Types of fasting: Qualitative, quantitative, and medicinal
Laura Schneider
2026-03-25
5 min. read
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The practice of abstaining from food consumption has deep historical roots. In antiquity, Galen, the renowned Roman physician, advocated fasting as a means of bodily purification. During the Middle Ages, though fasting was primarily religious, its health benefits were gradually recognized, leading to its incorporation into monastic medicine. From the 17th century onward, doctors began to use fasting as a therapeutic approach to aid in the treatment of acute illnesses.
What is fasting?
Today, fasting is defined as partial, voluntary abstinence from eating for a certain period of time. In religion, this restriction only applies to certain foods mainly meat. Fasting strictly requires limiting oneself to eating 3 meatless meals a day of which only one can be saturated. In modern natural medicine, restrictive food intake reduction has many adherents, but differs slightly from traditional fasting of a religious nature because it can take the form of hunger.
It's a high-quality fast
Qualitative fasting is the elimination of one or several products for a certain period of time. In extreme cases, we think of abstaining from eating meat, but quality fasting can apply to virtually any type of food. However, it is not an elimination diet that is recommended for patients who have a reaction to a specific type of allergen found in food.
It's a quantitative fast
This type of fasting involves reducing the amount of food consumed, which is most often associated with caloric restrictions. Not only the portion size is reduced, but also the number of meals consumed during the day. There are no restrictions on the type of food prepared, which may be a certain disadvantage of this fasting. It does not involve the elimination of high-processed or high-calorie products such as bacon, nuts, honey. A properly balanced quantity of food should provide all the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Periodic fasting
Intermittent fasting, also known as the IF diet, is a new way to break down meals over the course of a day. It involves short, multi-hour fasting. The best-known and easiest to use is the 16/8 diet, which consists of eating for 8 hours a day and abstaining from eating for the next 16 hours. The most demanding form of fasting is the 4 hour fasting and 20 hours fasting.. Implementation of such a fasting model often involves eating the first meal over a period of several hours, which has been shown to be chronically linked to the release of high levels of hydrochloric acid, and this is contrary to the recommendations of the dietary model.
Treatment posture
The most popular, but not the only, is Dr. Dąbrowski's vegetable and fruit based diet. However, it should be remembered that this type of diet provides between 600 and 800 calories per body, which translates to better health, and an additional effect is to lose weight. There are different ways to achieve so-called balance.