User:Dr.A.B.Shanmugam/sandbox

== Fasting Therapy ==

INTRODUCTION

Fasting is an art and science of voluntary abstinence of taking food for a certain period of time. Fasting not only influences the physical body but also affects the emotional and psychological aspects of our being. The true meaning of fast is an all-round well being of a person.

Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy. It is nature’s ancient, universal "remedy" for many problems. The practice of fasting is one of the most ancient customs. It’s followed in almost every religion. The Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and many others have their periods of strict fasting.

For many philosophers, scientists, and physicians, fasting was an essential part of life, health, and the healing process needed to recreate health where there was sickness. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, and Hippocrates all used and believed in fasting therapy and many other great authorities on medicine prescribed it and many noted that modern physicians also have successfully employed this system of healing in the treatment of numerous diseases. Most spiritual masters also recommend fasting as a useful tool. In a booklet from the 1947 lecture entitled Healing by God’s Unlimited Power, Paramahansa Yogananda suggested that fasting is a way to increase our natural resistance to disease, stating that "Fasting is a natural method of healing. When animals or savages are sick, they fast." He continued, "Most diseases can be cured by judicious fasting. Unless one has a weak heart, regular short fasts have been recommended by the yogis as an excellent health measure." Throughout the centuries, many doctors have treated a variety of patients and maladies with fasting, acknowledging that ignorance may be our greatest disease. Knowledge, not necessarily from books, but our inherent and experienced knowing of how to live according to the natural laws and spiritual truth, leads to the sacred wisdom of life and subsequent good health. Fasting is highly beneficial in maintaining a well balanced and clean body. Fasting not only ensures better physiological health, but rejuvenates our mental health as well. It is also proved to treat various emotional disorders. Other than providing resistance and immune strength, fasting keeps away from all the common risks associated with being overweight. Fasting is known to be helpful in getting rid of large number of physical ailments like improvement of the health of digestive system, liver diseases, inflammation of the colon, indigestion, obesity, asthma, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, etc. Other than rapid weight loss, fasting stimulates your body’s capability of detoxification or internal cleansing by eliminating fat reserves and toxins accumulating in your body. It also helps in controlling allergic reactions, abnormal fluid accumulation in body. Detoxification helps in eliminating toxic accumulation in various internal organs like colon, kidneys, liver, lymph nodes, lungs and also the skin. Fasting also promotes fast healing by your body. Fasting is also highly beneficial in overcoming addictions and anti-aging symptoms. Though at the beginning stage of fasting, the person may experience extreme hunger pangs; our body will easily restore to the normal condition and will be satisfied with less food afterwards. Fasting by people with high blood pressure and those who are prone to cardiovascular diseases are highly beneficial in improving their health. Thus, Fasting is the best gateway to a healthy and clean life.

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Therapeutic Fasting ==''' == "Therapeutic" is derived from the Greek language and means "to attend," "to minister," "to tend the sick." It does not necessarily mean to employ a range of treatments called therapies. So our preoccupation with fasting relates to the application of fasting as a health measure. When the body is provided with the requirements of health, including appropriate diet, environment, activity and psychology, optimum health can be maintained. If these requirements are not adequately provided, health will be compromised. Often, the best means of facilitating the restoration of health is therapeutic fasting. It allows the body to create a unique physiological healing response that is unparalleled. There are no substitutes. When therapeutic fasting is indicated, nothing else can be considered “just as good.”

'''== TYPES OF THERAPEUTICAL FASTING. ==''' Duration of fast depends upon the age of the patient, the nature of the disease and the amount and the type of drugs previously used. The duration is important, because long periods of fasting can be dangerous if undertaken without professional guidance. It is therefore advisable to undertake a series of short fasts of two to three days and gradually increase the duration of each succeeding fast by a day or so.

1)	Short term fasting:
Implemented for duration of 3 days to 7 days. It’s given to person who is new to fasting. It can be given to patient above age of 50 years and also for people lacking self confidence. It’s given in condition involving multi systemic disorder and acute common illness.

