for those who didnt fast please remember there are alot of benefit if you fast as required in Islam. Maybe this story from the net can enlight us with the fasting benefits:-
In the spring of 1957 I was managing the airport in Point Barrow, Alaska, the main supply site and a scene of heavy air traffic during the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line radar stations along Alaska’s northern coast. Working 50 to 60 hours a week, I hadn’t taken a day off for nearly a year and was scraping the bottom of the energy barrel. Overweight, irritable, tired all the time and feeling much older than my 34 years, I decided that a vacation was a necessity. Not just any vacation, however. I went to a health resort near Escondido, California, and fasted for two weeks under the direction of a physician. I drank as much water as needed but ate nothing at all for 14 days.
I
Before this I had tried a few short fasts of three or four days on my own but had never gone longer than that with only water. James McEachen had supervised many fasts and understood what to look for. He told me to take no exercise but simply to rest and sunbathe during the day and to drink water whenever I was thirsty. About the fifth day without food I developed a sore throat, my back began to ache and my teeth hurt. Dr. McEachen explained that this was a healing crisis: my body was cleansing itself of toxic substances. About the tenth day these symptoms cleared up.
With McEachen’s guidance I broke the fast on the 14th day. This was a crucial point. A fast has to be ended properly and carefully or there can be painful and dangerous complications. I was given small amounts of orange juice every three hours for two days and then allowed to eat whole fruit for another two days. After this I was given more substantial food on a regular meal time schedule. I stayed there for a week after I resumed eating and then returned to my job in Point Barrow feeling 1,000 per cent better than when I left.
I experienced a number of specific benefits from the two weeks without food. My energy was greater than it had been since I was 20. I fell asleep immediately at night, slept soundly and awoke refreshed and alert. The job of managing the Point Barrow airport was hectic at times, but after the fast it was easy to remain calm and unflustered no matter how much pressure the work generated. I lost 25 pounds during the two weeks without food, which put me a little below my best weight, but I gradually regained the needed pounds. The benefits from the fast far outweighed what one would expect to experience from taking a three-week vacation.
I have fasted many times since the stay in Escondido in 1957, for periods of a few days up to 40. In every instance the fasts have provided such benefits as increased energy, calmness, improved concentration and a feeling of well-being. In the past five years I’ve visited David Stry’s health resort near Cuernavaca, Mexico, five times and fasted there from four to eight days.
Last year my 54th birthday arrived. Friends my own age who used to joke about my dedication to diet and exercise have been creaking and puffing around for some years now. They’ve quit laughing and started asking what they might do to repair the damage that careless living has wreaked on their bodies. Probably the best place to begin is with a fast to clean out the system and give it a new start.
Many people begin fasting because of sickness. As one who has always had good health, I approached the fast as a possible way to make good health even better. It has. Physical conditioning through fasting -- as well as exercise -- is essential to effective functioning in my life. And without exception, fasting also has enabled me to pray and meditate better.
I
Before this I had tried a few short fasts of three or four days on my own but had never gone longer than that with only water. James McEachen had supervised many fasts and understood what to look for. He told me to take no exercise but simply to rest and sunbathe during the day and to drink water whenever I was thirsty. About the fifth day without food I developed a sore throat, my back began to ache and my teeth hurt. Dr. McEachen explained that this was a healing crisis: my body was cleansing itself of toxic substances. About the tenth day these symptoms cleared up.
With McEachen’s guidance I broke the fast on the 14th day. This was a crucial point. A fast has to be ended properly and carefully or there can be painful and dangerous complications. I was given small amounts of orange juice every three hours for two days and then allowed to eat whole fruit for another two days. After this I was given more substantial food on a regular meal time schedule. I stayed there for a week after I resumed eating and then returned to my job in Point Barrow feeling 1,000 per cent better than when I left.
I experienced a number of specific benefits from the two weeks without food. My energy was greater than it had been since I was 20. I fell asleep immediately at night, slept soundly and awoke refreshed and alert. The job of managing the Point Barrow airport was hectic at times, but after the fast it was easy to remain calm and unflustered no matter how much pressure the work generated. I lost 25 pounds during the two weeks without food, which put me a little below my best weight, but I gradually regained the needed pounds. The benefits from the fast far outweighed what one would expect to experience from taking a three-week vacation.
I have fasted many times since the stay in Escondido in 1957, for periods of a few days up to 40. In every instance the fasts have provided such benefits as increased energy, calmness, improved concentration and a feeling of well-being. In the past five years I’ve visited David Stry’s health resort near Cuernavaca, Mexico, five times and fasted there from four to eight days.
Last year my 54th birthday arrived. Friends my own age who used to joke about my dedication to diet and exercise have been creaking and puffing around for some years now. They’ve quit laughing and started asking what they might do to repair the damage that careless living has wreaked on their bodies. Probably the best place to begin is with a fast to clean out the system and give it a new start.
Many people begin fasting because of sickness. As one who has always had good health, I approached the fast as a possible way to make good health even better. It has. Physical conditioning through fasting -- as well as exercise -- is essential to effective functioning in my life. And without exception, fasting also has enabled me to pray and meditate better.
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