Fasting ~ The Greek God of Healing (Asclepius)
The word fasting means to abstain from food. History informs us it was used therapeutically as far back as the 5th century BCE (2,400 years ago) by Greek physician Hippocrates. Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, believed fasting enabled the body to heal itself. He recommended abstinence from food or drink for patients who exhibited specific symptoms of illness or disease with tremendous healing success. Another great healer in the Western tradition, Paracelsus, wrote 500 years ago that fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within. The Indian medical system called Ayurvedic medicine has advocated fasting as a major treatment for thousands of years. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras also praised its virtues. Indeed, throughout the centuries, many fasting devotees have claimed it brings physical and spiritual rejuvenation.
“Fasting is the first principle of medicine; fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself.”
—Rumi
There are essentially two forms of fasting:
- Forced fasting—when fasting is forced upon us due to sickness. The body instinctively abstains from food to redirect energy used for digestion to the immune, lymphatic and endocrine systems to cleanse and rejuvenate the body.
- Conscious fasting—making a conscious choice to abstain from food to cleanse and rejuvenate your body. This form of fasting improves your character by building self-discipline and self-confidence. These are two essential qualities to develop on the road to good health.
Both forced and conscious fasting are forms of energy management for your body, and their final objectives are identical, to heal the body. A massive eighty percent of your body's total energy expenditure is used for digestion. Fasting allows your body to take a break from using all of this energy for extensive digestive and metabolic processing. Instead, your body utilizes this saved energy to cleanse and restore itself.
The below Detoxification Pyramid is a straightforward, comprehensive, and practical summary of the different levels of detoxification used to detoxify and combat disease. It is a tool designed to assist you in achieving high levels of healing. These levels are based on the metabolic (digestive) energy the body uses to break down and digest the food at each level. The higher you go up the pyramid, the more intense and effective your detox experience will be because as your body’s metabolic energy requirements lower, the more energy your body can utilize for detoxifying and rejuvenating itself.
Your body has the phenomenal ability to heal itself, and “energy” is at the core of this healing. “Plant-Based Whole Raw Foods are the healthiest foods on the planet for humans.” Still, different raw foods cleanse you differently than others, and various juices also cleanse you differently than water. To maximize the body’s self-healing power, we must ensure the nutrition we ingest is as easy to digest as possible to not rob the body of its vital life-force energy. The more one conserves their digestive energy, the more energy the body will have to heal, repair, and regenerate itself.
Contact me (Jay) today to learn more about the profound healing and health-promoting benefits of fasting or click on the bookings button below to schedule your 1-on-1 private consultation. Alternatively please check out my online detoxification programs which you will find under the PROGRAMS section of the jayeyears.com menu bar.
jay.eyears@gmail.com