2)	Long term fasting:
Involves duration of more than 7 days. It needs months but should not be exceed more than 40days. It should be decided by regular monitoring of individual. It’s given in chronic diseases, grade 1 and 2 obesity. Specific acute immune disorder and etc…..

3)	Intermittent fasting:
Here fasting for 2-3 days and diet program for 1 to2 days. Its systematically programmed schedule. This is done according to the capacity of person, type of disease; he is suffering from the intent of therapeutic benefit achieved. Method of therapeutic fasting Therapeutic fasting method includes full abstention from taking food and a complex of cleaning and some of the treatments carried out simultaneously (enemas, baths, and relaxation) and followed by the special re-feeding nutritional program after breaking the fasting.

There are four basic periods of fasting therapy:
•	Preparation period, •	Fasting period, •	Breaking fasting , •	Re-feeding period.

== Indication for Therapeutic Fasting ==

The most clear cut indication for therapeutic fasting is the lack of appetite that characterizes acute disease. When the body generates a healing crisis in acute disease, it is generally best to eliminate the intake of food until the crisis has resolved and hunger returns. That might mean skipping a meal…or two. It might mean skipping many meals. Fasting is extremely effective in helping the body to quickly resolve the problems that create the need for the symptoms that we know as acute disease. These symptoms include things like fever, inflammation, pain, etc. It is in acute disease that we see the most dramatic results from short term fasting. Fasting is also effectively utilized in chronic disease. Chronic disease often has its origin in acute diseases that never resolved or were suppressed. Fasting allows the body an opportunity to generate an acute response in a chronic condition. It is in the fasting state that the body is given the opportunity to purify its tissues, to eliminate undesirable tissue accumulations, growth, etc. It also allows the body an opportunity to let stressed and abused tissues heal. The scientific and medical literature contains literally hundreds of papers dealing with the therapeutic use of fasting. It has been extensively used in the treatment of a variety of conditions, including obesity, diabetes, epilepsy, atherosclerotic vascular disease, congestive heart failure, cancer, autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, and as a desensitization tool in the treatment of hypersensitivity and allergies. Fasting is also used for rejuvenation. It provides an opportunity for the organism to “clean house,” physically and mentally; for accumulated debris to be eliminated; and to allow for the introspection that is so often lacking in the rush of modern day life.

Fasting advised for (Indications):-
: 	Asthma : 	Arthritis : 	Acute diseases : 	Indigestion : 	Constipation : 	Psoriasis : 	Skin ailments : 	Hormonal dysfunctions : 	Metabolic disorders :	Allergies and etc.............,

Contraindications
There are individuals who are not good candidates for therapeutic fasting. But there are few conditions per se that contraindicate its appropriate use. The greatest contraindication to fasting is fear. A lack of understanding of the fasting process can present insurmountable problems. Extreme weakness in various diseases associated with muscular wasting may also contraindicate fasting. There are numerous medications that can complicate the fasting process. Inadequate nutrient reserves would be another potential contraindication to fasting. Certain types of cancer and severe kidney disease may also make an individual a poor fasting candidate.

Contraindications for Fasting Therapy:-
1.	Pregnancy and lactation women Due to increased demand for nutrients. They need extra fluid and care.

2.	Fear of fasting 3.	Tuberculosis Already they will be malnourished 4.	Diabetes mellitus Seeing the blood sugar they can go for short intermittent fasting 5.	Extremely weak 6.	Degenerative disorders 7.	Children’s and old age peoples.(Especially long fasting) 8.	Nutritional deficiency disorder Night blind, rickets, osteomalacia, scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, 9.	PEM (protein energy malnutrition) 10.	Cardiac disorder 11.	Those under medications 12.	Advanced malignant conditions 13.	Psychological disorder 14.	Advanced liver and kidney disorder 15.	Post-operative cases 16.	Clear indications of surgery 17.	Peptic ulcers 18.	Fear of fasting 19.	Thyrotoxicosis Increased BMR Increased appetite Wight loss Nervousness Emotional stability 20.	Hyperadrenalism. (Hyperadrenalism) 21.	Hereditary disorder 22.	Genetic disorders

