One who fasts gets rid of his obesity and flabbiness

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

One who fasts gets rid of his obesity and flabbiness: When a person is overweight, the heart is overworked as it attempts to send blood to the extra quantity of tissue in the form of excess fat. This extra quantity of tissue is beyond that which God has required him to support. In addition, obesity causes many ailments to the body.

Doctors insist that body weight be reduced to keep it healthy. They impose certain regimes upon an obese person (which is considered a sickness), to control what he eats instead of eating uncontrollably.

One who fasts and controls himself is not in need of a special diets.

Fasting, in the spiritual sense, is far superior to physical treatment, for it treats the spirit, the body, and the soul all together.

If a person fasts out of his love for God for a spiritual gain, his body automatically benefits, which is better than fasting on doctor's order to reduce body weight,
It is indeed a tragedy to see people spend a large part of his life putting on weight, then spend another part of their life trying to get rid of excess body fats.

If he or she had been moderate, and had known from the start the value and benefit of fasting, he would not have had the need to exert all that effort in gaining weight and later trying to loose it.

This reminds me of a woman who goes on eating until her body loses its beautiful symmetry. Then, when doctors advise her to fast, to reduce her consumption, and follow a strict diet, she does so, not for God but for the beauty of her body. Thus, she does not eat, but she does not receive the blessing of fasting, for what she does is not done out of love for God!

Would it not have been more beneficial for these people to have fasted both for their bodily health and at the same time for their spirit to soar high and approach God?

Fast then for God, before you are compelled to fast for medical reasons without any spiritual benefit to you.