Fasting

Patricia Bragg Ph.D.- "Proven throughout history for physical, mental and spiritual rejuvenation, fasting promotes cleansing and healing; helps normalize weight, blood pressure, cholesterol; rebuilds the immune system; and helps reverse the aging process. If we are to get these poisons out of our bodies we must fast. By fasting we give our bodies a physiological rest. This rest builds Vital Force. The more Vital Force we have, the more toxins are going to be eliminated from the body to help keep it clean, pure and healthy."
Hippocrates - "Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness." Hippocrates, Greek physician (460 BC - 377 BC)
Many in the scriptures fasted.  Jesus did so for 40 days.  We all fast once a month for 24 hours, and we all do so for the same reasons, to feed our spirit, to grow closer to God in the process.  And it is deeply meaningful for me personally.  I have fasted for much longer than 24 hours and have felt good because of it, but there is such a thing as too much.
Studies are now proving that in the fasting state the body seeks out damaged cells and tissue for it's fuel rather than important healthy cells and tissue, thus cleansing the body.  Also, other studies have shown the positive effects of fasting are maximized during the first 24 hours and after that can become counter-productive.
Fasting essentially unlocks the natural healer within and rejuvenates us.
The other and most important benefit is that in the process of prolonged prayer that should always accompany a fast, we grow closer to God through communion with Him.  By having a heart to heart with our eternal Father, we are imbued with vitality and joyful energy.  By following his promptings, we are guided to where we are needed, where we are meant to be.
By fasting, along with praying, those promptings become clearer.
Knowledge of the powers of fasting is as ancient as we are.  Fasting is present in every religious tradition and in every culture in various ways.  Knowledge of these eternal truths of fasting is reflected throughout the world's broad tapestry of religions and cultures.
But for as important as the health benefits of fasting are, the key is prayer.  Prolonged prayer is mentally and emotionally sustaining to us during this period.  Many people report that blessings and prayers are more effective if done in conjunction with fasting, and I think the reason for this is that we aren't just physiologically rejuvenated, we are spiritually rejuvenated and strengthened through fasting.
Fasting is an essential part of asceticism and mysticism of every world religion and faith.
The Sufi movement, best articulated by or at least known because of Rumi, is one of my favorite mystic movements within any religious faith.  A universal understanding of God and an understanding that the differences in religion are largely due to societal norms and the culture of the region where any one religion is found as well as the perspectives of the teachers on whose message the religion is founded is most often the prism that filters God's one truth.
Sufi's tend to feel all scripture, from all religions. are worthy of consideration, but the key is to put them to the test and that is through personal experience.  Meditation and prayer-accentuated by fasting, often renders an epiphany.
Gandhi is the best example in modern times of a man whose spiritual journey was intrinsically tied to fasting.  His speeches, his teachings, his political maneuverings required immense energy and power which must have been taxing on such a physically tiny individual.  Yet he outpaced, out thought and out-shined many of his contemporaries due to his energy, perseverance and keen insight.  Which seems counter-intuitive given how much and how often he fasted.
When Jesus fasted in the wilderness, he was searching.  He was proving to himself that he had the abilities needed to accomplish his mission.  That he had the will to see his Father's will be done.  And yet the Adversary was there every step of the way, not just to tempt him, but to attempt to psych him out.  To attempt to allow or enforce doubts Christ had, yet Jesus knew as we will all know eventually, that the Adversary is only right about us if we allow him to be, God gave us free agency-the choice is ours alone.  The choice belongs to no one else.
Fasting isn't something Jesus does anywhere else in scripture, after that he seems to do nothing but eat, after all the first words to his Apostles after his resurrection were "Have you anything to eat!"
But he certainly did use fasting to accomplish his goal of proving himself to himself.  Many lessons can be learned from fasting and blessing become stronger and come through clearer because while fasting you draw nearer to God.  In a way you shun the material world for the spiritual one and what is more indicative of the material world than food, especially in our times?