Fasting has been observed by most cultures for religious and spiritual reasons for thousands of years. However fasting has very significant health and fitness benefits ranging from improved digestion, detoxification, weight loss, improving lean muscle mass and general well-being.
The current term used for fasting is intermittent fasting that involves fasting consistently at set intervals and for a predetermined amount of time. Ranging from skipping one meal to fasting on 1 or 2 days per week. For example, one could fast on every Monday of the week or fast for shorter intervals, abstaining from eating a meal; breakfast, lunch or dinner. A 24-hour fast would involve fasting from the dinner the night before to the dinner next day. During the fast only water, tea, juice or a fruit is consumed.
It is best to begin intermittent fasting slowly. One should start just by skipping a meal and then slowly increase skipping two meals, then maybe doing the whole day fast. Usually intermittent fasting is done one to two days out of a week. Drinking of fluids during fast is necessary to avoid dehydration. During fast I suggest drinking warm water or tea but no cold drinks. Cold drinks impair the digestive fire and cause slowing down of the metabolism and impair weight loss.
According to Ayurveda, fasting improves your digestive capacity -- your digestive fire. By restricting food intake the digestive fire gets a break, which allows it to reset again. The second benefit of fasting is that it detoxifies the body. Since the digestive fire gets a break it is strong and burns off excess toxins within the system. It will not improves the digestion, it will also helps improve the metabolism which is great for losing weight and for just overall health and fitness.
