How useful is fasting?

Eating is necessary for life. It gives nourishment to the body. It also helps in establishing a cultural identity. Sometimes, people express themselves in the way when they choose not to eat. Fasting is staying away from food intentionally for a specified period of time. The word is taken from the Anglo-Saxon `faesten’ which means `to hold you from food’. Fasting has been practiced for thousands of years as part of religious ceremonies. The Red Indians used to fast to motivate fertility and to help cure certain diseases. Babylonians were fasting as a penance for their sins. Jews fasted for atonement and purification from sins. Buddhists fast on full moon days. Catholics fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Eastern Orthodox members fast during the entire period of Lent. Mormons fast on the first Sunday of each month. Muslims fast during the month of Ramazan where they want to overhaul their physical body with the excess waste and fat deposited in the body and also as a form of will power and sustenance without food and water during the day. Today, people who are not interested in religion fast for political and health reasons. People fast for cholesterol screening and fasting blood sugar checks and before major surgeries. When a person stays away from food for more than a few hours, the body draws on stored forms of energy to perform normally. When you don’t take protein, your body starts to break down your muscle to get the amino acids. Long term fasting can damage your heart along with your liver and kidneys. Some people think that avoiding food to lose weight may be a good idea but it is definitely not a healthy thought. Fasting is not a good way to lose weight. People who fast put their weight back when they resume their eating habits as before. Modern medicos have also declared that prolonged fasting is unhealthy for the body. For political reasons, people have gone on hunger strikes. This is utter nonsense. It is another way of self immolation or suicide. The father of the Indian Nation may have been successful but this is not a method which is considered effective nowadays. It shows womanliness and spineless behavior in the form of emotional blackmail. Fasting may be good once in a while but it is not the answer for good health of the body and the mind.