{"id":47182,"date":"2019-03-03T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=47182"},"modified":"2020-08-22T14:46:36","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T21:46:36","slug":"when-why-did-humans-start-fasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/when-why-did-humans-start-fasting\/","title":{"rendered":"When and Why Did Humans Start Fasting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our ancestors evolved as hunters and gatherers\u2014for hundreds of thousands of years, prehistoric humans spent\u00a0their lives searching for food. <\/span><\/p>\n

Long before farming or agrarian cultures ever existed, we constantly hunted and gathered, because food wasn\u2019t always abundant, and sometimes wasn\u2019t available at all. That means, scientists say, that people would fast involuntarily\u2014and then, when they found food, they would feast. Because of those evolutionary conditions, humans gradually evolved a genetic code, a genotype, which allowed their bodies to thrive by adapting to those cycles of feasting and fasting. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the reason a healthy, well-nourished person can survive for weeks without eating. Dr. Alan Lieberson, in a 2012 <\/span>Scientific American<\/span><\/i> article, pointed out many instances of those who have stopped eating for extended periods of time, including the well-known case of Mahatma Gandhi, who at the age of 74 went on a 21-day hunger strike to protest his detention without charges by the British authorities in India.<\/span>\u00a0 Gandhi survived, and lived for several more years.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all still carry that feast-or-famine genetic code, even though most cultures in the developed world now eat more consistently, consuming two or three or even four regular meals each day, plus snacks and desserts, without fail or respite. As a result, our digestive tracts stay full most of the time, unable to allow our bodies to experience the beneficial effects of temporary emptiness and the natural cleansing process it creates.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accordingly, recent scientific research has found that intermittent fasting can help us remain healthier longer. Multiple research studies have demonstrated the health benefits of various intermittent patterns of fasting, caloric restriction and voluntary abstinence. Because these patterns can replicate the feast-or-famine diet of our ancestors, many researchers have now recognized the advantages of periodically emptying the human digestive system, and allowing it to rest, self-cleanse and purify without the constant presence of food.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever fasted? Baha\u2019is<\/a> fast for 19 days every year, abstaining from food and drink during the daytime, and only eating and drinking during the nighttime hours. Of course, going without food and drink for 12 hours, and repeating the process nineteen times, can have a profound effect on the mind, the heart and the soul\u2014and this kind of cyclical intermittent fasting, it turns out, also has significant physical benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as the Baha\u2019i writings themselves point out, those who\u2019ve tried this practice know it isn\u2019t easy:<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though outwardly the Fast is difficult and toilsome, yet inwardly it is bounty and tranquillity. \u2013 Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, quoted in The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting, # XVI.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So while the Baha\u2019i Fast has a primarily spiritual purpose\u2014which we\u2019ll discuss in subsequent essays in this series\u2014it also has powerfully beneficial physical ones, too. Medical science has shown that cyclical intermittent fasting: <\/span><\/p>\n