This is a seasonally appropriate article given that Catholics have just gone through Lent and Muslims are still in Ramadan, but it also covers political and medical implications of fasting. What are the advantages and possible disadvantages of fasting? Do you fast, have you fasted, or would you ever consider fasting?
In my opinion, fasting is a great way of practicing self-control. In addition, the author suggests that fasting has a number of health benefits, such as lower blood pressure levels and weight loss. I don’t really have any direct experience with fasting myself, however, during my recent visit of Oman, I had an interesting conversation with a taxi driver about fasting during Ramadan. Similarly to what the article states, he, too, fasts to prove his devotion to god in return for better health. He told me that he gets up before sunrise, eats a couple of dates, drinks some water and he’s good to go until the sun sets. What surprised me the most, was the fact that, apparently, they can’t even drink during their fast. I thought that this was a bit mad, since the temperature in Oman is around 40C, but I suppose that they get used to it, as they start fasting at 10 years old.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I’ve never fasted before, I believe that the more modern way of fasting - intermittent fasting - has a lot of merit to it. Backed by a lot of studies, it shows to bring a great number of health benefits and promotes the regenerative capacity of cells. I also find it unnatural that we eat every couple of hours, even though our ancestors likely only ate whenever they caught/gathered something.
Dear Filip,
ReplyDeleteI believe that fasting tests and improves discipline, but I don’t fully understand what you mean by being addicted to food. By definition, being addicted to something means that you are physically and mentally dependent on it. Therefore, it’s obvious that we’re all addicted to food, since we would all die without it. What is more, I agree with your next point to a certain extent - fasting to the point where one’s life is in danger isn’t safe and it shouldn’t be praised. However, I do believe that by doing so, people can voice their opinion on certain things, just like Ghandi did.
Fasting is a process when one withdraws themselves from eating particular food or even all food for a period of time. Fasting has lots of benefits such as lowered blood pressure, slower ageing and even increase in production of growth hormone. It is no wonder individuals undergo fasting for other reasons than religious ones. However, we need to consider if fasting is always beneficial and what are the costs of fasting. Not everyone can afford to fast, especially people who have low self-control or simply those who are likely to fail fasting. If one fails this fasting challenge one can suffer severe physiological damage especially in the ego department. Additionally, fasting can mess up a person's eating schedule and it forces an individual to go into calorie deficit, this can cause ‘yo-yo effect’ and binge eating in which an individual can gain even more weight than prior to the fasting and be overall worse off. Fasting isn’t an easy thing to do and one should consider all the risks if they are to try it.
ReplyDeleteThe process of fasting is in many religions also considered a way to create something good from something bad by the process of punishing oneself. Gandhi punished himself to atone for sins of his two ashram inmates, in bible fasting is a process during which one gets closer to god by sacrificing something. This practice forces one to experience guilt and to suffer for their presumed wrong-doings. Certainly, fasting is a hard and difficult task which challenges one’s will power to its limits, but we shouldn’t try to encourage this practice under the veil of nobility and devoutness when in reality it is a masochistic practice.