|
 In
this month of Ramadan, Dr. Elson M. Haas, M.D., offers some very
beneficial information about fasting. Dr. Haas has written many
books addressing preventive and integrated medicines, natural
nutrition therapies and detoxification (fasting). He also wrote one
of the definitive books on natural nutrition and fasting, called
Staying Healthy: A Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine.
Dr. Haas is currently the Director of the Preventive Medical Center
of Marin, with offices in San Rafael and San Jose, California.
In this article he discusses, the process and benefits of
fasting, as well as its hazards.
Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy. It is
nature's ancient, universal "remedy" for many problems.
Animals instinctively fast when ill. When I first discovered
fasting, 15 years ago, I felt as if it had saved my life and
transformed my illnesses into health. My stagnant energies began
flowing, and I became more creative and vitally alive. I still find
fasting both a useful personal tool and an important therapy for
many medical and life problems.
Of course, most of the problems for which I recommend fasting as
treatment are ones that result from overnutrition rather than
malnutrition. Dietary abuse problems, more common in the Western
world than in Third World countries, generate many of the chronic
degenerative diseases that I have written so much about; these
include atherosclerosis, hypertension and heart disease, allergies,
diabetes, and cancer. I believe that fasting is therapeutic and,
more importantly, preventive for many of these conditions and more.
Fasting (cleansing, detoxification) is one part of the triology
of nutrition; balancing and building (toning) are the others. I
believe that fasting is the "missing link" in the Western
diet. Most people overeat, eat too often, and eat a high-protein,
high-fat, rich-food, building and congesting diet more consistently
than they need. If we regularly eat a more balanced and
well-combined diet, we will have less need for fasting and toning
plans, although both would still be required at certain intervals
throughout the year.
In a sense, detoxification is an important corrective and
rejuvenative process in our cycle of nutrition. It is a time when we
allow our cells and organs to breathe out, become current, and
restore themselves. We do not necessarily need to fast to experience
some cleansing, however. Minor shifts in the diet such as including
more fluids, more raw foods, and fewer congesting foods will allow
for better detoxification; for a carnivore, for example, a
vegetarian or macrobiotic diet will be cleansing and purifying. The
general process of detoxification is discussed thoroughly in the
General Detoxification program; here we focus on fluid fasting - its
history, therapeutic use, benefits, contraindications, and, of
course, how to do it, along with other aspects of lifestyle that
support fasting.
Fasting is a time-proven remedy. Its use goes back many thousands
of years, really to the beginning of life forms. As a healing
process and spiritual-religious process, it has continued to be more
intelligently applied, we hope, in the last several thousand years.
Voluntary abstinence from food has been a tradition in most
religions and is clearly a spiritual purification rite. Many
religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and the Eastern
religions, have encouraged fasting for a variety of reasons, such as
penitence, preparation for ceremony, purification, mourning,
sacrifice and union with God, and the enhancement of knowledge and
powers. From Moses, Elijah, and Daniel to Christ, the Bible is
filled with fasters, who employed it to assist their purification
and communion with God. Fasts as long as 40 days were employed to
cleanse people of sins and the "devil."
|
|
