Mac Singh shares some scientific insight on the significance of Navaratri fast
Navaratri is known for its nine days of fasting. There are two schools of thought behind this, one is the religious folks, and another is scientific thought. What if we tell you that fasting makes sense scientifically?
If you have paid attention to the dates we celebrate Navratri, both times coincide with season changes. A time when our body is prone to falling ill. Fasting during these days helps boost your body's immunity level. When we fast, the count of our white blood cells reduces, and in response, our body produces new white blood cells. Thus, making our immune system stronger and robust to fight the wave of diseases that come with the change in seasons. However, to ensure your body's immunity levels improve, you need to ensure you fight for a minimum of three days, allowing the body time to produce new white cells.
The next benefit of fasting during the nine days of Navratri is weight loss if done correctly. Insulin is responsible for storing fat in our bodies. So, when we consume food consistently, our bodies produce fat-storing insulin more. The constant spike in insulin levels is responsible for all the excess fat our body storage. When we keep long gaps between our meals, our body has fewer opportunities to produce inulin. Thus, occasional spikes in insulin levels result in less fat being stored in the body, resulting in weight loss while ensuring your body is healthy. However, you need to ensure you eat clean even when you fast. Don't get tempted by unhealthy Navratri approved snacks and meals.
Another benefit of fasting during Navratri is anti-ageing. When we fast, the cells in the body enter a mode known as autophagy. Autophagy has been researched to show that the cells in our body heal and rejuvenate themselves when we allow them the chance to do something other than break down and digest the food.
The nine days of fasting help our body detox. Due to detoxification, the first change any nutritionist makes or any trainer wants to implement is a change in the flour that we consume. It helps the body to expel all the stored gluten, allowing it to detox on its own.
Fasting can help get relief from digestion troubles and bloating. A common issue with our current lifestyle, the constant need to digest everything we eat, puts undue pressure on our digestive system, and therefore, not giving it a chance to heal. Other than digesting the food, our system is also responsible for absorbing the nutrients from the food. When we fast, we give our digestion system a chance to rejuvenate and heal, allowing the body to better absorb the nutrients and micronutrients from the food we have digested.
Fasting during Navratri also allows your body to improve the texture of your skin, hair, and fat burning process.
(The author is the dietician and co-founder of Fitelo)