CAIRO: As Muslims, we fast for an entire month every year, abstaining from food and drink from dawn to dusk. Other faiths adopt different types of fasting ranging from total abstinence from eating and drinking for long periods to following a diet based on consuming one kind of food or drink. While experts point the to the many health benefits of fasting, there is little consensus on which form of fasting tops the list. Some experts have lauded Ramadan fasting as the most balanced of the bunch, providing that people avoid overeating after they break the fast. Dennis Paulson is the founder and director of Fasting Center International (fasting.com), which has supervised the world s largest fasting clientele over the past 35 years. The center has clients in 220 nations, from modest backgrounds to billionaires to world-famous to visionaries developing multi-billion dollar projects to benefit humanity. Enumerating the multitude of benefits credited to fasting, the website speaks of losing body fat, detoxifying, regaining energy, clearing clouded conscious, achieving mental clarity and encouraging kindness and wisdom. Reputed Greek scientists and philosophers including Plato, Socrates, Hippocrates and Pythagoras used to fast for greater physical and mental efficiency. Today the problem of over-consumption, known as Epicureanism, has been compounded by the effects of environmental pollution. Experts note that fasting, and only fasting, is the best remedy for both. A unique experiment conducted by an American lecturer has shown scientifically how prolonged fasting can help rid the body of harmful toxins. Paul Bragg, who authored "The Miracle of Fasting - which has been reprinted 47 times - said that waste elimination in the human mechanism is carried out through four main organs: the bowels, kidneys, lungs, and the skin. In order for these organs to work perfectly, the body must build a high "vital power to supply the energy necessary for cleansing the body of the poisons left behind from our food intake. Today, this power is being overburdened by man-made contaminants, mainly air-borne pollutants, pesticides and chemicals sprayed on vegetables and fruits. Fasting is an ideal way to get rid of these filthy poisons, stressed Bragg. "When we fast - stop eating - all the 'vital power' that has been used to convert food into energy and body tissue, is now used to flush poisons from the body. After a few days fasting, examine your urine to discover the amount of poison held in the body, Bragg wrote. Bragg fasts one complete 24 to 36-hour period each week, as well as doing four 10-day fasts per year where he only drinks water. When he goes on a 10-day water fast, he takes a specimen of his urine first thing every morning for simple toxin tests. But Dr Afaf Ezzat, professor of biochemistry at the National Research Center, has warned of the risk of taking up these types of fasting without medical supervision. More than 2,000 books on fasting are being sold in the US. The majority, though, are antagonistic to unsupervised practice. Ezzat noted, "Why turn to other practices when ours has been cited as the most ideal? We just need to make people more aware of the health aspect of Muslim fasting, so that they opt for it as a spiritual experience as well as valuable self-treatment. "If we follow the biological processes during fasting, she explained, "we will find that, to satisfy its [supply] of glucose, the body has to depend first on the sugars stored in the liver. Next in line are the dietary fats that exist in the food intake, then the proteins. After the proteins the body has to resort to the products of the metabolic process. Finally, it makes use of the fatty cells in the body. "Imagine all this happens when we fast. So the body is provided with glucose, but in the process it renews and activates millions of cells. Ezzat regrets that Arab nutritionists have not included fasting in their list of treatments as nutritionists around the world have. "Some, for example, in China and Japan have realized the importance of restricting their patients' diet to the consumption of seafood, Ezzat commented. "They discovered that the marine soil and seawater are rich in 64 elements which aren't produced by agricultural soil. The lack of such elements can cause many diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimer's amongst others. On the other hand, the specialist has drawn attention to the fact that to restrict the intake of food to vegetarian dishes cooked with oil, as is the custom with some types of Christian fasting, would result in the oxidization of fats that is likely to endanger the cells of the body. "Although the practice is a severe approach that elevates the soul, it can, unfortunately, trigger a number of diseases, Ezzat remarked. "This is why we advise Christian fasters to eat as much as they can of anti-oxidant items such as fresh vegetables. "Finally, we stress the need to diversify the kinds of foods we eat in order to benefit rather than damage our mechanisms, noted Ezzat.
