Cleansing & Fasting Benefits
The benefits of cleansing and fasting are vast and can be experienced on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. Both cleansing and fasting serve to detoxify our bodies by releasing, neutralizing, or transforming toxins. All of these processes clear the build-up of mucus that occurs when our bodies are toxic. In The Detox Diet (1996), Elson Hass says, “We detoxify/cleanse for health, vitality, and rejuvenation—to clear symptoms, treat disease, and prevent future problems.” (31) In The Essene Gospel Of Peace (1981), Jesus talks of the greatness of cleansing one’s body. Through fasting, water enemas, and prayer, Jesus says that all evil, which are toxins, shall leave the body through its organs of elimination. The Essene Gospel Of Peace quotes Jesus as saying that once all toxins are cleansed from one’s body, “your blood shall become as pure as our Earthly Mother’s blood and as the river’s foam sporting in the sunlight. And your breath shall become as pure as the breath of odorous flowers; your flesh as pure as the flesh of fruits reddening upon the leaves of trees; the light of your eye as clear and bright as the brightness of the sun shining upon the blue sky.” (17-18)
The physical benefits of cleansing the body can be that skin irritations, such as acne, completely clear up, one’s eyes become more clear and bright, one’s body odor becomes sweet, and one’s bowel movements come more easily. Peoples’ bodies may also feel more energized throughout the day. Cleansing serves to give our often over-worked digestive organs a break. These organs can then perform other work that they may not have been able to do while focusing on digestion. With detoxification, the body’s immune system and eliminative functions can reach a level of health that will allow them to be able to handle environmental toxins that the body encounters. The benefits of cleansing our organs can be noted by looking at an iridology chart, such as the one included in Dr. Richard Anderson’s book Cleanse & Purify Thyself (1988). This chart shows points in the iris that correspond to organs in the body. When people have dots in their irises, it means that one or more of their organs are not in optimal health. An iridology chart allows us to map the dots in our irises and figure out the organs to which they correspond. Many people have small dots in their iris’ that disappear with intestinal cleanses, revealing the connection between intestinal health and full-body health. Other benefits of detoxifying the body, as outlined by Elson Hass, are slowing down the aging process, improving flexibility, becoming more fertile, reducing symptoms of toxicity, and enhancing the senses. (The Detox Diet, 1996).
A further physical benefit of cleansing for some people is weight loss. One of the main causes of obesity, according to Richard Anderson in Cleanse & Purify Thyself (1988), is the entrapment of toxins, acids, and proteins in the body. When these toxins, acids, and proteins are taken into the body faster than the body can eliminate them, the body wraps them in mucus or lymph and then stores them. This is a way for the body to protect itself from so many toxins, and as a result, people experience an increase in their weight. In Richard Anderson’s book Cleanse & Purify Thyself (1988)there is a testimony of a man who went from weighing 308 pounds to 240 pounds with the Arise And Shine intestinal cleanse. For people with large abdomens, often called “beer bellies,” intestinal cleansing can help to shrink their abdomens. A stretched abdomen, according to Richard Anderson, comes from excess mucoid plaque in the colon. Mucoid plaque is a layer of mucus that can cover the walls of the intestines and stomach. It is formed as a way of protecting the body against an overly acidic stomach and bowel, which comes about through taking in high amounts of refined food, dairy, meat, coffee, drugs, or having negative thought patterns. Mucoid plaque prevents nutrients from being absorbed readily. It creates a barrier between the food that enters one’s intestines and the 22 digestive enzymes that the intestines secrete in order to aid with digestion. Anderson asks, “When mucoid plaque lines the intestines, how can these enzymes make contact with the food we hope to digest? And even if there are enough enzymes to digest the food, how can the food be absorbed through the intestinal wall? And poorly digested food is a major contributor to toxicity.” (45) All cells depend on food assimilation in order to function. When food isn’t digested properly, one’s entire body is affected. “The bowel feeds every organ, every tissue, every cell in our bodies. When the bowel environment and function has become contaminated or inefficient, the cells and organs in the rest of the body will reflect that contamination and dysfunction. A toxic and acid bowel means toxic blood and lymph, toxic organs and cells, and poor health,” states Richard Anderson (44).
Intestinal cleanses can reduce the amount of mucoid plaque in our bodies or eliminate it completely. As a result, our bodies will be able to absorb more nutrients. The effects of being able to absorb more essential nutrients include the need for less food and an increase of energy. Dr. Richard Anderson furthermore points out that there are many nerve reflex points in the intestines that are short-circuited when there is a build up of mucoid plaque. These nerve reflex points are connected to other organs in the body, which can be positively affected by cleanses. One such organ is the heart, which has a reflex point in the descending colon. Anderson has found that about 75% of the time when a person has a pocket of mucoid plaque in the descending colon, she/he will likely have a heart condition.
