Fasting has been used for thousands of years both for spiritual purposes and for healing. The ancients understood that the body has the ability to heal itself when given the chance. Animals instinctively fast when sick, and many ancient healers used fasting as a medicinal remedy. Hippocrates, the famous physician of ancient Greece and father of western medicine, often prescribed fasting. Paracelsus, another great healer in the Western tradition, wrote 500 years ago that “fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within.” Ayurvedic medicine, the world’s oldest healing system, has long advocated fasting as a major treatment. Many world religions prescribe fasting for periods of time in order to rely on a power higher than ourselves to satisfy our hunger.

For a long period of time fasting fell out of fashion and modern medicine and science have largely ignored its benefits, but that is beginning to change. Recent scientific studies have found evidence that periodic fasting has many health benefits. It has been shown that during a fast like the Neera™ Natural Plan, the body has a better chance to heal itself, to rejuvenate cells, to slow the aging process, and to ward off diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Details about these studies can be found on our In the News page.

Fasting works by giving your body a break from the normal load placed upon it. It takes a lot of energy to digest, assimilate and eliminate solid food. Fasting gives your body a chance to refocus that energy on cleansing and healing. It allows your body to rid itself of accumulated toxins and to revitalize and re-energize itself.

” Fasting stops the continual work of the digestive tract, whose activity can drain the body of energy and avert the healing processes. Each time we take in food, the body must secrete digestive enzymes to break down the food, move these simpler components into the cells lining the digestive tract, and further move these nutrients into the blood stream for distribution throughout the body. All of these functions require a substantial amount of vitality and energy that might otherwise be used to fuel the healing process.”