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
Karva Chauth and Nobel Prize -why should you Fast –Image courtesy
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”
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
Karva Chauth and Nobel Prize
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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Menaka Bharathi is a Mindful Parenting Consultant and an Organic food Producer. She markets Indian Superfoods throug SIM Organics which taken in small quantities would help to maintain the health of the family and boost resistance against diseases.
