If you think about it with a non-religious mind, just abstractly and without prejudice, religions are really good for controlling large populations of people of

If you think about it with a non-religious mind, just abstractly and without prejudice, religions are really good for controlling large populations of people of varied backgrounds and intellect. How do you get a large populace to eat healthily? You can either try to convince them with sound arguments and scientific studies. Or you get them to believe in your religion and tell them whatever they need to hear to get them to do it as a side effect. I'm pretty convinced that there's some other motives behind fasting in religions than healthy eating, such as natural scarcity of food during certain times etc. but if you wanted to get them to do it, this would be a great way to do it. And I don't think anyone can deny the potential health benefits of it. After all, what is Ramadan if not IF?