Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
The best of all medicine is resting and fasting. Benjamin Franklin
This morning I woke up knowing I could have breakfast. Yesterday was a 24-hour fast day. It was my first fast day of the New Year. I started out with bone-broth fasts in August. My weight went up when I fasted with bone broth. I tried it a couple more times and every time my weight went up. Is this something others have experienced?
Now I do a 24 hour fast from 6:00 pm in the evening to 6:00 pm the next evening with black coffee, herbal tea, and water. Monday is my preferred fast day, and Thursday if I want to do two in a week. Monday is also a gym night so after eating dinner to break the fast I went to the gym. Working out was no harder than usual.
This is an experiment and I will experiment with one and two days fasting. People have been fasting forever and they must have seen benefits from doing it or they wouldn’t have continued the practice.
There is a side effect, and one does have to watch interacting with people as our tempter can become very short, and we fly off the handle over little things. I think this is why I gave up the practice years ago. When my boyfriend, now husband, said, “You need to eat something.”
Fasting is the first principle of medicine; fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself. Rumi
Fasting has many benefits and Dr. Gundry of The Longevity Paradox promotes it as one of the tools we have that can add life to our years, and years to our life.
8 Health Benefits of Fasting Backed by Science.
Taken from the Healthline blog written by Rachael Link MS, RD
Fasting promotes blood sugar control by reducing insulin resistance.
Fasting promotes better health by fighting inflammation.
Fasting may enhance heart health by improving blood pressure, triglycerides and cholesterol levels.
Fasting may boost brain function and prevent neurodegenerative disorders. A study in mice showed intermittent fasting for 11 months improved both brain function and brain structure.
Fasting aids weight loss by limiting calorie intake and boosting metabolism. Fasting was found to be more effective than calorie restriction at increasing fat loss while simultaneously preserving muscle tissue.
Fasting increases growth hormone secretion, which is vital for growth, metabolism, weight loss and muscle strength.
Fasting could delay aging and extend longevity. In one study where rats fasted every other day they experienced a delayed rate of aging and lived 83% longer than rats that didn’t fast.
Fasting may aid in cancer prevention and increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
For me longevity is good, but adding life to our years, not just years is the goal. One of my gurus is Suzanne Somers I first started her way of eating about twenty years ago. It is from her that I learned starches and fat are what puts on weight. We can eat all the starch we want without fat and we won’t gain weight. We can eat all the fat and protein we want without the starch and we won’t gain weight.
Some of our favorite foods are bombs made of fat and starch. She was just on the Dr. Oz show looking fabulous. Her husband is 83 and looks healthy and fit, and enjoying life. He says many of his friends are not as healthy as he is.
Are we what we eat? Do we need to find out what works for us? Can we be our own control board? If we experiment can we find out how to be healthy and fit? There isn’t one size that fits all, or maybe there is but we don’t want to be that restricted all of the time.
My goal is to find practices that work for me so I can be fit and healthy, with some indulgences here and there.
Is fasting something we should all practice?
Fasting is a cleansing agent for the body and the soul. Muslim quote
I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency. Plato
Fasting cures diseases, dries up bodily humors, puts demons to flight, gets rid of impure thoughts, makes the mind clearer and the heart purer, the body sanctified, and raises man to the throne of God. Athenaeus
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
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A New Way to Age: The Most Cutting-Edge Advances in Antiaging Hardcover – Jan 7 2020
by Suzanne Somers (Author) #1 Best Seller in Gerontology
Love watching sunset every night 1
Sunrise and sunset the most beautiful parts of the day.