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:
I’m HIV positive, is it safe to fast?
Hi Sati, I wouldn’t recommend this for HIV-positive patients as extended fasting will involve the recurrence of old diseases – a process which can be very hard on the body. This is not only uncomfortable but may be dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.
However, you can help your body heal itself better each day by giving it the best sleep possible.
Sleep is when our bodies work its hardest to heal itself.
Sleeping with a full stomach of rich food gets in the way of this precious healing process as food digestion will take up the body’s energy instead.
To get the most high-quality and healing sleeptime as possible, simply limit your last meal of the day to light and easily digested foods, e.g. grains, vegetables and simple proteins like fish. Also ensure that you don’t sleep too soon after eating. You should feel the difference the next morning and wake up feeling better-rested with more energy.
Hope this helps!
Hi can anyone help me? I have keloids from past acne and i was wondering if fasting would break down the scar tissue or even dissolve it? Is this possible? I’ve tried every topical treatment/home remedy out there. I’ve had these keloids for about 3 or 4 years so thats probably why its not responding to anything. Any tips/advice you can give me is appreciated.
Hi Anna, there are not many users who have shared their experiences of fasting and the effect it had on their scarring on the web. It’s possible that the level of fasting needed to dissolve old scars is just too difficult to get through. The body will go through phases, including the initial detoxing before it even gets to the stage of reorganizing abnormal tissues.
But if you’re serious about fasting, I would recommend consulting with a skilled practitioner first and learning as much as you can because the process can be quite hard on the body.
On a separate note, have you tried rubbing castor oil on your keloids? I’ve been doing a lot of research on castor oil recently and it sounds very promising. Try rubbing some on your keloids twice a day for a month and see if there is any difference.
Hey thanks Samantha. Do you know how many days of fasting it would take to dissolve the old keloids if i do decide to fast? I haven’t tried castor oil but i’ll try to get my hands on it.
Hi Anna, from what I can find, the body scours for abnormal tissue such as scars on Day 8 to Day 15 of a juice fast, but this is just an approximation. You can find more info here http://www.fasting.ws/juice-fasting/fasting-for-detoxification/detoxification-program
I hope that helps.
Hello Anna, I found this post after some research, did fasting help your keloids? I am seriously considering this method too because I too have keloids. Please let me know. Thanks!
hi samantha,,,
i also have keloids on my chest,both of my shoulders, at my back,and also at my jaw…probably started because of acne…and its getting bigger and the number of my keloids are increasing…it became so painful it itchy,,,can you give me some advice? i hope and i pray you can help me…thank you…
Karen you can try hydrogen peroxide see link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080727060036AAlXgkc
Hi QdogQtip
Is that the same hydrogen peroxide that we use to clean our teeth, i mean used my dentist.Does it really works on keloid.
Karen you can try Hydrogen peroxide see the link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080727060036AAlXgkc
As mention in the article that we should repeat this fast for thirty days at least to reap the full benefits because our body will heal and detox its organs in stages,I want to know should I keep fast continuously for thirty days or every alternate day or once in a week.I am really fed up with my keloid.I want to get rid of it at any cost.Pls suggest
Have you tried fasting for your keloids? What were your results?
This is a really interesting concept – I could see how fasting might work for healing a number of chronic ailments. However, do the problems eliminated by the fast tend to come back after the fast is over? I could see that scar tissue could be permanently eliminated, but how about things like hemmorhoids or cysts?
Hi Rosie,
It’s always possible for hemorrhoids or cysts to recur (just like how bad skin can always come back in the right environment), but with the right mindset, fasting should ideally reboot the system as well as kick-start a healthier lifestyle and diet, rather than be the “be all and end all” to tackling a specific health issue. Besides, I consider hemorrhoids and cysts to be symptoms of deeper problems. Treating symptoms are a good money-making business for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, but has got nothing to do with real healing IMO.
For some people, changing to a healthier lifestyle after fasting will happen naturally. For others, reading more about fasting and what it does to the body can be a good motivator. For example, I find that whenever I complete a fast and go back to eating daily meals, I become very reluctant to eat junk food and sweets because I feel that I don’t want to pollute my body.
Wow! I actually tried this and it worked great. My skin is way better. My acne and my psoriasis is gone. I think I will try this at least twice a year. Great info. on this site.
Hi
Please be honest with me!! (I don’t mean you are not)
But really did this work for psoriasis??
Please if yes tell me your experience
thank you
I love fasting but I would like to know if fasting cures Hepatitis B since it helps with liver detox/cleansing. Any idea for a very good friend of mine. She wants natural treatment as a cure.
I don’t know if fasting can be a cure, but it could be supportive in healing infections.
A study on mice (link) showed some positive effect on modulating the presence of Hepatitis B virus in the bloodstream through calorie restriction (e.g. fasting).
Thank you Samantha. I will encourage my friend to add fasting to the juicing recipes she has for a complete cure.
is this true? dry fasting is 3x more effective than a pure water/juice fast?
Yes, I have done dry fasting a number of times but please see your doctor first before trying this out.