A 26 year old man, after doing Dr. Richard Anderson’s Arise And Shine Cleanse states: “The ‘terrible problems’ I faced on a daily basis weren’t so terrible, my chronic fatigue disappeared; the bags under my eyes vanished along with the tiny crows feet around my eyes; my handwriting even changed!” (Cleanse & Purify Thyself 1988). As this testimony shows, it can be possible to eliminate symptoms of health problems through cleansing. Anderson claims that additionally, intestinal cleanses can rid our bodies of the sources of disease. While some people will say that the sources of disease are bacteria, fungi, molds, parasites, and viruses, Anderson notes that all of these “germs” will not be able to live in a detoxified body. According to Richard Anderson in Cleanse & Purify Thyself (1988), “It is what we do to ourselves (diet, lifestyles, emotions, etc.) that develops a specific internal environment in which dis-ease and germs can thrive!” (200) Dietary and lifestyle choices can create toxic bowels, where potentially harmful bacteria can live. Anderson states, “A toxic bowel is the perfect breeding environment for billions of dis-ease related bacteria, germs, and parasites.” (92) The potentially harmful bacteria that live in a toxic bowel can be eliminated safely through intestinal cleansing. Once the body does not have to work as hard to safely release toxins, it can then focus its attention on rebuilding and repairing itself.
Disease needs to be looked at not only from the physical level, but from the emotional and mental levels as well. Both emotions and mental patterns are sources of disease. Richard Anderson brings awareness to the connection between food and the emotions that are often unpleasant for us. People in the United States’ culture often use food to make themselves feel better. When people feel sad, stressed, or depressed they may turn toward comfort foods, such as sweets with high sugar contents and fried fatty foods. These foods are acidic, and along with the emotional component of being sad or depressed, can lead to the formation of mucoid plaque. This plaque then holds the energy of the emotion that we felt when we ate the mucoid-forming food. Instead of being resolved and released from the body, many emotions get trapped in our bodies’ cells, affecting our bodies without our minds consciously being aware of it. Suppressed emotions affect the body’s glands, immune system, mind, heart and other organs.
Richard Anderson looks at the example of suppressed anger. Anger stored in the body can block nutrients and blood from flowing properly to the frontal cortex and other organs, which can hinder the brain’s ability to memorize, concentrate, and be clear. This can be healed, however, by detoxifying the body. Anderson says in Cleanse & Purify Thyself (1988), “When we fast or cleanse, these emotion-carrying cells, especially the weak, dead, or dying cells are rapidly released from the body. In this way we release forever the emotions that were trapped in those cells.” (59) Thus not only can the physical body greatly benefit from cleansing, but one’s mental and emotional states can be positively affected as well. Anderson states, “…The body can and must be healed through the mind, and…the mind can and must be healed through the body.” (68) Further mental and emotional benefits of detoxification as outlined by Elson Hass are that people can become more creative, productive, relaxed, motivated, energetic, conscious, inwardly attuned, spiritual, relationship focused, and environmentally attuned. Hass also states in The Detox Diet (1996), “A cleansing program is an ideal way to help us reevaluate our lives, make changes, or clear abuses and addictions.” (31) It can also give us a break form our normal lifestyles to really ask ourselves what it is that is important to us and how we actually do feel on a daily basis.
The practice of fasting can provide a time of rejuvenation for the mind, body and spirit as well. As with cleansing, fasting allows the body to detoxify and the organs to rejuvenate themselves. Elson Hass states that fasting is the missing part of the Western diet. People take breaks from work in order to relax their minds and bodies, but often do not do the same with food. Hass recommends fasting as a way to prevent many illnesses from happening, especially those stemming from excess nutrition (The Detox Diet 1996). Excess nutrition can cause degenerative diseases such as heart disease, allergies, cancer, and diabetes. Hass also states that fasting can be highly beneficial for those people that experience symptoms of congestion, such as flues, constipation, and bronchitis. Such symptoms of congestion can lead to further conditions and illnesses if they are not healed. Fasting can help alleviate symptoms and conditions related to congestion. It can also help people to shift their dietary and lifestyle patterns to ones that are healthier. Hass notes that during his own experiences with fasting, any stagnant energy in his body began to flow again and allergies and pains were relieved.
In his book Conscious Eating (2000) Gabriel Cousens states, “Fasting allows our physical bodies to turn to the assimilation of Divine or cosmic energy rather than biochemical energy.”(229) Addictions to food and drinks can be overcome by the experiential realization that it is the energy of the universe that sustains the body. With the release of toxins from the body that comes about through fasting, the energy of the body can flow easier. According to Cousens, after one fasts several times, the body is able to be a clearer vessel for spiritual energy, and when the body is more in touch with the spiritual energy of the universe, it tends to make choices that continue to align people with the Divine. Mahatma Gandhi encouraged people to fast in order to purify themselves and experience happiness. Cousens quotes Gandhi as saying: “Fasting will bring spiritual rebirth…the light of the world will illuminate you when you fast and purify yourself.”