The way to fast

CEBU, Philippines - Religious disciplines practice fasting as a means of enhancing one’s spiritual experience. Our Moslem brothers would fast on Monday and Thursday, for six days during Shawwal (tenth month of the Islamic year), and for the entire month of Ramadan (ninth month), where the devotee would not eat anything while the sun is up, not to mention their strict observance of restriction from pork and birds of prey in their everyday diet. They follow a dietary law called Halal.

Christians, on the other hand, are more liberal and indulgent when it comes to food, but generally they also practice a form of fasting with dietary restrictions for a certain period. During Holy Week, Catholic Christians refrain from eating pork, but only on Fridays.

The Seventh Day Adventists recommend a vegetarian diet to their followers, but not in the strictest sense. Of course, those who would take the Holy Book by the letter would really refrain from eating the meat of animals with hoofs that are not completely divided and are non-herbivores, those that would crawl, seafood that has no fins and scales, birds of prey, and all forms of insects (Leviticus 11).

But one would argue that Christ’s death has changed the rules of the Bible, of which I would recommend you to read an interesting article entitled The Bible Diet over at www.biblestudy.org.

The purist of our Hindu cousins would refrain from all forms of meat, totally. A strict vegetarian (if not vegan) diet, so to speak. But for those who eat meat, they are required to refrain from beef, pork, camels, fowl, ducks, snails, and crabs.

Beyond religion, fasting is practiced for health reasons. Dr. Marlene B. Agabon, one of the few practicing doctors of Naturopathic Medicine in the country, said that before undergoing medical tests or an operation, patients are advised to fast. This is what is called “nothing by mouth” or NPO. This is intended to cleanse the digestive system from toxins so that it would be able to effectively absorb the medication that will be administered most specially anesthetics, or to avoid errors in test results.

Dr. Agabon, who is a consultant for EasyPhamax, said that fasting is a way of cleansing the body of all the toxins that we have been consuming our entire life. She said that the food we eat on a daily basis is loaded with toxins like fertilizers and pesticides applied on vegetables and fruits, chemical feeds for the meat, and preservatives, coloring, and other chemicals for processed food. Virtually, nothing that we consume these days is free of chemicals and toxins, which accumulate over the years and result into one form of sickness or the other.

She said that one of the predisposing factors for getting cancer is the toxins that we accumulate through our diet. Having survived three types of cancer, Dr. Agabon asserts that cleansing one’s digestive tract, through fasting, would help in ensuring the effectivity of the medications. She said that in all three instances, when she got the illness, she did not use conventional Western medicine, nor did she undergo chemo or radiotherapy. Rather, she was into Oriental medicine, with a mixture of herbs and plant concoctions which helped strengthen her immune system.

“On my first cancer, I got well. But the second time, I took the same supplements but instead my condition got worse. I became emotionally down and this got me constipated. Eventually mucoid plaques formed in my intestines until it developed into colon cancer,” she recalled.

“I started drinking wild wheat grass until the mucoid plaque came out. I thought I was dying and excreted my intestines, only to realize what it really was. Once out, absorption of the medicine became better and I could feel the effect of the medicine. I became better,” she said.

Dr. Agabon said that by fasting, we would be able to cleanse our body of these toxins, regulate our digestive system and colon, lose weight, strengthen our immune system and increase our energy levels.

However, fasting can be dangerous if done improperly. It could result to fainting, malnutrition, body aches, and other illnesses due to lack of proper nutrition like hypokalemia (low potassium, manifesting as temporary paralysis and general body weakness and remedied by eating lots of banana), anemia (due to lack of iron), and beriberi (lack of Vitamin B1, manifesting as weight loss, emotional disturbance, weakness and pain in the limbs).

So together with fasting, Dr. Agabon recommends that one would also take supplements that would satisfy one’s nutritional requirement and complement the regimen. Wheat grass, considered as a complete food in itself, would be excellent for this.

Dr. Agabon revealed that wheat grass has a property that will flush out the mucoid plaque covering the intestines. These mucoid plaque was formed through years of erroneous diet. Because it covers the intestines and other important organs of digestion, absorption of nutrients in the body becomes limited if not nil.

Wheat grass juice on the other hand, with its alkalizing properties, would be able to neutralize the acidity of the digestive tract and the body as a whole. It is also the richest source of Vitamins A, B complex, C, E and K. It also is an excellent source of calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, sulfur, cobalt, zinc and 17 other amino acids and more than 80 active enzymes.

So when you decide to fast as part of your religious penance and observance, make sure your body is loaded and not deprived of its much needed nutrients.