`Empty your stomach, you¡¯ll feel good¡¯

Effect of Fasting: How to Do? ¡°Fast makes your blood clean in the first week, purify your bones in the second week, and clean your mind in the third week,¡¯¡¯ so praised Mohammed, founder of the Islam. In the Bible, Jesus Christ, Moses, Elijah and others refer to the fast on a total of 74 occasions. Many great spiritual leaders of the mankind had loved to fast as a means of mental training. Supernutritioned and overheating always, people of today even taking tonics and vitamins can enjoy vacations mentally, but their bodies are suffering from excessive eating. How about giving a vacation to our body through fasting?

What is fasting? Curing diseases generally have positive and negative methods. The positive way is curing diseases by injecting medicines into the body on the basis of Western medical science, while negative way is helping emit waste matter or toxins from the body and make fluent the flow of energy and spirit. The negative method is mainly employed by the Oriental medicine. It features maximizing the natural healing power, and the fasting represents it. For whom? Fasting is effective for those who are unable to control their appetite and appeal to food of strong taste and flavor. Fasting is recommended to the patients suffering from obesity and chronic diseases such as Gastritis or nervous breakdown. But patients suffering from cancer, cirrhosis of liver or series diabetes are required not to fast. Pregnant women or those who breastfeed their babies should refrain themselves from fasting.

How long? Fasting for a long time is not always good. It is also very dangerous to fast with no particular plan. Maintaining a consistent attitude from the preparatory phase to the recovery is very important. In case of being tired due to overwork or others, one day fasting in a week is recommended. When suffering from cold or flue, two or three days of fasting without taking medicines are effective. For those who want to improve their physical condition or cultivate their mind, a week-long fasting will be good. Fasting aimed at curing diseases should continue for 10 to 20 days with the help of experts.

How? The orthodox method is to drink only pure water. Taking honey, vegetable extracts, coffee, vitamin or ferments besides water is not a fasting, but almost a spare diet, according to U.S. doctor Joel Fruman. Those who observe a fast are recommended to sip water little by little as if they wet their lips and chew it rather than gulping. If rection injection is accompanied, the fasting will be more effective. Meditation, prayer, walk or doing gymnastic exercises help appease hunger and purify body.

Where? – There are about 100 centers for fasting across the nation. So, the competition among them is very fierce and they offer diverse services. Mt. Moak Center offers body massages based on the acupuncture free of charge during summer. Sun Center offers a 30-percent discount in case of subscription through Internet and arranges tour to mountains and sea resorts. Some facilities offer programs after office hours so that their inmates can work as usual. Korea Fasting Center gives free of charge pictures of their clients before and after the fasting. Hongik Center provides their customers with 10-day fasting tour to Cheju-do. As for the program by general hospital class facilities, Kyunghee University Oriental Hospital is offering a 5-10 day fasting program under which doctors prescribe. Clients are required to confirm whether a basic health checkup is conducted before choosing a fasting center.

More information is available at www.ifasting.co.kr. (Advised by Kyunghee University Oriental Hospital director Shin Hyun-dae (02-958-9101/2)

Lee Ho-Gab gdt@donga.com