I strongly believe that our forefathers were far more intelligent than what we think, and this very thought has made me stay put against all those who fight for some or the other cult.
Fasting is one such regime I follow regularly and since I have seen that it is a common practice in all the religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Jainism Buddhism and so on, I believe more in it.
Karva Chauth the Day Long Fasting
Well, today is karva chauth and all wives have been busy from morning ‘not eating anything-not even a drop of water’ it is said that this is good for the husband.
Indian women always would do anything for her husband, if they had told that such a vrath is good for her health -she seldom would have the strength to do such a hard vrath or fasting.
I wanted to do this post today and just waited so that the wives who have just completed the Fast are ready to reason this with their husbands, to finally win the battle of
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“Why The Hell Do You Fast”
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“How Does God Know You Are Fasting”
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“You Are Punishing Yourself and All At Home”
On the 3rd of this month The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
had announced the Nobel Prize
for
Physiology or Medicine
to
Yoshinori Ohsumi
And do you know what was the study he did – He discovered the mechanism of Autophagy!
Autophagy – a fundamental process through which cells undergo degradation and get recycled
What is Autophagy
The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning “self”, and phagein, meaning “to eat”.
Thus,autophagy denotes “self eating”.
As early as 1960, researchers had observed that a cell could destroy itself. This seemed to happen by the cell wall invagination, digestion of the cell ingredients and then formation of sac-like vesicles which are then degraded completely.
This is the way our cells destroy weak, infected and unusable cells using specialized cell organells called lysosomes or autophagosomes as they are called now.
When Does Autophagy Take Place
Through his strenuous studies Yoshinori Ohsumi was able to identify the genes that were responsible for this autophagous property in cells of yeast.
You can read the complete press release here
And these genes Yoshinori Ohsumi found to be accumulatedduring starvation.
Yes! you read it right, the genes to kill cells and the extra protein in the body that is lying there unnecessarily are produced and accumulated when you starve yourselves.
Is this Autophagy Important For Us
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Autophagy can rapidly provide fuel for energy and building blocks for renewal of cellular components, and is therefore essential for the cellular response to starvation and other types of stress
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After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading intracellular bacteria and viruses.
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Autophagy contributes to embryo development and cell differentiation.
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Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for counteracting the negative consequences of aging.
What Will Happen If There Is Less Autophagy
This is very interesting, and you are going to really thank me for writing this.
You get a whole lot of diseases that are connected to aging if you do not help your cells in autophagy by fasting
- Parkinson’ s Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Old age related disease like alzeimers
- CANCER
So ladies! we have got a great cause here, Karva Chauth is basically protecting you from so many diseases plus keeps you young.
It helps in cellular removal of dead and infected cells, and thus after the fast you become more fresh, healthy and young!
Let the argument begin at home!
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Thanks Saru!
Thanks for sharing this. There is much more to a ritual than we see on the face.
Thanks Bushra! Fasting is good, and now since it is scientifically proven too, I am all the more happy
thanks for sharing .. indeed autopathy has shared positive aspects about fasting & totally agreed … fasting detoxify our body toxins we all must go for fasting once in a year to be healthy
Ha I am so happy You didn’t know and I could give some info to you Reema!!
Finally autophagy proved.. and the cells becoming younger links to women directly doesn’t it? Nidhi?
Aha! That is indeed a very interesting way to look at Karva Chauth. I do agree, that if not autophagy, there are certainly many benefits to fasting once in a while.
I didn’t know about this. Interesting information.
oh,, this years nobel prize for medicine
thats some research..did not know about this…
Oh happy about impressing you..thanks dear
Interesting read and quite immpressed by your post !!!
Thanks Subha! The science behind the fasting is actually fascinating and makes me more religious by the day
Wow!That was quite a research.The way you related Karva Chauth with Nobel Prize was a surprise element.
Ha ha Yes Deepa, now we can fast holding our heads high and quoting a Nobel Laurate..
You are welcome Anindya! there has always been debate on whether to fast or not, and finally it is a Yes!
Yes Jini! though there was science behind this we have waited this long for the proof
Wow..Good information Menaka..didn’t know about all this. Now we have answers to people’s questions on why we fast which are scientifically proven 🙂
Well I have never heard of this and thanks for writing this. We dont have a Karva Chauth and as a person I dont support that however never challenged the reason and someone’s belief also . So I am neutral on this
This is an excellent post! I didn’t know about the science behind fasting, so this is helpful information!!
You are most welcome Mayuri! Yes ekadasi fast is the best to keep our cells fresh throughout our lifetime
You are most welcome Amrita! I think we need to go into some kind of spiritual awakening and find the real science behind our every practice
Great post .Autophagy is an important part of cellular balance.Moderate fasting actually helps our body recover and get detoxified .Thanks for writing this
I am certainly thanking you for writing this!
I had no idea! And I love the way you linked it to Karwa Chauth 🙂
I do the Ekadashi Fast and feel so good after it. I now know why.