Fasting for Better Health and Skin
Many of the world’s religions incorporate fasting as one of their practices. While some fast in observation of their faiths alone, the act of fasting itself can be extremely therapeutic and offers a myriad of health benefits.
Why Fasting Helps: When your body stops digesting for a period of time, it is able to focus on its other processes better.
Processes that have been neglected or slow to improve before will accelerate when you fast.
Your body’s ability to heal itself gets a boost. The rate of detoxification improves markedly when fasting.
When it is in fast-mode, the body will scavenge for fatty deposits and dead/damaged tissues—including abnormalities such as scar tissue, tumors, abcesses, and old wounds—which are burned off for energy or carried away as waste.
Fasting is also a natural function. In the wild, injured animals will fast and only start eating when their wounds have healed. They do this instinctively.
In fact, you probably have fasted a few times in your life without even realising it.
Remember when you fell sick and had no appetite whatsoever? This was your body’s way of taking care of itself. Without food to digest, your body can better focus its energies on fighting the infection and recover more quickly.
Effects of fasting:
- Its common for pimples and other skin conditions like eczema to clear up faster when a person fasts.
- Liver and kidney functions are improved which aids in the body’s detoxification. These positive effects actually carry on even after the fast has ceased.
- Fasting relieves the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. It also relieves the swelling of the joints, bloatedness, and water retention.
- If you’re trying to quit a bad habit, fasting makes it easier to overcome unhealthy addictions to alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine.
What to expect while fasting:
Be prepared for some discomfort when you first start your fast. You may experience withdrawal symptoms such as headaches.
When this happens, try resting in a dark room and closing your eyes if the headache is too severe. Use essential oils and aromatheraphy to relax yourself.
If you stick with it for the first few days, fasting gets much easier and the withdrawal symptoms ease. Fasting is one of those things that require some short-term discomfort for long-term good health.
How to fast:
There are numerous ways to fast and it is entirely up to you. You can take it easy by dry fasting during the day and then end it with a small and healthy dinner. If you have the will, you can go on a 24 hour dry fast (no food or water) or a 24 hour water fast and then breaking it with a light and nutritious meal. You should repeat this fast for thirty days at least to reap the full benefits because your body will heal and detox its organs in stages.
If you’re trying to lose weight, incorporate some exercise during the day, especially during periods when your energy levels are at its lowest. Exercising during a fast will boost your blood circulation, relieve headaches, and burn fat and remove toxins faster. You’ll also find yourself rising out of the low-energy slump after 10-15 minutes of exercise.
More tips…
- If you’re looking for the best results, try a dry fast (no food and water) instead of a liquid fast (water or juice). One day of dry fasting is equivalent to 3 days of liquid fasting.
- Break your fast gently with healthy foods that are easy to digest. Fruits and vegetables should be included. You’ll be surprised how quickly you feel full with less food. If you stuff yourself when breaking a fast you’ll feel sluggish and overfed for several hours afterwards. Remember the feeling and you’ll naturally avoid over-eating next time.
- Try not to advertise the fact that you’re fasting. Once you do, you’ll feel obliged to do it because of the people you have told. Some people you tell will also feel the need to challenge your decision. This is unnecessary stress. Your resolve and willpower to fast will be stronger if your fast remains a private matter.
- And lastly, do not fast if your health is compromised by serious illnesses, pregnancy, menstruation, or if you’re nursing.
Further Reading:
did it clear all your scars? how long was the healing process? i have a deep pitted scar on my nose, will this heal thru dry fasting?
Great info! I just wanted to mention a TV investigation that looked into fasting and recent studies that have linked regular interval fasting with curing disease and longer life.. And as amazing as scientific studies are, even more amazing are religions that started giving this beneficial and life-enhancing advice hundreds and thousands of years before modern science. God is good!!
KT you are right.
God had our health in His mind all along.
Christians are to fast and is mandatory.
Praise to the King!!!…
I fast regularly to control my systemic mast cell disorder, which behaves like rheumatoid arthritis, crohn’s disease, psoriasis, and other fun stuff. It takes between three and ten days to get those symptoms under control, depending I suppose on how bad they were when I started the fast.
The symptoms do always return, but then I fast again. Regular fasting has had other effects–like my face: I turned 50 this month, and people insist I look 30-35. I can’t say objectively, but I will say my skin is tight and smooth, with just tiny lines at the corners of my eyes, and no line at all from my nose to my mouth and none on my forehead. My pores are always tiny, even on my nose.
I never ‘dry fast’; I believe staying hydrated will help with any detoxification my body is trying to do. I’m currently on day six of a fast I will push as far as 30 days, depending how I feel. I want to see the results on keloids and osteoarthritis, if any.
Regards,
Larisa
Hi Larisa, wow the effects it has had on you are quite amazing. Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi!!! Congrats on your fast. I’m on day 4 and I feel fine. My vision is a lil blurred and sometimes my mind is not as sharp but overall feel good. My mouth has that metallic taste which sucks, but that means its working right? But I also have a keloid on my chest and was wondering if it was working for you? That is a big reason for me to do this. Well thanks I hope you reply!!!
Hi Samantha!
I’m on day 14 now, and have not seen a change in my keloids, although my arthritis pain is maybe 90% improved and I’m moving better than I have in a couple years–I feel 20! I’ve never fasted longer than two weeks before; based on how things are going, I’m going to continue at least another week, and may still push it all the way to 30 days. If my keloids do diminish, I’ll be sure to post here.
Thanks,
Larisa
Hi Larisa, that’s great that you’re feeling the arthritis pain diminish with fasting! Good luck with the rest of your fast, but remember not to overdo it also. Stay safe
i never dry fasted larissa but i drink almost 3 liters of water a day. will that help clear my scars? i have this deep pitted scar on my nose. tnx!
Hi akosiyao, I don’t know what direct affect the water will have on scars, but my understanding is that good hydration is crucial for skin healing an recovery, so it couldn’t hurt.
I concluded my fast at 20 days, with dramatic improvements to my arthritis and also to my one “newest” keloid–a two-year-old surgical scar that flattened out where it had been quite thick–but no improvement to my three much-older scars. In addition to being older, they also weren’t as thick/raised, so any number of reason could be guessed as to why they weren’t affected. Overall, I think the changes that did occur for me with this fast were very encouraging.
I’m going to do another ’round’ of fasting later in Spring, and will report again.
Thanks!
Larisa
Sorry to jump in — but I just have to say that that’s really great!
Not sure if you already know this, but your experience is also in line with the theory that with fasting or other detox methods, healing will occur “in reverse”. i.e the last ailment/injury we had will be healed first, followed by the one before that, and so on and so forth. So the oldest wounds may be the very last to heal.
When I did a round of detox sometime back, out of nowhere, my wrist started to hurt. The pain went away after a few days over my detox, but I was mystified by why I had it until I remembered that I had injured my wrist weeks ago. I’d forgotten about it after it stopped hurting back then. But it mustn’t have healed completely since my detox sparked a “do-over” healing, which was pretty cool.
Samantha,
That certainly makes a lot of sense to me, and since I will need to fast cyclicly, probably for the rest of my life, I imagine I’ll reach the point where I will see a change in even the oldest keloids–one is over thirty years old, so I guess that will take a while.
Thanks again!
Larisa
cheers
Hello every body!
Is there anyone who knows a remedy for stretch marks…plzzzz help me