Why Fasting is Needed - Part One
Your digestive system needs a rest
First we need to understand that our cells need to be fed and cleaned.
In particular we need to examine how our cells are fed and what are the major hindrances to them not getting fed.
Cells are fed by nutrient rich blood, which receives its nutrients almost exclusively from the food we eat.
How does the food and drink we put into our mouth get into our blood?
Through our digestive system!
There are two kinds of foods in the world: foods that heal and food that harm, but eating all the super healing foods in the world will make no difference to the health of our cells if our digestive system is not functioning. This is why we must examine our digestive system.
Doctors who have successfully found the root cause of illness in their patients have discovered that 80% of their patients suffered from digestive problems even though the patient never complained of these problems.
Every health problem, in one way or another, in varying degrees, is a result of a nutritional deficiency, a lack of nutrients in the blood which is often the result of poor digestion. Cells are not being fed, blood quality is not what it should be, and the blood is not bringing life to the flesh.
Consider some common symptoms associated with digestive problems.
Constipation
Irregular and incomplete bowel movements (Many sources suggest 2-3 bowel movements a day is normal; yet the average American has only 2-3 bowel movements a week, creating a toxic waste dump in your body that affects the tissues and cells.)
Irritable bowel syndrome
Spastic colon
Colitis
Crohn's disease
Diverticulitis
Diarrhea
Polyps in the colon (a result of accumulation of fecal matter which can mutate into malignant cancer tumors)
Gas
Cramps
Colic
Indigestion
Acid reflux
Nausea
Stomach aches
Heartburn
Halitosis, etc.
If any of these are part of your life, your digestive system is not functioning properly and needs to be dealt with immediately.
How do we get the digestive system to work properly again?
The first step is to understand (in simple terms) what is a normal digestion process.
Put simply, our digestive systems produce enzymes, hydrochloric acid, bile, and pancreatic fluid. Our digestive glands – the liver, pancreas, buccal (mouth) glands, stomach, and small intestine produce digestive fluids. In order for the digestive system to work properly, all the glands need to produce digestive fluids in the right amounts and in the proper strength or potency.
Poor digestion occurs when the digestive glands are overworked or become stressed out.
What happens when the digestive glands become overworked?
Three physical reactions:
Not enough digestive fluids are produced to mix thoroughly with the food. When the glands are overworked, the proper volume of fluid is not present. Therefore, digestion is poor.
The strength of the digestive fluid or potency is poor. Therefore digestion becomes poor. This is similar to a particular cleaning agent that is diluted with water. It just does not do a good job of cleaning anymore. Matthew 5:13 can be used as an interesting analogy, the salt has become tasteless.
Stomach muscular function becomes weak or sluggish and therefore the food is not mixed well. In the first three hours of digestion the stomach relaxes and contracts every 15-20 seconds to mix the digestive fluids with the food. If the muscles are weak, poor mixing occurs and as a result poor digestion.
In summary, when the digestive glands are overworked, the amount and potency of digestive fluids are affected and muscular function is weakened, bringing poor digestion.
What causes the digestive glands to become stressed out?
There are several reasons why the digestive system becomes overworked.
Lack of moderate exercise. A lack of moderate exercise allows the stomach musculature to weaken over time, affecting overall digestion. We are going to talk about this in more detail in the future.
Oral medications. Over time, medications stress out the digestive glands. These medications are designed to be sent to the proper tissues in the body through the digestive system, which distributes them through the vascular system. As they pass through the digestive system, these medications leave residues in the stomach fluids and have a negative affect on the overall digestive process. This results in the weakening of the potency of the digestive fluid and causes an overall incompatibility with the enzymes, hydrochloric acid, bile, pancreatic fluid, and the good bacteria that breaks down the food particles.
Overeating. Americans eat 2-3 times more food than people in most countries. Even in industrialized Europe, the people overall are at their average weight. If you have traveled to other countries, you have observed the remarkable difference. Too much food in the stomach makes the digestive glands work longer and harder to produce enough fluid to properly mix with the food. Constantly overeating over time overburdens and overworks the digestive glands so that the fluids produced are very weak in potency and volume.
Eating too often. Not only do we overeat, but we eat too often. The average American eats every 2-3 hours, which means the digestive glands are constantly working to digest the food. And most Americans never give those glands a rest except at night. Some even have the regular "midnight snack" eliminating all chances of rest for the digestive system. The normal eating pattern is for one to have a satisfying meal and not be hungry for about 5-6 hours. This is what God has designed to give the digestive system a rest. In normal digestive function, when a sufficiently sized meal is eaten, the stomach works on the food for about 3 hours and then passes it to the small intestine. This gives a few hours for the stomach digestive gland to rest before the next meal arrives. When the glands do not get the rest they need, over time they become overworked, stressed out, and they will start to fail. This is also true for the other glands in the mouth and small intestine. Some have suggested that we should eat smaller meals every 2 hours. One reason given is to prevent a drop in blood sugar. This is true for those who are hypoglycemic or diabetic, but in reality being hypoglycemic or diabetic is often a result of having an overworked digestive system. Eating frequent small meals may correct an overeating problem, but will do nothing to help an overworked digestive system, which in turn produces a multitude of other problems. It is best to eat a normal, sufficient amount of food 3 times a day, allowing the digestive system to rest in between meals.
Poor quality food. Processed foods became normal in the 1950’s. Habitually eating these foods, which is the vast majority of foods sold in markets, will kill any digestive system over time. In times past, the quality of food was rarely an issue. For the first time in human history we have had to make a choice in the quality of food – whether it is processed or wholesome and natural. By natural or unprocessed I mean food that is without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, artificial fertilizers, flavoring agents, preservatives, coloring agents, emulsifiers, texturizers, etc. These chemicals cannot be digested. But, most importantly, the digestive glands work very hard and long to attempt to break these chemicals down, which, in the end, cannot be done. But they work and work. What happens? The digestive glands become overworked, stressed out, fatigued, and eventually over time they give out and cannot produce digestive fluids in volume and potency even when good, natural food is provided. We will deal with food quality in more detail later. We must understand that even though you may not sense any digestive system problems (or you have gotten used to your problems and have accepted them as normal), that poor quality food, processed food, leads directly to a stressed out digestive system.
So how does this all work together?
Our poor health habits (lack of moderate exercise, ingesting oral medications, overeating, eating too often, and eating processed foods) lead to
digestive glands becoming overworked and stressed out and fluids that do not have the proper volume and potency, which leads to
foods not broken down and digested properly, which leads to
poor absorption of nutrients into the blood stream, which leads to
lack of nutrition to our cells and tissues, which leads to
a multitude of health problems, illnesses, and diseases; and
the brain now says, eat, eat, eat and then the cravings start and we overeat, we eat too often, and we eat processed foods because that is what we do...
and the cycle continues...
How do we break this cycle?
Rest! Rest! Rest!
Aka - Fast!
Next: Principle #2: Healthy Blood Through Fasting: Why Fasting is Needed - Part Two
Return To: Biblical Health Study