry for a day. If it is drugs you're trying to flush out then it could work, try some niacin and lots and lots of water.

Answer 6

I fast one day per week but it's not for cleansing. Don't know if it's good for you or not. I don't feel any ill effects. Been doing it for thirty years.

Answer 7

A day without eating is a day your body is deprived of things like chocolate and soda, and OMG why??
Just the thought of it, I...I cannot go on. [sob]
~Because sometimes it is rocket science.~

Answer 8

In some religions they believe that, Scientific explanations, no it actually will harm you and food is how you fuel your body!

Answer 9

i fast twice a week (my religion) and honestly...i don't think it does... tho its good for your health i s'pos....

Answer 10

No! you need food everyday.