The Process and Benefits of Fasting:
Although the process of fasting may generate various results, depending on the individual condition of the faster, there are clearly a number of common metabolic changes and experiences. First, fasting is a catalyst for change and an essential part of transformational medicine. It promotes relaxation and energization of the body, mind and emotions, and supports a greater spiritual awareness. Many fasters feel a letting go of past actions and experiences and develop a positive attitude toward the present. Having energy to get things done and clean up old areas, both personal and environmental, without the usual procrastination is also a common experience. Fasting clearly improves motivation and creative energy; it also enhances health and vitality and lets many of the body systems rest.

In other words, fasting is a multidimensional experience. Physiologically, refraining from eating minimizes the work done by the digestive organs, including the stomach, intestines, pancreas, gallbladder, and liver. Most important here is that our liver, our body’s large production and metabolic factory, can spend more time during fasting cleaning up and creating its many new substances for our use. Breakdown of stored or circulating chemicals is the basic process of detoxification. The blood and lymph also have the opportunity to be cleaned of toxins as all the eliminative functions are enhanced with fasting. Each cell has the opportunity to catch up on its work; with fewer new demands, it can repair itself and dump its waste for the garbage pickup. Most fasters also experience a new vibrancy of their skin and clarity of mind and body.

Initially, the reduction of calories allows the liver to convert glycogen stores to glucose and energy. Body fat can be used for energy (ATP) but it cannot generate or reform glucose; although many cells can metabolize fatty acids for energy, the brain and central nervous system need direct glucose. Proteins can be broken down into amino acids; of these, alanine and serine can be used to produce glucose. With fasting, some protein breakdown occurs, less if calories are provided by juices. When there is no stored glycogen left, our body will convert protein to amino acids and to energy. Fatty acids can also be a fair source of energy, usually after being converted to ketones. With total fasting, ketosis occurs as an adaptation by the body to prevent protein loss by burning fats. Still, protein and fats can be used to provide energy for brain cell function. With juice fasting, there is less ketosis, and the simple carbohydrates in the juices are easily used for energy and cellular function. The high-protein diets and fasts do burn fat and generate ketosis and weight loss, but they also add more toxin build up in the body from the foods or powders used. Also, they do not rest and cleanse the digestive tract and other organs as well.

Fasting increases the process of elimination and the release of toxins from the colon, kidneys and bladder, lungs and sinuses and skin. This process can generate discharge such as mucus from the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, sinuses, or in the urine. This is helpful to clear out the problems that have arisen from overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. Much of aging and disease, I believe, results from "biochemical suffocation," where our cells do not get enough oxygen and nutrients or cannot adequately eliminate their wastes. Fasting helps us decrease this suffocation by allowing the cells to eliminate and clear the old products.

This physiological rest and concentration on clean-up can also generate a number of toxicity symptoms. Hunger is usually present for two or three days and then departs, leaving many people with a surprising feeling of deep abdominal peace; yet, others may feel really hungry. It is good to ask ourselves, "What are we hungry for?" Fasting is an excellent time to work on our psychological connections to consumption.

Some Benefits of Fasting == Bold text

•	Purification •	Rejuvenation •	Revitalization •	Rest for digestive organs •	Clearer skin •	Anti-aging effects •	Improved senses—vision, Hearing, taste •	Reduction of allergies •	Weight loss •	Drug detoxification •	Better resistance to disease •	Spiritual awareness •	More energy •	Better sleep •	More relaxation •	Better attitude •	More clarity, mentally and emotionally •	Inspiration •	Creativity •	New ideas •	Clearer planning •	Change of habits •	Diet changes •	Right use of will