In 2016, Japanese Yoshinori Ohsumi received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on fasting. For 27 years, he experimented on laboratory rats, chimpanzees, and then experimented on himself to solve this puzzle.
What does this biologist say? Deprived of food, the body metamorphoses. It penetrates into other material and mental dimensions. It reactivates old human mechanisms. After a few hours of deprivation, our body looks for nourishment, but it doesn’t get anything from outside, no calories, no carbohydrates or lipids, it will find it inside us. It will draw on our reserves. It finds essential nutrients in dead cells, old or cancerous cells, fat that accumulates under the skin and around organs like kidneys and muscles, it recycles microbes, diseased tissue and this is what nourishes us when we fast. . A true inner adventure.
The body practices autophagy, meaning it eats itself, eats itself, eats itself, and this is natural. This is a great cleansing that Nobel calls “recycling” of the cell. This means that every cell in the lungs, heart, liver, intestines, kidneys, etc. will be checked for health and if there is any abnormality it will be eaten away and replaced with a new one. Humans self-restore during food restriction.
What is medically involved in this wonderful process? Regulation of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, disappearance of arthritis including inflammation of the joints, strengthening of the immune system, treatment of digestive diseases, improvement of pathology psychological (psychosis, depression, neurosis, etc.) including more than 100 diseases. ), cleansing the skin… the list is far from complete.
Fasting stimulates healing instincts. Now well documented, fasting is the subject of extensive clinical experimentation in laboratories. The most famous experiment was able to show that cancer decreased or even disappeared in those who abstained from the diet. Obviously, these are treatments under the supervision of a physician. In Germany, California, Russia, and other countries, fasting has become a Social Security-reimbursed therapy.
Man has always dreamed of the fountain of youth. It’s one of humanity’s oldest myths: getting younger. From Gilgamesh to Dorian Gray, from Hercules to Voldemort, including Peter Pan or Jack Sparrow, these characters seek to obtain this coveted treasure among all.
Hippocrates fasted most of the year. The same goes for Socrates and Plato, who told their disciples to diligently study dietary restrictions. In all cultures, traditions of food deprivation have been observed. In the modern age, we live in abundance and there is no reason to deprive ourselves of food. However, the wisdom of the ancients introduced fasting in three monotheistic religions. In Judaism, fasting means complete abstinence from food and drink, including water, as in Islam. During the two major fasts, namely Yom Kippur and Tisha B’av, carnal pleasures, taking medicine or brushing your teeth are prohibited. In Christianity, fasting is called Lent, and lasts for 40 days (although it is no longer practiced by societies and seems to be reserved for monks and priests). Only evening meal is authorized. In addition to deprivation of food, other constraints must be respected: sexual abstinence and the prohibition of marriage and pleasure.
At home, we have Ramadan, 30 days, and it is a blessing whose effects we do not take full advantage of. Muslims always practice fasting, and the most reasonable of them abstain from eating in the evening, outings, and at dinner. Because in order to trigger autophagy, as well as the process of cleansing and rejuvenating diseased cells, the body must be deprived of food. If one consumes too much food then Ramadan remains an empty shell.
Many scientists now affirm that fasting, if practiced regularly, makes it possible to avoid the chronic diseases of old age, and – oh miracle – allows humans to live up to 120 years, a natural age that we cannot reach. We weaken by overeating, preventing the body from regenerating itself.
Our Muslim culture has given a treasure of humanity. To reverse the aging process of human cells, it is necessary to be frugal. Eating very little. To control our body. Abstinence from fasting removes most of the complaints of man.
Happy Ramadan…
