"In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, tumors and abscesses."
My childhood came with a long list of allergies, weekly needles in the arm to keep asthma attacks in check. I loved bananas but was severely allergic to them; throat would swell and itch every time I tested to see if I had outgrown the allergy. Other raw foods would cause this in milder forms. Red blotches of eczema often spread over my skin, even face.
During my first long fast, I watched in amazement as eczema melted away. After 20 days of fasting, lungs felt clear, I could breathe deep without wheezing. But greatest of all, my life-long hemorrhoid-curse packed their nasty bags and left. Gone! I cannot tell you how it felt. Had to contain myself from telling everyone. Not something you stand up in church and say during Praise and Prayer.
The first thing I tried eating after the fast was a banana. You guessed it, I have been eating them by the bunches ever since. The only eczema I get now is a small red spot under the left eye, the body’s friendly little reminder when my diet has slipped.
Fasting intensifies healing as deep tissue and tired organs are repaired rapidly. To heal illness the body must pull all of its resources toward cleansing and repairing by removing appetite and reducing or stopping digestion. Wounded animals will fast, emerging to eat only after their injury or broken bones have healed. There are testimonies of people’s old wounds aching during a fast for the first time in years; unnecessary scare tissue is being broken down as fuel. This is the reason why there is little desire to eat food when sick—the body wants to focus all of its resources on healing.
If you eat mainly cooked or processed food during sickness the body’s immune system is denied opportunity to operate at its full genius. Most often instead of nutritious, health-giving food, the delicate tube and membrane structure is saturated with hospital food, cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, and drugs.
Why does fasting have such a powerful effect on healing the body? In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, tumors and abscesses, all of which are burned for fuel or expelled as waste. Diseased cells are dissolved in a systematic manner, leaving healthy tissue. The result is thorough the cleansing of the tubes, membranes and cellular structures. Ingestion of mucus-forming foods clogs the body's microscopic tubes and membranes, all of which are the highways used by the immune system. Fasting dissolves this internal mucus. During a fast it is common for the nose, throat and ears to pass sticky mucus, clogging the sinuses. Strands of mucus may be found in the stool after the first bowel movement. There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body. It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while catabolizing on old tissue, toxins and inferior materials.
The butterfly is a magnificent example of catabolism (tearing down) and anabolism (building up). During metamorphosis the butterfly’s muscles and organs dissolve into a thick yellow solution. All internal structures are torn down and rebuilt. It emerges from the chrysalis, a new creation. The miraculous aspect of metamorphosis as it occurs while fasting. All substances needed for rebuilding come from within.
During a fast, a metamorphosis occurs. The body undergoes a tearing down and rebuilding of damaged materials. For this reason fasting is famous for its ability to rejuvenate and give the body a more youthful tone.
Little scientific research has been done on the selective cannibalization associated with fasting. Funny thing about medical research is they are able to decode DNA, but understanding how the body functions as a whole is hardly understood. Long before man was able to gaze down a microscope, “cause and effect” was the only way things like the remedial effects of garlic could be discovered and incorporated into traditional medicines. The testimonies of fasting are as ancient as the written word.
Could you imagine how damaging fasting would be if the body were not discriminate about the cells it utilized for fuel? Every time someone went on a diet instead of losing an overhanging belly, they were at risk of one of their organs being broken down. No, the body is brilliant at selecting unnecessary tissue for fuel during the fasting state. If not, Jesus would have died in the desert long before 40 days.
The very fact man is able to go so long without any outside source of energy and remain healthy is testimony of the body's cunning to find internal fuel without damage to the functions of the whole system. In fact the almost accidental side effect of this cunning is cleaning out years of waste and old tissue. What a body God made for us!
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