Why Do We Fast? Purpose Of Fasting Explained

The bible has taught us the art of fasting, which is a spiritual discipline followed by many disciples.

Christians (the followers of Jesus) were expected to fast by Jesus because he said that it will give them rewards from God. Fasting, according to the bible, means to reduce or eliminate the quantity of food for a limited period of time to cleanse the body from inside.

Fasting is to refrain from eating and drinking anything as per our own will. Christians fast in secret.

Mentally and physically fasting is like a celebration to get rid of the waste from our bodies.

Among other things, we pray to the teaching of Jesus when we fast. The point here is fasting is a must to purify our bodies from wastes we accumulate in our bodies while doing daily routine work.

We fast as worship to God, which forces our body to burn fat for energy.

As Christ or father says the word, "to fast is like soul searching of the self for the self to make a person more affable to others and to himself".

It is a quiet time for a Christian who has gone to God's arms to prolong his life by fasting and practice truly by praying to the father to give him the will to fast and in most cases lord oblige to prayer.

Fasting can also simply be called a metabolic status of a human being who didn’t eat for an entire night and sometimes day too.

Many metabolic changes happen when we fast and we gain direction and become clear in our mind. There are many diagnostic tests that people use to determine the fasting stage.

Like, if a person has been assumed to be fasting once 7-11 hours have passed since the last full meal.

The metabolic changes happen in the body after three to four hours of absorption of a meal. Prolonged fasting of 1-100 hours (considering age factor) which gets conducted under observation to understand the health complication which is usually hypoglycemia, is called a diagnostic fast.

People also fast under some medical conditions like whenever going for colonoscopy or surgery, before morning check-ups, or certain medical tests.

Fasting is also seen as part of some religious rituals to repair the body and give it time to heal from daily digestion, which is most logically in practice in Hinduism and Buddhism in the world to maintain discipline and inculcate praying to God. Christian people worship the bible, the holy spirit, and God during fasting.

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What are the reasons for fasting?

There are multiple reasons for fasting. A fasting diet needs a complete analysis on how to start it and add what nutrients to it before starting with it.

Fasting promotes health in many disciplines of the body like blood sugar control by reducing insulin resistance it gives better health by fighting inflammation, it enhances a healthy heart by improving blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol levels. It boosts brain function and prevents neuron disorders. The other reasons for fasting are religious fasting.

Christian people worship the bible, the holy spirit, and God during fasting. Abstaining themselves to food is not like an order of ministry for those who follow God, rather it's a prayer to God.

We fast to give voice to our prayers as Jesus went to the desert to fast for 40 days. Luke tells us that with this fast Jesus is abstaining from all kinds of food and he returned 'in the power of the holy spirit'.

Jesus's followers or disciples like Paul also fast to give voice to our prayers and we grow closer to God in our lives. Christian people worship the bible, the holy spirit, and God during fasting.

Fasting comes with multiple loopholes and pitfalls that one needs to know before starting. Like bad management of nutrient portions in the diet between fasting periods.

If you will not keep all the precautions in mind, there is a very good chance that all of your hard work, diet, and self-discipline will go in vain.

If done with proper management and good planning, fasting for sensible frames of time can become very effective for your body and will bring several health benefits to you as well. You can lose weight very efficiently by fasting if done under good guidance.

Or you can consume fewer calories as well.

By eating fewer calories, the body loses weight. It depends on the age factor and gender factor the number of calories you can burn in a day.

Fasting ultimately enhances the work of growth hormone in your body which will help in good metabolism and is also spiritual for all Christians in the whole world.

There is the religious reason also to fast as Muslims fast for a month during the period of Ramadan irrespective of age the community celebrates the month and would fast from dawn to dusk and eat new dishes at dawn only.

They eat food and drink water early in the morning as much as they can as per their gospel and fast till dusk without having anything.

Purpose Of Fasting

Most of the benefits have been seen by intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is very popular as it is very easy to follow as well shows good results. Christian people worship the bible, the holy spirit, and God during fasting. Doing prayer is very spiritual.

It is quite flexible and sustainable if we see them in long run. For busy people also, this type of fasting is quite useful and convenient because it reduces the dedicated time you need to give to cook food and preparing a plan for it every other week.

There is one set of notions that say that people fast not to lose weight or to become slim, but to decrease the distance between them and the God or holy spirit.

Our spiritual senses get improved when we fast and that helps us tune with God by deepening the intimacy with Jesus Christ.

This also increases awareness about the manifestations of Jesus Christ when Christians fast. As President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency has taught today, we are asked to skip two meals and give an offering of at least the value of those meals.

Our generous fast offerings go directly to helping the poor and needy, and we are blessed as well. , “In church, we are invited to help Him as He cares for the poor in His way, and … He promises everlasting blessings will come from our helping Him”.

The bible says it all about fasting.

Benefits Of Fasting

There are so many benefits you can have from fasting. It's not just for weight loss, but also good for the body organs as well and helps in the improvement of psychology or we can say God fasting.

Fasting improves the blood sugar level in the body which is very useful for patients with diabetes that have high levels. Once a study was conducted with 10 people of which two were diabetic.

The conclusion came, that this short-term intermittent fasting has significantly decreased the blood sugar levels.

Fasting helps in decreasing the levels of inflammation (which causes many chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, and arthritis), and eventually gives better health to humans. The first day of fasting would be much tougher than others might have said to you but it won't harm your physical wellness, you just need to believe.

Today heart diseases have become the leading cause of many deaths in the whole world today.

And this danger can get tackled by changing just the diet and lifestyle of the body. Even research has been done on this and came to the conclusion that adding suitable batches of fasting in your routine daily can be very beneficial for your health.

The study conducted on mice proved that the continuous 11 months of fasting improved both brain structure and brain health.

Fasting would truly protect brain health. Fasting benefits include loss of weight, improved blood sugar control, a healthy heart, quick-thinking brain which will enhance positive thinking.

Types Of Fasting

Due to various types of fasts, there comes a set of various protocols and methods for every specific fast. There are different types of fast available for different types of people with different body and food needs. We fast as worship to God.

Dry fasting involves complete debarment of any eating food or drinking items for that particular fasting period. This type of fasting is not recommended for long periods by scientists.

This sometimes can cause lousy behavior, dehydration, side effects on the blood volume and blood tissues which makes it difficult for the body to detoxify. During liquid fasting, you are only allowed to drink fluids and avoid all the solid food items from the diet however age.

This type of fast can last for several days. Just like water fasting, there is one other liquid fasting as well which is called Juice Fasting.

It can last for five days maximum and involves organic fruits and vegetable juices for detoxification. One very popular, new, and effective among others, is Intermittent fasting.

In this, you can eat and fast on the same day. There is no such specific demand which this fast involves of diet, you can eat any meal in the whole day.

There are few hours dedicated to fasting. Disciples of a particular religion keep the dawn of their lives for fasting and to pray.

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