No one can live without food and water, that’s why the idea of fasting could be really strange for some people. However, for those who are not really familiar with the term ‘fasting’ it is not the same like you force yourself to live without food or water because even fasting has procedure that should be followed. For Muslim, 30 days fast is not only part of their belief but also because they have known about the health benefits of fasting. In other words, it is not dangerous at all as long as you know how to do it correctly.
What Is 30 Day Fast?
The term health benefits of 30 day fast is not forcing you to do fasting in full 30 days without food and water. It is just the term used for how long you should do the fasting. The ideal procedure to do fasting is like what most Muslim do in Ramadan month but doing it in another month will give you more flexibility because Muslim do it based on their praying time around dawn to dusk but you could make your own arrangement for the time. Below are the three things you should do during fasting time.
- Pre-Meal Is Important
During Ramadan month, pre-meal is normally well known as pre-dawn meal. However, other than that you could customize the time into morning and eat foods you normally eat for breakfast; foods which are rich of carbohydrate and fiber because one of the health benefits of fiber and carbohydrate is to maintain your energy during the day.
- Fasting Not More Than 12 Hours
Fasting less than 12 hours is the ideal time. More than that could be dangerous for your body. During fasting time is recommended for you to avoid activities that will drain your energy but it is not the reason for you to just sleep and do nothing.
- Break the Fast On Time
You have to strict with the rule. If you are doing 10 hour fast per day and then you should follow the rule. It is important to give some adjustment to your metabolism. It is also highly recommended to break your fast with something sweet to help you boosting the energy you have lost during fasting time.
Health Benefits of 30 Day Fast
As long as you follow the three rules mentioned above you could enjoy all the health benefits of 30 day fast without worrying. Fasting is not the same with starving that is why you need pre-meal before you start the fasting time. Below is the list of benefits you could get while doing fasting.
- Maintains Ideal Body Shape
During the fasting time, there is no sugar will enter your body instead for energy your body will use the stock of fat as the source of energy. It means there is no chance for fat to turn into weight.
- Great for Muscles
One of the health benefits of glucose is to form glycogen. Glycogen or fat cells will be stored in your body to be used when needed. During fasting when there is no sugar entering your body, those cells will be used as energy and leave your muscles to stay tone and strong.
- Manages Cholesterol Level
Some research studies have proven that during fasting the production of bad cholesterol is significantly reduced while the production of good cholesterol is not affected at all. It means you could manage cholesterol level in much easier way.
- Good for Diabetic Patients
Fasting could improves insulin sensitivity because during fasting body could tolerate carbohydrate so insulin could work optimally. Moreover the less sugar in blood stream will prevent the spike of blood sugar level for patients with certain type of diabetes.
- Regulates Blood Pressure
Fasting will affect the weight gain and during this time will affect the blood pressure as well. However, it is also important to keep controlling the portion and nutrients during fasting time for optimal result.
- Improves Brain Function
BDNF or brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a protein that beneficial for brain. During fasting you will feel more focus because studies stated that fasting could boost the production of BDNF to improve the brain function.
- Promotes Mental Health
The BDNF is not only affecting the way you think but also the way you handle things emotionally. That is why fasting is a great solution for those who have problems with anger management and possible to reduce the symptoms of depression.
- Improves Immunity
During fasting, your brain will stop to think about your internal system and instead that time is used to focus on other things such as fighting viruses, curing infections and maintain your immunity system.
- Great for Digestion
Digestive system is the organ with the hardest job and mostly it works non-stop. Fasting will give it a time to rest for a while and cleanse itself.
- Speeds Up Body Metabolism
As mentioned in previous point, fasting is the time for your digestive time to cleanse and recharge itself. When it is the time to work again it could speed up your body metabolism.
- Improves Eating Pattern
Fasting is nothing without strict schedule. Eating pattern is good for digestion and fasting will help your body adjusting with the pattern.
- Great for Skin Health
Not only the intestine that could cleanse itself during fasting, your skin cells could do the same as well. Fasting could bring youth to your skin and promotes cell regeneration.
- May Prevent Cancer
Fasting is how to prevent cancers naturally. During fasting, all cells in your body will do the same as well. It is a great chance to make cancerous cells starved and killed. Furthermore, some studies also stated that fasting could help reducing the side effects of chemotherapy as well.
- Improves Appetite
Most people cannot differentiate real hunger and just desire to eat. During fasting, you will experience what real hunger is and once you have experienced it you will enjoy your food more because it will taste better when you hunger. That is why fasting is recommended for those who are currently having eating problem because they don’t have appetite to eat.
- Learns About the Better You
Fasting is not only about how you control yourself toward foods and water but you could learn about yourself better. You must be surprised about yourself because without fasting you would never know that you are capable of controlling yourself not only physically but also emotionally.
You must be surprised to find out that fasting is actually one of the recommended healthy lifestyle. If you are currently in reaching your goal to healthy living, fasting could be added to your list. Though it is probably a bit strange for some people but in long term, the health benefits of 30 day fast are indeed the best solution to maintain your health.