Follow the prescription. That’s how to do it.
God has prescribed fasting for us, and for those before us. For our own good.
So what’s good about fasting, aside from the great feeling you get when you made it to the end of the day?
Plenty. There are all kinds of good changes that are happening inside your body that you might not be aware of.
Here we list those hidden, behind-the-scenes benefits that take place when you fast.
You’ve got guts
Did you know that your digestive system works on what you eat up to 40 hours after you’ve had a meal?
That being said, it only takes between 6-8 hours for your food to pass through your stomach. So when you do not eat for a while, your digestive system takes a break.
The digestive system can end up taking energy that the body needs to heal and maintain the rest of the body.
So giving it a rest means more energy for the other good things your body needs to do to keep you healthy.
Mind
How are you feeling? When you fast, the hormones that make you feel excited and happy are at higher levels in your bloodstream. So fasting improves your mood!
Your mind becomes sharper because digesting your food is not robbing your body from energy. The physical act of eating and drinking also distracts the mind.
Studies have shown that your ability to think clearly is a side effect of fasting. Your memory even improves.
While fasting, we experience just a taste of what it must be like for someone who is often hungry, and not by choice. This thought makes us more sympathetic towards the poorest of the world.
Fasting is the only way we can really understand hunger.
Heart
When I first started fasting, I was worried because I tended to have low blood sugar. I was worried that I might faint while fasting.
I was advised to at least give it a try. So I did.
What amazed me is that I did not faint, and was not weak. And at the end of the month, I realized that I had no more problems with my blood sugar!
Scientists have noted that fasting helps stabilize blood sugar. Not only that, but fasting helps your heart stay healthy by attacking cholesterol.
Because your body uses up the energy taken from your food, it then goes after the fat stores in your body.
Cholesterol passes into your bloodstream and instead of clinging to your arteries and veins, it is eliminated by your body.
Fat
When the food that your body uses for fuel is used up, then the body starts using your fat stores as fuel. This happens after the 12-hour mark.
It might seem like a no-brainer that you would lose weight fasting. But it’s a good kind of weight loss that is not harsh.
It’s possible to lose a half a pound of body fat for each day that you are able to fast! The weight loss is steady and slow, but this is one of the more noticeable benefits of fasting.
Your Skin
If you struggle with acne or skin problems, then you may have already noticed that your skin is clearer!
This comes from the obvious: whatever you were eating that was giving you blemishes has been avoided, so your skin has a nice, healthy glow.
Processes in your body that react to fasting allow the body to regenerate cells, and discard old cells.
The skin being the largest organ in the body, it shows signs when your body is in poor health. So during Ramadan, your skin improves because the rest of your body is in such good health.
May God allow us to experience the blessings of fasting Ramadan in our bodies and our health.