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A test of your willpower?! Starvation?! No, no…it’s quite the opposite really. Fasting is the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.

The history of fasting goes back thousands of years. Records of fasting are found among almost all cultures in both ancient and modern times. Fasting has been used throughout history for purification, spiritual enlightenment, self-discipline and health. Read on for a history of fasting. Or get started with a nutritious juice fast here: 1 Day Juice Fast – Create Your Own. You might also appreciate these articles:

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The Reasons Why People Fast

• Religious Fasting

  In ancient times, fasting was a way to purify oneself spiritually. Jesus, Muhammed, Gandhi and Buddha all fasted. Fasting by many religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Eastern religions was used – and is still used – for spiritual purification and communion with God.

  All the main branches of Buddhism, for instance, practice some periods of fasting, usually on full-moon days and other holidays.

  The Jewish calendar has seven fast days, with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the best-known fast day.

  In the Muslim religion, Ramadan which is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is a mandatory fasting period that takes place each day during the month from sunrise to sunset. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five Pillars of Islam. The Islamic belief that requires that Muslims perform five central duties in order to strengthen their faith.

  Catholics fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on all Fridays in Lent.

• Therapeutical Fasting

  “Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness.” Hippocrates

  “For thousands of years, fasting has been recognized as nature’s supreme curative measure.” Arnold Ehret

  Philosophers, scientists, and doctors have used fasting as a healing process to cure sicknesses. Socrates, Plato and Hippocrates all fasted.

  Fasting has been utilized from the time we first began to get sick. Fasting was part of the methods of natural healing. Hippocrates, known as the founder of medicine and regarded as the greatest physician of his time, prescribed total abstinence from food while a “disease” was on the increase.

  This most basic form of healing can be seen when animals today get sick and refuse food. They fast themselves. Only when they are well, they resume eating. Food takes a tremendous amount of energy to digest. When you stop eating, your digestive system rests, and all the blood and energy can be put to healing.

  Therapeutic fasting continues to be represented amongst tribes in the Amazon, central Africa and remote parts of Asia. Often ailing members retire to “sick houses” for prolonged and total fasts on the outskirts of their communities until they recover their health and vitality.

  Hindu yogis are famous fasters and colon cleansers.

  Plato and Aristotle fasted regularly to enhance physical health and stimulate mental powers.

  All three Fathers of Western Medicine, Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus, fasted and prescribed fasting regularly calling it “the greatest remedy, the physician within;” Ancient Greeks fasted for health and longevity, and were known for their robust physical health.

• Medical Fasting

  Fasting is also often used in medicine prior to surgeries that require anesthetics. Doctor’s suggest that their patients fast for several hours (usually overnight) before a procedure. The presence of food in a person’s system can often cause complications during anesthesia.

• Political Fasting

  Fasting has also been used by activists as tools for social change. Community leaders have long waged hunger strikes as a nonviolent strategy for change.