Ramadhan has begun and we are all excited to welcome it with all the zeal and enthusiasm.
Since fasting has been practised in all religions and cultures in various forms for ages, besides the spiritual benefits, let us dive into the physical benefits of fasting.
Fasting is when you abstain from food and drinks for a set of certain hours.
When you are not eating, you are giving your body the time to revive and replenish. How?
The following are some of the numerous benefits of fasting:
These days, many of us are struggling with joint pains, fatigue, muscle stiffness, body pain, skin rashes which are usually an outcome of inflammatory processes undergoing in the body.
This chronic inflammation in the body can be a precursor for various health issues such as rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, or even cancer.
Moreover, cancer too tends to spread in areas of inflammation. What fasting do here is reduces the chronic inflammation in the body making it a powerful anti-inflammatory.
Additionally, increasing one’s immunity is something that has been a major takeaway from the ongoing pandemic.
Fasting also boosts your immunity by regenerating new white blood cells responsible for fighting any infection or disease.
What’s next? Fasting induces a blood sugar lowering effect thereby decreasing insulin resistance which is caused by eating too much or too frequently. Hence fasting is an efficient approach towards correcting insulin resistance. Results from the study published in World Journal of Diabetes by National Library of Medicine indicates that short-term daily IF (Intermittent Fasting)
may be a safe, tolerable, dietary intervention in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients that may improve key outcomes including body weight, fasting glucose and postprandial variability.
What is even more fascinating is that fasting increases the production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is responsible for growth, metabolism, muscle strength, skin elasticity as well as preserving bone density and preventing osteoporosis.
Also, HGH helps tremendously to burn fat. To put it simply, this is the hormone that is hugely responsible for keeping you youthful. It spikes at puberty and then decreases as age advances.
Eating a calorie-laden diet coupled with stress suppresses growth hormone; whereas fasting tremendously boosts its production making it the natural anti-aging hormone.
Last but not least which we all are aware of is fasting aids in weight loss compared to any low-calorie diets by limiting the calorie intake and improving metabolism.
Just make sure you are consuming healthier food along with adequate drinking water during the non-fasting hours.
Sugary and fried foods need to be avoided at all costs to derive the maximum benefits of fasting.
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