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Fasting is found in many major religions throughout the world and is done for various purposes, whether it is to receive enlightenment, show earnestness of purpose, seek divine intervention, mourn the loss of a loved one or weep over defeat. No matter what the reason for the fast is, it shows that there is belief in a higher power and the need to seek help and petition one that is more powerful than us. The Western world has however taken fasting to a new level; as a quick way to cleanse one’s system from all the rubbish that is fed into the human machinery, to restore a healthy weight and enhance mental strength and endurance. The fast has now become atheistic with no divine power to help but rather the empowering and purification of self.

For whatever reasons we fast, the question remains. Is fasting useful? And as Christians, through the accounts of patriarchs and prophets and saints that have gone before us, yes fasting is indeed useful and important and shows the Father that we are serious about our petition and are willing to even give up our basic survival to petition His help to do His will. Science has now proven that fasting is indeed helpful on many levels but particularly so for the development and health of the human brain. The very organ that houses the mind is the only place through which God communicates with us and has His seat in our being.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University in America have found that fasting for a period of at least 5 to 6 hours between meals is beneficial for the brain. This type of fasting is called intermittent fasting and basically means that we should strictly have either 2 or 3 meals a day with “no” snacks (whether the snacks are healthy or not) in between our meals. The researchers found that as a person fasts for periods of up to 5 hours or more, the body has to shift to burning fat stores to provide energy for the brain. It is this energy (in the form of ketone bodies) produced from the burning of fat that actually increases the number of connections between individual brain cells and also increases the number of powerhouses (mitochondria) with each brain cell. In other words the brain cells are well-powered, healthy and well-connected if there is a period of fasting. They have found that this process that occurs as a result of fasting is essential in preventing degenerative diseases of the brain such as Parkinson’s Disease (loss of control of fine movements of the body, disturbed sleep and slowed thinking and depression among others) and Alzheimer’s Disease (deterioration in thinking, understanding, learning, remembering and in behavior). These conditions are becoming more prevalent in people over the age of 60, not just overseas but here at home as well.

One may say that we do seldom eat but 3 meals a day. But truth of the matter is that we’ve caught onto the phenomenon that afflicts many modern societies today. This phenomenon is called “grazing”. In other words, we eat like cows! What this basically means is that we eat every 2 to 3 hours, snacking in between our main meals and do not have any strict timing for our meals, eating whenever food is offered to us or available to us. It is this indiscriminate eating (and consumption of drinks laden with sugar) that deprives us of the benefits of fasting. It is interesting that sister Ellen White wrote more than a hundred and fifty years ago that we should ideally have 2 meals a day. Moreover, she warned that God would not reveal spiritual things to those who ate at “all times of the day”.

What have we become today? Are we not a people who eat at “all times of the day”?! This is why overcoming food and appetite is the first and greatest temptation we need to overcome before we can overcome anything else. It was for appetite that the woman justified defying the commandments of God. And it is also for appetite today, defending the need for our survival as our reason for breaking God’s commandments today. And Jesus Christ offered the only real solution, that we should desire to do the will of God more than the desire of our belly and more than our need to survive! As Job said, I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12). Let us all reach that standard!