Fasting is voluntary abstention from food intake.
Naturally all living beings fast without realizing it: animals fast when they are sick, and we humans also abstain from food for many hours, for example during the night.
Fasting is a natural part of the organism's activity, whose actions are often filled and emptied cyclically, maintaining the situation full or empty for different periods of time.
Even in popular or religious cultures, fasting is present as a practice, whose purpose varies from situation to situation.
The founder of hygienism, H. Shelton, prescribed fasting as a therapeutic activity for detoxifying the body, and also the mind.
According to Shelton, fasting also made it possible to resolve situations of physical or emotional disequilibrium going back to the past and never resolved, becoming silent but not completely disappeared.
Read also The 10 laws of Shelton's vitalism >>
The main theory according to which a controlled and not excessively prolonged fasting is able to have a revitalizing and detoxifying effect derives from the fact that, putting the digestive apparatus to rest, energy resources are freed available so that the other organs eliminate what is no longer necessary, including toxins.
The autolysis that takes place for the recovery of nourishment is ultimately dependent on elements that are not useful, such as fat, for example, and not borne by the primary organs of the body, such as the brain, heart, and cells themselves.
What is first eliminated by the intelligence of the body during fasting is, therefore, what is not useful for the survival of the whole.
Fasting means refraining from solid food: water, herbal teas, centrifuged, juices to which fibers have been removed and no added sugar, or anything other than water are allowed.
Therapeutic fasting can be a few hours and intermittent, up to a few days. In order to have a significant detoxifying effect it is necessary to be in good health anyway, not to have serious pathologies in place, especially against the kidneys, liver, intestines, stomach, and approaching fasting gradually, followed by an experienced and quality therapist, to continue it totally for at least 3 days.
The first rash of fasting can lead to "healing crisis": the body is activated to eliminate toxins quickly, therefore it is possible to develop headaches, canker sores, insomnia, cutaneous manifestations, bad smell of skin and breath, whitish patina on the tongue, secretions of the excretory organs, migratory pains, and even mild fever.
It can also arise, above all, for fasting of more than one day, constipation: for this reason it is important to use intestinal washes (enteroclisma) based on water only once a day. The intestine does not stop functioning, and everything that is not evacuated is reabsorbed with overloading of secondary excretory organs.
The body, if placed in facilitating conditions, is able to purify itself and restore its lost balance due to an unbalanced diet to an incorrect lifestyle.
During fasting you may feel tired : it is therefore important to rest. But it is not necessary, if the energies allow it, to avoid any activity: fasting is not a state of illness, on the contrary. Often, after the first period of detoxification, the body regains a new and greater vitality, and the mind is more lucid.
Fasting is within the reach of all those who may be intrigued by it, for those with some minor problems like those who are well. It is a very valid tool of self-knowledge, which allows us to investigate the mechanisms of the body, and also those of the mind towards food.
It is essential, however, to have common sense and respect the signals of one's own body, to be advised and followed by those who know fasting. In case of illness it is absolutely necessary to ask your doctor for advice, and never act with your own head just to follow a trend or to lose weight: fasting cannot replace a balanced diet to lose weight ; indeed, it is counterproductive if the goal is only to lose weight.
