Fasting: The act of not eating for an extended period of time.

Up until quite recently, the modernized view of intentionally abstaining from the recommended “three meals a day” was considered a death sentence. The counterintuitive nutritional advice of eating 3-6 meals a day to “increase your metabolism” and accelerate fat loss reinforced this idea even further. Meanwhile, many cultures around the world traditionally or currently still do practice some form of intentional fasting as a physical, mental, and spiritual health practice. A practice that has suddenly become extremely popular as of late. 

So, why are we so adverse to abstaining from a few meals? Conversely, why do so many cultures insist on integrating fasting periods when there are no obvious limitations to resources anymore?  

In the following sections we look at what fasting is, if it is actually useful, how to integrate fasting into our daily routines, and what happens inside our bodies when we deprive them of their daily muffins and biscuits.