Posted by For centuries, fasting is one of the rituals undertaken by some people to meet the demands of religion or tradition. For Muslims, fasting is a worship that must be lived every day during the month of Ramadan. In order for fasting to go smoothly, there are some health facts to watch out for.
Besides the fasting month of Ramadan for Muslims, you can do intermittent fasting anytime for all the health benefits that fasting can provide. Since there are many various ways to fast intermittently, you can find out which one is most suitable at www.beautyhealthage.com/intermittent-fasting so that you can begin your fasting adventure by knowing the pros and cons of it and how to fast healthily. Intermittent fasting is perhaps the most popular form of fasting in recent years because it simply works.
If not done with a healthy, fasting can weaken the body and endanger health. Conversely, a healthy fast can be beneficial both psychologically and physically. What are the benefits?
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Body Changes When Fasting
When fasting, the body changes according to the length of fasting. In fact, the body takes eight hours to absorb the nutrients from the last meal. That is, the body is able to fast when given intake first. Thus, it is important to eat a nutritious meal before undergoing fasting from rising to sunset.
Under normal conditions, the main energy source in the body is the sugar stored in the liver and muscles. During fasting, these sugar deposits are used to produce the energy that the body needs. Once sugar is used, fat becomes the next energy source and this can reduce weight.
If these energy sources are not enough, the body will burn muscle protein to produce energy. This last phase is called the phase of hunger. However, this only happens if someone fasts for days without breaking.
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Various Fasting Benefits
Psychically, fasting can cope with stress and depression for some people because they learn to control themselves. In addition, after a few days of fasting the body will experience an increase in endorphins in the blood that gives a healthy feeling mentally.
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Help improve the medical condition
Fasting, accompanied by a healthy diet before and after, can help improve the condition of arthritis, colitis, and skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis.
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Healthy heart
A study showed that those who fasted once a month had a 58 percent lower risk of heart disease, than those who did not undergo fasting. In addition, there are also several studies that suggest that fasting can reduce insulin resistance that triggers diabetes. However, more comprehensive research needs to be done. Remember that to maintain heart health, other factors such as diet and regular exercise play a big role.
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Reduce the risk of cancer.
During fasting, the rate of cell division in the body will decrease as the growth factor decreases due to the limited intake. Although still needs to be investigated further proves that this can reduce the risk of cancer. However, further research is needed to determine whether these conditions apply to humans.
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Maintain weight
Burning fat into energy helps reduce weight and cholesterol levels. Weight loss will have a good effect on controlling diabetes and blood pressure. On the other hand, weight will indeed go down if you do not eat and do not get the caloric intake during fasting. However, it can go back up as soon as you break your fast. This is because when fasting you lose fluids, not substantial weight. Moreover, when breaking your fast just to vent the appetite.
Therefore, it is important to keep control of your meal when you are not fasting. You should eat foods that contain enough energy such as fiber, protein, carbohydrates and fat in a balanced amount. A healthy and balanced diet, as well as adequate fluid intake will help maintain your weight.
Conditions to Look Out for
But besides being useful, fasting can be dangerous when you do it without eating sahur or when body condition is not healthy. Here are some conditions that are at risk for fasting:
- Have low blood pressure
- Lack of blood or anemia
- Diabetes
- Eating disorders
- Have kidney or liver problems
- Having impaired immune system function
- Under treatment such as chemotherapy
- Pregnant women
- Breastfeeding mothers
- Have experienced heart rhythm disorders.
Understanding the Fasting Diet
In addition to the benefits of fasting during Ramadan, you can also run Monday fasting Thursday to get a healthy body. For you who want to lose weight, can to run fast Monday thusday. Because, this fast has the same pattern with the fasting diet (intermittent fasting).