Fasting or Starvation

There is a vast difference between fasting and starving. During the absence of food, the body will systematically cleanse itself of everything except vital tissue. It continually readjusts to make minimum demands on reserves. Starvation will occur only when the body is forced to use vital tissue to survive.

Humans adapt amazingly well to lack of food. A. J. Carlson, Professor of Physiology, at the University of Chicago, states that a healthy, well-nourished man can live from 50 to 75 days without food, provided he is not exposed to harsh elements or emotional stress. There are numerous examples of water fasts over the 75-day mark. Granted, 75-day water fasts are unusual, but it shows that God has wonderfully created the body to be able to live for extended periods without food.

Fasting is Not Starvation

Each extra pound of fat will supply enough calories for one day of hard, physical labor. Ten pounds of fat are equal to 35,000 calories! This is equivalent to 35 pounds of fish or 192 pounds of carrots. We carry around a supermarket of reserves capable of sustaining us for many weeks.

All living things have been given the ability to survive harsh circumstances. Organisms are able to store nutrients in the fat, blood, bone marrow and other tissues. Camels are capable of storing fat and water in their humps. Tadpoles abstain from eating when their legs are developing, subsisting on their tails, which are no longer needed. The Mexican Gila Monster stores up reserves in its tail when food is plentiful and can survive for six weeks when food is scarce. The marine iguana of the Galapagos Islands is named the Vegetarian Dragon because it lives on seaweed. It can abstain from food for over one hundred days. In the Western World, food is plentiful and rich in calories. Unless involved in strenuous exercise or famine, we do not have the opportunity to use up the excessive fat deposited around the waistline.

It will take several weeks of catabolism before the body is stripped of fat, dead and dying cells and is forced to dissolve healthy cells for calories. This is the point of starvation. If you are fasting and still have fat on your body, you have a long way to go.

By Tom Coghill of Fasting.ws Articles  may be copied or reproduced as long as the back links to fasting.ws are intact and the author’s name is included.