My Top 5 Benefits Of Fasting

By Jeremy Reeves

Although there are a lot more benefits of fasting that I'm not listing here, these are the top 5 reasons why I personally fast:

1. Easy Calorie Reduction - If I fast twice a week, I can literally go off my diet and still lose weight. Although I don't recommend you eat unhealthy just because you can, it's an awesome feeling to be able to eat a bowl of ice cream, have a few beers, or go out for a good meal at a restaurant without feeling guilty. When I was back in the days of needing to eat "perfectly" I felt guilty every single time I'd eat anything that wasn't what I was supposed to be eating.
2. Stimulates Human Growth Hormone - Human growth hormone is an incredibly powerful hormone in your body. It helps you build muscle (it's essentially a natural steroid that your body makes), burn more fat, and some studies are even showing that during times of high output of human growth hormone, the cells in your body actually slow down the aging process.
3. Higher Energy - One of the best benefits of fasting that I've noticed and personally love is that I'm always 100% full of energy. Even though I'm still young and already have a good amount of energy, I used to take afternoon naps probably at least 3-4 times per week. Since I started fasting, I literally haven't taken one and have so much energy it's ridiculous. I frequently work 60-80 hour weeks and have absolutely no problem with it (I'm getting married in September 2009 - and weddings are expensive!)
4. Better Digestion - Another benefit of fasting is that your digestion will improve almost instantly. You see when you eat 6 meals per day, your body never really gets a chance to recoup. But when you fast and your body doesn't have to worry about digesting food, it can do other important things. You know like... heal your body - something it never gets a chance to do properly when you're always full of food!
5. More Body Awareness - I'm very much into personal development so this is a benefit of fasting that you might not care about, but either way - it's pretty cool. After a few fasts you'll suddenly start to notice your body's sensations more often and be able to control them much easier than you used to. To be honest it's kind of weird how it happens. For example, do you hate the "hunger" sensation? I used to as well, but I've literally learned to embrace it. Instead of it being a negative feeling, I've turned it completely neutral and being hungry doesn't bother me whatsoever these days. Essentially what I'm saying is that fasting gives you FREEDOM over food. It takes you out of the handcuffs and lets you control the intake of food instead of the other way around. It's kind of hard to understand unless you actually go through the feeling yourself.