History of Fasting

Fasting is abstinence from food for a specific period of time. It has been a part of human history for thousands of years, mostly for religious and spiritual purposes. As a healing practice, fasting became widely used by the Father of Medicine, Greek physician Hippocrates, who claimed that “to eat when sick is to feed sickness”.

Hippocrates was also the first to use fasting when treating patients with seizures and this practice was eventually revived in modern times when fasting proved to be beneficial for people suffering from epilepsy. Eventually, the ketogenic diet was created to mimic the effects of fasting, although research has consequently shown that they are two different treatments.

As humans, we have to be aware that fasting is actually in our DNA. Our ancestors ate when they caught an animal or found fruits and nuts, so winters were mostly the periods of fasting. Scientists have also discovered that fasting periods allowed our ancestors to clear their brains and increase their metabolic rate ― this, in turn, helped them to figure out how, when and where to find or catch their next meal.